In Recruitment Marketing, one of our goals is to convert prospective candidates into applicants or leads in our talent network.
To measure success here, we can figure out the conversion rate by dividing the number of applicants or talent network joiners by the number of total visitors to a web page or piece of content with a clear call to action (like “Apply” or “Join Now”).
One tactic that’s worked well from a conversion standpoint for the Recruitment Marketing team at Tenable is our personalized landing pages.
These landing pages have become part of our content marketing candidate journey. When we post something on social media or promote a digital ad, rather than just linking to the job description that’s generated by our ATS, we create personalized landing pages for each campaign that are geared towards different audiences.
Here’s a bit more about what these landing pages look like, how we create them and the type of success we’ve seen:
Our recipe for a landing page that converts:
- A relevant banner image at the top
- The page’s primary content describing what we are offering
- A clear call to action
- Supporting content to help the candidate decide to take action, such as videos, blogs and similar jobs
The banner image at the top speaks directly to our audience from the start with a bold image that has text overlaid on top. We always try to use images of Tenable employees rather than stock photography, to keep our employer brand authentic. Immediately with a relevant image and headline, our candidate persona knows they’ve landed in the right place and we’re speaking directly to them.
The page’s primary content is placed directly underneath the banner, and has messaging crafted specifically to what the landing page (and Recruitment Marketing campaign) is about. For example, if the campaign is to recruit tech support professionals for our growing Singapore office, we lead with the types of roles we’re offering with a deliberate use of keywords of job titles or technologies that a candidate might be searching for. The content is written casually, remembering that we’re people communicating with people, to help candidates make a real connection with our company from the beginning of their candidate experience.
The call to action is different depending on the campaign. It may be “Apply Now,” or “Join our Talent Network,” or “Sign Up to Learn More.” Sometimes our strategy is to quickly capture a candidate’s contact information and email address so we can nurture them on an ongoing basis, and other times it’s to drive applicant flow for particularly hard-to-fill roles.
Supporting content is carefully selected and included to appeal to the target audience. We include employee quotes and videos that let our employees tell candidates why they should consider working at Tenable. The quotes and videos are personalized to the audience. For example, we include a video of our sales managers on a landing page about our sales positions. We also include copy that specifically addresses the experience of working at Tenable and that outlines some of the selling factors to choosing Tenable for their next career move.
A Tenable landing page
How we create these pages:
Creating personalized web pages when you aren’t a developer is a challenge so it is good to have a tool for this purpose. At Tenable, we use Clinch. The Clinch software lets us easily create landing page templates for different audiences without having to know any HTML or CSS. It only took about 30 minutes for the Clinch team to train me on how to build out these pages and then I was up and running. (Note: Clinch is a Rally sponsor)
Some ATS providers such as Jibe and Talemetry also offer landing pages, or you may be able to partner with your Marketing team. When you consider your options, I suggest thinking about how easily and quickly you’ll be able to create landing pages, and how much personalization you can do (the more personalization, the better your conversion rate). Another consideration is whether you can track the lead or applicant (and hire!) as coming from one of your Recruitment Marketing landing pages. Tools like Clinch can integrate with our ATS, which makes it easier for me to run reports to know how my efforts are resulting in phone screens, hiring manager interviews, offers and new hires.
The results we’ve seen to date:
Our top six personalized landing pages have achieved conversion rates of between 15 and 22%. Overall, they’ve driven more than 150 applicants for competitive roles in our key hiring markets. And let’s not forget that every page view is great for brand awareness and getting people in the top of the funnel.
The takeaway
Content that speaks directly to a specific audience performs better. People are more likely to take action if the content is relevant to them and their interests. Personalized landing pages are a great way to leverage this preference to drive results for Talent Acquisition.
