It’s important that business owners and entrepreneurs know the value of setting up great landing pages to drive up conversions. When it comes down to the essentials of online businesses, having an optimized landing page is often right at the top of the priority list. But what exactly is a landing page, and how does it affect the success of a website?
How Landing Pages Work
A landing page is a web page created specifically to drive conversions. They’re a great way to capture the information of visitors to your site in exchange for an eBook, template, video, or any other company offer that you may have available. You can also use the gathered information to schedule a demo, meeting, or over-the-phone consultation to convert these people into paying customers.
The primary role of a landing page is to collect information through a form on the page. Be careful, however, not to mistake a landing page for any web page that has a web form, as that’s not the case. Take a blog post for example. A blog post might have a form that encourages readers to subscribe, but its primary goal is still to educate rather than convert.
A landing page’s sole purpose is to convert. The conversion path for landing pages is relatively linear and straightforward. Visitors fill in a form and automatically become warm leads. The leads then receive emails containing more information about the service or product that you’re offering. Some businesses choose to direct their potential customers to a “Thank You” page where they can access even more information.
In terms of digital marketing, setting up landing pages is not the end goal. Landing pages should be optimized to make sure that you’re getting mileage out of them. Having an impactful landing page strategy in place can often result in a 30-40% lead conversion.
You don’t want all of your site visitors with different needs and intents wading through your general information-rich home page. If you’re creating dedicated landing pages that closely align with a customer’s individual needs, you’ll have a much greater chance of capturing their information and converting them into customers. With the right landing page, you can attract customers to the specific type of service or product that you’re offering.
Here are the 5 best practices to follow when it comes to optimizing landing pages in order to increase conversion:
Apply the 5-Second Rule
People have short attention spans. Our brains are hardwired to pay attention to only the things that benefit us. This is also one of the truths that you should incorporate into every marketing strategy: people don’t want to waste too much time and energy comprehending the content. Consumers want information to be quick, ready, and bite-sized.
When it comes to landing pages, you should clearly state what you provide, how your service will benefit the customer, and what they need to do in five seconds or less. If you fail to do so, your chances of converting your leads decrease, and you run the risk of them exiting your landing page instead.
Keep your visitors focused. Make sure that all of the information they need is above the fold. Your value proposition and CTA must be located right at the top of the page.
Use Short and Creative Videos
Most business owners don’t want anything to do with videos. However, videos can provide an excellent opportunity to connect with your site visitors on a deeper level. This particular medium can be utilized to increase session durations on your website. The more that people interact with you, the likelier you can get them to opt-in or buy what you sell.
Feature a video that has a runtime of 60 seconds at the maximum. In this crucial 60 seconds, you must establish the problem you’re looking to solve and how your customers can benefit from using your solution. Emphasize what would happen if your visitors don’t go with your solution.
Make sure that the short video tells the story of your customers’ transformation. What happened when they tried out your product? How much happier are they now? The video must end with a clear call to action. We prefer to use the same CTA within the page for uniformity and to avoid confusion.
Social Proof
Testimonials or case studies of real people who have already tried out your products and services lend credibility to your landing page. They signify that what you offer can walk the talk. Just like a good referral, people trust positive reviews. Featuring some could benefit your landing page enormously.
While videos are the best when it comes to forging an emotional connection with your audience, you can also use text-based content. With prior consent, we often include real photos of our customers for authenticity.
Remember the customer transformation we mentioned above? Using testimonials and case studies to drive the point further helps to nudge your potential leads down the conversion funnel. Don’t make your testimonials overly lengthy. Make sure to tell the transformation story in just a few sentences.
Clarify Your Value Proposition
At first glance, your landing page must explain what value your service or product offers to your site visitors right away. If your landing page has too many convoluted messages crammed into it, people will immediately click away and go elsewhere.
Visitors must immediately know what it is you do and what’s in it for them. Conversion happens when the value proposition deeply resonates with your audience. We’ve learned that if you’re not solving a problem your audience faces, they won’t feel the need to buy into your solution.
Address your target market’s needs. Break down the reasons why they should prefer your business over others. Once you determine these aspects, incorporate them into your copy. Strong copy entices your audience into converting as leads. Remember, copy and value proposition go hand in hand when it comes to influencing conversion rates.
Use a Strong Call to Action
A CTA tells your audience what to do and where they need to click, sign up, or leave their email address. Your CTA button must be prominent on your landing page. We’ve proven that visually distinct CTAs generate more success in helping you reach your marketing objectives.
Use contrasting colors to get the attention of your audience. Most landing pages take the typical route of using an orange CTA button against a generic blue backdrop. We encourage clients to create their landing pages using their brand colors and with a contrasting color for their CTAs.
We often use commonly understood, action-oriented words to invoke a quick reaction. People don’t want to spend too much time figuring out where to go. Make it easier for them through your copy and design.
The best CTAs use simple, short words to boost conversion in landing pages.
The Bottomline
Landing pages are crucial when it comes to solidifying and supplementing your digital marketing campaigns. You could have a significant amount of site traffic, but this doesn’t automatically mean leads if you don’t optimize the pages for conversions as well.
Follow the above tips, and you’re on your way to creating a useful landing page that’s going to perform strongly and convert better.
