I want you to promise yourself you’ll stop sending cold traffic to a sales page.
That’s like introducing a girl to one of your guy friends, who says hello to her and then proceeds to get down on one knee!
(Coming on a little strong, don’t you think?)
In this post, we’re going to do a deep dive into the affiliate bridge page – one of the best ways to warm up your leads for an offer.
If you’re not already doing this, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity! (And if you are using one, but want to take your strategy to the next level, we’ll help you get the most out of your bridge page.)
Let’s dig into it.
What Is a Bridge Page Funnel in Affiliate Marketing?
The bridge page (sometimes called a “pre-sell page” or “interstitial”) is one additional step in the sales funnel between a traffic source and the sales page.
As its name suggests, the bridge page serves as a “bridge” that helps move potential customers from one place to another online.
Ordinarily, you would start with a traffic source like:
- Google Ads
- Facebook Ads
- YouTube video
- Blog or social post
- Forum or comment link
Then, you’d move the lead to a sales page that nets you a commission if they convert to a paying customer.
But as we’ll cover, there are several reasons why your affiliate marketing funnel could benefit from a step in between the traffic source and the sales page: a bridge page.
Ultimately, this specialized interstitial page can help qualify and warm up leads before you send them along to an offer.
Why Use Affiliate Bridge Pages?
We’ve already touched on the value of a bridge page in general, but here are the 3 main reasons why a bridge page is such a good idea:
- It can help you avoid getting shut down by Google or Facebook Ads for including an affiliate marketing link or HopLink right in your ad.
- It can help you capture email leads to grow an “owned” audience for future sales (though this is a friction point that could decrease your conversions in the short term).
- It can pre-sell leads before you send them over to a pitch page.
Remember, if you’re an affiliate marketer sending traffic over to an offer page, your primary job is to provide qualified traffic.
If you’re a media buyer, the way you set up your paid ads is an important step, but your bridge page is the missing piece to ensuring leads are warmed up and primed to purchase!
A Bridge Page Example in Action
Let’s say you’re a middle-aged woman who’s browsing Facebook. (I know, it’s hard to imagine!)
As you scroll, you spot an in-feed ad that catches your eye. It’s this interesting image of an older woman stretching, with a caption asking you if you know what type of yoga is right for you.
You click on a whim and land on a quiz that asks you a few simple questions about your personality, how much you sleep, and how you handle stress. Then, you get a personalized quiz result that says your type is “Hatha yoga.”
It tells you that you experience stress physically and should focus on stretching and breath control with yoga – and it includes a link to a discount on a yoga course. On the offer page, you’ve already been convinced that you need to get back into yoga, so it doesn’t take much to get you to hit the “Buy” button.
Somehow, you went from randomly browsing your social media feed to purchasing a $37 video course on yoga in the space of about 15 minutes!
HINT: This is how you want your campaigns to go!
5 Bridge Page Ideas You Can Use Today
If you want to attract customers just like in the above example, then check out these 5 affiliate bridge pages you can use in your funnel.
The right type of presell page for you will depend on your traffic source, your audience, your strategy, and your time horizon – but as with anything in marketing, it’s worth testing to see what works best for your goals!
1) Quiz
Quizzes do an incredible job of engaging cold traffic. Like I mentioned in the earlier yoga example, an ad leading into a quiz is a great way to build curiosity and encourage clicks over to your bridge page.
On the page itself, use your quiz to build more intrigue by asking unusual and thought-provoking questions. Be sure to make each question its own page – and for an even more advanced tactic, personalize the next landing page or offer based on what the user says, choose-your-own-adventure style.
You can even add videos discussing each question or answer to add a conversational element. With just 5-7 questions, this interactivity will make the user feel listened to. This is unbelievably powerful stuff!
When it comes to sharing quiz results with the user, you can either provide the results on the final page of the quiz with a link to the offer or require them to give you an email address where you’ll send the results. (And from there, you can promote the offer now or nurture them over time.)
As a bonus, quizzes tend to work better with platforms like Facebook because users like them so much.
2) Lead magnet
For a lead magnet bridge page, you should first tease the lead magnet – this is particularly common in YouTube videos. Consider posing a question upfront that the lead magnet can answer.
There are countless examples of lead magnet types that work well. Here are just a few ideas:
- Checklist
- Cheat sheet
- Reference guide
- How-to video
- Spreadsheet
- Ebook
The goal is to qualify and warm up your traffic with a relevant offer, and then either send them straight along to the offer page or follow up with them via email.
Why go with the lead magnet idea for your bridge page? It adds value and builds credibility, but most importantly, you’re establishing the potential for a longer relationship with your prospects. Imagine being able to sell to your own list anytime you have a new offer… An email list is a true game-changer, and the lead magnet is a perfect lead-in.
3) Calculator
For some niches – such as fitness or personal finance – a calculator can be another helpful tool to use as the basis for your pre-sell page.
It’s a pretty logical step. As an example, if you’re a mortgage broker trying to generate leads for your business, sending traffic to a mortgage calculator will not only provide value for the prospect, but it will also help you qualify them!
Because visitors are putting in their own information, you’re able to sort these incoming leads and focus your time on the ones with the numbers to qualify for a loan.
On the affiliate marketing side, imagine having a fitness calculator that helps route users to a different paid exercise program based on their level of fitness! It’s worth thinking about how you can use a calculator to improve both targeting and user experience for incoming traffic.
4) Blog Article or Advertorial
The humble blog post or article can be a fantastic bridge page leading to an offer. Generally, it works best in combination with a native ad, like so:
In this native ad example, remember that the native ad typically blends into the page it’s displayed on, often appearing as a suggested article at the end of another post. So, it makes sense for a user in “reading mode” to land on another content piece when they click your ad.
If you want to sell them then and there, your bridge page article can be an advertorial (an advertisement dressed up as an article), or you can do a straight content piece that’s less salesy and focus on generating email opt-ins instead.
5) Presell Videos
If your traffic source is a YouTube video or video ad, and your offer page has a VSL (video sales letter), then it makes a LOT of sense to have a video on your pre-sell page as well to warm up those leads.
As we’ll talk about later in this post, the goal of any bridge page is to establish congruence from one step to the next. If at any point the user gets confused about why they’re seeing what they’re seeing, your funnel isn’t working.
So, what kind of video makes sense?
Well, think of this as a transition step in line with your copywriting formula of choice. In the first video, you’re probably identifying the audience’s problem and walking them through the pain points, then proposing a solution for them to learn more about.
So, on the bridge page, your video will sell them on the “what” and “why” behind the solution, but not the “how,” setting up the need for them to buy the offer. Point them to the offer page to make the purchase.
Do you see how much more likely your audience is to buy if they’ve been properly warmed up? You’re investing more into acknowledging their situation and clearly outlining how your specific offer is the only choice that makes sense in solving their problem!
5 Ways to Build an Affiliate Bridge Page
If you’re convinced that an affiliate bridge page is worth having, then you may be wondering how to build it.
Well, I’ve got good news: You probably already have the tools you need! We’ll briefly discuss a few options.
1) WordPress Page Builders
Is your website one of the 455M websites using WordPress today?
If so, there are countless page builders available as free or inexpensive WordPress plugins. Even better, your overall site doesn’t have to be built on a drag-and-drop page builder like Elementor, Divi, Thrive, or Beaver Builder – you can still install one specifically to create your bridge page.
Another important note: If you already have a WordPress-powered blog, it’s a no-brainer to do your pre-sale page there – it’ll look more authentic on an actual website, as opposed to a solitary page on its own somewhere.
2) Landing Page Builders
A landing page builder is a tool focused on building individual landing pages. Some of the more common landing page builders include LeadPages, Instapage, and Unbounce.
These work well if you just need to get something up quickly that can then point to the offer page. These tools come with templates or drag-and-drop editors so you can create a custom page without a lot of effort.
Even better, they’ll typically come with built-in analytics so you can easily track metrics like impressions, clicks, and most importantly, conversions!
3) Funnel Builders
The funnel builder is another great way to build an individual bridge page or a series of pages. If you want to go this route, we recommend Convertri or ClickFunnels.
While they are handy for building out a single page, funnel builders really shine when you need to create a sequence. This can be moving someone through from the lead magnet opt-in to a thank you page, or even building out a quiz funnel.
Use your imagination – just remember that whatever you do should be about improving user experience. If you can get visitors to keep moving through your sequence, you can get them to an offer page.
4) Quiz Builders
If you want software that’s specifically designed for quizzes, there are a lot of different quiz builder options out there.
For something basic, you can put together a quick free quiz in Google Forms. It probably won’t look the best, but it will get the job done in a pinch!
For more advanced options, look into Typeform or Bucket.io.
They offer a lot of functionality and look professional right out of the box. If you’re wanting to create branching options and really customize your lead flow, you’ll benefit from the additional features.
5) Calculators
The problem most of us have with designing an interactive feature like a calculator is the investment of resources. Who wants to take weeks and hire an expensive agency or freelance developer to build a calculator?
Well, thankfully, there are easier ways. For example, we’ve seen good results from tools like Calculoid.
Calculoid comes with templates to help you get started quickly. You can change the design, swap out the data points, and embed the result on your bridge page in just an afternoon!
To Collect Emails or Not to Collect Emails?
That is the question.
Some of these bridge page types – like the quiz or lead magnet – may logically include an email opt-in step. Whether you add one depends on your traffic source and your affiliate link promotion strategy.
In that case, it would look like the following:
Ultimately, it can help to request an action from someone, like downloading the guide or getting the quiz results. This helps you to warm up and qualify leads.
The longer you engage with your audience, the more they begin to know, like, and trust you! It’s up to you to decide if you want to focus on quick profits, relationship building, or a combination of both.
Affiliate Bridge Page Wrap-up
Here’s the deal: A bridge page may be an extra step – and more work for you – but it does make a big difference!
No matter where your traffic comes from, the bridge page is an opportunity for a virtual conversation. Most people won’t have their wallets out until you give them a reason.
And as Kyle Kostechka, business development manager here at ClickBank, explains: “Congruency is key. The power of a good pre-sale page is that it offers a seamless transition to the sales page. Some of our affiliates almost doubled their earnings per click (EPCs) just by tweaking their pages for better congruency!”
“Congruency is key.”
As an affiliate, you may not be able to control what the offer page looks like, but you can control your bridge page. So, make sure that the sequence feels cohesive from start to finish, and you’ll see higher conversions in no time.
If you want to maximize your affiliate marketing results, why not give ClickBank a try? We have thousands of high-converting offers to help you put your new bridge page knowledge to the test!
Click here to sign up for a ClickBank account. We’ll see you inside!