Imagine a friend invites you over for dinner and you’ve never been to their house before. They give you their address and tell you how to navigate their apartment complex. But when you show up at the address, there’s no apartment complex. It’s a house.
Even with the address right in front of you, you’d immediately feel like you were in the wrong place. You’d hunt for signs that this was, in fact, your friend’s place. Is their car in the driveway? Do they answer the door? Did you misunderstand their invitation?
That’s what it feels like when the language and imagery in your ads, emails, and other marketing don’t align with your landing pages. Your audience clicked the link you gave them, but now it feels like they’re in the wrong place.
So they leave.
Those who are most invested in the promise made by your ad, email, or post may be more willing to investigate the landing page for signs that they’re at the right place. But most people aren’t going to put in the effort. If your promotional assets don’t match your landing page, you’re confusing your leads, eroding trust, and decreasing conversions.
Here’s how to make sure that doesn’t happen.
1. Align your marketing with your headline.
When people arrive at a landing page from a piece of marketing, the first thing they do is look for the “information scent” that led them to the page. Your landing page’s headline is one of the first things they’ll notice. It’s one of the most prominent focal points of the page.
The best headlines clearly communicate what your offer is or else highlight one of its major benefits or a problem it solves. However you frame your landing page, make sure that your promotional materials use similar messaging. It can even be identical messaging.
To you, identical messaging might feel repetitive, or like a lack of creativity. But to your audience, consistent messaging is actually an important anchor they’ll use to confirm they’re in the right place.
2. Keep the call to action consistent.
People come to your landing page to do something. Your promotional materials told them that this was the place to download a free ebook, schedule a demo, request a consultation, or sign up for a webinar.
This is the most crucial thing to keep consistent between your marketing assets and your landing page. You have to show people they can do what they came to do. Anything else will feel like a bait and switch, and they’ll leave feeling frustrated.
3. Use similar imagery and branding.
Your messaging isn’t the only way to signal that your landing page is where people are supposed to be. Imagery, branding, and even your choice of fonts can increase or decrease confusion, too.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to use the exact same images in every asset that promotes your landing page (although we often recommend it). But your creative assets should visually communicate consistent ideas. You want your audience to feel like they’re in the right place without even reading your headline.
4. Consistency increases conversions.
The goal of your ads, emails, and posts isn’t just to drive people to your landing page. You want them to convert when they get there.
If your landing page looks or feels too different, or your messaging sounds like you’re not going to deliver on the promise made by your creatives, it’s confusing and frustrating to your audience—and only the most determined visitors will convert.
This is one of the more common advertising mistakes we see. Low conversions don’t necessarily mean there’s something wrong with your landing page, your audience, or even your offer. It could be a sign that you aren’t creating a consistent experience.
So before you start your next campaign, tell your audience they’re in the right place.
