Article

Steven Rich, MBA
Steven Rich, MBA 2 August 2016

The Essential Elements of a Successful Landing Page

The essential elements of a successful landing page are important aspects of internet marketing campaigns. A landing page is also known as a "jump page", "promotional page", or a "squeeze page". This is the web page where people are directed to when online ads are clicked or hyperlinks in emails or websites are clicked.

Introduction

The essential elements of a successful landing page are important aspects of internet marketing campaigns.  A landing page is also known as a jump page, promotional page, or a squeeze page.  This is the web page where people are directed to when online ads are clicked or hyperlinks in emails or websites are clicked.  This is a standalone web page with no links to other websites so the visitor has no option to click to another website.  The purpose of a landing page is to get the visitor to take a specific action such as purchasing something or signing up for a subscription to a newsletter or membership in an organization.

The success of a landing page depends on the conversion rate which is the percentage of all visitors who take the desired action.  The higher the conversion rate the more successful the landing page.

Here are some essential elements of a successful landing page:

Headline

Use Bold, Big, Relevant Headline

The sole purpose of a headline is Attention Grabbing.  If your headline does not catch the attention of visitors, the online marketing campaign will fail.  Using a bold, big, relevant headline is supposed to catch attention. 

For example, if you use “How to Raise Healthy Children” as your headline, it can have many meanings and interpretations because it is too general.  What kind of “healthy” is this about?  Is this about mental or physical health?   Try to be specific and relevant to what every parent needs.  A better headline would read, “How Your Kids’ Bones Can Be Strengthened with the Right Nutrition”.

Visuals

Assume most visitors are busy and in a hurry to figure out what your landing page is about.  This is where a good visual after your headline keeps their interest.  A picture can convey your message quickly with little effort. 

The same goes with using different colored fonts.  People get tired quickly when reading plain text.  A box with brightly colored text jumps out and wakes them up.

Videos are very popular.  Some visitors prefer seeing an interesting video than reading text or looking at pictures. 

Testimonials 

People like to purchase products based on recommendations.  This is especially true when they are online products.  There is nothing stronger than recommendations from happy clients (customers).  Especially if these testimonials come from like minded people which breaks down skepticism and removes fear.  There are several ways to share testimonials such as a quote alongside a photo or a video. 

Call To Action

Now we get to the meat of a landing page.  It’s all about prompting the visitor to take action.   A Call to Action (CTA) is a marketing term instructing the visitor to immediately respond to do something you want.  Words like, “Find out More”, or “Call Now”, or “Click Here” are asking for immediate action.  Actions could be to buy something now, or simply type your name and email address to subscribe or join.  “Sign up for Free” is a very popular Call to Action.

Free Offers

Back up your CTA by offering something free in exchange for providing the visitor’s name & email address.  Free valuable informational e-books or reports relevant to the landing page’s focus are very popular and effective.  “Sign up for Free and Get this Report”

Offer a bonus for making an immediate purchase.  When revealing the price you can create additional value to encourage purchases.  For example, “Get 2 for 1 at No additional Cost”.

Limited Time Offers

Create urgency to buy before time runs out offers are very effective.  “Buy Now for 20% Off” encourages a quick purchase. 

Another offer can limit the number available for early buyers or registrants.  If visitors think only a few people can take advantage of a good offer they will usually not wait to come back in fear of losing this opportunity.  “Seating is Limited. Hurry before it Sells Out” is a good limited time offer for seminars, events, tours, etc.  Or, “25% Discount for the First 50 who Buy” is also effective because the visitor does not know how many already bought the product.  Another one is offering a bonus to the first # of buyers, like “The First 100 Purchasers will also Receive this Bonus.”

Limited time offers are not sure things.  They need to be tested by sending out landing pages with different limited time offers to see which ones produce the greater conversion rates.  This is known as A/B Testing in the marketing profession.  A/B Testing started out by comparing just two similar website ads, email campaigns, and landing pages to different audiences to see which one worked better.  Now days, some marketers send out numerous test ads, landing pages, etc. to compare their conversion rates.

Multiple Payment Options

Too many sellers only offer one payment method, such as PayPal or a credit card.  Providing only one way for prospective customers to pay can kill many sales.  Multiple payment options are necessary.  The more payment options, the better. Offer all credit cards instead of just one.  Why settle for Visa or MasterCard when you can offer both?  Don’t forget about Amex and Discovery cards.  Debit cards along with credit cards should also be included.  PayPal and similar payment platforms should also be an option.   

Contact Information for Questions

Set up a Toll Free 800 phone number system for free calling in questions.  Any Toll Free Call phone system will work.  Your visitors will always have questions and if unanswered they may not make purchases.

Toll Free phone numbers only work in the U.S. and Canada.  Unless you are only selling to American and Canadian residents, your 1-800 phone system will not work for visitors living in other countries.  Foreigners will not make expensive long distance phone calls to ask questions about your products.  Set up an email system for those who would rather write questions instead of making phone calls.

Test & Test

No matter how good you think your landing page is, it needs testing.  No landing page is perfect especially on its first run.  Things you never think will be a problem or cause visitor confusion need to be tested and tested again until the conversion rate rises beyond your wildest expectations.

Test multiple pages to see the best conversion rate.  Further testing produces the opportunity to keep making improvements for your landing page.  Seasonal trends are another reason for further tests to figure what works better during the summer and winter months.  

Conclusion

The essential elements of a successful landing page as explained above should help you with more sales, sign ups, and whatever you want visitors to act on. Landing pages are an effective online marketing strategy.  Multiple testing will improve your landing page effectiveness.  An effective landing page should result in higher visitor conversion rates increasing your sales and profits. 

Copyright © 2016 – Steven Rich, MBA

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