No, not just click baits. Pop-ups, chats, modals, interstitials, recapture emails, drip campaigns, ads, and so on. They work. In many cases. Don't ever listen to what consumers "say" they want if their actions cast a different vote.

Now your question is getting to the heart of things. Crappy sites just throw all that stuff up and walk away. They just hope the giant net catches some fish amongst the tires and plastic bottles. Good sites obsess over the data; split test damn near everything, kill what doesn't work, double down on what does work. And most importantly, look at everything in the long term, through metrics like LTV.

That's the difference between good marketers and hacks.