If you aren’t getting the conversion rate you expect from your digital marketing campaigns, whether it’s email, pay-per-click (PPC), social media or organic traffic, the landing page may be the reason.

What’s a landing page?

A landing page is a standalone web page created to convert visitors into leads by providing the means for capturing an email address. The main objective of a landing page is to convince the visitors to take action such as making a purchase, downloading a document, or providing their information for follow up. To take the action, every visitor must complete a lead capture form.

A landing page is designed to work with a specific offer and to serve traffic from a specific place. Visitors are driven to a landing page from a call-to-action link embedded in your marketing campaign messaging. You should create a separate landing page for each unique digital marketing campaign.

How is a landing page different from your website homepage?

Homepages are usually cluttered with information and there are many possible actions a visitor can take, and the most important one might be missed. A landing page is only accessed through the link in the campaign messaging and focuses on one call-to-action. Since you want visitors to stay on the landing page as long as possible and take action, there are no other links on the page. On the other hand, other web pages feature many links and navigation options.

What are the essential elements for a high-converting landing page?

Your focus in any digital marketing campaign is to drive as much traffic to your landing pages as possible. The more visitors to the landing page, the more sales you will generate. In order to get visitors to take action, your landing page needs to be optimized to increase engagement and convert more leads to customers.

5 tips for creating high-converting landing pages

Use the following five tips to ensure your company is creating high-converting landing pages.

1. Have a great headline

The headline is the first thing visitors see on the landing page, so it needs to grab the audience’s attention and entice them to view more of the offer. Other key features of a headline include:

• Straightforward, concise and easy-to-understand, ideally no more than 20 words
• Enable reader to instantly know how the offer benefits them
• Appeal to target audience’s desires and concerns
• Headline should be consistent with the call-to-action in the ad or email messaging

For example, the headline, “7 Reasons Why You Should Run a Pre-Employment Background Check” is clear, concise and compelling- making it easy to see how the offer could benefit the reader.

By first presenting valuable information about why it is essential for employers to run a background check on potential employees, and then offering a way to do so, readers then feel even more encouraged to hit that “Try Now” button.

Image Source: ShareAble for Hires

2. Include pictures

The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than words. The images you use on your landing page need to be relevant to your product or service because it will be the first thing your visitors see and process.

Your pictures should be large and high-quality so the readers first impression of your product or brand is positive. Especially in instances where customers are buying expensive or customized items like a car, you can bet they will want to see images of various models before making a purchase.

This Audi webpage uses simple, clear images of different models at the top of their page to lead readers to click further into the site.

Image Source: Audi of Spokane

3. An explanation of what you are offering

Before putting together your landing page, you need to determine what you want it to accomplish. Are you looking to grow your email list? Promote a new product? Promote a discount?

Once you understand your goal, you can craft the offer and message accordingly. If a potential customer doesn’t immediately understand what your product or service is about, they will leave the page.

Instead, make the offer clear and easy for visitors to understand in a way that highlights the benefit. You can integrate the explanation into the headline and use pictures to help with the explanation. You also need to convey how the offer will benefit them. Tell them what they will get if they accept the offer. Your explanation should answer the question – how can your offering — whether that be a subscription for content, an email list, or a product — solve someone’s problem?

4. Method of contact

The easier you make it for a potential customer to contact to you, the more likely they are to take action (purchase the product, download a book, etc.) In addition, a phone number of physical address assures the visitor that your business is legitimate. Live chats can be helpful if a visitor has immediate questions or concerns. By using live chat, they can quickly and easily speak with a customer service representative

Colombia Sportswear uses both a chat widget and a feedback link so that customers may quickly engage with an associate.

Image Source: Columbia

5. A powerful call to action

A call to action is the one of the most important elements of a high-converting landing page because it is ultimately what converts visitors into customers. The call to action tells people what you want them to do and what they will get. Without a strong call to action, your landing page will be meaningless.

The copy for the call-to-action is the most significant element on the landing page. Make sure it’s compelling. A successful call to action must have a verb or action word and an implied sense of urgency.

For example, Download Now vs. Download Here.

There should be a clearly defined place to drive visitors to an action. The call-to-action should be very big and positioned so it’s immediately noticeable. Buttons are extremely useful for this purpose as they come in all shapes and sizes.

Spotify’s call-to-action is very clear and easy to find. “Get Spotify Free” incites the reader to click further.

Image Source: Spotify

Summary for creating high-converting landing pages

Landing pages are the key to any digital marketing campaign. A good landing page will target an audience and focus on one promotional objective: to generate more leads. In order to be high converting, your landing page needs to provide a clear and direct call to action and enable visitors to easily make a purchase, sign up for a list, or download a whitepaper or eBook.

This guest blog article was written by Emily Banks who is a bay area native that got tired of San Francisco’s cold beaches and decided to move to San Diego. She is currently the HR editor for 365 Business. Emily is a digital marketing expert for Arnett Credentials.