“We’ll Get Back to You” Is the Most Expensive Sentence on Your Website

Never let a martial arts school website, landing page or lead form end with “Thanks, we’ll get back to you.” Every step should hand the prospect the next action: schedule the first lesson, then call us. Make it easy for her to call you. Get a real person from your staff on the phone with her within 30 seconds of any form submission. A form that ends on “we’ll be in touch” leaves the next move up to you, and that’s where leads die.

The dumbest page on the internet

If anyone, whether your web company, a Facebook agency or your own staff, builds a landing page or opt-in form that ends on “Thank you, we’ll get back to you shortly” or “we’ll respond within 24 hours,” tell them it’s unacceptable. If it happens again, replace them.

That sounds harsh, but it isn’t a small thing. It’s the most expensive sentence on your website. A parent who just raised her hand is at the peak of her interest, and that page tells her to stop and wait. Every minute you make her wait, she cools off, gets distracted, or fills out another school’s form.

It happens with good agencies too. I’ve seen agencies we’ve used and liked build exactly this page. Check yours tonight.

Your website is an info call without the human

When Mrs. Jones calls and asks how much lessons are, a trained staff member doesn’t read the price list. She asks whether the lessons are for Mrs. Jones or a child, the child’s name and age, whether he’s done anything like this before, and how she heard about the school. Then she makes the offer, two free weeks of lessons and a free uniform, with no cost or obligation, and gives two appointment times to choose from.

Your website has to do the same job. Enough information to make her interested, then the next step. Anything that doesn’t move her smoothly down that path is a distraction. You want a greased chute.

The greased chute, step by step

Step	What the prospect sees	The only goal
1. Homepage	Three or so big buttons: kids and family classes, adult classes, fitness	Choose a program
2. Program page	Benefits for that program only, plus the offer in plain language	Go to the form
3. Form	Name, email, phone, ideally mailing address	Capture the lead
4. Next page	“Pick a time for your child’s first free lesson”	Book the appointment
5. Confirmation page	“You’re booked. Call us now with any questions,” with a tap-to-call number	Get her to call you

If you sell a paid introductory program, the order is the same: pay for the intro, schedule the time, then call us. At no point does the next action belong to you instead of her.

Sort visitors on the homepage

If you teach kids and families, adults and fitness, don’t make a mother wade through all three. Ask which one she wants. Once she chooses, show her only what applies to that program. A walk-in who says “I’d like to find out about lessons” doesn’t get the black-belt weapons schedule, last month’s tournament photos and your certificates. Neither should a website visitor.

Speak her language, not yours

“Schedule a free intro class” sounds clear to you. To Mrs. Jones with her seven-year-old, it raises a question: what’s an intro class? Never use your internal vocabulary with a prospect. Say what she gets: two free weeks, a free uniform, a chance to meet the instructors, see the school and watch her son try it, with no cost or obligation.

Don’t bury her in legal fine print before the first lesson

On the same coaching call, a school owner’s site popped up a “free trial” box packed with policy and legal text before the visitor had even booked. That’s the reverse of what you want. The site first fails to give enough reason to come in, and then smothers the parent in terms. Save waivers and agreements for the school, where your staff can walk her through them.

Send ad traffic to a landing page

For Facebook, Instagram and Google ads, use a dedicated landing page rather than your main website. It’s much easier to keep one ad, one page, one offer and one next step in a straight line.

Why a phone call beats a form

Two principles sit behind the chute.

1. Get a live person from your staff talking to the prospect as early as possible. At every step, right up to the moment she hands over a credit card, the odds she shows up drop sharply if she never talks to a real person from your school. The earlier she builds rapport with you, the better your conversion.
2. A call she makes beats a call you make. If she calls you, the conversation is far stronger than if your staff has to chase her down. That’s why every confirmation page should ask her to call.

Plenty of agencies now promise to take a lead all the way to your front door on their own, often with AI scheduling and messaging. A few do it well. Most don’t. Whatever you use, you’ll convert more when a person from your school builds the relationship early.

How fast should a martial arts school respond to a web lead?

Within 30 seconds. You’ll often hear “within five minutes.” I think that’s too generous. When a form comes in, an outbound call should start within 30 seconds, backed by an automatic text and voicemail if she doesn’t pick up.

The research has been clear for years. In a 2011 Harvard Business Review study of online sales leads, firms that contacted a lead within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify it as firms that waited even one hour longer. The average response time was 42 hours, and 23 percent of companies never responded at all. Earlier research by James Oldroyd with InsideSales.com and MIT found that the odds of reaching a lead fell 100-fold when the first call came at 30 minutes instead of 5.

A school that calls in 30 seconds is competing with schools that call tomorrow, if they call at all.

The 10-minute website audit

• Submit your own website form from your phone. What page appears next? If it says “we’ll get back to you,” fix it tonight.
• Time how long it takes for your staff to call you back.
• Count the clicks from your homepage to a booked lesson. More than three is too many.
• Read your offer out loud. Would a parent who has never taken a class know what every word means?
• Check your ad landing pages for any form that doesn’t lead to a booking page and a call-us page.
• Look for legal text or policies that appear before the first lesson is booked.

For what happens after the call, see the complete intro-to-enrollment pipeline. For building the traffic that feeds these pages, start with Six Simple Steps to Add 100 Students and the martial arts school marketing hub.

Frequently asked questions

What should happen after someone fills out a martial arts school’s website form?

The very next page should let them schedule their first lesson, and the page after that should ask them to call the school. Never end on “we’ll get back to you.”

How quickly should a martial arts school call a new lead?

Within 30 seconds, with an automatic text and voicemail as backup. Research published in Harvard Business Review found that firms contacting leads within an hour were nearly seven times as likely to qualify them.

What information should a martial arts lead form collect?

Name, email address and phone number at minimum, and ideally a mailing address so you can follow up by mail as well as by phone, text and email.

Should martial arts school ads go to the homepage or a landing page?

To a dedicated landing page with one offer and one next step. The main website should sort visitors by program, such as kids, adults and fitness, and show each group only what applies to them.

Should I put waivers and policies on my trial class booking form?

No. Legal text before the first lesson is booked puts parents off. Handle waivers and agreements in person at the school.

About the Author

Grand Master Stephen Oliver, MBA, is a 10th Degree Black Belt and the Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery, one of the martial arts industry’s leading coaching and consulting organizations for professional martial arts school owners, BJJ academies, and MMA gyms. A martial arts school owner since 1975 and business coach since 1985, Oliver has spent more than five decades building, operating, and advising successful martial arts schools. He also serves as CEO and Chairman of NAPMA (the National Association of Professional Martial Artists) and Publisher of Martial Arts Professional magazine. A Georgetown University cum laude graduate, he earned his Executive MBA through the Executive Program at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. He was promoted to 10th Degree Black Belt in April 2026 and inducted into the Official Taekwondo Hall of Fame in August 2026. Learn more at MartialArtsWealth.com and StephenCOliver.com.