What the website says CollegeBacker does
At first glance, it looks like something other than a 529, but after reading closer and scrolling a bit, CollegeBacker is a 529 and it makes saving for college look easier than opening a 529. Brilliant.
The tagline “you can invest your college savings tax-free and rally your family and friends to help you save” makes it sound like it’s geared toward my college and has a hint of GoFundMe. After scrolling, it’s more clear that the target isn’t me and my college savings. Instead, it’s my kid’s college savings.
Conversion opportunities
Change the language of the tagline to talk to parents
The person coming to this site isn’t in college or heading to college. They’re parents of young kids. Millennials. Try something like “Save more for their college.” The calculator makes it obvious that it’s parents saving for their children.
Also, you have a great video that explains the process, but it’s hidden in small type under the homepage button. Make that video easier to see so people can quickly understand what you are all about.
Campaign idea: forget the baby shower!
Get grandma to contribute to the baby’s future. This could be a really fun campaign to build advertising and marketing around.
Maybe you have an email template to send to people invited to the shower asking them to contribute to a college fund instead of bringing a present.
Why are your returns so much higher than the stock market?
That chart sure looks good, but there’s no explanation. Is the difference from taxes? Or does the 529 make more than the Stock Market in general? A better explanation in this section would be nice.
Final thoughts
I love that you have a page that helps people give CollegeBacker as a gift but I think you need to focus on changing your site’s language to speak to parents and grandparents. Using you and your in headings and copy makes me think this is for grown-ups, but then you say 20% of users start saving before their child is born. The language is all over the place.
Find ways of incorporating this into baby showers, birthday parties, holidays and more. Make it obvious that it is easy to ask other people to contribute.
Finally, give an explanation of why your returns are so good.
I hope this helps you see where you can create more conversion opportunities!
Created by:
Claudia Pennington & Kathleen Celmins