Whether it’s for a new product launch or a temporary promotion, to generate traffic or increase your sales, your landing page is at the heart of your digital marketing campaign. This is where you direct the traffic from your online advertising, social networks or e-mail campaigns.
And when the traffic lands on your landing page, it must be optimized so that your visitor converts into a customer.
Landing page: what is it?
A landing page is a web page that receives traffic from all sites and platforms outside your website. Typically, a landing page is associated with pay-per-click ads like Google AdWords where you can drive traffic to a specific URL specifically designed to receive those visitors.
But landing pages are not only for paid ads: they can also be used with equal success for natural referencing.
Landing pages also work well with social networks, and many businesses have one or more fan pages on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.
Landing pages differ from the rest of your website in that they focus on a single objective, either informative or transactional. Their ultimate goal is to convert visitors into customers. Conversion can be immediate as the landing page is designed to lead visitors to purchase, or it can be a gradual conversion through lead generation.
The most common landing pages can have several purposes:
- E-commerce: A landing page optimized for e-commerce usually provides detailed information about a product and its value. It is, at first glance, designed to encourage the customer to “add to cart”.
- Lead generation: in this case, the offer is usually a white paper, a free ebook, a webinar, a trial subscription or a discount coupon. To qualify for the offer, your visitor must complete a registration form, which may result in a future sale.
- Relationship: This type of landing page is used to establish an informal relationship with your visitor by inviting them to join your mailing list. Over time, this relationship can lead to a business relationship.
- Membership: A membership-oriented landing page requires your visitor to sign up to use a specific service. Membership can be paid or free, with the understanding that the member’s activity data will be measured and possibly used to generate further conversions in the future.
Why use landing pages?
Once you’ve captured the user’s attention (and click) through your ad, the landing page is usually your first and only opportunity to start a conversation, drive engagement and generate clicks. Your landing page may even be your only chance to convince a visitor that your offer is worth their time and attention.
So you simply cannot afford to make a mistake.
Many marketers direct pay-per-click traffic to their homepage, thinking that their visitors will “discover” for themselves where to go next.
Wrong.
There is far too much competition, too many opportunities to compare stores, and too little time to do so. These reasons explain why landing pages are necessary. They allow you to better control, direct and help visitors find what they are looking for quickly.
Also, since search engines like Google place a high value on relevance, their goal is for users to find what they are looking for. With an effective landing page, there is a good chance that your ranking will improve in the search results as the best answer to the searcher’s needs.
Good landing pages can also improve your conversion rate, which is the percentage of visitors who finally took the action you wanted. These people have been converted from visitors to interested buyers, and from potential buyers to (hopefully!) permanent customers.
16 tips for optimizing a landing page
1 – Create a relevant and targeted page
One thing that many companies overlook is creating a seamless experience between their ads and their landing pages. The design, message and tone must be compatible and consistent with the user’s expectations at the time they clicked on the link or banner.
If your landing page doesn’t match the aesthetics of your ad, users may leave thinking they’re in the wrong place.
For this reason, the original design and message of your landing page should be similar to that of your ad. Do not change the colour scheme, the offer and the typography from one to the other.
2 – Use a strong title and subtitle
An effective landing page uses action-oriented language, starting with the title. This title must necessarily be based on the promise made in the link that led the visitor to your landing page. The titles must therefore correspond and be consistent with the user’s request.
Users want to know where to go, what to do and how to do it. This is why the most successful landing pages focus the reader’s attention on a clear, concise and easily noticeable title that immediately speaks to their needs, desires, fears or concerns.
The subtitle leads to the content: short and punchy, it must convince the user to continue reading.
Example of a landing page with a clear and striking title and subtitle
3 – Use a call to action
Apart from your title, the call to action (CTA) is the most important element of your landing page. It corresponds to what you want to get from your visitor.
The actions may correspond to :
- The purchase of a product
- Subscription to a newsletter
- A first contact
- Downloading an e-book or white paper
Make sure your call-to-action button has depth and contrasting colors to the surrounding elements to assert its dominance. There are many views on the color of the button. Some people say that red is the best colour to use because it arouses strong emotional reactions, but it is also a colour with negative connotations. Test other colors according to your graphic charter, such as green, which tends to soothe, blue, a familiar web color for links/action, or purple, which evokes security.
To make your CTA stand out even more on the page, make it breathe visually by using white space to set it apart.
The text of your CTA must be clear and unambiguous. Use short, action-oriented words, or words that convey urgency, such as “now” now or “start today” to invoke an immediate response.
Example of a landing page with an optimized CTA
Your call to action should be above the waterline and, if your page is long, repeat it at regular intervals further down the page. Not all people react the same way to content, and repeating your CTA can make some more likely to convert if it matches their emotional connection time to your message.
4 – State the value proposition
The main reason people visit a site and choose to stay is because of its ability to create value. This value is your promise to provide your customer with a way to solve their problem.
Your visitors are interested in how your offer, product or service can benefit them, so your content should always focus on that:
- What points about your product or offer are most attractive to your visitor?
- How can the product get it out of where it is and/or where it wants to be?
Be clear about what people will get when they click on your call-to-action button.
Don’t just tell them you’re better than the competition. Show them how, by capitalizing on what makes you different and providing a compelling list of the benefits of your offer. Prove the value of your product, service, coupon, contest or anything else you offer.
Example of an optimized landing page that includes a strong value proposition
To achieve this, action-oriented words are essential:
- Help actions: help, learn, develop, solve, etc.
- Leadership actions: implement, achieve, prioritize, manage, execute, etc.
- Productivity actions: eliminate, maximize, accelerate, stimulate, simplify, reduce, etc.
Show credibility by being as specific as possible, and don’t forget the numbers. If your offer, service or product can save your visitor money or time, indicate how much. A quantifiable value proposition gives the visitor an idea of how quickly they can expect to have their problem solved, or how much money they can expect to save.
Example of a landing page with a quantifiable value proposition
5 – Get rid of unnecessary items
Unlike most other marketing strategies, landing pages follow a simple approach. In terms of content and design: the less the better.
Remember that each element used must serve a purpose: to convert a visitor into a customer.
To help the user focus on a single action, remove all distracting elements from your landing page. Keep only :
- A single sidebar or footer with all the testimonials
- Two navigation options: a button leading to the rest of the offer and a link leading to a specific page of your website for users who are not interested in your offer
- Essential off-page links: such as terms and conditions, privacy policy or social sharing buttons
- Images that reinforce your message
6 – Layout of the elements
The layout of your landing page should always guide your visitor towards conversion. It should therefore not be a source of confusion.
As mentioned in the previous point, keep your page without too much information and clutter. Increase the readability and facilitate the understanding of your visitors thanks to :
- Bulleted lists: to help visitors understand the benefits of your offer at a glance.
- White spaces: to direct your visitors’ attention to your offer, its advantages and your call to action.
- Short paragraphs
- Subtitles
7 – Putting important information in the right place
The majority of web users are “scanners” rather than readers. They don’t have time to read all of your content and want to know, at a glance, if your offer meets their expectations or not.
Therefore, keep your title, CTA and value proposition above the waterline. In other words, make sure that all your relevant information can be seen on the screen, without the need to scroll down.
8 – Focus on the customer
In order to design a fully optimized landing page, you need to know who you are addressing. Make a list of demographics for your target market, and try to describe a number of typical customers according to their behaviour and consumption habits.
For example, if your target is the millennial generation, use appropriate language and images. If you are addressing a geo-targeted audience, use local references to prove to your visitors that your offer is directly and personally relevant to them.
In addition, using self-centered language based on “we” or “our company” gives the impression that you don’t care about your customer. Whenever possible, talk to your visitor using “you” instead.
9 – Use psychological levers of action
To increase the conversion rate of your landing page, you can play on the psychology of your visitors by activating several powerful levers:
- Fear: The best way to create fear-based motivation in your landing page is to ask yourself what is the deepest fear your customers have about your offer. Is it the fear that things won’t work out in the end? That they will never get anything? May they lose or fail?
- Urgency: increase the urgency, either in terms of time (limited offer) or in terms of what will happen if the user does not act now. What are they missing by choosing not to act? You can even include a countdown timer: easy to add, they are visually interesting and reinforce the sense of urgency.
- The results: knowing what to expect is a powerful motivator against uncertainty or lack of confidence. This is why the results (in the form of experiments, social evidence or testimonials) can be so valuable.
10 – A trustworthy landing page
Trust, unlike content, cannot be “written”. However, to make your landing page reliable, there are a number of things you can do.
First of all, start by saying more about your business. Explain who you are, who is behind your business (and your website), what you do and where you do it from. Just one or two paragraphs are enough, so that your presentation is clear and quick.
In a second step, add at least one “confidence element”. Trustmarks include: security symbols/badges, a link to a privacy statement and/or terms and conditions. A good technique is to write “We will never sell your email address” near your form.
Example of a landing page reassuring the visitor by guaranteeing the confidentiality of his data
All of these elements allow your visitors to know that the personal and financial data they share with your company is secure, thus reducing hesitation.
Example of a landing page that includes well-known logos to reassure the visitor
To reassure customers, you can also answer the questions they might have:
- When will my order be shipped?
- How do I get more information?
- How do I cancel an order?
- How do I get started? Is there a tutorial?
11 – Include social proof
Using social proof is a huge boost to your credibility and a great way to increase visitor trust. There are many ways to take advantage of this psychological trigger. Can be added as social proof on your landing page:
- Prizes/awards received
- The logo of a renowned company with which you collaborate
- Positive customer testimonials, ratings and reviews
- Press releases
Since people trust other people’s opinions, it’s ideal to feature a review that shows you’ve affected someone’s life or business, or just good feedback from your customers.
Another method to leverage social proof for your landing page optimization is to mention how many customers you have.
12 – Adding images and videos
You know: a picture says more than a thousand words. This is especially true online. Images are the most shared and appreciated content on social networks, and are also very effective on your landing page.
The integration of multimedia content such as videos or graphics is a factor in optimizing your landing page and can significantly improve it. Adding images and videos helps customers quickly understand your product, offer or service and reinforces your message.
13 – Display your contact information
Don’t hide from your customers. Posting your contact information (phone number, email, social networks, map of your location etc.) tells people that you are legitimate and real. The more approachable you appear, the friendlier and more trustworthy you will be.
14 – Aim for speed
Yes, the “5-second rule” also applies to landing pages. In concrete terms, you have about 5 seconds to attract your consumer.
The faster your landing page loads, the more likely users will stay and engage with it. On the contrary, a slower loading time will probably force visitors to leave, because of the wait.
As such, according to a Google AdWords best practice guide :
“If it takes too long for your website to load when someone clicks on your ad, they are more likely to give up and leave your site.”
This unwanted behavior can signal to Google that the page experience is poor, which could have a negative impact on your ad rankings.
15 – User and traffic segmentation
If your market is targeting multiple user types, create different landing pages for each segment, and serve ads accordingly. A personalized experience is one of the keys to landing page optimization.
In order to adapt and optimize your landing page to your customers, segment them according to several criteria:
- Type
- Age
- Education
- Revenues
- Aspirations (what they can hope or dream to do)
- Opinions (their views and perceptions on potentially controversial issues)
- Lifestyle (their choices regarding health, family, work…)
16 – Performing A / B tests
Testing is one of the most important parts of any landing page optimization to be able to measure the effectiveness of the different elements. Testing allows you to benchmark your advertising campaigns and see what works best.
Test the most important elements first: headlines, CTAs (message wording, color, etc.), forms (number of fields), then move on to less impactful elements.
Write several variations of your main message and run tests on each. Also try changing the size and colour of the text. Sometimes the simplest change can result in a higher conversion rate.
If you don’t need to delete your landing page, don’t! In the long run, it can boost your traffic and gain you SEO value. And if you decide to reactivate your ad campaign, having a page that Google has known for a long time is a major advantage.