How to Design a Landing Page for Better Conversion?
Design a landing page which ensures good usability.
• Remember, the only purpose of the landing page is to capture a lead. Don’t use Flash or other animation that distracts from the task of registering on the page.
• Don’t include the navigation from your home page on your landing pages. It’s distracting and people may click away before they register.
• Make the conversion or “submit” button as obvious as possible.
• Design a landing page using 800x600 resolution. That way it will show up properly on the browsers of 90% plus of your web visitors.
• Be sure all critical elements are visible without scrolling by keeping them “above the fold” in the upper 300 pixels of the page—this applies especially to your offer.
• If the page scrolls, repeat the offer “below the fold.”
• If the landing page takes them to a second page for conversion, repeat the offer and the value of the offer again on the second page.
Best practices for using forms on landing pages
• Use the minimum number of form fields possible. Every additional field reduces the number of leads you will collect. Ask only “must know” vs “nice to know” questions and then have telephone reps follow up.
• If you use Salesforce.com or another CRM tool, be sure the registration forms are mapped to that tool so that data can be transferred automatically.
• Forms should be used to collect new information only. If you already have customer information, pre-fill the forms and ask visitors to update or correct their entries.
• Include a privacy statement on your registration page to reassure prospects that their information will not be used inappropriately. Forms are scary. Verbiage such as “We will only use your email address to send what you requested” or “We will never sell or share your information with third parties without your permission” will significantly increase conversions.
• Program the form page so data is captured as they go, so if readers accidentally hit the “back” button their data is not lost.
Best practices for the underappreciated “Thank You” page
What it is
A page after your landing page that confirms the registration process is complete and delivers on any offer you’ve promised on the landing page. Use the “Thank You” page to your advantage. This page is being seen by prospects that have taken the time to provide you with some information or who have bought something from you. They are in prime reading and interacting mode at this time.
Some things you can do with your “Thank You” page:
• Confirm they are entered in your sweepstakes, scheduled to receive a mailing, or in line for whatever you offered them. This removes potential uncertainty, which may distract them, as you want them focused on your product or service.
• Deliver on promised information with a brief description followed by a web page or download link.
• Promote another initiative such as a newsletter or webinar.
• Ask for feedback.
• Send them to your home page if there are other interesting programs or offers for them.
• Send them to the product area of your website.
A landing page creative checklist:
• Does the landing page design take the eye to or away from the conversion button?
• Are there too many elements on the page?
• Do the colors and verbiage guide the viewer to the conversion button?
• Does the landing page provide the viewer with all the information they need without overwhelming them?
Some best practices for visual design
Photos of people, even imperfect non-studio shots, have been proven to be more effective and more trustworthy than clipart when it comes to generating leads.
• If you are using an image of a paper, report, or product for the offer, make sure you can read the text on the image. You may want to create a special extra-readable thumbnail made with larger than normal copy.
• Use captions for your images! Extensive studies have shown that the two most-read content areas on space ads are headlines and captions. Don’t waste this big opportunity!
• Keep color choices consistent with the rest of your campaign. You want visitors to know they’ve come to the right place and visual consistency does this. You DON’T want to jar them with colors or designs they’ve never seen that distracts them from the task at hand. The more your landing page resembles your creative—the thing that made them respond in the first place—the better your conversions will be.
• Use a white or light background for the text including your headline and registration form. Studies show that reversed type (white on dark background) has less than 50% the readership of dark type on light background.
• Form fields should be short and specific with white text boxes.
• Use colored boxes or screens to draw the eye to important segments of text, such as a bullet list offeatures or form field.
Some best practices for copywriting
• Make sure the headline stands out (ie., large font, bright color, etc.), appeals directly to your target audience, and refers to the place where the visitor came from.
• Make the wording on the submit button creative. It is one of the first and last things they will see, so use the copy on the button to your advantage! “Get it now” or “I want my FREE report” are examples of wording that helps you sell, as opposed to simply “SUBMIT.”
• Body copy should be at least 12-point (the size of the body type in this report), flush left, and never wider than 52-60 characters across.
• Use bullet points as much as possible instead of paragraphs to break up your copy so it doesn’t look like too much to read.
• Highlight your key points, whether it’s by position, bold text, white space, color, font, or another factor. However, use a light touch in highlighting or bolding text. If those few words or sentences are all an individual sees, will they have enough information to persuade them toconvert?
• Use “you” and “your” instead of “we” and “our.”
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