In this article I will be talking about what features of a landing page make it a positive experience for the user and help to drive your conversions. The days are gone when giant flashing banner ads were enough to keep users happy. Now as user complexity grows so does the complexity of the psychology we must use. Below are 6 necessities for a successful landing page which you will need to utilize to drive up your conversions.
1: Headlines
The headline of your landing page is your opportunity to keep a user on your page. It should communicate an important value of your product. It shouldn’t be the same as your title tags, but it should tie in with some of the searches and keywords that you’re trying to attract.
2: Design
The design of your landing page has a huge impact on your conversion rates. Using real people and faces on your landing page is proven to improve landing page conversions as they naturally help users to connect with your site. You can gain more control of what users look at on your page by having the picture of the person looking at your product, people naturally follow their gaze to see what they are looking at. The use of arrows and lines also helps you direct users attention to important places on the landing page such as important copy or your call to action. People naturally follow arrows and tend to follow a line to completion. Contrast is also very important in the designing of landing pages. It makes some pieces on the page stand out more so they are more likely to be given weight by the user. The use of contrasting colours, especially around the CTA, is essential in making the experience as easy as possible for the user. The design of your forms should be kept short and concise.
3: Content & Copy
Too much content/copy designed into a landing page turns users off reading it all. However certain types of copy have been found to be very influential on web users. This includes copy such as such as subtly implying that they will
be missing out or the offer is for a limited time.
4: Forms
The design of your forms should be kept short and concise. Humans naturally add up value and if your form is too long or too complicated they will deem it to not be worth their time and move on. Even marking a field as optional has a negative impact on conversions. I would recommend only asking for information that is absolutely necessary.
5: Call To Action
Your CTA is your opportunity to invite users to the next step and build a relationship with your company. It should come at the end of positive and engaging content. Making it personal rather than stock words on your CTA button helps the user to engage and increases conversion. For example saying “Get My Free Quote” instead of “Submit” is generally much more effective.
6: Measure Your Results
It’s crucial to measure your results. Create several variants of each landing page and track their results. Using Split Testing will allow you to determine which variant has the highest conversion rates. Creating even more variants from the best performing ads (adjusting small details like copy etc) allows for even higher conversions and accuracy. This allows you to get the most out of every campaign as different techniques don’t always work the same on different products/services.
So in conclusion most landing pages have a success rate of about 2.3% while the better performing pages hover at around 5% upwards. This means there is generally a lot of room for improvement, so keep these tips in mind when you are creating your own landing pages and your conversion rates will improve.