How to Use Poptin to Send a Welcome Email From an Exit Popup

The short answer: if your list is still under 500 contacts, the popup, the welcome email and the automation that joins them fit in Poptin's Emails & Poptins Growth plan at $19 a month (pricing page, checked on 26 October 2026); install the code, build an exit-intent popup with a scroll-trigger backup for phones, cap how often it shows, verify your sending domain, build an automation that fires on Converted on Poptin, sends the welcome email, waits and splits on engagement, and let an agent read new conversions through the API for a person to check.

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A new subscriber's first email from you sets what they expect from every one after it, and it is often left as a default template. Building the popup and the email in the same tool removes the hand-off between them: the automation knows which popup someone converted on. For plans and meters, see the Poptin glossary entry.

What to have ready:

• The bill. For example, a list of 420 contacts that gains 60 signups in a month counts as 420 + 60 = 480 active contacts, inside the 500-contact tier at $19, even if some of them unsubscribe before the cycle ends (pricing FAQ).
• Your DNS login. Domain verification adds CNAME, SPF, DMARC and TXT records, and changes can take up to 48 hours to show (domain guide).
• The offer, and its codes. A fixed coupon shows every visitor the same code; unique codes come from a list or CSV you upload, with a fallback code for when they run out (coupon types).
• Consent wording. Under Article 7 of the GDPR on EUR-Lex, you must be able to show that each subscriber consented, so keep the form's wording and date with the list.
• A baseline. Signups per week from your existing forms, over the last four full weeks.

1. Install the code

On WordPress, install the Poptin plugin from the plugin directory, activate it, click Already have an account, paste the User ID from your Poptin profile and click Connect. If WP Rocket or another cache plugin runs, clear it, and if the popup still does not show in an incognito window, switch off its JavaScript minification (WordPress guide).

2. Create the popup

In the dashboard, click Create, choose Popup, filter templates by the Grow Email List goal and click Customize. Name the popup, enter your domain, and set the size, fields, colours and integrations on the left while the preview updates on the right; click Next to save the design (first poptin guide). One field, one promise, and the coupon in the success message.

3. Trigger it on exit, with a backup for phones

In Display Rules, select Exit Intent, switch off the other triggers and publish (exit-intent guide). On a desktop, exit intent fires when the cursor heads for the close button or the address bar. On a phone, it fires when the visitor presses Back to leave the site, and Poptin's own note says it does not always work well there, recommending a time delay or scroll trigger alongside it; visitors who bounce straight back may not see it at all (mobile guide). Add the scroll trigger for mobile.

4. Cap how often it appears

With the frequency toggle off, the default is once a day per unique visitor. Other options run from every visit to once every few days, and a visitor who converts never sees the same poptin again unless you switch on showing it to converted visitors (frequency guide). For a welcome offer, once every few days to new visitors is enough. Test in an incognito window, or your own conversion hides it from you.

5. Verify the sending domain

Click your profile icon, then Email Configuration, open Sending Domains and click New Sending Domain. Expand the domain to see its records: CNAMEs for DKIM, an SPF record, a DMARC record you create with the Generate button, and a TXT claim record at _poptinemail-claim on your domain that ties it to your account. Add them at your DNS provider, return and click Verify; the domain is ready when all five checks pass (domain guide).

6. Build the welcome automation

Under Email, click Automations, then Start From Scratch, and name the flow (automation guide). For the trigger, choose Poptin Activity, then Converted on Poptin, and select the popup from step 2; the re-trigger setting defaults to every time (trigger guide). Then add the actions:

1. Send an Email. Fill in the email name, from name, from address, a subject that can use {CONTACT_FIRST_NAME}, and the preview line; design it in the drag-and-drop editor or start from a template.
2. Time Delay. Wait three days, or until a set day and time.
3. Conditional Split. Branch on whether the contact opened or clicked the first email.
4. Operation. Tag the contacts on each branch, so the next campaign can treat them differently.

Toggle the automation on and click Save and Turn On (welcome email guide).

7. Let an agent read new conversions

The Poptin API, on all plans, reads the conversions your poptins capture (developer docs). Generate a key under My Account, then API & Connections, for one subaccount; it starts with pk_live_ and is shown once (API guide). Give it to an agent that can call a REST API, and limit the agent to reading: each morning it lists yesterday's conversions by popup, flags addresses that look like tests or typos, and drafts a two-line summary.

The human check: a person reads the flags before any contact is edited, tagged or removed, because the API runs against your live account and also reaches contacts and campaign sends. Poptin's own advice is to start with read-only calls. An MCP server is listed as coming soon (MCP page); if you would rather not handle keys, the Zapier trigger New lead passes the email, lead source, conversion page and landing page to any app (Zapier guide).

8. Measure it

The automation list shows how many contacts entered, completed the flow and opened the email (welcome email guide). For your analytics, paste a gtag sign_up event into the popup's Conversion Code box and mark the event as a conversion in GA4 (GA4 guide). Then compare four full weeks of signups with your baseline.

Mistakes Poptin's help centre warns about

• Trusting exit intent on phones. Pair it with a scroll or delay trigger.
• Testing in your own browser after converting. You will not see the popup again.
• Mailing an old list without asking. Contacts not addressed in 3 to 6 months should get a confirmation of consent email first (consent guide).
• Losing the API key. It is shown once; delete it and generate a new one.

Mind the free plan too. Once 1,000 unique visitors have arrived in a month, every poptin stops for every visitor (visitor counting), so a free account on a site with real traffic is a countdown to Basic rather than a place to stay.

FAQ

Can the welcome email run on the free plan?

Within its limits: the free email tier holds 250 active contacts and 500 emails, and lists segments, campaigns and automations (pricing page).

Why did my popup stop showing?

Either the monthly visitor limit was reached, which stops all poptins, or you converted on it yourself and the frequency rules now hide it from you.

Can Make run this instead of the built-in automation?

For routing leads elsewhere, yes: copy the Make/Zapier API key from Settings, then Profile, create a webhook in your Make scenario and pick the popup (Make guide). The welcome email then has to come from the tool Make sends the lead to.