Introduction
A carefully crafted landing page should help you fulfill the promise of your advertisement. After landing on the page, viewers should learn more about the offer, ease any doubts they have, and complete the necessary steps to getting your product or services. In this article, we’ll go over the 5 things to focus on when crafting the very best landing page to turn visitors into leads.
- Copy
- Offer
- Call To Action
- Design
- Testing
Now that we have identified the 5 essential elements of a landing page, let’s explain exactly what a landing page is and go through whether your landing page has the tools to succeed.
What is a Landing Page?
The sole objective of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads. These differ from homepages because they have a clear user path to the call-to-action, whereas homepages have several distractions that lead to other pages on the site, such as news, blogs, and sliders.
Viewers are often directed to a landing page when they click on a PPC. The page should be consistent with the advertisement offer and offer zero distractions for the viewer. A landing page your audience is directed to when clicking on a PPC (pay-per-click) advertisement. These advertisements are bought through third-party sites, such as those purchased through Google, Facebook, or Yelp, to market your brand to a broader, calculated range of clients.
Conversions are the number of people who complete the action on your landing page compared to page visitors. These people fill out your form, download your app, or purchase your product. Across industries, the average landing page conversion rate was 2.35% (Search Engine Land).
1. Copy
The copy of your landing page should be compelling to stand out against competitors. The effective landing page copy length varies depending on your industry. The copy you use should provoke emotion, create excitement and action.
Suppose you are in an industry where decisions are made rationally rather than emotionally. In that case, a longer copy helps make the sale because it should answer several questions the consumer may have had. A shorter copy will do the job if you are in an industry where people make more emotional decisions.
Original image by Crazy Egg.
Resolve Hesitation
Strong copy should answer any questions or lessen {resolve} any hesitations the reader may have. People often shop around before making a decision. Tell the reader why choosing your company over one of your competitors is the intelligent thing to do. Easing any initial doubt the customer may have will build trust in your offer and help increase your conversion rate.
Adding a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section will help assuage any hesitation and answer questions that the viewer may have. It will also help to build trust and credibility throughout your page.
Personalize
Personalize your copy and call to action. Writing in the first person helps to build a connection with the reader. A generic or egocentric copy can make the viewer feel like they are being sold a product rather than being given an opportunity or deal. While the purpose of the landing page is to make a sale, building trust with the viewer is far more critical.
Testimonials also help to build trust and help sell your product. They give your brand credibility and provide consumer confidence. Like you look at reviews before purchasing an item, the same goes for your product or service. People want to know they can trust a product before forking over the money on a purchase.
Headline
Your headline should be benefit-oriented. Adding your value proposition at the top of the page helps drive the offer and make sure the viewer understands why they should complete your call to action. Your value proposition should play to the desires of the viewer. Use a sub-headline to help further explain the benefits of the offer.
Make Skim-able
A bulleted copy can explain the benefits of your offer clearly without overwhelming the viewer with too many words. People like to skim through content, and bullets allow them to do so. Concrete, verifiable facts such as statistics help strengthen the claims of your offer and build credibility in your call to action. Include proof of the claims that you make.
Keywords
Play up the advantages of your offer. If you are offering something free, make sure that the phrase “Free” stands out from the rest of the copy. You can accomplish this by capitalizing “free” or making it bold. People love to receive a deal make the value visible. When writing the copy for your landing page, make sure it complements the tone and message shown in your advertisement. The promise should be clear and consistent with that that is advertised.
Accuracy
Have you ever seen a webpage that uses “its” instead of “it’s” and wondered how they could miss this? It is imperative to have excellent grammar in any of your copy. Anything your company publishes is a reflection of your brand. Hiring a copywriter, or at the very least a proofreader, can help you strengthen your copy and make sure that your grammar and tone are consistent throughout your writing.
2. Offer
A strong landing page starts with a tempting offer. Knowing your audience and what they want from you helps. Mirror your audience’s goals to promise valuable resources on your landing page. “Best kept secret!” Yeah, we’ve heard it all before. Create a headline that is not only attractive but also believable. When viewers believe in your promise, it increases the rate at which your advertisement is clicked.
Creativity is key
Using a unique offer will help you to stand out from the competition. Your branding can help. Integrating the tone and message of your branding allows you to create a tailored message for your offer. Our tagline here at TC Creatives is “Building Bold Brands,” so our offer may say something like “It’s time to be bold” to reflect it.
Get Detailed
Use a detailed description to explain the benefits of your offer further. Our “It’s time to be bold” headline may have a definition of “Stand out against your competition with bold branding” to help strengthen the value of the offer and mirror the wants of the audience..
Be Real
Real numbers always beat round numbers. An advertisement that says “65,903 people switched” vs. “66,000 people switched” creates trust within the viewer and helps to attract more clicks on your ad.
3. Call to Action
You gained the interest of your audience; now what? Tell people what they should do next. Whether it’s to download an app or fill out a form, make it clear and easy for them to complete the task. Bold call to action should be placed throughout the landing page.
Get Creative
The call to action copy should excite the user to complete the task. Whether changing the submit button to something like “let’s get started” or “sign me up,” the user should feel excited about pressing enter. The viewer will appreciate the time you put into alleviating the sales pressure.
Limit Fields
Limit the number of fields in your forms. A 7 field form may answer all of the questions you need to know to move forward. However, a three-field form is more straightforward and more attractive to the viewer, which increases the likelihood of them filling out the form.
Value
Focus on how your offer adds value to the visitor. Creating a call to action like “download my ebook” or “submit my registration” makes viewers feel like they benefit from the call to action. Also, using words like “today” or “now” strengthens the value of immediately completing the call to action. Immediate satisfaction that the user will have when completing the call to action.
Stand Out
The call to action button should stand out. Whether larger than usual or a bright color, it should draw the users’ immediate attention and be placed throughout the page. Having it in the header of the page and the bottom of the page allows users to access it when they are ready easily. You can also explore having a static call to action as a sidebar that scrolls with the content as the user views the page.
4. Design
A landing page should be a distraction-free environment focused on fulfilling your ad promise. Every element should strengthen the value of your offer and persuade the viewer of the benefits. The design should be simple and create a clear path to the call to action.
Limit Links
How can you keep the viewer focused on your call-to-action? Limit the number of links that allow viewers to leave the page without converting. Removing your logo links, menu, and footer elements allow viewers to concentrate on the call to action without subconsciously searching for a way off the page.
CTA
The placement of your call to action is critical. Your call to action should be placed ahead of the scroll for immediate access. After all, your ad was clicked on for a reason. Allow your viewers to fulfill the required task without getting lost in the design.
Content
The content on your landing page should be deliberate. Images used on the landing page should reflect the offer and strengthen the offer. Skip it if the image does not add any value to the offer. Do you feel like you need to explain many benefits to the viewer without crowding the page? A video will help. Add a short video that quickly explains the benefits of your offer while keeping the design minimal and distraction-free.
Images & Videos
According to research, the human brain is built to process visuals much faster than any other type of content. It only takes around 150 milliseconds for the human brain to process an image. Additionally, the human brain looks at pictures and colors before consuming any other content. If that isn’t reason enough to choose good landing page images, humans’ ability to remember depends upon visual references, as about 90% of information that enters the brain is visually based.
Color Use & Font
The colors you use in your landing page should be consistent with those defined in your branding. Using exact colors, rather than like colors, helps to build brand recognition and allows returning viewers to recognize the site. Color can also be used to create a hierarchy on your landing page. Use bolder colors for elements you want the viewer to notice, such as your call to action and titles, and more subtle colors for less important information, like your text and form fields.
Use consistent font formats to make reading the page more accessible. Different font styles and overuse of font colors can distract the viewer and make navigating the pages harder.
Say Thank You
Maximize positive engagement with thank you pages or sections. After forms are complete, redirecting to a “thank you” page allows you to add more links back into the landing page. Links like social sharing links, homepage or menu links, and portfolio links can be added here to help the viewer further navigate through the site after completing the call to action.
Once the viewers have completed the call to action, use redirects to help viewers stay on the site to build more brand recognition and generate more interest. Utilize redirects to increase viewer retention after completing the call to action.
5. Testing
To maximize your landing page conversions, you must monitor and test the effectiveness. Doing A/B tests for landing pages can help you easily understand the benefits of subtle changes. Use one variable at a time for controlled testing.
There are many things that you can test on your landing page, including:
- (70 words per option)
- Links to the homepage
- Color of your CTA
- CTA verbiage
- The number of CTAs on a page
- Long-form and short-form copy
- Number of form fields for CTA
Conclusion
Crafting an effective landing page may seem like a lot of work to put into one item. However, if you think of the potential conversions from your hard work, it is worthwhile. Plus, once you get used to these tools, they’ll come more naturally each time you design a landing page. Convey love at first sight by capturing your audience’s attention with all the tips and tricks mentioned in this guide. Once you employ these techniques, you’ll wonder why you didn’t long ago. So, get ready to turn those visitors into hot leads.
Our team at TC Creatives works with you to build landing pages for your brand that help convert leads into buyers. We do competitor and design research to gauge the standards in your industry. Then we develop the landing page on your website, matching the current layout, font, and color guidelines to keep consistency. Finally, we launch your landing page, providing direct links to integrate into your marketing. Whether for a new product or to compliment your ads, our designated landing pages help convert viewers into viable leads and customers.
