A landing page, lead capture page, static page, or whatever term you are most comfortable with, is a single, standalone web page with one purpose: turn visitors into leads. And, nothing does that better than a well-designed, high converting landing page.
Design is only one aspect of creating a high converting landing page: pre-planning, thinking ahead, and a little bit of research are also important aspects. But, don’t worry – this article will lay out everything you need to know to ensure your landing page converts visitors into leads that your team can then turn into paying customers.
What is a landing page?
First things first, what is a landing page and how does it differ from your website?
Before we go so far as to outline the components of a good, high converting landing page, we first need to outline exactly what we mean by landing page. A lot of people confuse landing pages with specific web pages on their website.
When it comes to a landing page versus a page on a website or a homepage, the main difference is that a landing page exists for one specific reason or purpose; whereas people may find a homepage or website through a plethora of search terms, word of mouth, etc. Landing pages are often created for a specific campaign, sale, or promotion and can act as a gateway to the rest of your site.
Let's look at an example below:
In this example, the clear purpose of the landing page is to get leads to leave their information to receive more information about booking an event with a specific establishment. The information provided is clear and concise in its purpose and only asks the leads to leave a small amount of information.
What is the purpose of your landing page?
Before you look to create a high converting landing page, the purpose of the page must first be identified. Sure, you can create a landing page but without a specific, thought-out purpose it’s hard to identify if it is actually converting at the rate you want.
For example, let’s say you want to promote an ebook and let’s say you do this with an Adwords campaign that directs to a landing page. The purpose of this landing page then would be to gather downloads for your ebook. Great, now we have a metric to watch and measure against the cost of the Adwords campaign. Without this important step, valuable information would be missed.
What are the benefits of an effective landing page?
Let’s use the ebook example again. You may think that if someone clicks the link to your landing page that they’re going to just download the ebook regardless of what the page looks like. Wrong.
At this moment, you’re capturing leads when they’re the most engaged. However, if your landing page isn’t effective at continuing the engagement and providing them with a positive experience, then I’m afraid you’ve just lost the lead.
Think of your landing page as the lead’s first impression of your ebook. If it’s not engaging with them, why would they download the ebook? Let’s look at an example:
In the example, look at the coordination of the color and the flow of the text. Neither of these appear to be overwhelming to the eye, which is a major factor in engagement. Before leads read a landing page, they see it, which is why you want to put thought into the design of specific elements. We’ll look at these items in more detail in the next section.
Effective landing pages also provide the following benefits:
- Increase SEO ranking
- Provide credibility
- Spread brand awareness
- Grow email lists
- Qualify leads
What are the elements of a high converting landing page?
When it comes to landing pages, they all share similar elements: headers, images, videos, etc. However, the difference with a high converting landing page is the specific use of these elements. There’s a huge difference between the name of the product or service as a header and an engaging, descriptive header title.
With this in mind, here are the top elements of a high converting landing page:
1. A well-paired header and sub-header
As was mentioned above, there’s a huge difference between a plain header and a descriptive, engaging header. Sure, you could use the name of your product or service as the header, but that’s nowhere near as engaging as a header that has a little bit of thought and consideration put in about the benefit the lead will get from doing whatever is asked of them.
In the same vein, high converting landing pages have headers that are matched with equally good sub-headers. Never underestimate the value of a great sub-header as they give you more room to expand on the topic without taking up word count in the header. Basically, headers are meant to be short and engaging — really draw in the lead — whereas sub-headers give you a chance to tell the lead more about what they’re getting.
Here's an example:
You’ll notice the header in the example is short and concise while still drawing in the reader to learn more about “how” marketing automation just got easier. The sub-header is then right there to answer the question and provide further clarity.
2. Several visual aids
Don’t make leads rely on walls of text; break it up with relevant visual aids. This could include a video of the product in action, a great header image, or several smaller images that showcase specific elements relevant to the landing page. For example, you could include an image of the cover of your ebook in the body of the landing page while having a header image of something relevant to the content of the ebook.
Visual aids are great for showing benefits on a landing page without adding anything to your word count.
For example, let’s look at this part of a landing page:
Instead of having large blocks of text talking about how dedicated and professional the team is, clients were used to prove this point. Never, ever underestimate the value of a good testimonial. In this case, they serve two purposes: it breaks up the landing page, which is visually appealing and showcases clients speaking well of the company. It’s a win-win!
3. Provide a solution
Leads don’t want to hear about how great your product/solution/event/etc. is. They want to hear how it will benefit them and how it will solve an issue for them. So, instead of focusing on all the cool features or “perks” your landing page is featuring, shift focus to benefits and solutions and make it all about the reader on the other end of the landing page.
Remember: Benefits > Features
Here’s an example of a way you can showcase the benefits in an easy-to-read way:
4. A method of contact
In an ideal world, your landing place would be a single stop for all the information a lead may need before converting. However, sometimes a lead may have questions or concerns so it’s a good idea to include a way for leads to get in touch with you. This also adds authenticity to your landing page because you are identifying your company. When adding a method of contact, you want to minimize how likely a lead is to leave the landing page since the main purpose of the landing page is to convert. You can do this by adding the contact information in a single, simple line at the bottom of the page like this:
5. A strong CTA
As we’ve said over and over, the main point of any landing page is to convert. To do this, you need a strong CTA (call to action). This element is what you want/need the lead to do in order to become a prospect and will typically involve the lead filling out some information and clicking a button. The information you gather is what you can then pass on to your sales team so they can work their magic.
Typically, these buttons say something like “Submit” or “Sign up” (technically, CTA’s don’t have to be buttons but that’s what most people have been trained to expect, so it’s best not to change it on them). However, you want your CTA to stand out from the rest and the best way to do this is to use a CTA that invokes a strong feeling either through the visuals or the copy.
For example:
With the CTA of “See the Difference,” you automatically create the sense that the reader may miss out on something by not moving forward. Also, a larger, colorful CTA button stands out from the rest of the page.
How do you create a high converting landing page?
Now that you know the elements of a high converting landing page, it’s time to look at how you can use those elements and what you need to actually do to create the page.
1. Don’t overuse elements
So, first things first, even though we’ve just gone over all the elements a great landing page has, it’s important to note that you shouldn’t over use elements. For example, visual aids are great but not so great when there’s too many of them.
For example, which of these options looks better to you?
Or
The first landing page has visual aids, which is an element of a great landing page, where the second landing page only has one image. Even though the second landing page may only have one image it better highlights the daycare because it allows the reader’s eye to focus. The collage of images in the first landing page may look jumbled or confusing to the reader.
Key take away: simplicity is key.
2. Remove navigation
When you’re designing your high converting landing page, you want leads to “stick” there. This basically means that there are no options to go anywhere else on the page. This means taking away any navigation bars, links to other pages, etc. Everything the lead needs should be on the page and the only action they should be able to take is through your call to action.
3. Keep forms short
Let’s be real: no one wants to fill out a 20-field form. The longer your form is, the more likely your leads are to drop off and not complete it. A simple way to increase your conversion rate is to keep forms to as few questions as possible. Think of it this way, if you have their email address you can always ask for more information later so focus on only what you need right now.
For example, this form has a lot of questions that don’t need to be answered right away.
Whereas this form only asks what you need to know right away.
Which one do you think would get the most submissions?
4. A/B split test
Let’s say you’re torn between a couple of headers, CTAs, or images and don’t know which would be better. The best thing to do to ensure you’re using the most effective high converting landing page is to test! Basically, you can divide the traffic between several landing pages and track which one performs better. After a specific period of time, all leads could then be sent to the landing page that has a higher conversion rate. That way you know you’re using the best possible landing page.
5. Use the right landing page builder
So, when you’re creating landing pages you always have the option to design, code, and create one from scratch. However, this is a time-intensive task that requires a working knowledge of HTML, CSS, web design, etc. Luckily, there are tools out there, referred to as landing page generators or builders, that allow anyone to create high converting landing pages. With WYSIWYG editors and drag-and-drop elements, anyone can easily and quickly create a landing page for any need or use case.
Did you know that SimplyCast provides a landing page generator? In fact, all the examples in this article were built with that very landing page generator.
If you want to try to create your own high converting landing page based off this guide, you can sign up for a free 14-day trial of SimplyCast’s communication software (landing page generator included!). Click the button below to get your free trial today.
