I barely notice those anymore. Something pops up, I hit ESC and it's gone.
I don't know who they're targeting with those things though. Do they really think that a lot of people will come to a site for the first time, then decide to hand over their email/sign up/whatever after a grand total of five seconds on the page?
I'd be surprised if they actually A/B tested it. Either way, the popup probably did increase the number of email address they got. However, this came at what cost to the bounce rate?
You're lucky that even works - you have to specially program that functionality, and I see too many websites that don't, forcing me to find the close button.
And for extra irritation have the close button only fade in after a few seconds....
I don't know who they're targeting with those things though. Do they really think that a lot of people will come to a site for the first time, then decide to hand over their email/sign up/whatever after a grand total of five seconds on the page?
Have there been any studies done on this?