Tocquigny Advertising and Design

Download Landing Page Optimization: Creating Relevant and Engaging Landing Pages

Overview

A landing page, or a lead capture page, is the page where your customer will land after clicking on a banner advertisement, search-engine result link, or any other internet marketing effort being utilized. Landing pages are specific offers that can be measured, tested, improved, and revised with minimal expense and effort.

Primarily, the goal of a landing page is to persuade your customer to take action. For example, click on a link, purchase a product or service, register personal information (i.e., email address) opt in for future communications, spark word of mouth (viral) marketing and/or to gain knowledge from your landing page.

If you are going to invest time and money to get your customers to visit your landing page, it makes sense to optimize and make it relevant to one or more of the items mentioned above. Optimizing your landing page is essential to build a positive ROI and increase conversion rates.

Recommendations

When creating relevant landing pages, you must first determine what you want the customer to do and then optimize the landing page for that purpose. Once you have determined what your objective is, you can then determine how to best optimize. As stated above, the five goals are as follows:

1. Click on a link
   If the goal is for your visitor to click on a link that will put them on another page or direct them to your website, you need to visually direct them to that link and also let them know why they should click on it.
2. Purchase a product or service
   If the goal is for your customers to purchase a product or service, they need to know what they are purchasing. Make sure your product or service and its features are clearly stated and why your customer could benefit from the purchase.
3. Register personal information
   Gathering your customers’ personal information is a great way to follow up with them regarding relevant information, but it is not always easy to get them to hand over their information on a landing page. It is important that they understand why you are asking for their information and how it will be used.
4. Spark word of mouth (viral)
   In order for someone to want to tell their friends about your landing page, it must contain interesting and unique information. What sets yours apart from everyone else? Add an interactive game or interesting video.
5. Gain knowledge
   If your goal is for your customers to gain knowledge from your landing page, it is important that it is clearly stated. Consider adding an interesting headline that may capture their attention and keep them reading.

Deliverables

The deliverable of a landing page depends on the amount of control allotted to Tocquigny. Generally, the creative portion of the landing page (design and copy) will be laid out in the production department and a PDF will be sent out for approval. Once the layout is approved, Tocquigny will code the landing page. At this stage, Tocquigny will put a test version on our server to ensure all links function correctly across all browsers and that all creative comes across all browsers.

If a domain name has already been acquired, Tocquigny can publish the landing page to the existing domain. If a domain has not been acquired, Tocquigny can assist in acquiring one. Once a domain is secured, Tocquigny can push pages live and pull pages down when needed.

Key Takeaways

It is important to optimize every landing page based on the goal you want accomplished, but creating engaging landing pages is equally important. Creating both relevant and engaging landing pages may help to recoup any investments sooner rather than later.

Below are some key takeaways that every landing page should follow, regardless of the goal:

First impressions are everything

Studies have shown that over 80% of visitors will leave a landing page within 0–8 seconds if their attention is not captured immediately. With statistics like this, it is best to have a simple offer that is attention-getting and relates to the customer. Keep the most relevant information at the top, where your customers can see it with a quick glance.

Tell them where they are

Make sure your customer knows they landed at the appropriate place. It is very common for the landing page to have a separate look and feel from the outbound medium that brought them to your landing page. Ensure that the headline, offer, and visual elements of your landing page match the outbound medium.

Don’t be intrusive

There is nothing worse than when you click on a landing page and your speakers begin blaring. Anything that requires video or sound should include a “click to play” button. This gives your customers the option to engage on their own terms.

Offer multiple calls to action

Keeping your call to action above the fold is a necessity. With limited time to catch your customer’s attention, you need to make sure they don’t have to scroll up and down or side to side to see your call to action. It is also helpful to have a persuasive message directly above the call to action. Your landing page is your online salesman, so make sure that you have your top salesman in front of your customer.

Use red buttons

Studies have shown that you will increase your conversion rate with red buttons as opposed to any other color. If red is not in your color palette or if you opt to use a color other than red, making sure the call-to-action button is big enough for your customers to see will help your conversion rates.

Use simple registration forms

You can lose 30% of your respondents in the registration field. Keep the form simple so your customers don’t feel overwhelmed. Possibly a few fields to be able to qualify leads is ideal, but if they feel that they need to give their life history, then they will skip the form altogether.

Thank you — now what?

Once your customer fills out their information, where are they sent? Generally, they are sent to a thank-you page and left to push the back button in order to get back to where they came from. Use this time to your advantage — add an offer or an incentive to take a survey, upsell a product to them, offer some educational materials about your company or products.

Test, measure, refine, repeat

Just because something works, doesn’t mean it works well. By testing multiple versions of your landing page, you can understand what works well and then implement it. Are your customers more prone to click on “get yours now” as opposed to “buy now,” or will they click on a video demonstration as opposed to written instructions? Always test, measure, refine, and repeat.

Offer trust and security

No one will fill out their information and send it to someone they don’t trust. Make sure your customers understand what they are filling out, where it is going, and how it will be used.

Use visual cues to help in advancement

Within a few seconds, your customer will have scanned portions of your landing page. Knowing which portions were scanned will help conversion rates; so by keeping up with reading pattern studies, you can put the relevant content where you know it will be read. In general, the horizontal upper portion of the content area will be read first, followed by another horizontal scan down the page, and lastly down the left side in a vertical movement.