So what exactly is a landing page?
A landing page is a single web page that exists for a user to take action on a specific marketing campaign.
Landing pages are created for a user to take action on a specific marketing campaign. Most landing pages are stand alone web pages that are separate from your website.
These pages are accessed from a link found on your marketing collateral, such as a postcard or banner ad.
The purpose of landing pages are to:
- Develop Leads
- Generate direct sales
- Build relationships
Remove Distractions
A major benefit of a landing page is the opportunity to include a single, concise call to action (CTA).
“With 50 links on your homepage, your attention ratio is 2% – compared to 100% with a single CTA.” -@unbounce
Landing pages should keep the user focused on the goal of the campaign; a free trial, form completion or a download.
Links are the number one distraction on landing pages and should therefore be removed. This means no links to your social media outlets or even your website.
Don’t give users a reason to leave your landing page, only give them a reason to take the action you are presenting.
AVI does a great job of this on their landing page:
This is a great landing page because:
- There are no distractions
- There is one clear call to action: “Free Download”
You have 8 seconds or less to get a person’s attention.
Offer Clarity & Purpose
In today’s fast-paced world, you have 8 seconds or less to get a person’s attention. When designing your landing page, make sure the call to action is clear and concise. Attract your visitor through a well crafted headline and sell them on your product or service with a supporting tagline.
When developing the copy for your landing page, make sure it focuses on what your marketing campaign provides the customer. The goal here is to help the user envision themselves using your product or service.
Choose imagery that supports your product or service, rather than something that detracts. Do not use pictures of puppies when you’re marketing cars. Quality imagery helps the user get an accurate representation of your product or service.
Hootsuite’s landing page does a good job at providing clarity and purpose.
Hootsuite provides the user with:
- An attention grabbing headline
- A supporting tagline
- Supporting content and images
- A clear call to action “sign up free”
- No external links
This gives the user the main information they need to know about the product Hootsuite is offering.
Have one clear Call to Action
What is a call to action?
It’s a specific instruction for your customer to make an immediate response, click a button or fill out a form.
When developing your CTA, make sure all copy on the landing page supports the CTA. You can use directional cues such as a big button or arrows to get the user’s attention to complete your CTA. One piece of advice when writing your call to action’s copy, make sure it shows action.
Basecamp’s landing page uses an arrow to direct their visitors to fill out their form. Instead of using the generic “Submit” text, Basecamp tells the user what the next step is in their form CTA and that is to “Start my 60 day free trial”.
Get Your Customer to Make a Decision
When you reduce the number of distractions, you allow the user to see the action you want them to take on your landing page.
Some users may need social proof that your product or service is trustworthy and credible. To build trust with your user, place client logos, testimonials or awards on the landing page. This will show that you have people or companies that support your product or service and help the user realize your offer is something other people couldn’t resist, so they should not either.
Shopify’s landing page does an excellent job of this.
There are several things working on this page:
- A strong headline
- Immediate trust established
- Clear Call to Action
- Supporting content and imagery
- No external links
The only choice the user has to make is whether to create their store or not. It’s as simple as that.
Be sure to test & optimize
Every landing page can be improved to get the maximum number of conversions. Continually test and optimize your landing page headlines, prices, colors and more to see what users respond to best.
MarketDialer did some A/B testing with Kissmetrics and increased their leads by 100 percent.
One page included a price badge and the other did not. The test showed a 100 percent increase in leads after the price badge was added. When performing A/B testing be sure to test one to two little items at a time so you can tell which change is helping conversions the most.
The MarketDialer case study proves that landing page conversions can be increased by making little changes to the overall design. Test and test again for maximum conversion rates.
We hope you have a better understanding of why landing pages should be included in your next marketing campaign to drive leads, sales and relationships for your business.
