Podia Case Study . Annie Maguire helped Podia stand out against their competitors (and convert more customers) using comparison pages. She created nine comparison pages for Podia, which convert at a 10% rate.
Podia is a platform for creators who sell online courses, digital downloads, and memberships…
The problem is, Podia is just ONE of many creator-focused platforms out there.
This means that every day, creators are deciding between Podia and one of their competitors.
To help them decide, many creators turn to Google for help.
Creators who are higher up in the funnel may be searching things like “online platform for creators” or “sell courses online.”
But for those who are further down the funnel (and in the comparison shopping phase), they’re looking more specifically, comparing platforms to each other.
This meant Podia had an opportunity to control the narrative when potential customers typed in things like “[name of competitor] alternative” or [competitor] vs Podia.”
To do exactly that, they decided to create a whole series of “comparison pages” to help them capture some of that search volume.
Strategy
The first step was making a list of all potential competitors, which didn’t take too long.
Next, they started speaking with Podia customers who had switched from a competitor platform to Podia.
This gave them insight into their experiences (the good, the bad, and the ugly), which translated into persuasion points throughout each page.
For example, if one of the customers left competitor “Brand Z” because the platform was constantly crashing, that was something they’d call out on the page, theorizing that it would also resonate with other customers dealing with similar pain points.
Next, Podia came up with a list of keywords that they would need for each page, for example:
- “Brand Z alternative”
- “Brand Z vs Brand Y”
- “Brand Z competitors”
After they made a short list of keywords for each page, they had to figure out the best places to put them on the page. This was a crucial step, as the success of the page depends completely upon Google picking up your targeted keywords.
Once they knew where the keywords had to go, it was time to start writing!
Copywriting
The hardest part of writing a comparison page is trying to make phrases like “Brand Z alternative” sound like a natural part of a sentence.
At first, it was a little tough, but after writing the first few pages, it started to get easier.
By the end of the project, Podia had nine awesome comparison pages that were ready to persuade potential customers to choose Podia over the competition.
And it worked!
All 9 comparison pages convert at over 10% (that’s a whole lotta new customers!) With a page for practically every competitor, Podia now controls the narrative whenever creators are comparison shopping.And out of those who visit the pages (which is quite a lot on a daily basis), over 10% become customers. Not bad, eh?
Interested in seeing the comparison pages live? Click on any of the links below to see them:
Conclusion
Sometimes it’s tricky to balance between SEO and articulating the differences between your product and your competitors in a way that resonates with our customers. But when you take the time and put in effort to really understand your customers, you can be really effective with this strategy.
Podia Case Study
PS. I love everything research-based. This is a perfect result of this type of project.
