Choose design options for sign-up units (standard)

Interactive design options can make your sign-up units more engaging and help you collect more subscribers. Use this article to compare the options available in the sign-up unit builder, pick the one that fits your goal, and set it up.

This article covers adding design options to an existing unit. To build a unit from scratch, see Create a new sign-up unit (legacy).

Choose a design option

Spin to Win

Spin to Win adds a prize wheel to your sign-up unit. You choose which offer the wheel always lands on, so every shopper "wins" that offer. For the best shopper experience, make your largest offer the winner.

Before you begin:

• Set up the offer you want the wheel to land on.
• Spin to Win is available only in the US and only for fullscreen mobile and desktop units.
• Attentive's accessibility checks don't cover the Spin to Win wheel.

To add Spin to Win:

1. While editing a fullscreen mobile or desktop template, click + and select Spin To Win.
2. Customize the headlines.
3. Customize the wheel, including assistive text, section repetitions, spin time, wheel speed, center color, ticker color, background color, spoke color, center text, and wheel text style.
4. Under Sections, add up to five elements and enter an offer for each, such as 10%, 8%, 6%, and 4%. Enter your winning offer as Element One.
5. Click Save changes.

Mystery offers

Mystery offers hide your offer until a visitor taps or clicks to reveal it, which adds a small game to the sign-up experience. There are two formats:

• Blur: The offer is blurred until the visitor taps or clicks it.
• Envelope: The visitor taps or clicks to open an envelope that holds the offer.
• Scratch-off: The scratches the unit to reveal the offer.

To add a mystery offer:

Blur or Envelope:

While creating or editing a sign-up unit, click Edit Design.

1. Click +, then click Tap to Reveal.
2. Use the menu on the left (or click the element you want to edit) to determine which menu opens on the right.
   1. Click Hidden offer to select Blur or Envelope, and adjust transition time, style, spacing
   2. Click the text button below the Hidden offer layer to edit the heading text, style, and spacing
   3. Click the tooltip button below the Hidden offer layer to edit the tooltip text, style, and spacing
3. Click Save changes.

Scratch-off:

While creating or editing a sign-up unit, click Edit Design.

1. Click +, then click Scratch-off.
2. Use the menu on the left (or click the element you want to edit) to determine which menu opens on the right.
   1. Click Scratch-off to edit the settings in the right-side menu
   2. Click Hidden offer to preview the text, add text element, or change the background color
   3. Click the text button below the Hidden offer layer to edit the heading text, style, and spacing
   4. Click the button-text button below the Scratch-off layer to edit the button text, style, and spacing
3. Click Save changes.

Countdown timer

A countdown timer adds urgency to your sign-up unit. There are two timer types:

• Visitor-specific: Each non-subscriber sees their own countdown. Use it to give visitors a limited window to claim an offer by subscribing.

• Site-wide: Every visitor sees the same countdown. Use it to promote a store-wide sale. 

  Note: When a site-wide timer expires, the sign-up unit becomes inactive. To avoid a gap in list growth, plan a replacement ahead of time: either swap in a new unit manually or schedule one to go live when the countdown ends.

Access the timer options by clicking the Countdown Timer settings in the bottom left. This option appears after you add the countdown timer layer.

To add a countdown timer:

1. Click the + next to Layers in the top left
2. On the right-hand menu, adjust timer styles, label styles, spacing, colon separators, and custom containers.
3. (Optional) Turn on Custom label text to change the labels under each timer unit, such as days or hours.
4. Click Save changes.

Pre-engagement and preference collection

Preference collection asks shoppers a question, such as their style or favorite product categories, before they enter their email or phone number. You can use their answers later in segments, campaigns, and journeys to personalize messaging from the start.

Before you begin:

• The preference collection page must be the first page in the unit before you can add preference collection. You can't collect contact information first and ask preferences afterward.
• Shoppers who dismiss the page continue through sign-up as usual, so skipping never blocks a sign-up.
• Because this adds a step to sign-up, we strongly recommend an A/B test to confirm it doesn't lower your sign-up rate. Keep every visual element (background images, copy, colors, and layout) identical between the control and test variants. The only difference should be the preference buttons.

To set up preference collection:

1. (Recommended) In Sign-up units, click Clone on your best-performing live unit. The copy keeps the same targeting, styling, and settings, which makes it a clean test variant.
2. Add a pre-engagement page by clicking the + at the top. It will appear before the contact capture pages. 

3. Using the Layers, select Custom Attribute

4. Enter an Attribute name, or select an existing attribute that already has options from the dropdown.

5. Add preference buttons under Options. Three or four short, shopper-friendly labels work best. You can add up to six.
6. Customize the question text, button styling, and dismiss button. The dismiss button text defaults to "No, thanks." We recommend leaving it on so shoppers can skip easily.
   1. The dismiss button can be set to skip, dismiss, or redirect.
7. Click Save Changes.
8. Create an A/B test with a 50/50 split: your original unit as the control and the preference collection unit as the test. Track results in the A/B Tests tab of your sign-up units dashboard.

Additional considerations for existing subscribers

Existing subscribers usually don't see sign-up units. They might, though, if they use a new browser, browse in incognito mode, or visit a landing page. If an existing subscriber submits their information again, they don't re-enter your welcome journey. Plan for what they'll see instead, especially if your unit promises a prize or offer:

• Desktop units: On the Success page, enter a message in the Desktop existing subscriber message field. Click Preview existing subscriber success message to check it.
• Mobile units: Under Brand styles, enter a message in the Mobile existing subscriber message field. You can include personalizations, shortlinks, and offers.
• Default message: If you leave either field blank, existing subscribers see a default "already subscribed" message.
• Follow-up targeting: To identify everyone who submits through a unit, assign a Boolean custom attribute under Audience Targeting. You can then build segments and journeys from it. For full steps, see Customize sign-up units to identify and inform existing subscribers.

Next steps

Pick the option that matches your goal: a game for engagement, a timer for urgency, or preference collection for better data. Then finish designing your unit, and schedule and activate it. If you're unsure whether a new option will help, run an A/B test against your current unit first.