Landing pages.
They can be incredibly useful for lead generation and increasing conversions for your website, but so many people fail to understand the small details that can lead to major results for your business overall.
In this article, I'll cover four simple things you should be doing with your landing pages in order to optimize them for better conversions. I will be covering:
Effective Copywriting Techniques
Ease of Navigation
Calls to Action
If you can take the time to improve just these three things, you will see an incredible bump in your overall conversions.
1) Effective Copywriting Techniques
Let's start by taking a look at a good landing page and a bad landing page.
Here is an example of a landing page by Unbounce for an eBook on Attention-Driven Design. For this example, we are only going to focus on the copy for this page.
First:
The title is large and demands your attention right off the bat. Furthermore it tells you exactly what the ebook is about. You know that upon reading this guide, you will have learned exactly 23 principles for creating a more persuasive landing page.
What's great about this is that it follows this particular headline formula:
X Little Known Factors That Could Affect Your {Thing in Which Reader Has a Vested Interest}
Why is this formula good? Because it immediately tells the reader what the value proposition of the eBook is.
Second:
The subtitle under the main header reads, "Your Guide to Eliminating Distraction and Getting the Conversions you Deserve". Notice how the copy is not made-up of complicated jargon. It's specific and speaks directly to the reader. The primary value proposition is once again highlighted and inspires the reader to continue down the page.
Third:
We are brought to the left-hand side which states, "What's in the Ebook"?
And guess what?
The description actually tells the audience exactly what they are getting. It addresses a specific pain-point; that people don't have really long attention spans. Then it tells you exactly how long the ebook is, so the reader can estimate whether or not it is something they will have time to read. THEN, it outlines the exact concepts that will be covered in the ebook so that the reader can once again determine if the content is a fit for them.
There is very little mystery, and the language is not vague. Instead, it's direct and tells the site-visitor exactly what they are getting.
In the next example, which is the not-so-great example for effective landing page copy, we have the SAP landing page.
Right off the bat the page is jam-packed with words. So many words. Where do you even start?
First:
Let's take a look at this header.
"Revolutionize marketing for a new breed of customer."
Upon reading that title text, can you comfortably tell me what this page is about, or what SAP even does? Is it a tool? Is it a service? Is it content? Who knows!
The problem with this headline is that it is extremely vague and not directed to a specific user persona. The image in the background also fails to reveal anything about the product.
Second:
Now if we move on down to the first line underneath the image, we see that it says:
"As customers become more and more well informed, marketers are losing their influence."
First of all, is this an accurate statement? What are customers (and which customers specifically for that matter) becoming more informed about specifically? Why is this impacting marketers? It's very difficult to identify emotionally with the copy on this page and make a decision to call SAP.
We also don't know who SAP is trying to target with this landing page.
Third:
Following the above information, is a long list of content and calls to action, none of which stand out above the rest. As a result, it is very unlikely that anyone will click on the content unless they know exactly what they are looking for. But in terms of acquiring new leads and transforming those leads into customers, this page does not demand attention like the Unbounce landing page that has one specific purpose and request.
2) Ease of Navigation
Simply stated, the user-journey should be as straight-forward as possible. You should have a very clear goal of what you want your lead, or visitor to do when they arrive on your landing page or homepage.
The first thing to keep in mind is to avoid overwhelming your visitor with too many options. Instead, draw out a clear path of what you want specific user personas to do.
Vidyard's homepage is an example of great navigation.
Here is the homepage. When you hover over the "Solutions" tab, you get this drop down:
This offers a very clear path for different users. If I'm a marketer and I land on this page, I know to click on the tab that says "Learn More" under "Marketing". When I do this, I'm taken to the next stage in the funnel:
Turn viewers into customers.
Perfect! As a marketer that is exactly what I want to do. I want to increase conversions using video. As you scroll down the page, the content gets even more specific, outlining how video will benefit a marketer with different goals such as demand generation, marketing communications, video production, event planning or leadership.
Vidyard does a great job of providing a user experience that offers tons of value to the visitor. By the end of the journey, you can't help but consider video production as an incredibly useful tool to help you with your job. Navigation should be seamless and specific. It should direct your visitor to one primary call to action.
3) Calls to Action
Have just one. Seriously. Pick one thing you want your site visitor to do, and make that their only option.
Here is another example from Venngage:
There is one main call-to-action, which is to "Sign up for Free" for the infographics maker. The user is not confused by multiple buttons on the page, or numerous links like in the SAP example previously mentioned. The goal of the homepage is obvious.
Here is another example from my own site:
Teach me more. That's the primary call to action on this landing page about content marketing tips for non-marketers. There are no other buttons or links, or navigation for that matter. One goal and one solution. I want visitors to get in touch with me or subscribe to my blog so that is all I ask for.
The next thing to keep in mind is CTA button color and copy.
First:
Your CTA should be a button. Not a link. Make the button as obvious as possible too. People like big buttons, it grabs their attention.
When it comes to choosing color there has been much debate as to which color performs best. Research has shown however that orange and green lead to increased conversions. Why? It's been A/B tested.
Second:
When it comes to button copy, sometimes more words can be more effective. Just take a look at this example:
The reason being that when you use your button copy to speak directly to your visitor, and tell them exactly what is behind that button, it increases trust and desire. Of course, you actually need to provide whatever is promised by the button.
Conclusion
In order to optimize your landing pages for better conversions, you need to be direct, specific and provide a very seamless journey for your user. If not, they will quickly get frustrated and bounce from your page, resulting in fewer conversions, and as a result, less money for you. Don't be SAP. Instead be CROd.
