Landing page optimization is an important piece of a successful inbound marketing strategy. Their main objective is to generate leads by capturing contact information by providing something of value. Your ultimate goal is to get users to fill out that form.
A landing page is a place for a user to “land,” which means they could be coming from numerous places: social media, your website, paid ads or organic results. Where they come from is a critical part of if the will convert (more on that in a bit). The offer and its relevance to their situation is another.
The great thing about landing pages is you can keep optimizing it based on data, figuring out what works and what doesn’t. It’s a great test and learn application. We’ve created lots of landing pages and have over the years found a few key pieces to be the most important. So, we’re sharing our favorite landing page optimization tips that can lead to more conversions.
Text should be compelling but short
A landing page is no time for an essay. Keep language concise and short. Be clear in the offer, and its value to the user. Break text up with headers, or create new sections to place additional text. Remember it still needs to be compelling. Why does it matter to that user? Here are some quick examples:
If you’re offering an ebook or whitepaper, set up in less than three lines what they will learn from reading it. Copy should be in active not passive voice.
If the offer is related to a demo, consultation or simple contact, this means your audience has to be past the awareness buyer journey stage and on to consideration. Your language should be confident about why the user needs to see the software or hear about a program. But don’t push. Still lead with a consultative tone of being able to help the user. Be nonchalant about the offer. Instead of saying “Schedule a Demo,” you could say “Spend 15 Minutes with Us.” It feels like less of a commitment and more like a chat with a friend.
Landing page copy should get to the point, but still embody your brand’s tone. Fluffy, adjective heavy text isn’t going to make someone convert faster. What will is being very clear about the offer.
Here’s page from our library that hits many of these landing page copy tips.
Always consider the referral source
As mentioned earlier, there are many applications for landing pages. Thus, you should consider from where they are coming to better optimize. You may also have landing pages that you use in various channels. That is an added consideration. You’ll also need to make sure expectations set up from the referral source are met with the landing page offer. Otherwise you’ve got a huge expectation gap that will hurt conversions.
For example, you may have a paid search ad that offers Alaska travel ideas. The user would expect to go to a content piece about Alaska trips. If the landing page actually goes to page that sells Alaska trips, there’s going to be an expectation gap. Just by what the user searched for, it’s obvious they aren’t ready to buy.
Alignment between referral source and landing page optimization must be in step and in context. If a user is clicking onto a landing page from paid sources (banner ads, paid search or paid social media), they may not be familiar with your brand. What they are familiar with is their problem or challenge. So seek to answer that before jumping ahead to techniques further down the buyer’s journey.
Keep design simple
The design of your landing page should of course align with your brand. But keep it simple. This is not the time for carousels of images or 10 different colors. Break content up into sections. Use background images that don’t distract. Your form should stand out, but not be a blinking light! Using a bright color for the button is fine as long as it’s in line with your brand. We often use the bright green color of our brand for the button.
If you’re offering a content piece, there is a great landing page optimization recipe we recommend. The landing page should contain the front cover of our ebook or whitepaper, a quick benefit summary of the content and a simple form. Here’s an example for one of our ebooks
Focus on conversion-centered design elements: Attention, Context, Clarity, Congruence, Credibility, Closing and Continuance. These seven principles should be considered in every landing page.
Try landing pages for lead gen effots
Landing page optimization isn’t easy. There’s a lot of trial and error. Small changes have the ability to make big impacts. At the center of landing page optimization is the three areas discussed in this piece:
- Concise, interesting copy
- Consideration of referral source
- Simple, brand relevant design
If you’ve never tried landing pages as a lead generation effort, it’s certainly worth it. We can help you create a landing page strategy as well as design and write it. Contact us today for more conversions!
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