It’s not hard to craft a landing page that converts. You may have a great product or service online, but people won’t just magically buy it after seeing it without being convinced that it’s worth their money and time. A landing page is a standalone page on your website, which is different from other pages. There are key elements of a successful landing page that will help you increase your conversion rates and compel your visitors to take a specific action.
It can be your homepage or a different page on the website, or a standalone specifically for a product, campaign or sales. It’s informational and/or transactional and sometimes leads to immediate conversions or gradual ones via lead generation. It’s also built around converting activities like eCommerce, where a link directs visitors to a specific product, lead generation, relationship, and membership.
Ultimately, they ease the buying/subscribing process, promote products or sales, and boost search engine optimization (SEO) ranking.
The power of a high-converting landing page
It’s not easy to find the right mix of elements for a landing page. You have to keep testing new ideas. And explore different versions before you figure out what works with your audiences.
You can choose a free landing page template from the web to design one for your offering. However, the process is more than just designing a good-looking page and expecting prospects to convert.
High-converting landing pages vary based on the calls to action, target audience, product or service on offer, and the niche or industry they address. Moreover, there’s no standard manual on how to create a perfect landing page that converts. There is not a set guide on how to put together a foolproof landing page design.
If you know the best practices to consider when creating a high-converting landing page though, it’ll make things much easier.
Key elements of a successful landing page
We’re going to lay out for you 6 elements that make up a great landing page that converts.
1. Powerful headline
The headline draws the customer’s attention, interest, and understanding of what to expect by interacting with your landing page. It compels him or her to stay on and learn more about your product or service offering – or not. It should be short, sweet, and quickly get to the point. An ideal length is about 10 words up to about 20 and no more. If it’s too long, it won’t pique their interest; in fact, they’ll simply switch to something else or move to a different website altogether.
If you must add a sub-headline, make sure it’s not too wordy. Make it easy and fast to read so visitors can understand almost immediately. You don’t have to follow a specific design formula for arranging your headlines. Just make it persuasive. Show the value proposition you’re offering to the customers. A clean landing page design will power your headline, while a cluttered one distracts the readers’ attention from the copy.
2. High-quality visual content
The brain processes images faster than text – 60,000 times to be precise. That’s why your visitors will immediately be affected by the images on your landing page. Your visual content should be large, relevant to your offer, and of high-quality (resolution).
Images create a good or bad first impression even before your copy is read. Plus, they communicate first-hand what using your platform will be like, and what users stand to gain.
3. Clear offer and value proposition
Give a straightforward explanation and ensure it’s functional (to users) and clearly elaborates what you’re offering. Consider it as a goal that the landing page has to accomplish. Together, with other elements, you can create a clear picture and achieve conversions.
If words can’t say it well, you can use visual walkthroughs to communicate; they’re also much easier to understand, and more interesting than the text. You can also mention what the visitor stands to gain. What will they lose out on if they don’t take up your offer?
When you do mention what they’ll lose, your offering should stand out as an antidote or solution to it. Highlight how your offer will bring pleasure to the visitors by selling the gains – joy, freedom or relief. It’s not just the product or service.
4. Contact information
Adding contact details to your landing page shows that your business is legit, and goes a long way in strengthening the visitors’ trust in your company while eliminating possible friction in the conversion funnel. Be sure to include multiple methods of contact like an email, phone number, physical address or contact form. If live chats are available, you can add that too. Chats show you’re present and responsive. However, they’re not a must-have. Make it easy and simple for people to reach you.
5. Guarantee
People feel reassured when you have a guarantee on your landing page, thereby improving the likelihood of conversions. As you consider adding one to your page, choose what works for your business as they come in different forms.
Most landing pages have a money-back or buy-back guarantee, or even a satisfaction guarantee because customers love them. The best place to position it would be next to the call-to-action. This gives a final assurance right before they convert.
6. A powerful call to action
A call to action is the most important element of all. It’s where the visitor ends up after being pulled in by the rest of the content on the page and ultimately convert them into customers. A powerful CTA has compelling copy that’s exciting and persuasive. It usually is in the form of a big button because people are conditioned to expect it to be. It’s also in a contrasting color that makes it stand out from the rest of the content and screen colors. Sometimes, it has some graphics that draw the visitors’ eyes to the CTA button.
Final thoughts on key elements of a successful landing page
There are few perfect landing pages, most of which have undergone extensive tests, but the poorly designed ones can turn off prospects even before they read about your offer. These six key elements of a successful landing page will help you stand out.
By following this advice, you’ll improve the likelihood that prospects will be motivated to take up your offer and convert into buyers. Keep running tests on different elements to see what works best with your audience. After all, creating a high-converting landing page isn’t rocket science.
This blog article was written by Tulip Turner who is a content and inbound marketing expert at Snewscms. Over the years, she has helped dozens of businesses in defining their content strategy. She believes that creativity doesn’t inspire customers anymore. A true story when recited well, is enough to build a connection.