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Landing Page Case Study - Invoice Bubble

July 15, 2010 in Landing Pages

Rounding out my landing page coverage, I'd like to share some insights from a page in the wild that does a nice job incorporating the principles we've been discussing here. 

Stu Green, the creator, was kind enough to answer a few questions about what they're doing:

How are you getting traffic?

We have a few channels that put traffic through to Invoice Bubble. The best way to get solid traffic is by getting reviewed or getting featured in CSS galleries. We got a lot of traffic after being featured in a web gallery called Web Creme, plus we also had a few writeups and reviews on sites like MakeUseOf and Tuttoaster.

How well is that traffic converting to signup?

The social buzz really kicked up when we made Invoice Bubble free. We suddenly found that we were getting lots of traffic through social bookmarking because it changed from being another premium web app, to being a useful and FREE tool for freelancers. When that happened our signup conversion also shot up from about 2% to about 8% of all unique visitations, which is a massive jump - but one that you would expect given the very low risk factor for signing up (its free).

Those are nice conversion rates. What principles are you employing on your landing page to achieve that success?  

Our landing page is simple. It says what it does on the tin "Free Online Invoice Software". Everything is big, clear and obvious with no messing around. We have clear call to actions to either "Get Started for Free", or to "Take the Tour". Every page basically ends up on the sign up page, so therefore people have two options, close the website or sign up. The only reason that someone wouldn't sign up is that they are not interested in using the app. Therefore with that clear choice in mind, we get a pretty good percentage that do end up deciding to sign up and use the app.

How did you figure out these principles?

The way that we learnt those principles is purely by trial and error. We have tried 30 day trials, we have tried having just a landing page and no Tour, we have tried really clear and bold headings on the landing page (as you see), and more long-winded explanations of the app, we have tried different pricing and tried ultimately making the app completely free. So its only by experimentation that we have learnt those lessons.

One thing that we don't do on Invoice Bubble that we DO do on Project Bubble (the bigger brother app) is to show a video. I would say the most important thing when designing a good landing page is to be really clear about what the product offers, have clear calls to action (as you see on Invoice Bubble), but also show off the product in a video and give your users NO excuse not to click on the video. A human voice, visuals and music can do so much for your conversion rate than any ordinary text could ever do. When we put a video on Project Bubble it almost doubled our conversion rate, so we might do the same thing for Invoice Bubble in the future.

Great insights Stu! Thanks for sharing. 

Stu Green is the managing director of Haloweb Ltd, a UK based web application development company who currently have 3 apps: Project Bubble (project management for small businesses), Invoice Bubble (invoicing for freelancers), and Halogy (a white label, easy-to-use CMS for agencies).

Good landing page principles are good UX principles

July 8, 2010 in Landing Pages

If you haven't seen the new Think Vitamin Membership offering from Carsonified, and you're a web developer of any kind, it's worth checking out. Below I've embedded one of their free videos (most are behind a pay wall) that does a great job of explaining some of the principles behind a proper landing page. They don't use that exact language, but you'll see the familiar principles at play. Enjoy.

A few landing page principles

July 6, 2010 in Landing Pages

Don't over-complicate things, a successful landing page is simple and focused. 

When visitors land on your page, they have a few questions in mind, and your landing page should answer them.

1. Does it offer what I need?
2. What does it look like?
3. How much does it cost?
   
   And before they act, they also want to know:
4. Can I trust you?

Finally, they need a way to convert. This should not be hard to find, do, or figure out. 

A old designer trick that works well here is to sit back and squint your eyes at your landing page and see if it's obvious how to act. I've taken a few successful landing pages with different conversion methods, and done some of that work for you to illustrate you what I mean. As you look over these page screenshots, is it obvious how to convert?

 
 

 

 

Defining a "successful" landing page

July 2, 2010 in Landing Pages

This one is simple. The metric that matters when defining a "successful" landing page is profitability. You need to make more than you spend to bring the traffic. If you're spending X to get traffic, and you're profiting X-plus-anything after the conversion, you're successful. If not, you aren't. 

This might require a 25% conversion rate, or it might work with a 1% conversion rate. 

 A couple of examples of a successful landing page:

• You are running an AdWords campaign, and you pay $1.00 per click and you have a 1% conversion rate. Your offering costs $150. Assuming you have less than $50 in labor and other costs associated with a conversion, you're profitable and have a successful landing page at a 1% conversion rate.
   
• You are giving way an eBook full of great, useful information. In the eBook you establish yourself as an expert. 25% of those who land on your page click the link and download your book. Of those who download the eBook, 0.2% (1 in 500) hire you to consult. You make $200/hr consulting and a typical gig is 25 hours. You're not spending anything explicitly to gain traffic, but you're hustling to spread the word using social media.
  
  Each month you get 4,000 visitors to your landing page (giving away 1,000 eBooks). That translates to two consulting gigs, or $10,000 which is enough to cover your overhead with enough left over to live the way you'd like. You're profitable at a 25% conversion rate.

(btw, do you have a successful landing page? You should share it with us). 

I need your help - seeking successful landing pages

July 1, 2010

One of the most challenging aspects of web-based marketing is creating a landing page that converts well. Most web-oriented entrepreneurs find themselves intensely interested in learning what works and what doesn't because a good landing page often tips the scales toward success or failure. 

Of course one solution won't work for all applications, but there are principles we can apply, and examples we can learn from. I'm going to touch on some principles in an upcoming post, but I'd like to share some of your proven examples too.

If you have a successful landing page, and are willing to share how you created it, why it's successful, and share some stats to back it up - please drop me a note (email link over in my sidebar, or find me on Twitter.) I'll select some of those and share their story here on WorkHappy.net so we can all learn together.

Don't be shy.

-Carson