Marketing + Web

The Purpose of Landing Pages (And The Guidelines for a Good One)

A landing page serves as a crucial first step in developing a relationship with a potential customer. Besides the call-to-action they clicked on to get said landing page, it’s the first impression a customer will have of your company. It’s important to seize the opportunity, as a good landing page = higher conversion rates. In short, that’s the sole purpose of a landing page: to convert visitors into leads.

What goes into a landing page?

First and foremost, a landing page must have a form for visitors to exchange their information for an offer. It can be as simple as capturing their email address or as complex as requesting their name, phone number, or more. A good rule of thumb is the easier, the better. The less information a visitor has to give up, the more likely they will be to complete the form. If capturing more personal information is necessary, be sure the offer they will receive is of equal value to the customers. Remember—this is your first interaction with customers. If they have to trade a lot of information for a less-than-great offer, they likely won’t end up completing the desired customer journey.

Next, landing pages have no other navigation. Or any information not directly related to your offer, for that matter. The landing page experience should be distraction-free (more on this later!) and should serve solely as the place for you to capture information from visitors in exchange for your offer. This means that your website home page that may have a form on it can’t serve as your landing page.

How do landing pages work?

The behind-the-scenes of a landing page is easier than you may think. In fact, we can easily break down into four steps.

1. A visitor ends up on your landing page after seeing and clicking on your call-to-action.
2. This visitor completes the form on your landing page, converting them to a lead.
3. The information they provided is stored in your leads database of choice.
4. You begin marketing to this lead based off of the information you now know about them.

Rather than using mass marketing tactics, you’re able to turn this lead into a nurtured lead by creating marketing actions tailored to them. From there, a nurtured lead will move through your marketing funnel quicker!

What goes into a good landing page?

As we mentioned above, the goal should be to have a landing page that’s distraction-free. It’s important to consider the customer experience and how you can quickly and efficiently move a visitor into your marketing funnel. You can do this through a minimal landing page that focuses on these elements:

1. Any necessary additional information about the offer you’re providing

Build upon your call-to-action and tell the visitor more about what you’re offering them and the steps they need to complete in order to receive the offer.

2. No navigational links

Having links on your landing page confuses visitors as to which action you want them to complete. Keep it simple and remove all links so that the only action they can take is filling out your form.

Once they’ve completed the form, feel free to add links on the thank you/confirmation page that may guide them to your website’s home page or other relevant pages.

3. Short Forms

As discussed before, the easier, the better. Most visitors won’t mind providing their name and email address, but asking for a phone number or more personal information can leave them feeling wary and result in them abandoning the process. Ask for only the essential information in the initial form. If further information is desired, prompt them to provide it on your thank you page.

What else?

Beyond the basic minimalist design approach, you should take to your landing page, there are additional aspects you can consider to create a highly-converting landing page.

1. Make it mobile-friendly

As with any website, your landing page should be mobile friendly! It’s especially important to make sure visitors can easily fill out a form on a mobile device. If your form only works well on a desktop, you risk losing a lot of quality leads!

2. Match your landing page copy to your ad copy

When a visitor reaches your landing page, they should quickly be able to scan the content to ensure they’ve reached the right place. You want to bring them to their exact desired location and matching copy helps reassure this. Furthermore, landing page copy that matches your PPC ads copy helps boost the performance of these ads so that you reach more qualified leads and have a better ROI.

3. Customize landing pages for different demographics

Consider where your visitors are coming from and how different sources may yield different demographics. Someone who’s clicked on a Facebook post likely falls into a different demographic than a visitor who clicked on a PPC ad. Effective landing pages are tailored to specific demographics that match the exact user’s needs. The more customized your landing page is, the higher conversion rates you’ll have.

Are you ready to create great landing pages?

If you’re not already using landing pages, you’re missing out on a prime opportunity to rake in high-quality leads and nurture leads. Need help creating a landing? We can help.