Landing pages are critical in helping generate leads, sharing what sets your product or service apart, and turning users into customers. Online marketers hit at a higher rate by sending traffic to a dedicated landing page instead of an existing generic homepage. But not all landing pages are equal.
So, what is it that makes an effective landing page? Here is what to consider when creating one:
There’s No Such Thing As a Perfect Landing Page
As easy as it would make everything, there’s no one perfect landing page. Since every product or service is different, each landing page has to appropriately reflect that. Similarly, any given company or ad campaign is targeting an audience comprised of different people. Since they’re all made up of different people, no two audiences have the exact same wants or needs.
Unfortunately, that means you can’t just use one perfect formula for every landing page. Fortunately, it means with some crafty insight and brainstorming, there’s always a way to make a landing page right for its job.
What Should a Good Landing Page Do?
A good landing page depends on the six classic components: who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Whichever way you decide to prioritize and showcase these components depends on the value of each one regarding what your landing page is “selling.” For example, a landing page for an event would probably want to emphasize where, when, and what, while a limited-time online offer might put what, how, and when in the limelight.
What Do These Six Components Look Like?
To better understand the significance of these aspects, there’s a few questions that’ll help along the way. (Yes, they’re sometimes basic, but having concrete answers to these questions — even if they seem basic — helps build the framework for your final landing page.)
First, who is the audience? This means understanding the traits of your audience and using these traits to inform the content and design. You want the information presented to be relevant, but you also want the presentation itself to be suited towards your audience. This can be aspects as simple as, for example, not using size 10 type font if you know your target audience includes seniors.
What is the tone and style of your copy? How lengthy is it? Sometimes, very little text can be the most persuasive. The same applies to images on the landing page as well. These all are informed by who your audience is.
Second, you want to define: what is the desired action for this audience?
It’s important to identify your target audience but doing so without giving them a concrete action item kind of negates the purpose. Thus, you need to build your landing page with action in mind. Give them clear directions so they have an obvious step to take — otherwise they are mostly just arriving at your landing page, going “Ah, that’s neat,” and never doing anything. Provide a clear call to action, whether that’s a purchase, sign up, or something else.
Shopify Landing Page For Free Trial
Is it on the main website? A standalone page? These each have their pros and cons. A standalone helps keep people focused on the action at hand, but doesn’t give them access to other parts of your website on which they might act. On your main site, on the other hand, they might get too overwhelmed with your other options to take action, but they also could take even more action depending on how compelling they find the rest of your site.
Probably the most complex idea is when will the audience see the page? This one can be interesting, as there’s a lot of “whens” that can be relevant.
For example, will users see the page right after clicking an ad, or will they see it after visiting other pages? Also, where in the conversion funnel is your target viewer — i.e., when will your audience see your page in relation to their position in the funnel? That is, are they people who are intimately familiar with your work and have been considering a purchase? Or have they never heard of you and this is your chance to make a strong first impression?
The penultimate question becomes why will the audience see this landing page? In some ways, this can be related to the second “when” question we just posed — the “why” is about identifying your objective, which differs based on where in the conversion funnel your audience is. For example, for an audience who primarily is unaware of your company, the objective of the landing page would just be increasing brand awareness. For an audience who knows something about your company, you’d probably try to educate them more on how you can benefit them. For an audience that’s already deeply knowledgeable about your brand, the answer to “Why will the audience see this landing page?” would likely be “to make a purchase.”
Lastly, you want to identify how will the audience arrive at the landing page? From a social media ad or Google text ad? Or do they arrive organically? Knowing this helps you understand the way the audience is primed for the landing page so that the landing page itself works in conjunction with the medium of arrival.
Example of Facebook Sponsored Ad
If you’re a visual person who wants to see a collection of some great landing pages, Unbounce shows you some fantastic ones here complete with explanations of why each of these work so well.
Landing pages can be a terrific closer but, just like everything with digital marketing, you can’t just set it and forget it. Remember that circumstances are dynamic so a landing page that absolutely crushes it at one point might be ineffective a few months later. As we like to hammer home often here at Fujisan, you want to frequently test and optimize. That’s just as true for landing pages as anything else. And when you’re making sure your landing pages are at their best, then you can trust that everything leading to that point is in good hands.
