How about "No thanks, maybe later" or something like that :)

Even "No thanks" is fine!

IMHO forcing visitors to be "polite" to a site is just as sneaky as using "I hate saving money". It's all meant to make a visitor feel guilty about clicking it. Just add a simple old close button and don't play marketing mind-games with your users, please.

I agree, I will toss out the marketing book that recommended that, and try being human instead!

Thanks, but I removed the popup instead :-)

I agree with your intuition. The likelihood that the person actually hates saving money is approximately zero. What they are actually saying is that you haven't earned their trust enough yet to cough up their email address. So when you force the question with a timed modal, they have three options: sending their email address to a site they don't trust, clicking a link that's simply a lie or just closing the tab and never coming back. Why on earth would they pick anything but the last option?

Thank you for that very thorough explanation. I had not thought about it that way. So thank you for the mind-opener of the day :-)

After I commented I read through some of the other replies and realize at this point it probably feels like folks are piling on this one relatively small issue. Sorry for that, but I do think it's a good sign that you're asking for (and getting haha) real feedback.

I do wish you the best!

Thanks, I do try to create something useful, but I will make it less intrusive and spell out from A - Z what the purpose of the site is, and what it is not, so that I hopefully will not start world war 3

Well there was that movie Brewster Millions ;)

How about not having a modal dialog that prevents me from seeing / using the site entirely?

Are the signups you get really worth driving away most first-time visitors?

No, so I turned it off.