Homepage Conversion Optimisation for High-Performance Academy
About HPA:
High-Performance Academy (HPA) provides industry-leading training to the aftermarket automotive industry. Their courses have been taken by over 100,000 students across 175+ countries, helping enthusiasts, students, and professionals grow their skill sets for hobbies, studies, or careers.
Over the years, HPA experienced rapid year-over-year growth. As they scaled, their offerings expanded far beyond what they initially started with. Their homepage evolved, but during one of our catch-ups, we pointed out that their home page hero didn’t really align with the core reasons people were purchasing their courses. They agreed, mentioning that it had been bothering them for a while, so we dove in and set about improving it.
The Research
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When analyzing the data and exploring why people were interested in courses in general—and specifically why they bought HPA’s courses—three primary motivations emerged:
- Expanding knowledge – Self-improvement
- Working on a specific project vehicle
- Upskilling for their career
A common theme across all these motivations was the trust that HPA would provide clear, accurate information to help them progress correctly, rather than relying on second-hand sources or random YouTube videos.
Another key insight from the research revealed that a significant segment of beginners weren’t sure if HPA was the right fit for them. This uncertainty was compounded by the lack of clear labeling for course skill levels, leading many users to hesitate, fearing the courses might be too advanced.
We also noticed a lack of clicks on hyperlinks leading to the courses, suggesting that they weren’t effectively engaging new visitors.
The Hypothesis
“By orienting the user correctly when landing on the home page, and focusing on the core reasons users seek out online courses, we can help them better understand why HPA is right for them and improving engagement metrics with the potential to also increase conversions.”
Based on the findings, we applied our hero copy framework. After some back and forth with the HPA team, we decided to run a multi-variant test with several headline options:
- "Learn how to build cars the right way"
- "Build your project car the right way"
- "Build your dream car the right way"
The Results
As with many major changes, we initially saw hesitation from returning users—people often resist change. Because of this, the test needed to run for a significant period to filter out any biases.
What initially appeared to be a modest uplift became far more impressive when we broke the data down by new versus returning visitors. We saw a massive 69% increase in purchases from new visitors for the “Learn to build cars the right way” variation. To validate this, we also observed a 36% increase in add-to-cart events for the same variation.
The next step? We continued to optimise this page and rolled out the messaging learnings to the other key pages on the website and paid advertising.
