Your Landing Page is Your Online Salesperson
Did you know that your landing pages can make or break any digital marketing campaign…and even some traditional ones? Email, social, paid digital and OTT/CTV and broadcast or print and direct mail – all are great at reaching prospects. But, if you’re driving leads to the web from these campaigns, be sure to send them to pages that are intentionally designed for conversion. That’s usually NOT your website home page, which is designed to help users see and know all of what you do. If you have targeted product, service or offer campaigns, drive responders to web pages dedicated to that topic. This improves user experience and conversion providing a couple of simple, clear paths to the information for which they came.
A successful landing page fully engages your audience with the calls to action that convert them to a qualified lead or customer…right now! It is designed to focus people on the specific sales journey actions you want them to take and that are relevant the information they expect to find there. Are your pages working this way?
Landing pages have one job – conversion. The goal is always to turn the person who lands there into a qualified lead and ultimately, a loyal customer. So, when you begin to create the landing page, ask yourself, What’s my goal? What action(s) do I want people to take? How can I frame those into calls to action that will get my audience to take those actions and how can I track conversion on those actions? Answer these questions first.
Are Your Landing Pages Under-Performing?
When you have all these answers, consider design. Keep it easy to navigate and focused on the next actions you want a user to take. For best results, keep your design simple. Do not overwhelm with information and do not make it look just like your homepage. It should provide 1-3 clear calls to action that are easy to say yes to, while building a connection. Too many choices reduce response. The right choices increase engagement. Do keep your brand elements intact. This builds long-term memorable awareness.
“The landing page has one job: close the deal. There are so many things that can go wrong, so the landing page has to be easy to use, match the offer, and not be distracting,” says Paula Milam, President, TruStar Marketing.
There are 5 elements to focus on to ensure your landing page provides the best potential for conversion:
Headline
The headline is typically the first thing any visitor sees. Make it clear, concise and benefit focused. Anyone who visits your landing page needs to understand immediately the value of the content and its relevance to the topic that got them there. The calls to action must also be clear, understandable and offer something of value and interest on the topic. They must be crafted to inspire interested visitors to become engaged visitors.
Relevant Images
Our brains tend to process pictures before words. However, the images you choose for your landing page must communicate in tandem with the copy. Copy and art must support one another. They must be relevant, eye-catching and appeal to your prospect on an emotional level. If you have clear photos and clear calls to action, the decision to take the next step goes much faster. For example, if you offer an information kit, show it. Take a photo. And place the name of the kit over it. That’s clear. If it’s free and there are no strings. Be sure that is clear too. Boom. More leads captured.
Lead Form
The lead form gathers the personal information you need to communicate with your new prospect on an ongoing basis. It is vital to your success, so is its design. It should be easy to find, above the fold and easy to fill out. The fewer the number of fields required the more submits. However, do strike a balance between how much information you require and the quality of the lead. Determine the minimal information you need for your campaign and consider A/B split testing the number of fields if you are not sure.
Call to Action (CTA)
You can argue that your call to action is the most important element on your landing page. It’s the way you convert a casual browser to a potential lead. Make sure your CTA stands out and is easy to find. Keep your copy short and your offer crystal clear. You may also consider more than one CTA, depending on your product. For example, you may offer a free quote and a free brochure for more information. Different CTAs will appeal to different prospects, depending on where they are in the decision process.
Copy
When it comes to the copy you write for your landing page, less may be more. Your copy needs to be clear, concise, yet easy to understand. Use a tone that aligns with your audience and be sure to embed links to get the next action desired. Guide visitors to your call to action. Clearly explain your offer and its benefits.
“There’s potential for so much distraction, like the navigation or other links in your sidebar. You don’t want people clicking around. You want them to fill out your form. The only button you want people to click on a landing page is whatever your call to action is. You want to make it dead simple for people to convert,” says Milam.
Once you’ve converted someone to a potential lead – don’t forget to be courteous and thank them. This is done through a reveal thank you page. Saying ‘thank you’, is such a simple thing that we often forget its importance. If you’ve gathered their email data, trigger a thank you email as well. This is a great vehicle for following up with another call to action as well.
Saying thank you can genuinely help turn a potential lead into a customer, but more than that, it gracious. So, it can’t be an afterthought – spend the time to make it as important to the campaign as you customer landing page.
A thank you page can and should serve as a place to help someone understand more about your company. Take the opportunity to not only thank them but provide links to related content they might be interested in. Invite them to like, follow or engage with your social media platforms and give options for follow-up emails with offers. It all helps develop a relationship with someone who may very well turn into your next loyal customer.
If your landing pages aren’t getting the ROI you want, contact us today for a free evaluation.
RESOURCES:
https://wiredimpact.com/blog/landing-pages-report-google-analytics/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/landing-page-best-practices
https://www.semrush.com/blog/semrushchat-creating-landing-page-users-google-will-love/
https://moz.com/blog/most-entertaining-guide-to-landing-page-optimization
TruStar Marketing fuses the art and science of marketing to improve your business. We specialize in health care, insurance and high-tech manufacturing industries. Digital marketing that works stars with a free introductory call.