The Challenge

Bensons for Beds is a major UK brand specialising in beds, mattresses, and bedroom furniture. Like many online retailers, they used a standardised approach to email capture, triggering sign-up pop-ups based on page count rules. This method assumed that page views equalled engagement.

However, without insight into each visitor's purchase intent, there was no way to know whether the experience was arriving at the right moment. The email capture was therefore served to anyone and everyone, at times that didn’t feel aligned with how the visitor was browsing. 

The timing was inappropriate. And so, the impact of this popup was diluted. 

The Hypothesis

By using real-time intent data to trigger email capture pop-ups, we could increase sign-ups and impressions without harming customer experience.

This approach flipped the traditional logic. It wasn’t about showing pop-ups on assumed engagement, like time on site or page view, or showing these experiences fewer times. Instead, the team could show email sign-ups more often and at moments that made sense.

And it’s not just theory. According to The Intent Gap, 55% of shoppers dislike pop-ups that appear in the first moments of a session, and 40% say they make them less likely to buy. When experiences ignore real behaviour, they don’t just underperform, they erode trust.

The Solution

Bensons For Beds replaced their generic, rule-based email trigger with real-time segmentation powered by Made With Intent. The new approach prioritised visitors in the Maintain Intent Abandon segment. These are visitors who have built a level of purchase intent but show signs of abandonment, such as hesitation, reduced activity, or exit behaviours, in the mid-to-late stages of their journey.

By targeting those at risk of slipping away with a Price Drop Alert email capture, the team could encourage signups in a way that felt more timely, less disruptive and overall more appropriate. 

This new intent-led approach was also fully integrated into their existing Bloomreach setup, making it easy to deploy without overhauling workflows. By swapping out a fixed logic for a responsive one, the brand transformed a static tactic into a dynamic opportunity to capture more value.

The Impact

Without Intent, email capture experiences were shown based on page counts, often missing the real moments of visitor hesitation or exit.

With Intent, the brand triggered experiences when visitors' behaviour signalled they were about to drop off, increasing visibility at the right time.

Key Results:

• 6x increase in emails captured

This Play proved that visibility doesn’t have to mean intrusion. By acting on live intent signals, Bensons For Beds dramatically increased email capture performance. Not by shouting louder, but by listening more closely. The fact the increased impressions held the same submission rate also backed up their hypothesis: visibility works when it’s well-timed.

They’re now scaling this approach across the entire journey, not just for late-stage visitors. By expanding into other notifications, welcome emails and basket abandonment triggers, the team is building an intent-led strategy that captures value earlier and more often.

Email capture shouldn’t be a guessing game, fired on assumptions about interest, not signals of intent. This Play shows what’s possible when your tech listens before it speaks and when you can respond in real-time.

Want to rethink how your brand collects emails? Explore more about Email Capture with Intent.