Generate High Quality Leads With This Proven Lead Capture Form Plan  

Lead capture is a crucial cog in your sales and marketing machine. If it’s not functioning properly, you won’t be able to generate the leads you need to grow a successful fitness studio. 

According to the latest lead generation stats, 91% of marketers say that lead generation is their most important goal. However, 37% of the same marketers say generating high-quality leads is their most difficult challenge – and it’s no different in the fitness industry. 

Why this topic matters: Fitness studio owners need to capture high-quality leads to give them a better chance of converting these leads into full-time members and retaining them long-term – and this all comes down to how you generate and capture leads in the first place. 

What you’re going to learn: In this article, you will learn what exactly lead capture is, the elements of a great lead capture, and the best practices for capturing high-quality leads. You will also hear from fitness marketing expert David Steel. 

Here’s what’s coming up:

• What is lead capture?
• What the experts say: David Steel
• The elements of a winning lead capture form
• What is the best practice for capturing high quality leads?

What is lead capture?

Lead capture is the process turning visitors to your website into leads that you can eventually sell a membership to. A visit to your website typically comes from a paid ad you place on Facebook or Instagram. A visit could also come through an organic channel like a person finding your fitness studio through Google Search or one of social media pages. 

There are 4 main elements of the lead capture process: 

• Entry point: This is how the person finds the lead capture page on your website. This could be when they click on a Call to Action(CTA) button on your website or the person hearing about your fitness studio through word of mouth or from searching online
• Lead capture page: This page is the landing page for your lead capture form. It will usually have a persuasive, value driven piece of copy about the membership you offer alongside the lead capture form where they can enter their details. 
• Lead capture form: A typical lead capture form asks for the name and contact details of a person along with a privacy policy regarding the information they are handing over which they can tick a box to agree to. It may also have section where they tick a box to consent or not consent to further marketing materials to be sent out to them 
• Follow up communication: Once the person enters their details, an automatic confirmation email should be sent out. This should be followed up by a phone call as soon as possible. 

The lead capture is so important to your sales and marketing efforts. If it’s not set up properly you won’t get the volume of leads you need to sustain successful growth for your fitness studio. 

Trainerize, a member of the ABC group, also has an excellent guide on building high-quality leads that will turn into loyal and devoted clients of your business.

Read More: The Trainerize Guide to Building a Loyal Member Base

What the experts say: David Steel

“Shop your competition and go through the entire sales process.”

David Steel is a fitness marketing expert based in New Jersey. He is the Chief Viral Officer of Sneeze.it, a social media marketing and consulting firm that specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses (including fitness studios) with their marketing campaigns. 

When he joined us on The Fitness Founders Podcast, David went through the various strategies used by successful fitness studios to find and convert leads. When talking about lead generation and lead capture he made two very important points about the process.

• Know your ideal member: According to David there could be 3 to 4 different personas you are targeting for your fitness studio. There’s no such thing as one size fits all messaging as this will lower the quality of your lead. Identify who exactly will fit your membership and write ad and lead capture page copy that offers value to that persona
• Test out what the competition is doing: This excellent strategy from David should be practiced by every studio owner and marketer. He advises to go through the sales process of your competitors to see exactly what they are doing and where you can improve on their process – this will give you a competitive advantage over your rivals. 

Now that we’ve gone through exactly what lead capture is and listened to some expert advice, let’s go through what you need to put into your lead capture form. 

The elements of a winning lead capture form

A great lead capture form is a balance of good questions, design, length, and placement. It’s important to think about the aim of your lead capture forms and the quality of lead you’re looking to attract. To help you craft quality on-site web page forms, here are nine best practices for your lead capture form. 

Offer a lead magnet: Lead magnets are effective for both engaging users and capturing high-quality leads from your website traffic. If you can take steps to engage users on your website, it increases the chance of turning them into a better lead. Ideas for lead magnets include a free workout program, nutrition tips for building muscle, or shopping lists for healthy recipes. 

Arrange fields to convert: Your form format is crucial.  Think about the information that is the most valuable for you to collect. Some information you definitely need like name and email address, but other elements are considered a nice addition. Creating the perfect lead capture form starts by looking at who you’re targeting, the structure of your form fields, and an incentive. 

Think about the form length: Long forms can be off-putting, so think carefully about the length and number of fields in your lead capture form. Your form should be simple, quick, and easy to fill out. There should be no barrier that stands in the way of collecting customer data.  One option is to use multi-step forms where you break down the form into multiple views so that it’s not as overwhelming to users. 

Powerful CTA and title: Make sure that your call to action (CTA) is catchy and effective. If you’re using a lead magnet to gather leads, think about the CTA you’re using to convince users to promote action. The CTA should make it clear and practically effortless to complete the action. Whether you’re encouraging a free trial or newsletter sign-up, think about creating a powerful and catchy CTA and title. 

Don’t forget about privacy and anti-spam: Data privacy is more important than ever. Be honest and transparent and declare your privacy policy. Potential leads are becoming increasingly aware of their data and keeping their contact information close to their chest. Be honest with your intentions on how you plan to communicate and the information you collect from a lead capture form.

What is the best practice for capturing high quality leads? 

There are 4 main areas to look at when generating high quality leads for your fitness business.

Perform A/B testing 

As with social media marketing and paid ads, A/B testing can help you to determine the best way to optimize your lead generation forms. If you’re stuck between two CTA’s, form fields, or design, split testing is the most effective method to figure out what works best. From this, you can realize which option performs better and generates more leads. 

You can test the position of the fields, the length of your form, and the type of information you’re requesting. All of this is helpful in creating the most effective lead capture forms for your fitness business. 

Use an autoresponder 

What happens when a website visitor fills out your form? They have handed over valuable contact information, so what’s next? If the answer is nothing happens, then you may want to consider an autoresponder. After completing a form, there is a natural opportunity where a potential customer is waiting for a response. 

Whether that’s a “thank you” or “welcome” email to your gym, marketing automation is useful in opening communication. In sales and marketing, timing is crucial. An autoresponder gives you the opportunity to then follow up and move the conversation forward. 

Connect to your CRM 

As a business owner, anything that makes your life easier is a bonus. Connecting your lead capture forms to your CRM system is a simple yet effective way to streamline your sales and marketing efforts. Every time a potential lead fills out the form, the information will automatically be sent to your CRM system.

 Your sales team can begin to qualify leads, follow up, and start to navigate leads through the sales funnel. Lead capture forms are a simple way to collect information and connecting your CRM system is crucial for automating the process. 

Align your lead capture form and target audience 

Web forms are an effective way to capture leads and utilize your website traffic to generate more leads. As with all marketing efforts, the more you know about your target audience the better. Align your lead capture forms and strategy with your target audience. 

Create lead magnets that drive value and engage potential members. Think about how you can create value for your website visitors based on all the information you have on them so far.

In summary

Lead capture is incredibly important for a functioning fitness business and you need to get it right for the best chance of success. 

Here’s an overview of what we covered today: 

• What exactly lead capture is
• The elements of a great lead capture form
• The best practice for generating and capturing high quality leads

What next? 

• For more information on how to grow your business, download our expert guide below on the barriers slowing your fitness business growth.
• Check out how this Glofox customer converted 90% more leads into members with Glofox. 
• Speak to a member of our team if you’d like to know more about how Glofox can drive your sales and marketing strategy – simply click on the Demo & Pricing button at the top of this page.

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