The goal of a landing page is to convert visitors. The promo or ad has to be compelling enough for them to click and then it is the job of the landing page upon arrival to convince them to do something (e.g., register for your newsletter or buy your product). You are not successful until that desired action is taken as if you lose they are long gone and there will not be a conversion. They were intrigued enough to click on the ad but were turned off upon arrival. As previously discussed there are 5 Main Visitors to your Website (or in this case the landing page) that may click by accident or stop by to see what you are doing and they mess up the conversion numbers but the ones that are ready to buy did not just do not trust you enough to pull the trigger.
5 Tips for Creating Better Landing Pages
1. Design & Content Matching. The content and design need to match. You do not want the user to have to think twice if it is the same company that they saw the promo or ad from. Keep them focused on what you want them to do. This can be a challenge when trying to utilize templates in certain marketing mediums – best practice hire a graphic designer so all is the same.
2. Drive their Eyes. Control what they look at when by keeping the purpose of their visit first (promo or ad headline/content) and them take them to the focal point: the conversion information. Conversion information tends to work best towards the middle with white space around it. No distractions.
3. Less is more.
a. Single message. Stay on target with the single message. The promo or ad was single so stay consistent. Introduce additional offerings after you have captured them … so long as they relate back to the original offering.
b. Above the Fold. Your action content needs to be above the fold as does the start of the conversion. If they have to read a bunch of fluff and not be able to see the beginnings of where they take action they will click off.
c. Limit Choices. Bundles are great and they work however limit the choices to 1-2. Too many choices makes them think and reconsider if they really need it. Once you have converted them then have more choices.
d. Remove Menu Bar. Unless the menu bar is needed for them to complete their information, remove it. You want them to stay focused on what action you want them to take. No distractions. Be sure to have a button where they can either click off or go to another page that you wish to take them to. Do not let them wander aimlessly.
e. Three Layer Page Maximum. Layer 1 is the promo or ad, layer 2 is the landing page, layer 3 is the page after you converted them if you wish to have additional offerings they can take advantage of.
4. Form Simplicity. Please do not make the mistake of asking for too much. People hate spam and not matter what you say they are not convinced. More info required = more ways they believe you will contact and bother them. If you are asking them to sign up for your email ask for just the email or in cases where you wish to personalize then ask for their first name. You are not going to send an email with first and last name. Naturally for items that need to be shipped you will need mailing and billing addresses but stay on point and do not ask about anything other than the information you need to complete and ship. *Remember people hate filling out forms and hate hate giving out private information.*
5. Evaluate. Assuming that you tested the creative prior to running, the last step is to evaluate the success or not of the campaign. I avoid saying failure as failure would only occur if you did nothing. Set realistic goals and if you did not reach your goals, delve into why. Were they unrealistic? Was the promotion of the promo or ad not executed properly? Medium mismatch to target?
Landing pages are action pages – even if the action performed by the user is clicking off. Keep the user focused on what you want them to do and not what they think they should do. Keep it clean and very functional. Do not only test the creative portion, be sure to test the functionality and user experience with the entire process so you can work out any kinks before going live.
Share your examples of good and bad landing pages that you have encountered or ones you have created/used. Let us see in real time the do’s and dont’s so we can all have better and more successful conversion rates.
photo credit: