10.5: Making a Simple Sign Up Page

Hello again!

Our “built-backwards” pipeline is almost complete.

We’ve talked about your sales page, with its carefully designed structure that gives people all the information they need to decide to buy.

We’ve also talked about your free training, either a mini course or a webinar, that establishes your credibility and warms people up for your sales page.

Now we need to talk about your sign up page, which is how people get into your pipeline in the first place.

Sign Up Page vs Sales Page

So, what’s the difference between a sign up page and a sales page?

Great question! And in a sense, there’s no difference at all.

A sign up page is really just a simple sales page, but instead of selling a paid product, it sells people on the idea of registering for something that’s free, in this case a course or webinar.

In practice, this means getting an email address so you can send them the information they’ll need to take advantage of the free training, and also follow-up with them once they’ve finished to remind them about your course.

Fortunately, getting people to sign up for something that’s free is much easier than getting them to buy something which isn’t! Additionally, a mini course or a short webinar is easier to explain to people than a full course.

For these reasons, your sign up page can be much simpler than your sales page. After all, you’re asking people to make a smaller decision.

That said, you are still asking people to invest valuable time and effort and so you still need to make a strong case for signing up.

Fortunately, you can do this concisely with just two page sections: a benefit-driven “hero” section and a more feature-driven detail section.

And that’s lucky because while a full sales page may take up several pages on screen, a sign up page’s content will ideally be visible all at once.

The Hero Section

The “hero” section is the top half of your sign up page and does most of the work of getting people interested in what you have to offer.

Here’s how the “hero” section breaks down:

Let’s explore them one by one.

Pre-title

The pre-title calls out your target market, just like it does in your sales page.

Here are some quick examples:

You can also mention the format for the course in the pre-title:

Main Title

The main title or headline is arguably the most important element of all.

That’s because a great headline can persuade people to sign up in just a few words, without them even needing to read the rest of the content.

Headline writing is an art form in itself and it’s worth spending some time brainstorming various options before picking one.

Now, the headline for your sign up page obviously needs to tie into the subject of your free training, for example:

The headline’s doubly important because you’ll also use it when promoting your training to grab people’s attention and inspire them to find out more.

Subtitle

The subtitle is an opportunity to expand on the promise of the headline with additional benefits and details.

Here are some examples:

Supporting Image

An image isn’t essential but it will make your page more eye-catching and help to reinforce the verbal message of the page in a more visual way.

Pictures with people in them usually work best and you’ll want to pick one that evokes emotion, either a “before-state” emotion like confusion or frustration, or an “after-state” emotion like relief or happiness.

Depending on the platform you use to build your sign up page, you may simply be able to search for royalty-free images using simple keywords.

Otherwise you can use sites like Unsplash, Pixabay or Pexels.

Date and Time

If your training is being delivered using a webinar happening at a fixed time, you’ll need to include the time and date.

Tip: Make sure to include a time zone unless you know for sure that everyone who lands on the page will be in the same time zone as you.

CTA Button

The CTA button is a prominent button with a clear “call to action” such as:

Depending on how you set up your sign up page, you might also have a text box where people can enter their email address, so that clicking the button completes the registration.

However, if the registration happens elsewhere (e.g., a Zoom registration page) then the button would link to that third-party page.

The Detail Section

The Detail section is the lower half of your sign up page and is designed to give people who are still undecided an extra nudge to make a decision.

If the Hero section primarily tells people WHY they should sign up, the Detail section tells them WHAT they’ll get if they do.

It’s a great place to tell people more about:

Heading

We start with a simple heading, like:

Introduction

The heading is followed by a short introductory sentence that describes the training format and says a little about the instructor, such as:

Bullets

The introduction is followed by a simple list of 3-5 bullets that closely follow the structure of your free training.

You’re effectively “teasing” the content of the training by revealing more about what you’ll cover.

The simplest structure uses one bullet for each of these parts of your free training:

Example:

And That’s Your Simple Sign Up Page!

Okay, that’s how to make a simple sign up page to quickly “sell” the idea of your free training and allow interested people to sign up.

Our “built-backwards” pipeline is now complete. Here’s a quick reminder of what it looks like from the perspective of a potential customer:

With the pipeline in place, the one remaining piece of the puzzle is the promotion, which is how you people find out about your free training in the first place.

See you in the next lesson.

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