One of the most important ingredients in improving your conversion rate is your landing page. Therefore, it is important to make sure that you follow certain rules to get the most out of this page.
If you are involved in marketing or you are simply interested in getting your ROI from your web venture, you need to read this article as it contains what I consider to be the top 18 guidelines for maximizing conversion through your landing page. For ease of reference I have split them into two lists containing 9 do’s and 9 dont’s respecively.
The Do’s Of Landing Page Optimization
Do: Highlight Why You Are Better Than Your Competitors – Tell your customers they made the right decision by coming to you instead of going to your competitors. Keep it brief, and ideally use bullet points and short sentences to drive your point home.
Do: Let The Customer Know What To Expect After They Have Filled Out That Form – Landing pages typically contain a form to capture information. Clearly specify to your customers what will happen after the form is filled out. Will they receive a call? An email? Entered in a draw? Don’t leave them hanging.
Do: Remain Organized – This sounds very basic but you would be surprised to know how many companies forget this basic rule. Do not cram as much information as possible on a single page. Make multiple landing pages if you are selling multiple products; one for each product you are selling.
Do: Clearly State Your Response Time – Let your customers know when they can expect to hear from you. Should they wait for two hours or two days? Are these calendar days or working days?
Do: Give Your Customer All The Information That They Require – You must have created your landing page keeping a specific target client in mind. Speak directly to your audience, and make sure you address their needs. This will convince them that you are the right fit for them – and they will feel more inclined to stick around.
Do: Test Your Landing Pages On Different Browsers – You do not want your landing page to appear garbled to users who are viewing it from their smartphones. Make sure your test your landing page on a wide variety of browsers, platforms and devices to make sure your viewers get the best experience no matter where they are using to view it.
Do: Remember To Track Your Landing Pages – Integrate analytic tools to monitor all the elements of your tracking page in a bid to find out what’s working and what isn’t. If something is working, find out a way to make it work better for you. If something isn’t working, find out a way to tweak it to make sure it works.
Do: Remain Consistent – The theme of your landing page should match the theme of the ad that the visitor clicked to get to you. Using a different theme will confuse your website visitor, and they will have doubts about dealing with you.
Do: Remain Professional – Let your customers know that you mean business. Use professional images and make sure you use appropriate grammar and spelling. This shows your customer that you are serious.
The Dont’s Of Landing Page Optimization
Don’t: Make A Long Contact Form – There are some companies who make such a long form that users just think it’s a lot of trouble and go away. Keep your customer contact form short and sweet. If you require certain information before you contact your customer, keep the form as specific as possible.
Don’t: Ramble On – Stick to the point. The purpose of your landing page is to attract potential customers and convert them to actual customers. Do not confuse them with volumes of copy. Decide on the main points that you want to communicate to your customer and stick to them.
Don’t: Make Promises You Cannot Keep – Committing to something that you will not be able to deliver will only make you unreliable.
Don’t: Give Your Customer An Excuse To Move Away From Your Landing Page – Don’t include any other navigation which will enable your customer to move away from your landing page.
Don’t: Place Your Calls To Action Below The First Fold – Some customers may not bother to scroll further than what they see below the first screen, which means they may not even get to your call to action. Place all calls to action upfront so that your customers know what they need to do at the first glance.
Don’t: Try To Be Everything To Everyone – It does not work in offline marketing and there is no reason for it to magically start working on the web. Define your target audience, and make sure your message appeals to them and only them.
Don’t: Be Gimmicky – Today’s customer is very smart and has several options to choose from. If they suspect that you are being too gimmicky, they will run away. Remain believable, and do not make promises that you will not be able to keep.
Don’t: Take Your Visitors To The Home Page – This will further confuse them and decrease their chances of converting. If you allow them to roam around and explore further information, they might change their mind about buying due to the time that has elapsed after seeing the ad. It is therefore important to include as much information as required for the purchase decision on your landing page.
Don’t: Ask For Too Much Information – Yes, you do need information about the customer but it is important that you only stick to the information that is required. If you are offering a free trial, for example, there is no need to ask for their social security number or their credit card information. With rampant identity theft, customers may be wary and run away.
Final Thoughts
Be smart about your landing page. Remember to keep your potential customers goals, needs and wants first and foremost; you are not designing for yourself but designing in order to make things easier for them. Give your audience all the information they need to make an informed decision but do not overwhelm them with unnecessary information. Most importantly, remember to keep monitoring the number of visitors on your page, and tweak things around when you see things are not going in the direction you want them to go.
Additional Resources About Landing Page Optimization
If you are interested to learn more about landing page optimization, be sure to check out our other articles. Here are a few of them:
- 6 Simple Landing Pages That Perform Like Charm
- 6 Worst Landing Page Optimization Techniques To Avoid
- 9 Writing Tricks For Building A Killer Landing Page
- Why A Blog Post + A Landing Page Is A Lethal Combination
- Landing Page Optimization With Google Analytics
Want to learn more?
Are you interested in the intersection between UX and UI Design? The online courses on UI Design Patterns for Successful Software and Design Thinking: The Beginner’s Guide can teach you skills you need. If you take a course, you will earn an industry-recognized course certificate to advance your career. On the other hand, if you want to brush up on the basics of UX and Usability, try the online course on User Experience (or another design topic). Good luck on your learning journey!
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