Links to offer - open in same window, or new?

[mereo]

I keep telling myself I'm going to test this, but I never do - has anyone else ever tested the impact on conversions when using links to the offers that open in a new window versus those that open in the same window?

Especially on review sites, I figure new window means there's a better chance the user will consider several of the offers, but I also worry that opening in a new window will trigger pop-up blockers and make users wary and/or too lazy to click through to the offer.

Any suggestions/experience?

 

[turbolapp]

I always do new windows. It might be a biased thing, I hate it when i click a link and it DOESN'T open up into a new browser. But apparenlty there's a whole group of (really weird)people that get annoyed when things open up in a new browser, so maybe I'm in the minority.

For landers and such, I would say don't do new windows (do you really want them going back to study your lander?) but if it's an actual blog/site that you're hoping they return to and or explore the rest of the site, do a new browser.

 

[nat3r]

i always open up things in a new tab

just my 2 cents, i HATE when my blocker blocks sites that I click so...its a double-edged sword

 

[mediastar100]

New window is a no brainer especially on multiple offer sites where you want them to explore

 

[erect]

new window scrubs the referrer a good % of the time ... something to keep in mind if your network is concerned about BH traffic.

Also, I'm not 100% but target="_blank" (or _new for you purists) should never trigger a popup blocker. It's javascript popups that can get blocked.

 

[butcher]

What erect said. New window is different to pops. If its a review/flog site with more than one offer - new window. Standard lander - same window

 

[gerMAN]

I just listen to Michael Jackson songs all day long.

 

[teguh123]

new window scrubs the referrer a good % of the time ... something to keep in mind if your network is concerned about BH traffic.

Also, I'm not 100% but target="_blank" (or _new for you purists) should never trigger a popup blocker. It's javascript popups that can get blocked.

Correct me if I am wrong. New window means the referral are redirected. Javascript means referral are hidden, at least most of the time.

 

[erect]

Here again, I'm not 100% because it's been quite some time since I've actually tested across browsers / OSs. I think it was something like safari pushed the referrer and opera did on a mac (OS9 days). I remember IE & FF scrubbing all the time. This is long before chrome had been released and I know it's got like 2% market share currently.

It'd be real easy to test though, I just don't care enough to fire up 5 browsers on 2 different computers to try ... hell, I've got enough problems making my sites cross browser compatible on the big 3 (fuck you IE8).

I've honestly never tested with javascript. Why not get that hot naked cheap chinks labor force to try it out for us? Just link to a page with this as the source <?= $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] ?> It will echo out the referrer if any.

Correct me if I am wrong. New window means the referral are redirected. Javascript means referral are hidden, at least most of the time.

 

[hannahmcintyre]

Add me to the group that almost always gets it to open in a new window.

I didn't find it made a HUGE difference on one-offer pages (0.2-0.3% conversion rate difference) but it's just plain stupid to not do it if you're running more than one offer on the page.