• The Inbox
  • Posts
  • Using Gamified Pop-Ups To Grow Your List

Using Gamified Pop-Ups To Grow Your List

Author

Max Sturtevant
April 15, 2026

The Inbox Newsletter

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

If you've been running the same boring "10% off" pop-up form, you're getting ignored.

“But Max, I thought you said popups are one of the highest leverage things you can do to make sure you're converting more website traffic.”

They are, but the problem is so many brands run generic popup forms with no personality.

There are so many different (and better) options out there.

Today, we’re talking about gambling…

Disclaimer: I know this type of form setup isn’t for every brand. This isn’t necessary to do, but it works well for the brands that do it.

Here are a few gamified pop-ups we’ve been A/B testing across client accounts lately:

The Plinko Machine

True Classic uses a plinko board for up to 20% store credit back.

A ball drops through a maze of pins and ricochets toward a prize slot at the bottom.

The psychology here is suspense. The outcome feels random, but visitors dropped the ball themselves, so they're invested in where it lands.

That active involvement makes the discount feel earned, not like it was random chance.

This is an easy way to stand out… as you don’t see this sort of form often.

Scratch Off Prize

Grazly running a mystery discount scratch card.

This one's different because the interaction is tactile.

Instead of watching a ball drop, you’re actively revealing the discount.

The act of scratching makes them feel like they almost won. And almost winning is somehow more motivating than not playing at all.

Additionally, by making it this far, you’ve triggered commitment bias, so people are more likely to continue to the next step of the pop up.

Spin to Win

Javvy runs a spin-to-win which offers multiple prize tiers, including up to 38% off.

This is the most well-known of the three.

Showing multiple prizes makes people inclined to try for the best one. It’s a form of gamification. You don’t know what you’re going to land on and that unpredictability is what makes you want to spin.

There's also a few seconds of genuine suspense during the spin itself.

All three of these work because they are different.

Different works in 2026 with all the AI slop and generic setups people use.

If you want to run any of these formats without building them from scratch, Alia has all three and is my recommended platform for pop-ups (even if you don’t use one of these forms).

Have fun growing your list!

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
Brez

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T8kNHxVrRyhyxmBTNZ3OBMMaV4g6ISLf/view?usp=sharing

Notes:
Brez has this countdown timer leading up to a sale / event. Most people only think about using countdown timers during sales to count down when the sale ends or when a discount code ends; however Brez does it before the sale to give hype for people and build some hype for a big event coming up, which is their birthday sale.

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max Sturtevant

P.S
Want The Full Email Marketing Playbook?

I just opened Email Marketing Mastery - a private course & community where I share the same strategies we use across $200M in ecom revenue, weekly calls with me, 250+ editable email templates, and daily feedback from myself and my team.

Other Ways I Can Help