Our latest ‘must have’ piece of kit ties in to the latest buzz term – Landing Page Optimization. We can now solve a problem that has concerned marketers for some time – the call for action that points to a web address. It may be the home page or a specific product page, but one thing is certain, it won’t be optimised for conversion and that could mean potential lost sales. But now we can stop that from happening with new kit that lets us create targeted landing pages that channel customers into a conversion funnel.
Web pages, by their nature, tend to be static, designed for general consumption with little or no flow to conversion. A back office will give clients dynamic content access to areas like news and product pages – but you can’t make real changes to the placement, colours, visual elements or flow, plant keywords or make the content SEO specific for a particular offer. Trying to vary pages on your site to cope with targeting specific market segments and changing, sometimes short-term offers would tie-up expensive programmers and risk losing the overall consistent look and feel that make a site coherent. It’s not practical either economically, from a branding point of view or even achievable in a tight timescale.
Our solution gives us the facility to create externally hosted, tightly constructed, interactive, content rich landing pages that reach specific market segments – with a specifically targeted offer. Better still we can create a flow through nested pages, channelling viewers into smaller groups, by self-selecting interest, until they arrive at a conversion point (it may be a sale, an enquiry, information or test drive request). They are quick and easy to set up (if you know what you are doing), ready to respond to changing markets and specific offers, and because they are external to your site, they won’t compromise the existing brand integrity.
It increases landing page performance and decreases the resources needed to make it happen, lifting conversion rates. It converts traffic into real business. But the best thing about it is it gives marketers the facility to live test the layout and all the elements of the page. The creation of multiple page variations means each one can be tested, and analyzed, by sending sample customers to the various landing pages and seeing which is the most effective – before going live. That way the ‘hit and miss’ is taken out of the equation.
It qualifies and converts traffic by:
- Creating & launching targeted landing pages, microsites & conversion paths;
- Testing alternative landing experiences against one another;
- Testing alternative text, images and forms within pages;
- Analyzing performance from click-to-conversion.
Here are our ‘top 10 tips’ for creating high-converting landing pages:
1. Use landing pages to capture leads
When a viewer is sent to the home page of a website, he or she can “go anywhere, from anywhere.” This puts the burden on the viewer to find the information he or she needs. Instead of placing this burden on a potential customer, use a landing page to offer up only relevant content based on the ad clicked or message that brought them to the site in the first place.
2. Message match ads & pages
An ad is not complete without its matching landing page, and vice versa. Think of the two as Ant and Dec; one wouldn’t be right without the other. Whatever you promise in an ad, should be directly fulfilled in the landing page. Visitors will “land and leave” if your page doesn’t fulfil the promise – which is why a general web landing page increases the ‘bounce rate’.
3. Simplify
Clutter leads to low conversion rates. Reduce landing page content –provide only what is essential. It’s tempting to include paragraphs of information, your logo, a form, a product shot and so on, but through testing you can learn exactly what you need and what you can leave.
4. Improve your content and copy
Remember, landing pages are supposed to sell, not inform. Make sure the copy does just that – selling benefits not features.
5. Check your forms
Don’t drown your users in long forms. Form fields are a good way to collect good user data; however viewers can see the form as a hurdle. Forms can block conversion – unless information gathering is your conversion goal! If you’re looking to generate lots of leads, ask only for a name and email address. For high-quality leads, you’ll need to include more specific form fields. It’s a balancing act between generating leads and maintaining quality. Cut what you can.
6. Test and test again
To get started, you should probably begin with a few comparison tests. You might test a page with a product image versus a page with a product video. After you find which works best then test small changes on that template and repeat. Then repeat again, refining the landing page until there is no significant improvement in response.
7. Think beyond one page
Vary the layout, content and design according to the offer and target market segment. Grab your visitor’s attention with conversion-focused experiences. Experiment with pre-conversion segmentation – sending visitors into specific channels, or small micro-sites. Multi-page experiences can be just as conversion-focused as a single page, and they are often a better user experience.
8. Segment visitors
Web surfers often develop a click rhythm while they’re surfing. Keep them in this rhythm by offering a simple choice on the landing page that filters them into segmented channels. In just one simple click, you are able to filter out unqualified leads, offer specifically targeted information, and gain user information that you might otherwise have to ask for in a form field – that’s because use can measure all the clicks, so visitors are giving you valuable information just by seeing where they have been.
9. Video, social, widgets
Visitors expect this! They want to see and interact, and it’s really to your benefit to meet this expectation. For many viewers just the fact that you have the confidence to show your product in a video is comforting – even if they may never even bother to watch it.
10. Personal touch!
Be relevant, targeting boosts conversions. The more personal you can get, the better your chances are for converting clicks into customers.
Landing page optimization is not rocket science, but knowing the science and art behind best practices does help. By using them, Positive Advertising can turn visitors into customers (and track every online and telephone response generated) so you can see the true value of the service. For a practical example look at the JT Hughes example in the Integrating E-mail Marketing and Landing Pages article.
