Your landing page is everything. It is the first thing your new or returning visitors will see, and it sets the stage for the entire journey they’ll embark upon with your brand or team. Deliver a subpar or shoddy landing page, and guess what? Your customers are not going to enjoy the rest of their journey — that is, if they even stay.
Naturally, it behooves you to create a knockout landing page that keeps your audience and customers engaged. Many mistake this to mean your homepage only, but that’s not the case. A landing page is any page or portal your customers will see first. Your homepage is one good example, but so is a product or promotional campaign page. If customers follow an ad from social to an exclusive portal for your marketing campaign, that would be a landing page.
Inexperienced or negligent marketers will direct any and all traffic to the homepage, including pay-per-click traffic. This approach is a mistake. You want separate landing pages for various scenarios, campaigns and even customer types.
To design and deploy a killer landing page, your focus should be on more than just your homepage. What can you do to spruce up these satellite or additional landing pages — as well as your main one? Keep reading
Keep all your landing pages free from clutter or distractions. Your customer clicked through to the page for a reason. They may be seeking information or looking for ways to engage with your brand, or they might just be curious. Whatever the case, you need to deliver a page that provides all the pertinent information front and center. This approach serves two purposes: it keeps users from getting overwhelmed, and it improves their experience with your site. They don’t have to look far to find what they need, which is convenient and enjoyable.
It doesn’t get any shorter or easier than Geico’s landing page. In a single sentence, the company explains what it can do for you, then directs you to the “quote” form.
For the web copy on your landing pages, don’t deliver a boring, rote-sounding message. Instead, come up with something truly remarkable, something that excites and encourages. Create killer, high-quality content that inspires confidence and instills a sense of longing. Tell a story. Share customers’ experiences and real-world demos. Create a video that showcases your product’s best features. You could even come up with a blog that shares unorthodox ways to use your product.
The point is to offer your audience something memorable that’s a little outside the norm.
A picture says a thousand words, and video can say even more than that. Use eye-catching imagery and media right up front to steal the spotlight and capture your audience’s attention. If you can reel them in during those first few seconds, you’ll probably have piqued their interest enough to stay longer. Look at the background images on Yalla Mediterranean, which are both breathtaking and mouthwatering.
Visual cues and animation are other excellent ways to capture visitors’ attention and direct them to a particular element or segment of your page.
Your website has many pages and traffic sources — visitors will come from web searches, mobile and social ads and even customer recommendations. To further complicate matters, you’ll have multiple landing pages, just like we talked about in the intro. But all that is OK.
Your imperative is to keep everything synced and flowing nicely. No matter how many landing pages you have, the final step should be the same, and they should all lead to the same action or process. For instance, your call to action for new and returning customers can be different, yet both should lead to the same “buy now” portal.
Funnel visitors down a pathway, with all your exit points leading to the same spot. Good site flow will keep management simple for you, but it will also make customers much easier to track.
The appearance and feel of a site—and satellite pages—must remain consistent, as well. But this applies to more than just your website. Your entire strategy, including alternate channels, must remain consistent and familiar. For instance, ensuring your email outreach and advertising adopt the same look, language, and experience as your landing page(s) will further boost the efficiency and impact of your strategy. It also works to build a more reputable facade, allowing customers new and old to better engage and identify with you.
Time for some tough love: Most visitors don’t care about your company’s mission or goals, as important as they are to you. What they really care about is themselves, and what they will get out of a transaction or deal. What is your product going to do for them?
Don’t bore your audience by droning on about yourself, your achievements and your brand’s history — at least, not on your landing page. Make sure your landing page follows this philosophy and clearly shows what you and your goods will do to improve people’s lives. Humans are selfish creatures, so embrace it.
Want to immediately grab someone’s attention? Deliver what we like to call a “whoa” offer — something that immediately excites. Your offer must add value to your customers, and it must be something they want or need.
A lot of companies make “package deals” that either aren’t connected in any way, or have an incredibly loose affiliation. On a marketing level, Sony’s PlayStation brand does a remarkable job with their PS4 bundle variations. Yes, you can buy the game console separately if you wish. But you also have the option to choose from several bundles, which include the console, games and accessories. These deals get players right into the action, so they can go home, plug everything in and start playing.
Attention spans are growing shorter and shorter every day. We could sit around and point fingers, blaming modern media, blaming younger generations, even blaming the emergence of mobile devices and on-the-go browsing. None of that matters.
You have eight seconds flat to convince people to stay on your page. Your value proposition must be quick, poignant and effective. Your goal, then, should be to cut out as much fluff as possible and get straight to the point.
In that vein, keep your landing pages scannable or readable at a glance. Customers can land, do a quick run-through of the important details, watch a video or check out some images, then move on — ideally, to another page of your site.
Uber is an excellent example of a short and sweet landing page. What does driving with Uber mean? It means earning money on your schedule, and you don’t even need a car. Interested? Bam, here’s the signup form.
Your customers — whether they spend money on their first visit or not — are your lifeblood, so show a little appreciation. One great way to do this is to direct them to a thank-you page after they’ve made it through your web copy or even made a purchase.
Landing pages are another place where being humble and appreciative can play to your advantage. Thank them for coming or following your ads. Do something for them to reciprocate. Offer an exclusive first-time deal. Send them an email newsletter with product suggestions or a coupon code.
Be humble, be nice, be human.
Lexie Lu is a contributing writer for Splendor Design and a freelance designer. She enjoys writing code and learning about new web platforms. She manages Design Roast and can be followed on Twitter @lexieludesigner.
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