Placing a pop-up advertisement on a login page of a purchased product?

Question

So recently we have been redesigning our login page for our b2b product. You can go to a url, login using an email and password and then you're on the dashboard. Our sales team is pushing that we place a pop-up advertisement for our new products when users open the login page. For me, the problem is that the user would only visit this url if they purchased one of our products already in order to login. Personally, I am against the idea of placing our own advertisements on a page where the user already purchased to gain access to. Additionally, having this pop-up every time the user signs in may cause some user frustration.

We have discussed banners, but the sales team is insisting on a "in your face" kind of advertisement. Our current login page is already very busy. We have the login page on the left and a different line of devices on the right with a link that takes you to a different login screen. Here is a blurred out screenshot with the grey blocks hiding logos or sensitive urls.

I won't post a screenshot of the pop up because its just standard, but just imagine a popup with a button to "View Product" for whatever new product we want to advertise

Is there a way I can meet the requirements of the sales team (placing an advertisement for our newest product) without interrupting the user experience as much? I am considering a loading screen in between the login page and the dashboard kind of like a splash screen, but sometimes the screen would load in 1 second, not giving the user enough time to click "view product" in case they wanted to purchase through the advertisement.

Answer 1

"Is there a way I can meet the requirements of the sales team without interrupting the user experience as much?"

Well, yes.

But apparently they actually want to interrupt the flow (which is Marketing 101). They're LITERALLY asking to interrupt the flow and for an element which is used for that specific purpose. So I think whatever choice you give them about NOT interrupting the flow won't be well received.

Nevertheless, yes, you have a lot of options. You can use a toast, you can use an inline banner, snackbars, you can use a banner in the dashboard after login, or even a popup or modal, only that AFTER login.

The image below is missing the image, but this is an inline ad inside the documentation of Material UI, just above the small link to download the file.

So as you can see, there are many ways to do it. But if they want to interrupt the flow, well, they're right in that a modal or popup is the proper way.

On the other hand, you're correct that this is a horrible user experience and I'm quite sure it will affect user retention.

With this in mind, I think a popup after login and loading only once per session with an option not to show it again could be a reasonable compromise.

Additionally, you can tell them that if you do what they want, users will be in a loop, going to the new product and unable to log in.

Finally, if everything fails be as politic and cool as you can and tell them "did you ever hear about the word upsale?". If they don't know how to upsell to a captive client, they're in trouble.

Answer 2

This case reminds me a lot of my previous workplace. in some cases, could harm the user experience of the product besots the marketing team's goals. However, I firmly believe that business goals should always take priority within an organization.

In our organization, we have established rules for popup exposure based on time periods. For example, when I go through the login process and reach the dashboard, I am exposed to a specific popup - It is crucial to ensure that the popup is not set in a modal view and provides users with various options to exit, such as an X button at the top, a secondary skip button, or clicking outside its frame. If I dismiss the popup and do not proceed with the desired flow set by the marketing team, I will only be exposed to the same popup after 30 days. (This decision is made by the organization, taking into account the importance of the product they wish to sell)

In conclusion, business goals are an integral part of the process and the organization. By implementing disclosure rules based on time and ensuring multiple exit options for popups, we can mitigate the situation.

Answer 3

Agreed with the above - this is a very poor user experience (possibly even considered a dark pattern) and should be avoided IF they actually want to put the experience of the user above the goals of the sales team.

You need to be explicit with them that while this WILL get their new product in users' faces, it may negatively effect your users' impressions of your product, or even the entire company. When a user goes to log in to your product, they have a goal in mind, and having an explicit disruption to their workflow at the very first step will NOT go over well with some of them, at least.

It is your job to advocate for the user experience, not marketing goals. You should push back every step of the way on this and make the argument for the user. Ask the key stakeholders what the goal is here. If your product is unique and the business says "our users can't switch easily, our goal is to sell more products, we don't care about the experience of our users" then you might just have to do what they want.

But if your product is in a commoditized niche and there are plenty of competitors out there, you'd better fight hard for that UX or you can expect to start to see attrition to your competitors. That is an argument a business stakeholder can hear and act on.