In order to have a successful inbound marketing campaign, you need great content, solid organic promotion, and a killer paid search and social strategy. However, even the best campaign strategy can go completely wasted if you don’t have a great landing page when users arrive.
If your landing page is slow to load or difficult to understand, users are going to continue searching without engaging.
Typically, landing pages have an average conversion rate of 2.35%, but the top 25% of landing pages have conversion rates over 5.31%. How do you join the ranks of the top-performing landing pages and continue to convert new customers?
Read on for the 7 core building blocks of great landing pages that drive conversion.
1. Write great headlines
The first and most impactful part of a landing page is the headline. As the old saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and when it comes to inbound marketing, headlines account for roughly 50% of effectiveness. Your headline should be direct and specific to give the page visitor a clear idea of what follows, the reasons they should engage.
This is also the perfect opportunity to introduce your brand personality and value proposition—if you tend to be a playful brand, don’t go with a serious headline (or vice-versa).
2. Tell a compelling, concise story
Your landing page isn’t the place to dive into a lengthy story or detailed case study. Users have clicked through to your landing page for a reason, so be sure to reinforce that they’re in the right place.
Using storytelling fundamentals, you can place your lead character (the user) in a scenario that illustrates the problems they might be experiencing and how you can help them solve these problems.
Use only your most compelling statistics and quotes, and deliver content in an easy-to-read format, such as bulleted lists or block quotes.
3. Pair with powerful visuals
Design is another huge factor in determining whether or not users will convert. Pairing great content with powerful visuals helps a user understand the story you’re trying to tell and ensures Studies show that frictionless, user-focused design can result in a 400% increase in conversions. Your story shouldn’t just be written, but also visual.
Use a clear hierarchy in font sizes, guide users visually down the page, and provide visual gravity to CTAs and important callouts. When in doubt, use white space—overly-cluttered design can be off putting for users and make your brand appear unprofessional.
4. Have a clear, direct CTA
Don’t be shy when it comes to asking your user to engage. Be direct, and tell them exactly what they need to do to stay engaged with your brand and continue receiving valuable content. Call out CTAs with buttons and directional text that leaves no room for argument about what a user should be doing–whether it’s “fill out the form to download” or “sign up for a demo” or even “learn more,” your user should know what you want them to do next.
Be sure to stay focused, and only ask your users to perform a single action on your landing page. Too many messages can lead to user confusion and distraction, and landing pages with multiple offers get 266% fewer leads than single offer pages.
5. Make it simple to take action
Your landing page should have a clear, direct CTA, and it should be easy to act on that CTA. Extremely lengthy forms or too many steps will deter your audience from engaging with your brand. Consider what information you actually need from a potential customer.
Reducing form fields can result in up to a 120% increase in conversions, with 4 form fields being the ideal number for landing page conversions. Using a tactic known as progressive profiling, you can steadily collect information from users over the course of a marketing automation campaign without scaring them off on the first engagement.
6. Make the user experience seamless
Make sure your landing pages are beautifully designed and function without glitches. If load times are too long or your pages aren’t About 63% of paid search clicks come from mobile devices, so make sure that your landing pages are optimized for mobile users to continue collecting these conversions.
Luckily, most marketing automation tools have robust landing page builder capabilities, so you don’t have to be a developer to build custom responsive landing pages with dynamic content and forms that integrate directly into your CRM.
7. Test, measure, and optimize
Landing pages are the perfect opportunity to conduct A/B testing and assess which elements of your overall strategy are working well. While small tweaks like changing button colors or increasing the font size by a point or two won’t have much of an impact on user experience, you should use landing page A/B testing as an opportunity to experiment.
Variables such as content approach, CTA position, and overall visual treatment can all have a significant impact on landing page conversions. Be sure to only test one variable at a time to determine which factors matter most to your audience, and optimize your campaign accordingly.
When building your landing pages, put yourself in the user’s shoes. Emphasize simplicity and concision, and make sure there’s a clear path on what’s supposed to come next. Optimize your landing pages based on the results rather than personal preferences, and your conversion rates will continue to improve in no time.
Hi Nirmal,
I think #7 is so critical today as many may do the previous 6 activities but never measure, test and optimize along the way. I find I spend more time doing that than anything else today, almost!
Thanks for your tips and have a great day!