We often see them in our trawl through the web for information on technology solutions and services. Some grab our attention, while others are dull. Some are clear, while others are cluttered and confusing.
I’m talking about landing pages. We have all responded to at least a few and they form an indispensable part of the marketer’s playbook. But what exactly is a landing page? What is it for and what do you need to do to make sure yours is a great one?
A landing page is first and foremost simply a web page, but one with a very specific purpose. It displays directed sales copy that is a logical extension of the advertisement, search result or link or whatever drove the user to that page.
As such, they can be a great way to capture new sales leads. Direct people to a landing page with a good offer – a white paper, a report or some other useful collateral – in return for some basic contact details and you could be on the path to some valuable new contacts.
There are lots of ideas about what makes a great landing page, and there are many ideas of best practice. Essentially, the mark of a good landing page is that it works. It maximizes the number of high-quality leads and minimizes the number of time wasters. Ultimately, conversions are what matter most.
But what about the details? What do you actually put on a landing page to ensure these visitors download your content, leave their contact information and turn into potential customers?
What is best practice for landing pages?
Fit the flow
Firstly, the landing page must fit the flow of the ad or link that drove people to the landing page. You’ll also need a great, compelling headline, one that really resonates with your audience.
Customize them
Landing pages need to be customized – they are a destination designed to meet a specific purpose, to generate leads, so don’t simply route people to your homepage or a product page. Create many different custom landing pages so that the experience is as smooth as possible, from whatever search or LinkedIn ad, or even link on your email that you’ve provided potential leads.
Keep it clean
A good landing page is a simple one – clean, uncluttered design is much more attractive to the visitor than one that has different, clashing elements all over the page. It should be immediately obvious what the visitor has to do, with clear, simple instructions in an easy-to-read font. No-one wants to hunt around for the ‘download’ button amongst a host of other elements.
Make it obvious
The best landing pages have a strong offer and tell you straight away what you will get. Readers need to see what they are getting by downloading your content, as well as a clear call to action that invites the user to do something.
For this reason, the heading should be direct and unequivocal – ‘Download your free eBook’, ‘Get your white paper here’. There’s no room for subtlety here – tell it like it is.
Also, be sure to highlight the sign-up form and have the button stand out in a contrasting colour to the rest of the page.
Give them a reason
There should also be an ‘inescapable why’ – the challenge or problem that is solved by your product or service. This can be best done by using the headline and subheadings – put the main value in the headline and use the subheads to back this up.
For example:
‘Free guide to IoT connectivity’
- Choose the right connectivity option for your IoT solution
If you want people to find out more about your solution, you can also highlight some issue, be it cost, convenience or speed – make it clear that your solution is cheaper, easier or faster than the alternatives.
Remember, you have only a few seconds to grab the reader’s attention and encourage them to take action, so make them want what you are offering.
Don’t get bogged down in detail
If you want to offer supporting information, be sparing and make sure it doesn’t clutter up the page. Put extra material in concise bullet points. If you really need to offer more details than can be summed up concisely, consider putting them lower down the page so people can scroll to them if they want to.
You could also consider video landing pages – you could put the key points in text and offer a clickable video to share more detailed information.
Make it urgent
It doesn’t hurt to introduce some urgency – ‘download now’, ‘get your white paper today’. You can put CTAs in the headlines, in the body copy and even on the form submission buttons, like ’get your copy now.’
Match the form to the offer
As a general rule, keep the form to a minimum – no-one likes to fill in lots of boxes to get what you’re offering, so only ask for the minimum you need. Name and email are usually enough.
Many forms from market information companies go really minimalist, typically just asking for email – as they know they can use marketing tools to get other information about that person.
However, if you are offering a particularly valuable piece of content, say an extensive white paper on a topic everyone wants to know about, or a piece of original research giving great insights into an exciting market, people may be more forthcoming.
In this case, you may want to ask for more than the minimum details – getting information on the contact’s role, responsibilities and industry could give you a better idea of how to approach them with further offers.
Stick to these best practices and you could be well on the way to making great landing pages that maximise conversions. For more information on what works and what doesn’t, why not check out our on-demand webinar, ‘Landing Pages: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’, where we analyse the layout and content of landing pages used by a variety of B2B technology companies.,