Many companies are not optimizing their website properties.
First, organizations direct their email, social media, and search engine traffic to their website homepages, and they throw leads down the drain.
Second, when they do direct website traffic to their targeted landing pages, they don’t optimize them to ensure they capture the highest number of leads.
A landing page is a standalone page where you capture business card information such as name, job title, company name, email, and phone number from your visitors. The idea of a landing page started in 2003 when Microsoft was having trouble with sales of their core product: Microsoft Office.
What Microsoft learned (and you should too) is that a landing page puts you in control of guiding your visitor to take a specific action. The action can be to sign up for a demo, download your eBook or whitepaper, watch an on-demand webinar, or subscribe to your email newsletter. The key is to get your visitors to convert into a lead by filling out a form on the landing page.
When optimizing your landing page, the primary purpose is to get more people to fill out the form. The better the experience is for them, the easier it is to see the value in your offering and give you their contact information. There are some essential elements that you need to include to make sure you have a successful landing page that compels your visitors to take the action you want them to take.
10 landing page tips to generate leads
These 10 landing page tips will help you conceptualize, design, and craft landing pages that are successful.
1. Zero in on your headline
People see your landing page headline first. A great headline sums up your offer clearly and concisely. It will answer the question: What will I receive if I give you my contact information?
Highlight the value and benefits of your offering (demo, content, webinar, email newsletter, etc.). Your visitors are more likely to read your headline than the body of your copy. They are going to skim and scan through your landing page, so you need a killer headline.
Keep your headline to 15 words or less. It should capture the essence of your offer in the shortest number of words. It should deliver a promise and encourage curiosity to create a sense of anticipation of getting an offer. Your headline needs to be bold, clear and draw your reader to the landing page.
If you do, add a sub-headline. Make sure it’s not too wordy. Readers should understand your offer right away. There are four critical elements of a landing page value proposition: appeal, exclusivity, credibility, and clarity.
- Appeal is about increasing the desire for your offering
- Exclusivity is that you can’t get this offer elsewhere
- Credibility is that you can be trusted
- Clarity is that you can understand the offering
These four elements increase or decrease your chances of conversion. A clean and crisp landing page with a powerful headline will be successful, while a cluttered one will distract the reader.
2. Eliminate distractions with a compelling story
The number one goal of your landing page is for the visitor to fill out the form. To get them to do this, you need to eliminate distracting images, navigation buttons, or hyperlinks that direct a visitor’s attention elsewhere. It’s essential to keep your landing page clean with a compelling story. This is one of my top landing page tips.
Focus on what matters. Remove everything else.
When you write your compelling story, make sure it is easy to read at first glance. You should state the challenges and solutions. Provide relatable examples that are personal to convey your message. Please keep it simple.
A great example of eliminating distractions and zeroing in on the primary motivation of the visitor is Lyft rental car landing page.
Why does this landing page work so well? It shows that their company is not known for renting cars. They are not Alamo, Enterprise, National, Hertz, or Budget. They are known for being a ride-sharing company. So, they come out and address those concerns on this landing page.
3. Ensure your images draw attention to the form
Your landing page images need to draw your visitors to the lead form and your call-to-action (CTA) button. Your pictures need to direct the attention of the visitor to what you want them to do.
Lead forms and CTA buttons need to be strategically placed in the right sightline of the visitor to make sure your visitors won’t miss them. A great example is TakeCareOf, a company that provides personalized daily vitamin packs. The image draws your eyes to the headline “you know your body” and the “take the quiz” call to action button.
4. Outline what action you want them to take
What you want the visitor to do on the landing page? Above the form is a great area to describe the action you want them to take. Visitors need to understand what info they need to give you.
You can add a thumbnail of the study or piece of content they are going to receive. It’s essential to remove the friction and set expectations with your visitors on what they are going to receive if they give away their contact information.
A great example is Litmus, an email marketing company. When you visit their study landing page, the form moves up, so it catches your eye immediately. On top of the form, it says “download the study,” with a thumbnail of the study above those words.
5. Don’t ask for too much contact info
One of the top landing page tips I can give you is that it is critical that you only ask for information you must have from the visitor. Many marketers ask for too much information on their lead forms. Ask for the right type of information that you really need. Ask yourself which details are absolutely necessary for your company to have on the lead.
Research says that reducing the number of fields on your form will improve the conversion rate and increase form submissions. According to QuickSprout, limiting the number of fields to just three can guarantee a minimum conversion rate of 25%.
Please keep it simple to encourage your visitors to fill out the form. For example, do you really need their mailing address or the location of their company? You can ask for more information later when you nurture them via emails.
Also, make sure your forms work for mobile. Most marketers think people don’t fill out lead forms on their smartphones or tablets. If you believe this, you are missing out on a big opportunity because, according to Statista, mobile traffic is approximately half of the web traffic worldwide.
6. Enable social autofill
Formstack, an online form and lead generation solution, found that websites that used the social auto-fill feature in lead forms increased their landing page conversion rates by 189%. When you enable social autofill, it makes filling out forms easier.
With one click, you can supply your contact information. Encourage your visitors to connect their social media accounts to your forms, so that they can auto-fill info from their social media accounts.
7. Test the design of your CTA buttons
Your CTA buttons are essential and they are one of my top landing page tips. It’s important that your CTA button is big and comfortable to see and click. You don’t want people to squint to see your small CTA button.
A great example of using CTA buttons well is The Black Tux, a company that delivers premium suits and tuxedos. You can see with the example below, when you click on the “Get Started” CTA button, a pop comes up to ask you what type of event you are planning. They give you the option of a wedding, prom, or a special occasion. This helps guide the visitor through the process.
Experiment with your CTA buttons and where they are located on your landing page. A/B test landing pages to find out what CTA buttons work best for conversion rates. Color is another aspect you should experiment with to see if your conversion rates increase. In summary, test the color, size, and shape used for your CTA buttons.
8. Add a trust seal and customer reviews
Data privacy and safety are a big concern of your visitors when filling out forms. When you include a trust seal on your landing page, you reassure your visitors that the information they are giving you will be kept private and confidential. This is important when they are giving you their phone number, mailing address, and credit card information.
Your brand needs to deliver on your promises, and there are a lot of companies vying for your visitors’ attention. Add customer reviews to your landing page because it adds greater credibility. Highlighting positive reviews helps your visitors gain a perspective beyond what your company is telling them.
Adding customer testimonials to your landing page can help you improve conversion rates. You can also use credible review websites like Reviews.io, Google, or Amazon. A company that uses both trust and customer reviews is OpenDoor, an online real estate company. As you can see below, you see their reviews by Reviews.io, the Better Business Bureau logo, and then reviews by media outlets such as The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal.
9. Pick a single column design
When you pick a format for your landing page, choose a single-column design. A single column looks better than two columns. Keep things simple.
Single column landing pages give you more space to work with you so you can make text and CTA buttons bigger. It also makes everything more comfortable to read. And if you are mobile or on a small desktop screen, you can read the landing page better. Readability goes a long way toward getting your message across and increasing conversion rates.
10. Focus on your CTA copy
The copy in your call to action is one of the most critical parts. Your number one goal: have people fill out your form. A powerful CTA is persuasive, exciting, and compelling.
Use action words in the call to action to get your visitors to act. Sign up now, subscribe now, download now, and get started are some common phrases used in CTA buttons. Why? Because they work.
It’s essential to know the language your target audience uses so your landing pages become a conversation between you and the visitor. For example, Cleo, a mobile software app to help you stay on budget, is an excellent example of using clear CTA language. Their landing page uses simple language that we probably have all used at some point in our lives. Can I afford it?
Bringing it all together
A successful landing page is an art and science. Keep testing new ideas and find out what works for your target audience. Follow these 10 landing page tips to develop landing pages that convert and generate leads.
- Zero in on your headline
- Eliminate distractions with a compelling story
- Make sure your images draw attention to the form
- Outline what action you want them to take
- Don’t ask for too much contact info
- Enable social autofill
- Test the design of your CTA buttons
- Add a trust seal and customer reviews
- Pick a single column design
- Focus on your CTA copy
Follow these fundamental principles for landing pages, and you’ll compel your visitors to take action. The key is to get your visitors to hit the submit button on your landing page. When you keep it clean, simple and remove friction, you’ll make the experience of your visitors pleasant, increase conversions, and generate more leads.
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