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Read part one here! Before you start creating and designing your landing pages, you must first think about who your audience is and what it is that you want to achieve. The answers you come up with will be your guide when it comes to designing your page.
Who is your audience?
Great landing pages are tailored to their audiences. The more personalized a landing page is, the better chance it will have of converting a user. By defining who your audience is, you will better understand how you should bespeaking to them, what the page should look like, which devices will be used to access your landing page, and the personal desires of your user.
For instance, if your product is aimed at senior citizens, you might wish to use a larger font size, have a prominent call-to-action that lies above the fold, and write in a style that appeals to them. This landing page would look very different from one designed for a millennial, who would probably access your page on a smartphone and be used to scrolling on a website.
What do you want to achieve?
If you’re using a landing page, the chances are you want to increase your website’s conversion rate. But what is a conversion for your site? Do you need a landing page:
- As a destination for your PPC ad?
- To increase subscribers to your blog or newsletter?
- To let people sign up for your webinar?
- To increase purchase rates of an up sell?
- To create anticipation about a product launch?
- To do something different entirely?
Because a landing page is so specific to the goal that it is trying to achieve, each of these goals will result in a very different looking landing page.
What does a great landing page look like?
The guide touched earlier on the anatomy of a basic landing page, but great landing pages will have a few more elements in order to maximize conversion rates. It’s important to note here that the perfect landing page doesn’t exist. Landing pages can always be improved and there’s no reason not to work at making them better.
While all of the following elements can help to increase conversion rates, sticking all of them on a page without any thought is a sure-fire way to fail. A successful landing page is greater than the sum of its parts. As mentioned above, the design of a landing page should be influenced by the audience and the end goal.
“Over 90% of visitors who read your headline also read your CTA.” - Marketing Experiments
Seven elements of a high-converting landing page
1. A captivating headline
This is the first and possibly the only thing visitors will read. The headline is where you win or lose them. The key here is to explain the benefit you are offering to users in a single sentence. Don’t talk about features, talk about what they can achieve thanks to your offering. Make it all about the user. You should spend as much time on this single element as you do creating the rest of the landing page. Why? Because research has shown that over 90% of users who read your headline will also read your CTA
2. A kick-ass offer
You could have the best landing page in the world, but if your offer sucks, users aren’t going to be converted. If your goal is to get new subscribers to your blog, you’ll probably want to give away something for free like an in-depth guide to your chosen topic. If you want people to sign up to your webinar, you’ll need to highlight why your webinar is so good. What is the user going to learn from you and how will it benefit them? This will be the second thing users will read, so make sure the copy for your offer follows on nicely from your title.
3. Eye-catching images
Some users won’t bother to read your headline. But if they see an image that they relate to, they may be persuaded to give the landing page a second chance. Don’t just use any old stock image, however. Think of your image as a second headline. Make it powerful; make sure it shows off your product or offering and the benefit to the user if possible.
4. A sweet video
Do you know what’s better than images? Video! If a picture says a thousand words, how many words does a video say? Ten thousand? A million? However many it is, videos are a great way to increase conversion rates. In fact, research has shown that using video on landing page scan increase conversions by 86%.
5. Trust indicators
These can be anything from testimonials and reviews to customer logos and Industry certifications. This is an especially important element if the goal of your landing page is to persuade users to buy a product. But even if you’re just trying to get more email sign ups, it is still a good idea to put trust indicators on your landing page.
6. A clear call-to-action
It’s no good having a landing page if users don’t know what to do on it. This is where your call-to-action (CTA) comes in.It should be clear, prominent and assertive. “Sign up here”, “Add to cart” and “Download now” are common calls-to-action that you will see across the web. As always though, your CTA should be tailored to your offering and your audience.
7. A post-conversion page
When’s the best time to get a user to convert? When they’ve already converted. This is the goal of a post-conversion landing page. Once they’ve clicked the call-to-action and filled in their information, follow them up with another offer. Maybe this is a product up sell or a request to become a newsletter subscriber. Whatever it is, there’s no better time to strike than while the iron is hot. If you don’t have an applicable post conversion offer, consider a thank you instead.
Personalize with dynamic content
If you’re looking for a sure-fire way to boost conversions, there are few methods better than inserting dynamic content into your landing page. Dynamic content is content that is personalized for a visitor using data you have already gathered about them. Dynamic content comes in all shapes and forms.
Some common examples are:
- Inserting a user’s name into the landing page.
- Switching out imagery to reflect the page visitor.
- Providing up sell recommendations based on a recent purchase.
- Tailoring landing page copy depending on the location of the user.
Key takeaways:
- The best landing pages are designed based on the audience and the end goal.
- A successful landing page is greater than the sum of its parts.
- Images, trust indicators and video are great additions to landing pages.
- Personalize with dynamic content to increase conversions.
Now, go launch your landing page
If you’ve gotten this far, you know everything you need to know to allow you to start creating and optimizing landing pages for your website. Get out there, post a page and start getting leads today. If you liked this article and are interested in more Lama insights check out this post where we explain what metrics you should be monitoring for e-marketing success.
