Follow these landing page optimisation techniques to generate more sales.
If you’re working on a pay-per-click or search engine optimisation campaign, landing pages are a great way to build credibility, attract qualified leads, and support your overall business objectives. But optimising these pages for maximum conversions can be challenging, particularly in a competitive niche. The truth is that modern consumers don’t want to sit through a fifteen-minute presentation about your product, and they know all of the tricks in the trade such as countdown timers and “limited time offers” that never really expire.
Below, we’ve rounded up landing page optimisation techniques that will drive sales, without relying on outdated tactics that are not only bad for your users but damage your reputation.
A good landing page will hone in on a particular topic or pain-point and offer visitors advice and a solution. Don’t give those visitors your full website experience, as they’ll likely wander off onto other parts of your website that haven’t been as well optimised to sales. Chances are that you paid for your visitors to land on your page, so keep them focused and engaged.
Modern web design favours white space and minimalism, but when it comes to landing pages, keeping as much of your content above the fold is important. Your primary goal and call to action should be visible as soon as users visit the landing page – including on mobile devices. Repetition is important, too; users should be able to engage with the content on your landing pages and still be able to buy or sign-up whenever they’re ready to do so. A floating call to action could work well, following users down the web page to maximise sales.
Landing page optimisation tip three. High-performing landing pages are lean. Once you’ve created yours, take a step back and think about ways you could simplify and remove clutter. For example, do you need to use six images of your product and three videos, or could those assets be condensed or turned into a carousel? Refining your landing pages will take time, but it’s important to help create clean and concise content that keeps your products and services in the minds of your audience.
If you’re trying to create a buzz with your landing page, make sure it’s shareable. As well as adding buttons to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, optimise your social metadata so that your landing page content looks good on those networks when it’s shared, and consider the benefits of personalising that metadata for each user, adding their name or location to the featured image to further differentiate your content on a timeline that refreshes every minute.
Your landing page is likely to feature a form where users can sign-up for a free trial or buy your product. Cutting down the number of fields on that form is another way to increase your conversion rate. Get the key information out of the way first – name, email address, card details – and then decide what else is really necessary. Remember to add a privacy policy to comply with GDPR regulations, and look for ways to request more information from users in the future. The more streamlined the sign-up process, the higher the success rate. Data from Quicksprout suggests cutting your form down to three fields increases conversions by 25%.
If your landing pages are designed to persuade users to purchase a product immediately, it’s a good idea to prominently display trust markers. Verisign is a common one, but you could add markers like the PayPal logo, McAfee Secure, Trustwave, or a local Business Chamber. The idea is to demonstrate to visitors that your business is legitimate and respectable in your niche, without writing blocks of text. Review the brands that are most relevant to your users.
As we’ve already touched upon, modern consumers are switched-on to manipulative sales tactics that create a sense of urgency. Authenticity will help build stronger relationships with your users, and differentiate from brands that are still using outdated tactics to drive sales. If you are running a sale, outline when it will end and make sure it actually ends. Extending a sale or running an ongoing promotion can make your brand look untrustworthy or desperate.
Make sure you’ve integrated tracking tools on your landing pages and use free analytics software like Google Analytics to monitor metrics. You can immediately begin tracking and use data to make changes to your campaigns. Key metrics to look out for are landing page views (how many people visit the page?), sessions by source (where are visitors coming from?), goal completions (how many people actually buy from you or sign up?), visitors to contact ratio, average time on page, bounce rate, pages per session, and top pages.
If you’re serious about squeezing every last drop out of your landing page, using heat map technology can help you to see where people are clicking the most. Over time, you can build up a map of the most-frequented areas of your landing page, and move key elements such as your call to action or sign-up button to further increase engagement and drive more sales.
Landing page optimisation tip ten. One of the best ways to optimise your landing pages from a cost perspective is to ensure your on-page copy matches the copy of your Google Ads title. The higher the relevancy of your ads, the higher your ad’s Quality Score, which will reduce the cost per click of your campaigns and allow you to drive even more highly-qualified traffic to your landing pages.
Look at your competitors’ websites and landing pages (search for them on Google or use their sitemap). Not only can it give you inspiration for your own landing pages, but it can also help you to differentiate your value proposition and identify gaps in their strategy. Advanced analytics tools will also help you work out where their traffic is coming from and the keywords they’re targeting on search engines and paid advertising on Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
Behaviourists have conducted a whole host of research regarding colours, and the general consensus is that orange is the best colour for increasing conversions. It’s considered that red is associated with ‘stopping’ and green ‘going’, whilst blue is too similar to website links. Orange, on the other hand, is the scientifically-proven optimal colour for CTA buttons.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The very best landing pages will convert as well today as they will in three years time. Aim to create content that’s relevant and engaging, and keep old landing pages live long after your paid campaigns are done. You’ll likely find that they’ll rank on search engines organically, and drive some more conversions without costing you a penny. Time-sensitive campaigns should be updated regularly to maximise their lifespan and value.
There are dozens of landing page optimisation tools on the market today, but the best way to find out whether yours does the job is to ask. Get a friend or colleague to check out your page, give them ten seconds, and ask what the landing page was about and the action you wanted them to take. If they didn’t get that within the first five to ten seconds, the chances are that you need to make some changes to streamline and simplify your messaging.
The truth is that your landing page will never be perfect, and you’ll want to experiment with ideas and trends on a regular basis. Don’t be afraid to experiment, collect data on different styles and designs, and further optimise and improve your pages. Set aside time each month to review your landing pages, identify the top performers, and learn lessons from your own failures and successes. Over time, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of your audience and their behaviour, which will help you create great-looking, high-converting content every time.
If you need help with conversion rate optimisation for your business, depend on the experts at Zudu. Give us a call on 01382 690080 today for a free consultation with our team.
