Today in our ongoing series of how we are improving the usability of our fitness websites we will delve into our landing pages, the theory behind them and what we’re doing to improve them.
Landing pages are, by far, the most important pages on a website.
A website works like a funnel, where you get the visitors dropping in at the very top and then squeezing down the funnel. The more effective the landing page, the more effective ‘the squeeze’ is and the higher the chance of getting more enquiries.
Getting into Testing
We’ve tried so many variations of landing pages that we now have a great idea of how visitors operate when they hit a landing page.
Here are a couple of recent changes we’re experimenting with:
Taking Out The Navigation
Following a lot of experimentation we have found one of the best thing we can do is take out the navigation altogether on landing pages.
Our theory is people aren’t distracted by the navigation so don’t feel the need to try and click away from the landing page.
This works well because if a visitor is interested in an eBook and clicks through to that landing page, there’s a really high chance they will then fill out their details as we’re not encouraging them to click around.
The Thank You Page Push
Most websites miss out on an opportunity to push for a consult on a thank you page.
If a visitor fills in their details for something non-commital like an eBook, you need to send them to a thank you page and let them know their eBook is ready to download.
On that same page, why no ask them if they would like a consult too.
As they’ve just filled in their details and you have carried them across to the 2nd form, it will feel convenient and easy to fill in their remaining details and get a consult at the same time as the eBook.
Our Current Sequence
The approach we’re taking to landing pages right now is working really well with a nearly 20% conversion rate.
Here are some tips:
1) Encourage the user to download your eBook by not asking for too many details. We use a popup for this and finding it really effective.
2) Once they fill in their details for the eBook, give them the eBook immediately and then also send them a link with the eBook. On the same page where they can download the eBook, we encourage them to book in for a full consultation. This alone has increased conversion rates significantly on our websites.
3) Finally, if they fill in their details for a consult request from that page, take them to a thank you page so you can track your success with analytics, helping you to always know your numbers.
Tying It All Together
Now we’ve got the above layouts working, does it actually work?
From the handful of sites we have tested with this new sequence of landing pages, the consults have increased and visitors are filling in their details more often for the landing page.
