What is often the first introduction to your company for potential candidates? Exactly, your work-at-home page. On this web page, you can show what your company stands for, what the company culture is, which vacancies are open and how the application procedure is organised. In short: the work-at-home page plays an incredibly important role in attracting talent.
Unfortunately, many organisations still make mistakes in this area, resulting in lagging conversion from visitors to applicants. This is frustrating for you as a recruiter, as you put a lot of energy, time and money into generating traffic to the work-at-home page. If visitors eventually drop out, it means that all those investments are not producing the desired results. Instead of having to keep attracting new visitors, it is much more effective to focus on the group that is already showing interest, but ultimately does not convert.
What are the reasons these potential candidates are dropping out? And what can be changed to ensure they do stay and eventually apply? Even a small improvement in conversion can make a big difference in the quality and quantity of your applicants in this tight job market. In this article we will show you which mistakes to avoid and, of course, how to solve them.
These are the most common mistakes on work-at-home pages
1. Unclear job information
One of the main reasons why visitors drop out of a work-by page is the lack of clear and detailed information about the open positions. Research shows that candidates first look for more information about the tasks, responsibilities and requirements of a position before applying. If this basic information is missing or unclear, they will soon drop out.
To fix this, it is crucial that you do the following on your work-at-home page for each job posting:
- Put a clear job description on paper,
- In it, list the most important tasks and responsibilities,
- Provide a clear overview of the qualifications and experience required,
- Whenever possible, include a salary indication - this way you are transparent and candidates will not be surprised.
This way, candidates will immediately know if the job suits them and can make an informed decision to apply, giving you better matches to the open position.
2. Difficult navigation and usability of your job-by page
The navigation and overall usability of your job-by page have a significant impact on conversion. 61% of users say they are unlikely to return to a mobile site where they had trouble using it, and 40% say they would go to their competitor's website in that case.
When candidates have to struggle to find the right information or go through the application process, many will drop out. To make your work-by page more user-friendly, make sure of the following:
- A logical and clear navigation structure, with links in the main navigation to vacancies, about us, work culture, benefits and finally the contact details.
- Clear call-to-action buttons so visitors -for example- don't have to search for how to contact you,
- An intuitive layout,
- A/B tests and heatmaps (with Hotjar, for example) give useful insights into how visitors use your page and where there are areas for improvement.
3. Lack of candidate contact options
Besides clear job information and a user-friendly design, it is vital that you offer candidates easy ways to contact you. Herewith a best practice to explain this better:
"A good example is a large logistics company looking for drivers. Previously, drivers had to write a cover letter and upload a CV, which was often a stumbling block for drivers as some did not have a CV. By simplifying the process with a WhatsApp popup on their website, the conversion rate increased from 1% to 10%. Drivers can now easily apply via WhatsApp, which significantly lowers the barrier. We see that this is a much more enjoyable process for both practical and higher-ups." - Mees van Velzen, CEO MrWork
- Make sure your work-at-home page clearly states how candidates can get in touch.
- Make the application process simpler, e.g. via a contact form, chatbot or WhatsApp number.
- Make the process accessible and answer questions quickly and personally to increase candidate engagement.
4. Lack of or insufficient employer branding
A strong employer brand helps enormously in attracting and retaining talent. According to a study by Glassdoor, 75% of jobseekers are likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand. If your work-at-home page conveys little about your organisation, mission and company culture, you will be less relevant to your target audience.
Therefore, pay sufficient attention to employer branding on your work-at-home page. Simply do it this way:
- Showcase your values, benefits and development opportunities,
- Use visuals - especially use video and let your employees tell you what a day looks like at your company
- Create stories to illustrate your company culture.
The better candidates can identify with your brand, the higher the chances they will eventually apply.
5. Not making the best use of data analysis
Finally, data-driven insights play a hugely important role in identifying and fixing conversion issues on your work-at-home page. By continuously monitoring how visitors use your page and where they drop out, you can make targeted improvements.
Because most interactions on your work-at-home page take place digitally, you have access to useful data you can use to identify conversion bottlenecks. For example, by analysing engagement rates, clickthrough rates and form completion rates, you can gain insight into where visitors are dropping out or not taking the desired actions. Let's dive a little deeper into that:
- Engagement rates indicate how engaged your audience is with your digital content or platform. Engagement rates look at how long visitors stay and how active they are during their visit. Key engagement metrics include average session duration, page views per session, percentage of returning visitors and interaction rate.
- Clickthrough rates (CTR) show how many visitors click on your call-to-action buttons, such as 'Apply now' or 'Contact us'. If these rates are low, there may be something wrong with the placement, wording or attractiveness of these buttons.
- Form completion rates reveal how many visitors end up going through the full application process. If many visitors drop out during this process, this could indicate technical problems, unclear instructions or an overly complicated flow.
Continuously monitoring these metrics will give you insights into where the pain points are in your conversion process. Then combine these data insights with qualitative methods such as user testing and heatmaps. This will give you a complete picture of the user experience and allow you to make targeted optimisations to improve the conversion to job applications.
Take these insights and start optimising your work-at-home page today. Most importantly: invest in a clear, user-friendly and strongly branded page that excites candidates and encourages them to apply. Trust us: the results will follow! For more info, schedule an appointment with us.
