One of the strongest foundations for any online website is having a killer landing page, that's main goal is conversion of visitors to paying customers.
If you're a business owner, chances are you want to perform well in your online space. And if you’re a developer, it's your job to make it happen. To run in the race, you need an edge, which can come in many different forms.
A well-crafted landing page can be the difference between a website visitor bouncing off your page, or converting into a paying customer. But what makes a perfect landing page?
The anatomy of a perfect landing page should include elements such as compelling headlines, clear and concise descriptions of products or services offered, engaging visuals, trust indicators such as customer reviews, social media proof, and contact information. The page should also be designed to be mobile-friendly, as many users now access the internet via their phones or other mobile devices. Furthermore, it should have easy navigation with relevant links at the top, middle and bottom of the page. Finally, there should be clear instructions on how to take the next step in order to make a purchase or inquire further about the product/service.
In this article, we'll break down the anatomy of a perfect landing page, and give you some tips on how to create one that works for your business. Read on to learn more!
What Is A Landing Page?
One important distinction to note before anything else is this: the landing page and the homepage are two completely separate things.
A home page is constructed to showcase your business’ brand and products, and is heavily packed with outbound links. From the home page though, your new visitor can leave whenever they want by clicking away. They might decide to surf the web, listen to a podcast or search up news.com. It doesn’t matter where they went, the point is that they are gone. They have no incentive to stay, let alone invest their time and money in your product or service.
Luckily there is a hero of this story: the landing page - a standalone web page crafted for digital greatness. The landing page is designed with a single goal in mind. Visitors can reach the landing page via one of two ways: through organic search or from an external source like a paid advertisement. The objective is to highlight your call to action (CTA) and drive conversion rates from your digital marketing campaigns. You’ll find that with this single goal comes simplicity - no densely packed outbound links, just a clean and simple design that keeps your visitors engaged and enticed.
Generating an impeccable landing page design can cost anywhere from $70 to $3000. This massive range in variability comes down to two distinct factors. At its core, a landing page should have one primary objective - to convert visitors into leads or customers. To accomplish this goal requires an understanding of user behaviour and psychology as well as good copywriting practices that focus on engaging visitors with persuasive messages and calls to action. Depending on how intricate the design needs to be, you may need to work with a web designer or graphic artist who is familiar with designing effective pages that are both attractive and easy to navigate. This could increase the cost depending on their hourly rate or project-based fee.
The second factor to consider if whether you are applying pay-per-click advertising or utilising organic traffic. Regardless of the cost, the beauty of the landing page is that you’re free to design it in a way that truly does your brand justice.
Need some more convincing?
To highlight just how powerful the landing page is, let's look at a few statistics. The average consumer conversion rate of the majority of business websites is about 4%, but the average conversion rate of a standard landing page is 10%. Better yet, the more landing pages you have, the more leads you will generate. Recent data suggests that by creating 10 to 12 landing pages for your business’ website, you could experience a 55% increase in your consumer traffic. A clear indication that no matter the size of your investment, the landing page is a powerful marketing tactic.
Types Of Landing Pages
There are several different types of landing pages used in digital marketing and which one is best for a given campaign depends on the specific goal.
The most common type of landing page is a Lead Generation page, which helps to capture leads from website visitors by offering something valuable in exchange for their contact information, such as an eBook or newsletter subscription.
Another popular type is Click-Through Landing Pages, where the main goal is to get users to click through and take an action (such as signing up for a product trial).
Other less commonly used landing pages include Squeeze Pages (used to build email lists) and Sales Pages (designed to encourage users to make a purchase). Squeeze pages typically have very minimal content aimed at getting the user's attention quickly and prompting them to enter their contact information. Sales pages, on the other hand, focus more on providing detailed information about a product or service in order to persuade people into making a purchase.
It is also important to note that there are many variations of the different types of landing pages mentioned above, such as long-form versus short-form Lead Generation pages, webinar registration pages, webinar replay pages, etc. Landing page design should be tailored specifically around each individual campaign's goals and objectives in order to maximize conversion rates and ROI.
Start With An Impactful Headline
Impressions are formed from the moment a visitor arrives on your landing page. They’ll encounter the 'above the fold elements' first - the parts of your page that are visible before the visitor is required to scroll or click. Above the fold is prime real estate to showcase your best assets, so make it count.
The ‘hero section’ will also be located above the fold. Generally, the hero section will be a banner of some type, images or sliders that catch the viewer's attention. And amongst all this, you’ll find your heading. Data suggests that 8 out of 10 people will read your headline, and only 2 out of 10 will read the rest of your content. You need to ensure that you catch readers; hook, line and sinker, or risk losing their business.
Coming up with a headline that accurately reflects the contents of a page can be quite tricky. You want it to be catchy and succinct, but at the same time it's important to ensure that it conveys the exact information users are looking for when they arrive at the page. Creating an effective headline involves streamlining key terms and phrases and leaving out any extra contextual information that may not be relevant. A headline should serve as an accurate representation of a page, allowing readers to quickly gauge whether or not it contains material they're interested in digging into further.
Nail The Call To Action
Engaging consumers' attention and keeping it, could be likened to an olympic sport. A clear and concise call-to-action (CTA) is an essential tool for any successful marketing strategy. When crafting a CTA, you want to make sure that it stands out, communicates the desired message clearly, and encourages your audience to take the desired action. A successful CTA also needs to be attention grabbing and motivating. By using creative tactics such as language selection and visuals, a good CTA will ensure that your target audience understands what actions they need to take next, making them feel like they are taking part in something greater than their individual action. This encourages further engagement with your brand and ultimately leads to higher conversion rates, allowing your business to maximize its potential. Use something unique like “Set up a meeting now”, rather than “book now” for greater effect.
Use A/B Split Testing
Testing helps to improve the performance of your landing page. As an overarching principle, an increase in web page conversion rates is directly correlated with the conversion rate optimization (CRO). This is where A/B split testing comes in. Rather than making uninformed decisions, A/B testing allows you to make data evidenced decisions for your business.
A/B testing is a randomised process where two versions of the landing or web page are created (a control and a variation), and shown to two separate pools of visitors at the same time. Data is collected to determine which version has the most impact and drives business growth. The metric of “success” will vary from business to business. In eCommerce, the measure of success is linked to sales of products or services, whereas it would be focused around lead generation for B2B.
Good testing and targeting is known to increase conversion rates by up to 300%. Despite this, a staggering 20% of companies who use landing pages admit to not using reliable testing methods to analyze their sites performance. And of all companies that utilize the landing page, over half of them perform fewer than 5 landing page tests per month. It is a simple equation, the more testing you do, the higher your conversion rates will be. For this reason, Google has been known to run over 7000 tests on one page, simply to check which copy was the most effective for their specified purpose. Another prime example of this on a mega scale, is Barack Obama utilising A/B split testing to raise an additional $60 million USD during his US Presidential election campaign in 2012. Now that's dedication!
Bringing this full circle, it is recommended that you:
- Use A/B split testing, and test regularly each month
- Analyze your visitors behavior using heat-maps and google analytics
- Alleviate their pain points to provide an immediate benefit to your websites conversion rates
Extra Page Elements
The power of social proof
We’ve all had that moment where we buy something, purely because it was recommended to us by someone we trust. Do not underestimate the true power of this dynamic. Nifty conducted a study that found 36% of the top performing landing pages on the web include social proof. And, these sites convert over 1% better than their counterparts, because testimonials will boost your visitors' trust in your brand, product or service. This is such a simple step, often overlooked, but makes the world of difference.
Social proof is an incredibly effective marketing tool, especially in the form of customer reviews and testimonials, because it boosts brand's credibility. People are much more likely to trust other people's experiences than they are corporations or brands, so customer reviews provide huge potential to engage customers. Seeing an unbiased perspective on a product can show potential customers its value, which can then encourage conversions. Reading customer reviews can also provide insights into products that may not be highlighted by advertising campaigns or product descriptions. Ultimately, customer reviews help to build trust with customers - something every business should prioritise.
Images or videos that help to explain the product or service
Images and videos are an effective way to show potential customers the value of a product or service. They can provide clarity and help viewers visualize what it is you’re offering them. Not only do images and videos help customers understand the details of a product or service, but they can also evoke emotional responses that lead to increased enthusiasm. Consumers are able to see how the product will work and look in real-time, which can often lead to higher levels of engagement than words alone. Whether creating step by step instructions or broadcasting a unique feature, images and videos are key marketing tools for businesses looking to engage with their target audience.
You're Set Up For Success
Having an effective website is critical to any business in today’s digital age. Your website should be designed with the user in mind, and include certain elements that will help to increase conversions. Remember to use a clear and concise headline, subheadings that provide more information, a strong call-to-action, social proof, images or videos and a simple form. Keep these things in mind when designing your website to ensure that you are able to attract and convert potential customers.