Landing pages are standalone pages on your website where users “land” after clicking on a link in an email, social media post, or Google Ad. Its purpose is to gather contact information, make a sale, or otherwise facilitate a call-to-action that a current or prospective customer may be interested in taking.
The concept is simple enough, but not all landing pages are created equal. And since they usually are accompanied by some kind of ad spend, it’s important to make sure that you get them right.
Here are seven things that all successful landing pages have in common.
1. They Have a Clear Goal.
Whether building brand awareness, generating leads, or making a sale, your landing page needs to have a clearly defined goal. And once you have received contact information, the segmentation of that new audience should map to that intended goal.
For example, if the purpose of your landing page is to create brand awareness, the followup shouldn’t be to send new contacts a bunch of sales emails. Conversely, if the goal of the landing page is to make a sale or generate leads, the best option might not be to send contacts a myriad of blogs or articles (though some might be part of your sales funnel).
Your landing page should have one purpose. If you try to do multiple things with it, you’ll end up not doing any of them very effectively.
2. They Have a Compelling Headline.
Unless you pique someone’s interest “above the fold” (that is, the portion of the page users will see before needing to scroll down), they will likely fall off at an alarming rate.
So think of the headline of your landing page in the same way that you would an email subject line. Imagine that this will be the only thing that they read to evaluate if they should stay on the page. It should be clear, pithy, direct, and compelling.
Don’t just put standard marketing boilerplate here. Make it count.
3. They Do Away With Clutter.
Excellent landing pages aren’t visually busy, and they don’t have a lot of marketing copy. Sentences and paragraphs are short. The language is simple and active, and the call-to-action is clear.
The best landing pages don’t even have a navigation bar. Your goal isn’t for users to begin exploring the rest of your website. It is for them to take the specific call-to-action that aligns with your goal for the marketing campaign. Remove all other content.
4. They Are Mobile Friendly.
Any time you build out a landing page, do not forget to test it on mobile. If it isn’t easily navigable on mobile, it will not be effective. This is particularly true when the referral for your traffic is a social media ad. Most users view and interact with that type of content on mobile.
5. They Have Simple Contact Forms.
Lengthy contact forms are an immediate turn off for potential leads and customers. So don’t ask people for their life story on a sign up form. In many cases, a full name and email is adequate. This gives you a way to get in contact with them and follow up if you need further information down the road.
6. They Are Tailored to a Specific Audience Coming From a Specific Google or Social Media Ad.
The people who view your landing page shouldn’t be confused about how the ad they clicked on relates to the page they are currently viewing. If they are, something has gone horribly wrong. The language and visuals should be a perfect match, and the experience should be seamless.
Sometimes, this gets lost in the shuffle when you’re running multiple ads that are working toward the same goal. Multiple ads can be an effective strategy as you look to use different messaging to attract different audiences. However, this kind of personalization should extend from the ad itself to the landing page.
This means that you may need more than one landing page in a marketing campaign, even if those multiple landing pages ultimately lead to the same call-to-action that will be reflected in your marketing dashboard, and are accompanied by a similar followup process.
7. Their Workflows Are Flawless.
If you have interested someone enough to not only click on your ad but provide their information to you via your landing page, it is an utter waste if they are not followed up with in a timely manner. The purpose of your landing page is to get a user to trust you enough to want to take a next step. And if you fumble the pass on the follow up sequence, the trust you have built up immediately evaporates.
Therefore, your backend workflows should be flawless. Your plan for what you are going to do with a contact once you have their information should be clearly defined, and it should be executed with zero margin of error. This may mean setting up automations where emails can be sent without the need for human follow up. Or, where follow up from a team member is required, you have adequate systems to alert that team member and have them document that the next step in the workflow has been completed.
This means you need to test your systems. After you have created your landing page, input your contact information to ensure that the proper emails and internal processes are triggered.
Make a Quick Connection Through Landing Pages
Landing pages are all about making a connection with new or existing audience members, so that they will take a next step in the relationship between them and your organization. The most effective landing pages find a way to make that connection in a matter of seconds.
Relationships take time to develop. So you don’t need to fit everything you want your customers and potential customers to know about you into one landing page experience. You just need to do enough to make them comfortable with taking one next step.
