Landing page redesign for Recruiting Social
Increasing inbound leads by 1,700% (!)
Overview
Purpose: Boost inbound sales leads coming from the company website
Client: Recruiting Social, a recruitment firm that provides “on-demand recruiting:” hiring support as a monthly subscription service
Team: Solo project
Project duration: 2 weeks
Skills: User research, information architecture, UX writing, wireframing, icon design, HTML, and CSS
The redesigned homepage hero, with new copy and a photo of a real recruiter.
Problem
Despite decent search traffic, Recruiting Social just wasn’t getting inbound leads from its website. The homepage wasn’t encouraging users to explore the unique on-demand offering. The services landing page didn’t reflect the new subscription model. The site wasn’t earning many contact form submissions or any proposal requests. It was time for a serious update.
Desired outcomes:
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Increase the number of contact form submissions requesting service information or pricing
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Prequalify leads with targeted content
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Update website content to reflect changes to the on-demand service model
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Develop updated value propositions and messaging templates for use in marketing and sales
Requirements:
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Work within the existing Bootstrap and WordPress-based design
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No access to the main CSS file, only able to use existing classes and inline styles
Research
Shadowing sales:
Because the service offering is unique, I sat in on sales calls with several potential clients, to hear how the sales team pitched the service, what questions prospects frequently asked, what challenges they faced when trying to understand the model, and what about it would finally close the sale.
User interviews:
I also interviewed several existing clients, to hear how they described the service using their own words, and to understand what differentiated features they found the most valuable.
Analytics review:
Finally, I reviewed Google Analytics and Crazy Egg heatmaps to understand current user behavior, how people were flowing to and from the service landing page, what barriers were stopping people from requesting more information.
Competitive analysis:
I reviewed sales landing pages for competing recruiting service companies as well as subscription-based B2B SaaS products. The recruiting service pages helped validate my insights from user interviews. The SaaS product pages gave me a sense of structure.
Design
User flow:
Before, the homepage hero was funneling people into the “Company” about page. However, the user research showed that most users wanted to learn about the service offering. The new design needed to reflect this main user flow.
Information architecture:
The company offered several services, including three on-demand options and a rarely-sold contingency offering. Every option had its own landing page, but they each received little traffic. I simplified the information architecture by consolidating the on-demand service pages, removing the contingency page, and flattening the navigation.
Homepage and main navigation, before and after.
Content strategy:
The original copy tried too hard to explain and sell the service at the same time. Because the service is unique, we needed to start by introducing what it is: “Recruiting as a flexible monthly service.” Then, we could communicate the main benefit with user-centered (and SEO-conscious) language: “Support your team with an expert recruiter.”
Service features:
It was the user research that pointed to which service-features to highlight, the order to present them in, and what language to use describing them. Much of the copy came right out of the mouths of satisfied clients.
Recruiting Social’s clients shaped the content.
Social proof:
Client testimonials were integrated throughout the page. User interviews with clients revealed that case studies were critical to the sales process. So, a case studies section, featuring three highly-recognizable brands, prompts users to “see how it works.” This, along with testimonials throughout the page, offers the social proof that is key to B2B sales.
Call to action:
The first question prospects would ask on sales calls was, “what’s the pricing?” Because most recruiting services are based on a placement fee, a common objection centered on paying a fee without a placement guarantee. So, I used “Get pricing” as the primary call to action, encouraged them to “Try it for a month” to address the main objection, reminded them of the benefits, and included a client testimonial to make taking the next step all that much more appealing.
Social proof and a low-risk next step were used to reduce friction.
Icons and images:
I designed a new set of icons to punctuate the page and guide users through the content. Photos of actual Recruiting Social recruiters were selected to show that the company isn’t your typical corporate recruiting agency, establish its tech-startup “cred,” and provide visual interest.
Custom-designed icons and real recruiters.
Takeaways
Results:
During the 3 months following its launch, the site redesign saw a (totally crazy) 1,700% increase in inbound leads, compared to the preceding 3 months. Three of the leads signed on as (5-figure) clients.
What I learned:
Like, a lot. More isn’t necessarily more when it comes to landing-page CTAs. Benefits don’t sell on their own – you need the context that feature-descriptions provide.
Biggest challenges:
Clients love the on-demand recruiting model. But, to the uninitiated, it’s very hard to explain. Accomplishing that, thoroughly but succinctly, was definitely a huge challenge. Also, that I wasn’t able to access the main CSS file – man, that sure makes layout and design harder.
What I’d do differently next time:
User test a mockup – or at least, I’d seek user feedback on the new page design. I didn’t have the time or resources to do this.
My favorite step:
It’s a tie: user interviews, which I always love doing, and icon design, which lets me stretch my visual design muscles.