How to Create a High-Converting Sticky Floating Footer Bar in WordPress (2024 Guide)

Hey there, WordPress user! Are you looking for a way to boost conversions and engagement on your website? Have you considered adding a sticky floating footer bar?

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A floating footer bar is a powerful tool that stays visible at the bottom of the user‘s screen as they scroll, putting your most important content, links, or call-to-action (CTA) front and center at all times.

When designed well, floating footers can significantly increase conversions. In fact, case studies have shown floating footer bars increasing email signups by 200-500% and even boosting sales by up to 15%!

In this step-by-step guide, we‘ll walk you through exactly how to create an effective sticky floating footer bar on your WordPress site, either by using a plugin or by adding custom code. We‘ll also share proven design tips and real-world examples to inspire you.

Ready to get more leads, subscribers, and sales from your WordPress site? Let‘s dive in!

Benefits of Using a Sticky Floating Footer Bar

So why should you consider adding a floating footer bar to your WordPress site? Here are a few key benefits:

Increased visibility for key content or offers. By keeping important information or CTAs always visible, floating footers ensure visitors never miss them, even if they don‘t scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.
Higher conversion rates. Well-designed floating footer bars can significantly boost email signups, lead generation, sales, and other important conversion metrics by making it super easy for users to take action.
More user engagement. Floating footers can encourage visitors to spend more time exploring your site by promoting related content, resources, or products they may be interested in.
Better mobile experience. On small screen devices where the main navigation menu is often hidden, a sticky footer bar can provide quick access to key pages or actions without taking up much space.
Enhanced branding and design. A floating footer bar provides another opportunity to incorporate your brand colors, fonts, and messaging to create a cohesive, professional look across your entire site.

Pretty compelling, right? Now let‘s look at how you can easily add a floating footer bar to your own WordPress site.

How to Create a Sticky Floating Footer Bar in WordPress Using a Plugin

The simplest way to add a sticky floating footer bar in WordPress is by using a plugin. Here are two great options with step-by-step setup instructions:

Option 1: OptinMonster

OptinMonster is a popular lead generation and conversion optimization toolkit that makes it easy to create all kinds of high-converting optin forms and overlays, including floating footer bars.

Here‘s how to create a sticky footer bar with OptinMonster in a few simple steps:

Sign up for an OptinMonster account and install the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site.
From your WordPress dashboard, go to OptinMonster > Campaigns and click the "Create New Campaign" button.
In the campaign creation wizard, select the "Floating Bar" campaign type:

Choose a template for your floating bar, or start with a blank canvas. OptinMonster offers a range of pre-designed templates that you can easily customize to fit your site‘s style:

Use the drag-and-drop builder to customize your floating bar‘s content, including headlines, body text, images, opt-in forms, countdown timers, and buttons. OptinMonster‘s builder is intuitive and requires no coding:

Adjust the appearance and styling of your floating bar in the "Design" tab, including colors, fonts, spacing, and more to match your branding:

Set display rules to control where and when your floating bar appears. You can choose to show it sitewide, on specific pages or post types, to certain user segments, or based on user behavior like time on site or scroll depth:

Publish your floating bar campaign and start collecting leads and driving conversions!

Option 2: Firebox

Firebox is a freemium WordPress plugin that allows you to create popups, floating bars, slide-ins, full screen overlays, and more with a visual builder.

To create a sticky floating footer bar with Firebox:

Install and activate the free Firebox plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
In your WordPress admin dashboard, go to Firebox > Add New to create a new campaign.
Select the "Bar" campaign type and choose a template to start from (or build from scratch):

In the campaign builder, use the WYSIWYG editor and block-based content elements to customize your floating footer bar‘s content, including text, images, buttons, forms, icons, and more:

Use the inspector controls on the right side to adjust the floating bar‘s appearance, including background colors, borders, spacing, animations, and position:

Open the "Settings & Targeting" tab to configure trigger rules for your floating bar, such as time delays, scroll percentages, or exit intent. You can also set it to only appear on specific pages, posts, or for certain user roles:

Save and activate your floating bar campaign to make it live on your site.

Both OptinMonster and Firebox make it easy to create professional-looking floating footer bars without writing any code. OptinMonster offers more powerful targeting and personalization options, while Firebox has a free version that may be sufficient for simpler use cases.

Sticky Floating Footer Bar Design Best Practices & Examples

Now that you know how to technically implement a floating footer bar on your WordPress site, let‘s talk about how to design it for maximum effectiveness.

Here are some evidence-based best practices to keep in mind:

1. Keep it simple and focused.

Don‘t try to cram too many different messages or CTAs into your floating footer bar. Keep the copy concise and focused on one primary action you want users to take.

In eye-tracking studies, users tend to ignore busy or cluttered footers and focus on the main content area. Limit the number of links or buttons to avoid choice paralysis.

For example, check out this floating footer bar from Backlinko with a single, clear CTA to download a free report:

2. Make the design eye-catching but not obtrusive.

Use contrasting colors, bold fonts, and enticing visuals to make your floating footer bar stand out and grab attention. However, avoid going overboard with jarring colors or annoying animations that disrupt the user experience.

Notice how this floating footer bar from OptinMonster uses a bright yellow background and persuasive copy to draw the eye without dominating the page:

3. Match your branding.

While your floating footer should stand out, it should also fit cohesively with your overall site design. Incorporate your brand colors, fonts, and voice for a consistent look and feel.

This floating "Header" bar from Hubspot is a great example of using brand colors and fonts for a seamless, professional aesthetic:

4. Include a compelling CTA.

The call-to-action is the most important element of your floating footer bar. Make sure it clearly communicates the value of taking action and creates a sense of urgency.

Use action-oriented language like "Get," "Download," or "Try" rather than generic phrases like "Submit" or "Click Here." Adding a time-based adverb like "Now" or "Today" can also boost click-through rates.

For example, Copyblogger‘s sticky footer bar features a specific call-to-action to join their Copyblogger Pro waitlist with compelling subtext:

5. Optimize for mobile.

With more than half of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, it‘s crucial that your floating footer bar looks and functions flawlessly on smaller screens.

Keep copy and images concise to avoid overcrowding the limited space. Ensure buttons and links are large enough to easily tap with a finger. Consider using a full-width bar that spans the entire screen width for maximum impact and accessibility.

Here‘s an example of a mobile-optimized floating footer bar from Sumo that takes up minimal vertical space while still communicating the offer effectively:

6. Test and iterate.

As with any element of your website, it‘s important to continuously test and optimize your floating footer bar for the best results.

Use A/B testing tools like Google Optimize or OptinMonster to experiment with different copy, designs, offers, and targeting rules to see what resonates most with your particular audience.

Track clicks and conversions using event tracking in Google Analytics, or your email marketing or ecommerce platform‘s reporting, to measure the impact of your floating footer bar and justify your design decisions with data.

How to Code a Custom Sticky Floating Footer Bar in WordPress

If you have some web development skills and want more control over your floating footer bar‘s appearance and functionality, you can code your own from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Here‘s a basic code snippet you can use as a starting point:

<div id="floating-footer">
  <div class="container">
    <p>Exclusive offer! Get 20% off your first order with code <strong>WELCOME20</strong>.</p>
    <a href="/shop" class="button">Shop Now</a>
  </div>
</div>

#floating-footer {
  position: fixed;
  left: 0;
  bottom: 0;
  width: 100%;
  background-color: #f5f5f5;
  padding: 20px 0;
  box-shadow: 0 -2px 5px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
  z-index: 9999;
  opacity: 0;
  visibility: hidden;
  transform: translateY(100%);
  transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out;
}

#floating-footer.visible {
  opacity: 1;
  visibility: visible;
  transform: translateY(0);
}

#floating-footer .container {
  max-width: 960px;
  margin: 0 auto;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: space-between;
  align-items: center;
}

#floating-footer p {
  margin: 0;
  font-size: 16px;
}

#floating-footer .button {
  background-color: #007bff;
  color: #fff;
  padding: 10px 20px;
  text-decoration: none;
  border-radius: 5px;
  font-size: 16px;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-transform: uppercase;  
}

window.addEventListener(‘load‘, function() {
  var footer = document.getElementById(‘floating-footer‘);
  var isVisible = false;

  window.addEventListener(‘scroll‘, function() {
    var scrollPos = window.pageYOffset;

    if (scrollPos > 500 && !isVisible) {
      footer.classList.add(‘visible‘);
      isVisible = true;
    } else if (scrollPos <= 500 && isVisible) {
      footer.classList.remove(‘visible‘);
      isVisible = false;
    }
  });
});

Here‘s how this code works:

The HTML defines the structure and content of the floating footer bar, with a container div that holds a paragraph of text and a call-to-action button linking to the /shop page.
The CSS positions the footer bar at the bottom of the screen using position: fixed and sets its initial state to be hidden off-screen using opacity: 0 and transform: translateY(100%).
When the .visible class is added, the opacity and transform are animated to slide the footer bar up into view smoothly. The z-index ensures it displays on top of other content.
The JavaScript listens for the window‘s scroll event, and toggles the .visible class when the user scrolls past 500 pixels from the top of the page. This shows/hides the floating footer bar based on the scroll position.

Of course, you can customize the content, styling, and behavior to fit your specific needs and branding. Some additional ideas:

Add an email opt-in form to capture leads directly in the footer bar
Include a countdown timer to create urgency around limited-time offers
Use geotargeting to display different offers or currency/language based on user location
Trigger the floating bar to appear after a certain amount of time on page or when a user starts to exit the page

The sky‘s the limit! With a little creativity and code savvy, you can create a high-converting floating footer bar that‘s uniquely tailored to your WordPress site.

Wrapping Up

Congratulations, you now have all the knowledge and tools you need to create an effective sticky floating footer bar on your WordPress website!

To recap, the key takeaways from this guide are:

Floating footer bars are a proven tactic to boost visibility, engagement, and conversions from every page of your site.
You can easily create a sticky footer bar using a plugin like OptinMonster or Firebox, with no coding required.
Following design best practices like keeping it simple, on-brand, with a compelling CTA and mobile-friendly layout will help maximize the impact.
For more advanced customization, you can code your own floating footer bar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Always be testing and iterating on your floating footer bar design using data from A/B tests, analytics, and user feedback to improve results over time.

Now it‘s your turn — go forth and implement a floating footer bar on your own WordPress site using one of the methods outlined in this guide.

I can‘t wait to hear how it helps you drive more leads, subscribers, and sales! If you have any questions or success stories to share, leave a comment below.

Happy floating,

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