Landing pages are the cornerstone of lead capture and conversions in digital marketing. A well-designed landing page can have an enormous impact on how a visitor to your website makes decisions about what to do on it, often turning casual browsers into committed customers. But! Just having landing pages on your site isn’t all there is to it. Your landing pages absolutely must be optimized in order for them to work the way they’re supposed to. This is where high-converting landing page best practices become incredibly crucial. By focusing on specific elements of your page—such as headlines, copy, calls to action, and more—marketers like you can completely change the game for users and firmly nudge them down the path to conversion. Keep on reading for a full guide on how to turn your landing pages from space-fillers into the powerful marketing tools they are meant to be.
Understanding Landing Page Fundamentals
People often use the term ‘landing page’—and they use it incorrectly. A landing page is a standalone web page specifically designed for one purpose and one purpose only. It’s easy to confuse landing pages with other types of web pages (home page, about page, etc.) that encourage people to further explore the rest of the site, but remember that being disconnected from the main website is what sets landing pages apart (literally!) from other types of pages.
The single purpose of a landing page is also known as the call to action (CTA). A CTA could be anything from subscribing to a newsletter to buying a product to scheduling a call with someone. When a person who visits the landing page actually completes the CTA, that’s a conversion and it’s what we all are trying to achieve. The most effective landing page design is going to keep people interested and get them to do what we tell them to do!
How to Design a High-Converting Landing Page
It takes a village to put together a solid landing page design. Following landing page best practices, copywriters, graphic designers, and strategists all come together to provide input at various stages of the process. We’ll walk you through from top to bottom.
Landing Page Hero Best Practices
The most important section of your landing page is the hero section. That’s the very top of a landing page—what appears right when the page loads. The hero is usually fully visible without needing to scroll down, which is why we also call this area ‘above the fold.’ This is what it might look like:
The hero section will either convince people to scroll down and see the rest of the page…or hit the back button. That’s why this section is so, so important. You have about 3-5 seconds to convince a visitor that your page is worthy of their attention. To do that, you need to make them feel like they’ve come to the right place.
There are many elements in the hero that can help you do this.
First thing: the headline. It should summarize the page, tell you what it’s about, and make the reader feel like it was written specifically for them. If your landing page is geo-specific, consider throwing in the name of the city/town/area you’re targeting. For example, say you’re a florist based in Florida: “Fancy Flowers for Floridians.”
The supporting copy: this should clarify the message of the headline and continue to speak to the reader’s interests.
The CTA button: keep it simple and keep it consistent. There’s nothing more aggravating than a page with 3 different CTAs or a single CTA phrased 3 different ways. Don’t make the reader guess what you mean. Just say it.
The hero image: the majority of people rely heavily on visual cues when making decisions. It’s something clothing retailers and in-person stores take full advantage of when arranging their merchandise. You can do that on a landing page too. Say you have a fantastic headline, supporting copy, and CTA button, but the background image in your hero is obviously from stock. That alone may have someone clicking away from your page and going to someone else who chose a more intentional image. Don’t underestimate the power of the image just because it’s in the background.
For B2B landing pages especially, you can also use the hero section to address customer pain points. Why would they seek your services? What are they looking for? Let them know right away that you can fix their problems. Take a look at this example below; notice how “Free” is the first thing they say?
Landing Page Copy Best Practices
Throughout your landing pages—no matter what type of page it is or what you’re selling—your copy should always focus on outcomes for the user. What do they get if they sign up for your newsletter, buy your product, or schedule a call with you? Why should they do it? For the most part, people aren’t going to care who you are. They’re going to care most about what you can do for them. Companies seek our services because they want more online customers, more leads, more sales, more revenue. It’s a simple matter to put that on the page to show them we already know what they need, and then we can spend the rest of the page proving that we can deliver.
Another important characteristic your copy should have is clarity. Don’t waste time trying to sound like the smartest person in the room. Don’t try to write your audience poetry. Say what you need to say in a way that anyone can understand. As marketers, there’s a tendency to get a little too deep in our own jargon, which can be incredibly off-putting to someone who has no idea what you’re saying. The average American reads at a 7th-8th grade level; 21% of Americans read below a 5th grade level. To put it bluntly, you don’t need to try so hard. Convincing copy is less about the number of SAT words you can shove in there and more about the message you’re getting across (and if it’s getting across clearly).
Landing Page Design Best Practices
Design and copy go hand in hand to create a coherent message. On high-converting landing pages, you’ll notice a trend in how designers pair visual and text elements. Many service landing pages love to match icons with service copy to strengthen the overall message.
It’s very important to remember that design isn’t just layout and images; it’s font, color, graphics, white space, buttons, and so much more. There’s a reason why people use certain fonts for certain things. Think about newspapers and editorials vs billboards and digitals. Can you identify any patterns? Here are a few: Serif fonts are typically used for long passages of text and are the typefaces of choice for newspapers and magazines. The reasons why include higher readability and historical precedent. Sans serif fonts are usually found in annual reports, brochures, and more modern web designs. Sans serif is a popular choice for the smaller bits of text, like supporting copy, column headings, or text in graphs and charts. Don’t underestimate the power of a spot-on font choice.
Some quick design improvement tips:
- Your buttons should be a bright color with bold text to grab attention.
- Do not use small (12-14pt) font in the hero section.
- White space is underrated and you shouldn’t be afraid to use it.
A fundamental rule of thumb for landing page design is that it should never be a distraction. It may be tempting to try to stand out from the crowd by introducing a full panel of exciting, dynamic design elements, but you run the risk of totally drowning your message and CTA in the madness. Yes, by all means, add some movement to an otherwise static page, but don’t add it in every section. Add a video to change things up, but don’t make that your main message vehicle. The entire point of the landing page is to get the user from Point A (the hero) to Point B (the CTA and conversion). They are very unlikely to complete that journey if they have 7 videos to watch first.
Unique Value and Selling Points on Landing Pages
Why would someone choose your page out of all the others available on the internet? What is it about your company that is unlike any other? On a landing page, your unique value proposition (what you can do better than anyone else, or what you do that no one else does) might just tip the scales in your favor for someone juggling a tough decision between your page and a competitor’s. Your UVP should be big, bold, and very clear. If your product is cheaper, better quality, or has special features, don’t be afraid to brag about it. People want to buy! They want to feel good about buying, like they’ve gotten an exclusive deal.
Social Proof & Trust Signals on Landing Pages
People need more than just your word in order to trust you. They want proof that you can do the things you claim you can do. One of the best ways to demonstrate your capability to deliver is by letting your satisfied customers speak for you. Building trust with testimonials will go a long way in persuading your audience to believe in you. Video testimonials especially, like the one below, have consistently proven themselves to be a major player in getting people to buy or subscribe.
Now, just because people tend to have a stronger reaction to video doesn’t mean text testimonials don’t have a place on landing pages. They absolutely do. Not everyone likes videos, and having a section dedicated to text testimonials is a great way to appeal to those who want to see the success in writing.
FAQ Sections on Landing Pages
Should you add an FAQ section to your page? Is it valuable or is it clunky? That depends on the type of landing page you’re making. An FAQ section is a great idea for pages where the CTA is something like “sign up” or “schedule a call.” Why? People browsing those types of pages will have more objections to buying/converting than people on regular product pages. (People on a product page will be more convinced by reviews.)
Let’s say you’re offering a study program for people who want to apply for business school, and your UVP is that your program is much cheaper than anyone else’s. You’ll have to convince potential customers that your program is just as high-quality as the expensive ones even though the price is lower. You’ll have to show them that less $$$ does not equal lower value. An FAQ section could directly address that doubt with a question as simple as “Why is your program so cheap compared to others?” Having that on your page shows an awareness and knowledge of your customer, and helps them feel less intimidated by the choice they have ahead.
A/B Testing Your Landing Pages
A/B testing is a carefully repeated process of trial and error. Marketers create different versions of a landing page to see which ones perform better. The different versions might include changes like a new font type, or different color buttons, or a new headline. You do need to remember to test changes one at a time; otherwise you won’t be able to figure out which change actually made the improvement. Think about it this way: if you have an allergic reaction, you don’t stop eating altogether. You try cutting out dairy, then nuts, then gluten, and so on until you’ve found out which allergen you reacted to.
A/B testing periods can last anywhere from a week to a month or more. How long the observation period lasts will depend on what you’re doing. If it’s something like a Google ad, test for a minimum of a week. If something doesn’t work, you can just stop the ad. If you’re working on an SEO strategy, you won’t be able to run an A/B test until your page makes it to the first page of Google search results and generates a significant amount of traffic. Once you’ve managed that, you can start your A/B testing and observe for at least a month before coming to any conclusions. (Remember, SEO takes longer to see results!)
This is a lot of information at once, so we’ve prepared a landing page checklist for you to use the next time you need to design a landing page.
And if designing landing pages isn’t something you can do alone or have time for, we are happy to step in and help! You can reach out to us directly for assistance or visit our page to schedule a strategy session. You can also check out our SEO services here if you’re interested in optimizing your landing page.
Would you like to learn more about advanced marketing techniques? See what the experts at Make Your Mark have to say here in our blog.
