You have a business and a product or service to sell. You go ahead and make a website for it, use the standard digital tools, and maybe even get your social media in place. While setting up a digital business, one crucial element often does not get talked about enough.
In this guide, we will dive deeper into the function of landing pages. We will cover:
- Importance of Landing Pages
- Key Elements of a Landing Page
- Designing an Effective Landing Page
- Increasing the Landing Page Conversion Rate
- Some Examples of Great Landing Pages
1. Importance of Landing Pages
Landing pages are different from any other webpage, especially the home page. The home page tells the visitor about the website and indicates the most important sections. On the other hand, the land page is a standalone web page with only one purpose. Its job is to convert visitors to leads or customers by getting them to fulfill the call-to-action (CTA).
The home page and other pages are essential for giving information about the business. However, the users who arrive at your website through campaigns or ads need a landing page to tell them what to do. The main difference between a landing page and any other web page is the focus.
Web pages like the home page have several links as they offer the user the options to navigate to various sections that may be relevant to them. The landing page has one goal only – the CTA – and its focus is on getting users to fulfill this outcome.
The most popular types of landing pages are lead generation landing pages and click-through landing pages.
Lead Generation: This type of landing page offers something of value to the visitor and in return, asks for their contact information and permission to send them offers. This page helps create a list of potential customers and is typically part of a lead gen strategy.
Clickthrough: This landing page focuses on selling an offering as a service or product. This page captures customer data, too, but it does so at checkout and requires the customer to make a purchase.
Importance of using landing pages for lead generation
While you may focus on one outcome, there are side hustles that you can carry out. For example, using lead forms to capture the information of any landed user. They can be pop-ups or simple form placements above the fold. Why above the fold? People spend 57% of their time there!
Many times, businesses selling a service or product do not capture the visitor information or do so at the bottom of the page. This practice is a disservice to the landing page’s potential for lead generation. Even if a user does not buy your offering, you can request them to share their information. They can then become a part of your later campaigns with the potential to convert later.
2. Key Elements of a Landing Page
The landing page has a few typical elements that make it effective and focused. Let’s look at a few of them here.
Impactful and engaging copy: This includes the headlines, primary copy, and any other content informing the user about the offering and what they need to do. The headline and subsequent copy must match the campaign or ad that may have led the user to the landing page. After all, the user clicked on it because the statements of the ad/campaign resonated with them. Therefore, the copy on the landing page must be in sync with what they have already connected.
Well-laid out UX/UI design: The design of the webpage decides how the information flows and how the user engages with the copy. Placing the most relevant information per the user’s behavior is critical for ensuring that the user fulfills the CTA.
If the users have landed on the landing page through a campaign or an ad, the product or service must be clearly and quickly visible.
Additionally, do not overwhelm the user with too much information or ask for too much information. Guide their flow in an easy, step-by-step manner.
Ability to load quickly: This function relates to the website’s technical soundness and determines the design and content. Users have a short attention span, so there’s a higher chance of abandonment if the landing page takes time to load.
Clear CTA buttons: A clear and concise call-to-action makes a lot of difference in converting users to customers. At the same time, you can have more than one CTA. This approach may sound contrary to the single-focused purpose of a landing page, but hear us out.
3. Designing an Effective Landing Page
Most landing pages follow the standard flow of content – attention-grabbing headline, followed by a copy outlining the benefits, and CTA. What impacts conversion rates is the way these elements are presented.
Pro tip: Adding a visual element to the design that’s interesting and relevant to the target audience improves conversion rates drastically.
Headline: This is arguably the most crucial aspect of the page. Short, direct, and attention-grabbing – these are the main requirements of a headline. The headline can be text-only or accompanied by a hero image to make the impact more powerful.
Shown here is an example of one of the focused and compelling headlines. It captures the people’s attention to increase their website’s traffic and filters out users who may not even understand what web traffic is and why they need it.
Pro tip: Add a clear CTA button just under the headline telling the user exactly what to do.
Page Copy: This is the heart of the landing page. While the headline makes the user scroll through the page, it’s the copy that keeps them there. You need to decide what kind of copy is most suitable for your audience. You can choose a short, focused copy or go for long-form content that goes deeper into explaining the service or product.
A few essential things to include in the copy are:
- The benefit of the service, product, or action to the customer
- How to immediately move towards fulfilling the CTA
- Setting the right expectation about the next steps
A good rule of thumb to follow is the investment you ask your user to make. Your copy can be short if you only ask for their email, with user benefits highlighted clearly. This information is accessible for the user to share and does not require any monetary or time-intensive investment.
However, if you are selling a premium service or product, it would be prudent to give detailed information to your potential customer. Similarly, a page asking for a lot of personal data needs to have the correct confidentiality statements. It must clearly spell out what or how you will use the information.
Pro tip: Develop your landing page with short and long type content and perform A/B testing to choose the one that works better.
Visual Element: Research has shown that people take in visual information more quickly than text-based information. A clear graphic at the center of the landing page copy allows users to understand the offering and promptly take action.
This visual element can be a colorful image, a sketch, or an infographic outlining the offering. It can even be a video that talks about the offering with clear instructions about fulfilling the CTA. After all, a third of the users on the Internet prefer to watch videos over reading texts!
Many businesses choose to keep the visual element to a minimum as they want their pages to load quickly and keep the user engaged. But there are many ways to design graphic elements that are engaging and fast to load.
Pro tip: Do not overload the page with heavy graphics of complex imagery, or the website’s loading time will be impacted. One clean, centrally placed image is most effective.
Testimonials: Testimonials can be a part of the copy, but they often get a section on the landing page. These statements are from existing customers who have used the offering and are now recommending it to other users.
Though testimonials often look like an element added by the business to conform to website norms, they do make a difference. It’s especially true if the landing page is making a sale and wants the customer to buy the offering.
The opinions of one’s peers often sway people, and companies know this well. Most top businesses ask their customers to spread the word about their offerings because they know it works.
Pro tip: Use little stars indicating the rating given by the customer to your product or service to create a good impression instantly.
Call-to-action (CTA): This is the reason that the landing page exists in the first place. It is the reason the user has landed on the website. The CTA for the user must be clear and precise. Simply tell the user what you want them to do and then make it easy for them to do so.
Place an easily visible button with the CTA mentioned right under the headline or the central copy. Ensure that the website’s backend is working smoothly and the user can reach the outcome point easily and without distractions.
The chances of a user clicking the above button are pretty high. It’s clear, visible, and has the word ‘FREE’ in it!
Without the CTA, users can get distracted and confused and may not know what to do next. You will lose out on traffic and conversions if you do not have a clear CTA. Users do not like to stop and think about what to do next if they are already engaged with the content. Your CTA’s job is to facilitate their journey’s end in a satisfying manner.
Lastly, the color of your CTA buttons also matters. Look into the color and branding guides and choose the ones that are most aligned with your purpose.
Pro tip: Using a button instead of clickable text gives you better conversion rates.
4. Increasing the Landing Page Conversion Rate
Conversion is the reason that you have invested money to run your campaign and ads.
You created a strategy to bring your target audience to your website. They are now here and have “landed” on your landing page. Each visitor that converts into a customer increases your ROI and makes your campaign successful. So an ideal conversion rate is where everyone who visits the website takes action. In reality, only a tiny percentage of users do so, hence the need to reach a wide section of relevant or “targeted” audience.
So what would qualify as an acceptable or ‘good” conversion rate? Depending on the industry, 2.35% is the average conversion rate for a landing page. The top 25% of websites convert at a rate of 5.31% or more. Businesses that rank among the top 10% have conversion rates of 11.45% or higher.
Here are the top 3 things to do to increase your conversion rate:
1. Experiment, experiment, experiment!
The Internet is a strange kind of jungle, and we don’t know what creation will turn out to be a Unicorn. So keep changing the landing page design and the offering to find the one that gives you the most conversions.
Tweaking the page consistently by changing font, element placement, and SEO is a great practice. However, minor improvements in conversion rates will keep you stuck in the average performance rut. To jump into the big leagues, designing landing pages with different styles, copies, and offerings and constantly testing them out is the best approach.
2. Use Remarketing
Since its introduction, remarketing has become more and more effective in driving sales. Targeting people who have already visited your site pays higher dividends, as you know their interest is already engaged. Offering a special deal or discount is a popular remarketing tactic that leads to higher conversions. Most of the time, displaying the already-visited offering ads consistently across other websites does the trick.
Using targeted ads is the best way to capture a user’s attention and filter out the noise of other adverts. You can use remarketing to promote new offerings or push the sales of current ones. Ensure that you are spending considerable time in building the remarketing strategy. For example, choose your campaigns for a suitable duration, especially if it is a seasonal offering. You do not want to be labeled a stalker brand that follows visitors with ads throughout the year.
Build a landing page that makes it easier for your returning customers to complete the transaction.
3. Don’t get caught up in numbers!
Once again, though this sounds counter-intuitive, it’s not. It seems correct that if you are trying to improve our conversion rates, you will judge your success by the numbers showing up in your conversion rates. But ask yourself, if you are converting lower-quality leads and moving them into the funnel, are you actually gaining customers or losing money?
Focus on the conversion rate, sure, but keep your eye on the type of leads coming towards you. It makes sense to build your strategy around qualified lead generation.
5. Some Examples of Great Landing Pages
Let us now look at some great landing pages and see what has worked for them.
The complete package:
This is the landing page of Mind Tools. They have a lot going on, but it works. They have used subtle colors in the background and a bold orange gradient to focus your attention on the offering and lead generation tool (free newsletter).
It may look like too much, but it is an example of a remarkable landing page that offers every relevant information to the user above the fold.
The minimalist approach:
This is the Black and Blum product selling their Bento Box. It has a start white background, a picture of the product, price, Buy Now CTA, upsell/cross-sell link, and a discount offer as well – all visible above the fold. A user can land here and directly go to the checkout or sign up for offers. Simple and functional.
The complete information page:
This is a typical landing page when a website wants its users to register for a demo, webinar, or any event. It uses bullets in the copy to clearly highlight the benefits of attending and has a simple 4 to 5 fields form to make it easy for the user to sign up.
The visual attention-grabber:
This is Zendesk’s services page. It has a clear headline, a great CTA button (note the word FREE again), and a very engaging video playing on the loop on the right-hand side. Even the shape of the video window is creative. The person is working, looks happy, and balloons float up in front of her as she is working, conveying delight. It’s a great page, and users would stop here to know what’s going on.
The engaging copy:
This is the website for Smalls cat food. It has a clever copy on the left that uses emojis like people do while texting and playfully addresses the cats’ nine lives. The video on the right is engaging and gets the attention of anyone looking for food options for their cat.
Conclusion
Landing pages are an essential part of any web-based business’s sales and marketing strategy. Investing in creating the right one and experimenting with its design must be built into any digital marketing strategy.
Get in touch with us to know more about designing your strategy as well as landing pages. We have delivered results for many global brands, and we can do it for you too. Connect with us here.
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