Membership websites thrive on effective marketing strategies to attract, retain, and engage their members. Landing pages play a crucial role in achieving these objectives. They can be tailored to target specific segments of your membership, serve as sales pages, entice visitors with enticing offers, promote special promotions, and facilitate event sign-ups. In this article, we'll explore how to use landing pages effectively. Here are 5 ways to utilize landing pages to market your membership website.
Targeting Specific Segments with Landing Pages: Downsells and Upsells
One of the strengths of membership websites is their ability to cater to diverse member needs. You can use landing pages to target specific segments within your membership.
For instance, if you have premium and basic membership levels, create landing pages that offer upgrades (upsells) to basic members or downgrades (downsells) for premium members looking to reduce their subscription. Customize your messaging and incentives to match the unique interests and pain points of each group. You can do the same thing with prospective members. Here are a couple of downsell examples:
Downsells for prospective members
Social media is a great springboard for capturing leads, and selling via landing and sales pages. Let’s say you are using a funnel to attract leads that includes a webinar and a series of emails. A certain percentage of these leads will convert to sales, but for those who don’t, a downsell is a good way to keep the person in your orbit at a lower (or free) price. If you have someone who hasn’t taken you up on your membership offer, but is obviously interested in your service, a landing page offering 2 free months or a severely discounted rate for a short period of time might be enough to keep the lines of communication open.
Downsells for cancellations
Another downsell idea is to make an offer at the time of cancellation. If a member cancels, that is a perfect time to send an email with an offer to allow them to stay for a period of time at a discount. Your landing page could reiterate the benefits of membership and possibly offer a bonus of some kind to stay on “temporarily”. Hopefully, the member takes you up on it and decides to stay.
Sales Pages for your Primary Offering
Your primary offering is the cornerstone of your membership site. A dedicated landing page can serve as an effective sales tool for this core product or service. Provide detailed information about what your membership includes, showcase its value, and make the enrolment process simple and appealing. Use persuasive copy, compelling visuals, and clear calls to action to guide visitors toward membership sign-up.
You’ve probably seen sales pages that go on and on forever. But if you really examine them, you’ll find that they adhere to a fairly simple formula.
1. An attention-grabbing headline. Don’t get fancy with this. Simply state what the offer is and the benefit to the potential customer in plain words. Consider using power words and addressing the visitor's pain points to pique their interest.
2. Persuasive sales copy. Here is where you want to reassure the audience that you understand their pain and have the solution. Benefits should be emphasized over features. For example, a feature of your membership might be 6 20-minute videos per week. But what benefit is that? As a member, you can consume the content at your own pace; the content is detailed enough to provide real benefit; the content is also simplified enough that the time commitment won’t be overwhelming.
3. Testimonials. As many of these as possible will help to drive conversions. Try to ask current members for their feedback. Reviews and testimonials are one of the most effective ways to reassure potential clients that what is being offered will help them. Video reviews are even better than text. A mixture of both is ideal.
4. Effective call to action. Sounds like a no-brainer, but consider it carefully. Keep it simple. One call to action is sufficient - sign up, find out more, opt in, and book a call are popular calls to action.
5. Money-back guarantee. You may have heard that most customers don’t utilize money back guarantees, and you would be right. But the main reason to offer one is simply to give your clients peace of mind. It can be a real incentive to sign up for a trial subscription if there is essentially no risk.
Opt-in Landing Page with Free Gift
Enticing visitors with valuable free content is a powerful way to grow your membership website. You can create landing pages specifically for opt-ins where visitors can receive free gifts, such as PDFs, e-books, guides, or video tutorials, in exchange for their email addresses. These leads can then be nurtured through email marketing and eventually encouraged to become paying members.
It’s important to start and maintain an email list of potential clients. You can use an email service like Mailchimp to create a series of autoresponder emails to go out once someone has opted in. These types of landing pages can be much simpler than the sales page:
- A compelling headline
- A persuasive and easy to complete opt-in form
- A list of benefits of your free gift.
- A visually-compelling photo of your ebook or other gift.
Most landing opt-in pages ask only for name and email address to avoid barriers to signing up. Be sure to include a statement about your privacy policy. When describing your free gift, try to frame it as a quick solution to at least some of their problems. For instance, if your opt-in landing page offers a free 7-day email course on photography tips, describe it as a "7-Day Photography Mastery Course" and emphasize the benefits of improving photography skills in a short period of time.
Special offer page for promotions
Promotions can be a strong catalyst for membership growth. Landing pages tailored for special offers, such as free trials, limited-time discounts, or bundled packages, can significantly boost conversions. Clearly outline the offer's terms, benefits, and value, and emphasize the urgency of taking advantage of the promotion.
Be very clear about the benefits of this special offer, and how it differs from your regular pricing model. Are you offering a 20% discount? 60%? You can also make it a dollar amount. Either way, you want to encourage visitors to act quickly. Be sure to include urgency in your offer. You can do this by having the offer expire in a certain number of days or hours. Most platforms allow embedding of a countdown timer for this purpose. Lastly, make your call to action meaningful. Choose specific words that reinforce your offer, such as “Shop Now”, "Yes! I want to change my life Today!", "Save 50% Now".
Event or Webinar Sign-up Landing Pages
If your membership site hosts events, webinars, or exclusive content releases, dedicated landing pages can simplify registration processes and increase attendance. These pages should provide essential event details, schedules, and clear sign-up forms. Ensure that the pages are responsive for mobile users, as many people access such content through their smartphones.
Event and webinar registration pages have a dual purpose: to explain the benefits of the event or information they’ll receive on the webinar is one. The other is to be very clear on how the event is going to be accessed. If it’s an in-person event, how will they receive details of date, time and location? Are there any special instructions they need to be aware of before registering? if it’s an online event, be sure to make it clear how and when they are going to receive the access information.
Make the sign-up process as simple as possible, without too much customization of the registration form. If you can stick to name and email to start, you can always follow up later to request more information using your email service.
Conclusion
Landing pages are versatile tools for membership websites, catering to a variety of marketing needs. Whether you're targeting specific segments of your membership, presenting your primary offering, enticing opt-ins, promoting special offers, or facilitating event sign-ups, a well-designed landing page can significantly impact your membership growth and engagement.
To make the most of your landing pages, continually analyze their performance using web analytics, conduct A/B testing to optimize elements, and keep refining your strategies. By strategically implementing landing pages in the ways outlined above, you'll be better equipped to attract and retain members while achieving your membership website's goals.
SubHub’s landing page builder is the perfect tool to create landing pages for your sales and marketing campaigns. Simply click on Landing Pages and start building.
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