Hover Ad Strategy

Recently I grilled a few direct response and fitness marketing experts about opt-in strategies for different personal training sites. I wanted to address the concern over the possibility of a hover ad annoying a lot of visitors and driving them away from a site.

So as usual,  one of my favorite guys to grill is Michel Fortin. I asked Michel if he were a personal trainer or fitness professional and had a high priced service if he would implement a hover ad.

Here's what Michel said:

"Yes.

The strategy and how you present it is what’s important.

You can test variations. You can give your visitor a pop ad that gives a “way out” with a link that says “no thanks,” and it closes it, without interfering with the pitch.

Or you can have one on exit. Or one on entry, where you ask them to “register to view this site.” (You can say something like, “To prevent unneeded phone calls from solicitors and the like, you must register to view.”) Or one before they click on a separate page where the phone number is listed. Or one that appears on the side, outside the main table, so as to not distract and interfere.

There are a gazillion different methods.

But take a look at the numbers.

First off, can it be done in a way that’s tasteful, professional, and genuinely helpful (not overbearing)? Yes.

So let’s say you lose 1% (off your conversion rate) of people who call, because of this pop-up. Fine.

But what kind of INCREASE will you get if you get these people’s email addresses, allowing you to put them on autoresponders so that you can be constantly in front of their eyeballs and stay at the top of their minds, so they do end up calling you (or choose to call you when they finally decided to)?

Or, look at it another way.

How many people leave the site RIGHT NOW because they failed to read it, or just didn’t have the time AT THAT MOMENT to pick up the phone? They procrastinate and say, “I’ll call them later.” Perhaps they bookmark your site in the hope to return.

But they never do.

(How many of your bookmarks have you revisited since you bookmark them? If you’re like me and like most people, you have thousands.)"

Work Less and Make More,

Chris McCombs is a gym marketing and personal trainer marketing specialist. He focuses on helping fitness business owners make more money while working less hours