Why is a well-structured landing page so important? Landing pages are marketing tools, built for a single purpose: to persuade visitors to act. This action may take many forms: a purchase, newsletter subscription, demo streaming, callback request, free download or a meeting schedule. Our research with marketing managers around the world has highlighted 10 key traits shared by top performing landing pages.
1. Targeted landing pages outperform those with a broad scope
Crucially, top performing landing pages focus on one goal. This means markeeters should design each page for one highly specific target group of customers and one metric (either purchases or subscriptions, not both). In doing so, marketing managers focus their message on the major needs of that customer group and the top benefits that compel them to act. Our research shows that targeted landing pages outperform those that boast broad messages and target multiple demographics or social groups.
2. Top performing landing pages are accessible through a wide range of marketing channels
Landing pages receive visitors through different marketing channels such as paid media and owned media. Examples of the former include Google AdWords and social media campaigns. The latter typically involves e-mail marketing, and blog posts. Landing pages with an array of income sources receive more visitors than those that depend on fewer marketing channels.
3. Goal-oriented landing page structures prove more effective
Design-wise, landing pages with fewer elements and links proved to be more effective. Marketeers build these pages with the end purpose (the expected client action) in mind and rarely deviate from their goal, rooting out all extra content and features that might be distracting.
4. SEO-friendly landing pages attract the most visitors
Our research indicates that for a landing page to establish a good ranking and produce a higher Return on Investment (ROI), marketeers should have SEO as a top priority from the onset. SEO means Search Engine Optimization and concerns, among other things, the selection and implementation of relevant search terms (keywords) that each target audience might look up in search engines. Overall, landing pages that focus on very specific, long-tail keywords achieve higher conversion rates that those which fail to do so.
5. Compelling headlines are key to high performance landing pages
Smart, fun, catchy headlines are important. But landing pages that get the most traffic reveal something that visitors need right away. For example, pages that offer exclusive prices or benefits in the headline achieve better results. Headlines are the first thing visitors see. And, on average, five times as many people read the headline as the complete text. Getting straight to the point creates a good impression on consumers and drives them to stay longer. The same goes for the headlines along the page. Subtitles, bullet points, brief sentences, words in bold - all these are common traits among best performing landing pages.
6. Focus on the benefits, not features
Landing pages that focus on the major benefits perform better. Marketeers should pick the 3 to 5 key messages that might prompt the selected target group to the desired action, and stick to them. In the best performing pages, these advantages are strategically placed in high-visibility areas such as the main title, meta descriptions, subtitles and call-to-actions.
7. Customer Reviews are critical to a Landing Page success
Around 88% of consumers read online reviews before deciding on a purchase. Specifically, most people look for star rating, legitimacy (real reviews), recency (73% of consumers only pay attention to reviews from the past month), sentiment (positive vs. negative feeling) and quantity (the sheer number of reviews).
8. FOMO drives results for the best landing pages
Every brand hopes to convince customers they can help solve a specific need. But leading marketing brands take things one step further. These marketeers can convey to customers that if they don’t act, they might miss out on something new. FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, applied to landing pages means people are more likely to subscribe or download something even if they don’t have any immediate need for it, just so they won’t be left behind of the insider knowledge bandwagon.
Take Netflix or Spotify. These brands provide visitors the opportunity to try their service for free, either offering a 30-day trial with no payment commitment, or a free service, but with ads included. With no apparent downside, FOMO kicks in. Landing pages that muster an irresistible CTA, that conveys FOMO, are likely to receive more clicks.
9. In landing page design, more is more
Bold, bright and flashy landing pages outperform their minimalist counterparts. For designers, mixing vivid colors and big buttons with striking pictures may prove challenging. And matching them with the brand’s current identity is no easy feat. But it pays off - recent A/B tests have shown that increasing fonts, images and buttons is likely to translate to more leads. In landing page design, more means more.
10. Shorter contact forms increase engagement
As forms get smaller, conversation rates increase. Customers simply do not have the time to fill out long forms. By preferring shorter forms, with only a few essential details to collect leads, marketeers drastically improve performance. Unsurprisingly, “name and email” forms perform better.
Landing pages are an essential marketing tool for companies looking for new ways of acquiring customers in this digital age. Effective landing pages have 10 key traits in common: a clear target, many inbound channels, a unique goal, SEO, compelling headlines, benefit-oriented copy, a bold design, FOMO, testimonials or customer reviews and short contact forms. At Articulate, we have built hundreds of landing pages for the world’s most innovative brands. Our team of digital marketers can help you craft compelling, result-oriented landing pages. Get in touch.