Writing service pages can be a drag! You want to persuade prospective clients to sign up but ‘selling’ can be an uncomfortable thing to do. But it doesn’t have to be… Here’s the secret to writing compelling copy:

Put yourself in your client’s shoes and consider the process they’re going through. Once you’ve done that, creating those pesky service pages will be a breeze.

Your sales copy

If they’re on your website you know that they’ve already started on their buyer’s journey. They’ve decided they want to join a group class and they know you exist. So far, so good!

As far as what you write on service page goes, the biggest thing to remember is the question in your reader’s head: WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? Your copy on the page needs to give them the answers to that question, quickly.

Not only that, but your copy needs to be written in plain English that grabs your reader by their eyeballs and draws them in!

If you’d like help with the ‘copy’ bit of the creation process, check out a few of our copywriting guides! Understanding how to appeal to your reader’s emotions, build a connection and have them nodding along with you in agreement will all make your service pages do the heavy lifting of ‘sales’ for you.

Be specific!

When writing your pages for group classes, be specific about the problems your class will solve and what the client (and dog!) will learn. Here’s an example of how NOT to do it…

“Our basic manners course will teach you how to train your dog so they’re a perfect companion and well-behaved pet you can take anywhere.”

That doesn’t say very much! Take a few minutes to sit down and write out the skills your student/dog team will have when they finish your class. When you have the details, be sure to use those in your copy. (Tip: bullet points are great for this!)

Remember, your prospective client wants to know what they’re getting for their hard-earned cash: will their dog still pull on the leash? Jump on visitors? Embarrass them on the beach by disappearing into the horizon? Will this class be all they need or is it the first step in a process? I’m sure you get the idea!

Should I list my class prices?

Short answer: yes. List class prices.

Why? For your group classes, your service pages need to do the selling for you. You don’t want to have to chat to every prospective student before you sign them up!

Ideally, they should be able to browse through your group class page, see something they like the look of, click through to get more information and then sign up. (More on that in a later post…) By having your prices listed for each class, it smooths the decision-making process for your prospective students. And saves you from having to answer ‘how much is your … class?’ emails and phone calls all day.

But I don’t want EVERY dog in my class!

If you need to find out that dogs joining your classes are suitable to be there (no reactive rovers in the basic manners class, thank you), you have a couple of options:

• Have the student sign up via a booking page, but include a short questionnaire asking for confirmation that their dog is suitable and appropriate for a group class. Manually review the booking and if the dog doesn’t sound suitable, contact them to discuss their options — perhaps a refund or enrollment into a different class.
• Have them fill out an intake form and if the dog is suitable, send them the link to sign up and pay for the class. If the dog isn’t suitable send a standard email listing other options available to them.

The key here is to minimize the amount of trainer/client interactions you have to dedicate time to before the class happens.

The page structure

So, now you know what to put on your pages. But a trickier question might be: “How do I help my visitor find what they want, fast?”

How you link your service pages together will depend a bit on how many services you offer. The most common system is having separate pages for each service. A visitor can then go to the main “group class” page to get an overview of what you offer.

That page should include the class name and a brief description of what the class covers — and make sure your class names clearly explain the focus of each class!

If you only have one or two group classes you can probably just have their details on one page. However, if you offer lots of different group classes you’d be better off keeping the main page uncluttered and to the point.

For trainers with many classes, use individual pages to give further details of who the class is for, what’s covered, when and where the class runs, and who teaches it (assuming your business has more than one trainer). Don’t forget to include a link so people can sign up or fill out your intake form.

If you have a class listed but currently aren’t running it, linking to a “Be the first to know when this class opens” form is a great way of getting people to let you know they’re interested — and get them on your email list.

Integrating with booking software

As a time-saver, it really pays to integrate some sort of booking software with your group classes information.

As noted above, you can have a way of vetting prospective dogs before letting them sign up for a class if you need to. Alternatively, if you rarely have inappropriate dogs in the wrong class, you can simply let people sign up and then deal with any mismatches if they happen.

Depending on how your booking software works, your prospective clients may need to set up an account before being able to view times and availability.

Some systems are a bit more user friendly: your clients can see the times and availability but need to create an account to actually sign up. Whichever system you have, make sure you have links to it on the class pages.

Don’t have a software system chosen yet? Check out this business software breakdown on the Dog Trainer’s Umbrella blog.

Next time we’ll be looking at creating your Private Lesson service pages. Until then, why not make sure your group class pages are working as hard for your business as you do?