10 Website Notification Bar Examples That Get Results

Did you know that adding a notification bar to your website can help turn more visitors into customers?

In this post, we look at how to use notification bars for best results on your landing pages and websites. We'll also share how you can access 30 new done-for-you notification bar templates...

A notification bar will allow you to dramatically improve the results of your website promotions and engage with your visitors without having to resort to hard selling.

But what is the best way to use a notification bar to improve a website's conversions?

In this article, we’re going to walk you through what a notification bar is and how to effectively put it to use on your website by showing you 10 website notification bar examples.

As a bonus, we will also share 30 new notification bar sections added to the OptimizePress Builder, so you can quickly start reaping the benefits of this powerful conversion strategy.

A website notification bar’s effectiveness is based on the idea that it highlights and draws visitor attention to a key piece of infomation or an action you want people to take on the page. It is often the first thing they will see when they first visit your website.

It's very likely that your visitors will see and understand your message if it's on a notification bar.

To give you inspiration and ideas on the different ways you can use notifcation bars to convert visitors, we’ve listed the most common strategies that are used below:

Notification bars are very flexible, and you can use them in various ways to bring conversion benefits to your websites.

We’ve hand-picked ten website notification bar examples that best showcase how you can this design element to improve conversions on your pages.

CodeAcademy uses a notification bar to promote a limited-time special offer and includes a discount code to use on checkout.

This is a powerful way to subtly inform your visitors of your offers without being intrusive or pushy.

The benefit of using a simple notification bar as opposed to one with more complexity is that it allows you to reduce the time it takes to convert visitors.

In this example, using a simple headline to notify visitors along with a discount code that is linked is all the company uses to relay their message.

When the visitor clicks on the link, they are immediately taken to another page to create an account and complete their purchase. Again sticking to it’s minimal and simplistic design.

An interesting thing to note here is that CodeAcademy didn’t link to a separate landing page in order to sell the offer.

If you’re able to effectively convey your sales message in the notification bar, this will drastically remove the need for a separate landing page and will allow you to simplify your sales funnels.

In this notification bar example from Copyhackers, they include an image of a video to encourage visitors to click.

What’s notable about this is how effective and simple this is to setup. With just an image containing a video play button, you can instantly increase click-through rates and get more of your visitors to engage with your website.

In the OptimizeBuilder landing page builder we have a video thumbnail element that makes implementing this strategy easy.

When visitors click on the image, they are taken to a separate page containing a sales video which allows people to see and learn more of what’s on offer.

In this example, Lewis Howes instead has opted to include a notification bar at the footer of his browser window instead of the header, which can be as equally effective.

For this notification bar, Lewis has included an interactive podcast that shows his latest episode.

This allows visitors to listen in without having to leave the page. If you host regular podcasts of your own, then this is a nice way to allow your audience to consume your content without them having to leave the page.

Clicking on the circular button on the right of the notification bar launches a popover containing icons to share and subscribe to his podcast.

This can easily be done inside the OptimizeBuilder using a Pop Overlay and Social Share elements.

We personally like this example due to its creative way of using a pop overlay which is conventionally used to display an opt-in form.

Coursera uses a notification bar on their home to prompt visitors to apply for their courses with a link to the application form.

If you have a suite of offers available in your business, including a brief headline with a link to your product page is a convenient way to inform your visitors without being overly intrusive.

Upon clicking on the link, you’re taken to a page containing more information on the various range of courses that are available.

The more you can get visitors engaged and clicking on your website content the more likely they are to take action.

Each time a visitor clicks it like them raising their hand to show they are interested.

In this example, Christina Galbato has opted for a notification bar that includes a large headline and a green call-to-action button that instantly stands out and gets attention.

Bold button colours that contrast against the colour scheme draw visitor attention and increase engagement.

This notification bar example is also interactive with the header fading upon scrolling your mouse over it.

Upon clicking on CTA button, it takes you to the following landing page:

An important thing to notice here is that the design of the landing page follows the same design as the notification bar, which is important for maintaining congruency and reducing disconnects with the visitor.

When designing your notification bars, ensure that you follow the same design standards and that it fits with the overall design of your pages that your visitors are redirected to upon clicking on your CTAs.

This is a nice example by Luisa Zhou who includes an image of the free ebook that is given away in addition to the standard headline that is conventionally included with most notification bars.

As with all designs, using images of your products that you’re giving away or selling allows your visitors to physically see what they’re getting, which adds to the value of your offers.

In reference to headlines, we strongly recommend spending some time testing different variations in order to come up with one that has the most engagement.

Upon clicking on the CTA, a popup overlay appears, which is a clever way to retain engagement and increase the likelihood of people opting in.

Also note that the overlay box is offset at an angle which is deliberately designed as a pattern interupt against the common square box style overlays seen on most websites.

Intercom uses a gradient background colour along with clever use of arrows on a CTA button to encourage visitors to take action.

On their notification bar, Intercom introduces a new piece of software which people would otherwise have to browse through the main website to learn about.

Using a notification bar to annouce new product features allows Intercom to raise awareness and engage the visitor.

Clicking on the ‘learn more’ button takes the visitor to a separate sales page that provides more information about the product.

For this example, Basecamp uses a simple notification bar to inform visitors of the latest news about the business.

To make the notification bar pop from the page, Basecamp uses a colour that is different from the colour scheme used by the brand’s design. When clicking on the link, it takes you to a page that uses the same black background.

If you have a website that contains a set colour combination, it’s ok to use a different one on a dedicated page in order to maintain consistency.

You don't want to confuse visitors that they have been taken away from your website as this will have a negative effect on conversions.

The page itself is a traditional long-form sales page containing text and videos where required to explain more about what’s on offer.

It is very basic in design, which we’ve highlighted as an example to show that you must not priotise design over a strong sales message.

A high converting sales message will always do better than a well designed page with a poor sales message and we recommend spending time crafting a good sales message in order to ensure good conversions.

Jenna Kutcher’s notification bar is slightly larger than what is conventional and is a nice example to show that there is no set rule for how it can be designed.

Because of the larger content area, she is able to include both a headline and subheadline to allow her to sell her offer more effectively.

If you have a sales message that requires more space, then do not be afraid to increase the size of your notification bars in order to accommodate it.

On clicking on the CTA button, you’re taken to a simple squeeze page that provides further information.

The squeeze page itself is a very simple design that doesn’t require scrolling.

All of the information is contained inside the feature box along with a popup optin box when the CTA button is clicked.

As you can see in this example, each element of the funnel, from notification bar to squeeze page optin requires nothing more than a few simple clicks of the mouse with no scrolling actions from the visitor.

This makes it a smooth experience, which increases engagement and improves conversion rates.

For this last example Pat Flynn has also opted for a simple notification bar design but has chosen to only display it once the visitor begins to scroll through the page.

This is a very effective way to engage visitors to pay attention to the bar and click for more information about what he is offering.

Consider using animations on parts of your notification bars to help subtly guide your visitors to take the desired action. Animations are great for drawing attention to important information. But be careful not to overuse them, as they can quickly become an unwanted distraction and negatively affect your conversions.

Notification bars are a powerful addition to your website. They help you draw attention to important information that supports your main call to action. 

So that you can start using them now, we have released 30 new done-for-you notification bar sections.

These sections are now live inside the OptimizeBuilder for you to use immediately.

We took inspiration from the highest converting notification bars across the web and made them into conversion-optimized section templates so you don’t have to build them from scratch.

Simply drag-and-drop the pre-built section onto your page to use it.

You can customise the notification bar sections and edit them to fit your brand.

With these new sections, you now have the ability to quickly add a conversion optimized notification bar to a web page and promote your offers, features and services to visitors.

Let us know how you will use them by dropping your comments below…

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