TheLadders.com, a subscription site for high-salary job seekers, used to have a boring text-on-blue-background homepage. This new design, featuring a “people image” and brilliantly-bulleted benefit copy, probably converts better. (We suspect they’ll swap out the person in the image routinely, but perhaps keep the template.) Several design elements to note:
- Small header. Vertical space is at an extreme premium for homepages because many visitors don’t scroll beyond the fold. TheLadders has a smaller-than-normal header including a shrunken logo and almost no padding between the logo and the “top” of the screen. That way the most possible vertical space is used for conversion.
- Member log-in (seen here as “sign in”) is limited to a small, innocuous blue text-box at the top right of the page. Again, maximizing amount of space for new visitor conversion.
- Pricing info available up front. It’s rare for a site to put pricing directly on its homepage — usually you try to entice people to get further into the conversion funnel before you open the pricing kimono.
- Extreme pricing range. Probably a brilliant move. This site is known for a/b price testing so we suspect they have data on this. Although most people will take the free offer (which ultimately leads to a paid conversion funnel anyway), this site mitigates the use of the word “free” by putting such a crazy big four-figure price as another option. No, it’s not because they think many people will accept the big price, but rather because it makes the $25 price immediately next to it look like such a what-the-heck pittance. We bet this has given the $25 offer more power to hold its own against the siren call of “free”.
