Road Map To Success
IMPORTANT LESSONS
Why web projects fail.
You ask for this but…
…you’d settle for this.
But you end up with
SWEET
REFRESHING
Now legal in Belarus!
Bad websites are an epidemic in the fitness industry.
Most fitness club websites suffers from the same deficiencies:
High bounce rate: When your website takes more than two seconds to load, we see a precipitous drop off in leads, called the bounce rate. Hundreds of potential leads become impatient and leave before the website ever loads. A slow website reflects poorly on a business.- Low conversion rate: Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action such as requesting a free pass or signing up to become a member. The above mentioned bounce rate is a major factor.
- Unappealing design: A poorly functioning website that is not intuitive can lead to a huge drop in leads. Your website needs to be sleek, streamlined, and easy to use o that you can move your leads toward the conversion action.
- Poor planning: All fitness club websites we’ve worked on were inherited from other web developers and digital marketing teams who apparently invested zero effort in providing a success path with measurable goals for the club. Without this, how can success be determined?
Clublamaison.com Load Speed:
0
SECONDS
OOF!
Source: Google Page Speed Insights.
Google gives clublamaison.com a score of 7 out of 100 for page speed, meaning that your website is extremely slow. This is almost certainly impacting your bounce rate, and ultimately your conversion rate.
Your lead conversion rate is undoubtedly suffering.
BUT THERE IS HOPE!
Your website will succeed where others have failed as long as you open your heart to the one true solution.
THE ONLY SOLUTION
SCIENCE
The one thing nobody ever told you to try.
Here’s how a web project usually goes down:
- You tell the web developer what you want.
- They design the website to your specifications.
- Everyone agrees that it looks great!
- With a fabulous new web design ready to go, you migrate your content and launch the new site.
Everything went according to plan, right?
Nope!
Mistakes were made. The correct design is actually the one that generates the most new business for your club.
Deploying the scientific method with split sample A/B experiments.
In a content experiment, different versions of your website are shown to a percentage of visitors. After a few weeks, Google Analytics announces the winner: the design that produced the highest number of lead conversions.
If your previous web developer did not perform these critical experiments, this was a misstep.
Bottom line: Only data analysis can determine which web design is the best for your club, by determining which version of the website generates the most business for you. With statistical evidence!
With that in mind
and without further delay
The designs that follow are fully functional and clickable, and were built using the same web design tools you will have access to at the end of this project.
AS REQUESTED:
- Black/white palette
- Uncluttered
- Simplistic call to action
- Minimize “below the fold” scrolling
- Simplified navigation menu
AS REQUESTED:
- Three simple blocks that can feature any content.
- A great place for experimentation
And a similar version with a full screen slider…
AS REQUESTED:
- Full screen panels that can be used to feature your most important information, promotions, and announcements.
- Using the experimental technique, we will determine which slides are the best to show first and if showing a static image is better.
- Final content will be determined by the lead conversion rate, through careful experimentation and analysis.
HOWEVER
Don’t forget:
There’s still that pesky matter of the science.
I like the way it turned out and I agree with your taste. I think there is a high probability that this website will lead to an increase in sales.
Then again… what if I’m wrong?
What if, for some inexplicable reason, your potential customers respond poorly to this design? Human behavior is tricky. Just because we expect a certain outcome does not mean it is 100% certain to turn out as expected.
No more assumptions. We need results that are backed by evidence.
For example
What if we experimented with a design that checks every box you hate? What if it was colorful, darker, lots of scrolling and features? How might people respond then?
How about a giant promo about cycling?
Maybe you get more cyclists in the door, maybe you make anti-cyclists run for the door.
With experiments you can do the unthinkable.
How about the home page that every business owner fears?
WARNING! The following mock up may shock sensitive readers.
But before you object…
Remember that this is all experimental. Wouldn’t it be worth showing the pricing to 10% of your visitors just to find out how they react? Posting pricing right up front might lead to a jump in lead conversion. Or not. The fact is, only data can provide those answers.
In conclusion….
I hope this presentation has given you some direction about the type of thinking we need to here. Rather than finalize concrete designs, we need to continually brainstorm, experiment, analyze, and improve. Your website should be an evolving, organic entity that is always improving.
So think about it.
There are no dumb ideas for experiments. Ideas can only be proven wrong only through the findings of science.
Follow the advice in this document and your website will be a great success!
Follow it not and, well…
I’ll bring the Bepis!
English