Websites are for credibility, landing pages are for closing.
If you’re running a marketing campaign, you need a landing page. Websites are great, but a lot of the best websites only convert 2% of new traffic.
Now don’t get me wrong. Websites definitely have their place as a central hub for your marketing and to give full context of what you do, but when it comes to a well run marketing campaign you need a landing page that is going to convert traffic.
Why do landing pages convert better than regular websites
Your ability to convert comes down to message to market match – how likely the visitor feels your product or service is going to solve the problem they are experiencing.
Websites tend to try to be the answer to everyone, and you don’t know exactly why any particular visitor has landed on your website. Such is the nature of this that you just do not have specific enough messaging to convert a big chunk of your visitors. There are things you can do to funnel visitors to more specifically matched pages, but you will typically lose visitors along the way.
A landing page is a web page designed for a specific purpose – to be a standalone page with a single objective – to convert a specific market demographic with a specific offer.
Coming off the back of a targeted marketing campaign that has effectively targeted and attracted the specific demographic you want, a well constructed landing page has everything on that single page to demonstrate you have the solution they are looking for, and gives them what they need to take the next step with you.
6 Key Elements of An Effective Landing Page
1. A Single Offer
We’ll get this out of the way first…. Landing pages work because they are specific.
You’ve done the hard work of dialling in your marketing campaign to attract a specific market demographic – you know who they are, the problem they are experiencing and what they need to achieve a successful outcome. Give them only one offer so their only choice is yes, or no – don’t confuse them with options that they need to research and consider – up-sells and cross-sells may come later.
2. An attention grabbing “hero” section
When a visitor hits the page, you’ve got a few seconds to grab them, so in the first section
In this section you want
– A Captivating Main Headline
The main headline often speaks to the successful outcome the visitor will experience from your product/service, or the main benefit of using you
– An Informative Sub-headline
This gives the detail the main headline may have alluded to – essentially how you deliver on the promise of the main headline.
An Example:
Main Headline: Lead a high performance sales team
Sub-headline: A 12 week leadership program that will transform your view of leadership, giving you the tools and practices to grow an independent, high-performance team
3. Engaging Body Copy With Strong Headlines and Bullet Lists
You now want to expand on the hero section, reinforcing your knowledge of what the visitor is experiencing, and your ability to provide a solution. You will want to include:
– A unique selling proposition
A solution that is uniquely tailored to the visitor – ideally you have your marketing dialled in to attract a specific market demographic, making it easier to present an offering that is contextually relevant to them.
– The benefits of your offering
Remember features tell, benefits sell. If you find yourself listing features, turn them into benefits, e.g. an online program is accessible anywhere, at any time of the day so can be consumed at the purchaser’s own pace.
– Your expertise/position of authority
Why should they listen to you? It might be a qualification, or the number of people/businesses you have helped.
4. Enticing Contextually Relevant Images/Media
Now here is why design follows content. You want your images to fit your content, e.g. happy people using your product – an image of a successful outcome. If you are able to add video that gives you the ability to form a deeper connection with the visitor, show particular aspects of your offering, or even demo’ing the use of your product/service.
5. Social proof and trust indicators
You immediately think testimonials – they are a given if possible. Here you want your testimonials to be very specific, not the throw-away lines like, “Great service, and friendly staff.”
You want testimonials that follow formats like “I was experiencing X, and after engaging {company} to do Y, we are now achieving Z.”
But maybe you’re in an industry that does not allow you to use testimonials, or you don’t have any relevant testimonials. In this case, there are other trust indicators you can use including:
- Media outlets that have featured you.
- Companies that have worked with you
- Number of clients you have worked with
- Awards you have received
- Industry bodies you are accredited with
6. A Clear and Concise Call To Action
Do not leave this to the bottom of the page, you will have call-to-actions throughout the landing page all telling them what the next step is to get your offering, whether it’s to make/book a call, complete a form or make a purchase.
Use that call to action in your header, your hero section, throughout the page, and of course as the last thing on the page – when someone is ready to take the next step, make sure it’s readily available without them having to struggle to find it.
That does not mean the actual conversion mechanism has to be everywhere, it could just be a button linking to a popup, section on the same page, or if it has to be another page.
Distractions – What You Don’t Want On Your Landing Page
The objective of a landing page is to present a single offer with the mechanism for them to claim the offer.
Anything else they can click on is a distraction
- Other things you offer
- Navigation to other pages, e.g. a menu in the header or footer.
- Logo in your header being clickable to the home page of your website
You need to make sure the visitor is staying on your landing page, so it needs to answer the questions they have, and everything on the page is pushing the visitor to take one action – to claim your offer.
You’re Next Step
Are you running any marketing campaigns, or thinking of running one? If you want it to convert then here is what you need to do identify:
- The ideal client you are wanting to target
- The problems they are experiencing.
- The single offer that can solve their problem.
- Why they can trust you to achieve a successful resolution to their problem
- What does a successful outcome look like for them.
- What are they avoiding by taking action now.
Integrate these elements into your marketing campaign and, utilising the key elements on this page, your landing page. If you get this in front of your ideal client then it will convert.
