Landing Page Optimization: 10 Tips to Increase Conversion Rates

Landing page optimization is a crucial process in web design. If your client’s e-commerce homepage is like a physical storefront, then the landing page is like a pop-up shop or a booth at a farmer’s market. Homepages target people who already know the brand and website URL, while landing pages are created specifically for marketing campaigns or paid traffic.

The purpose of a landing page is very different from that of a homepage. Landing pages are often the first point of contact for potential customers, giving them an impression of what the store sells and inviting them to explore further. The purpose of a landing page is to get visitors to take action — for example, to order a product sample pack, download an eBook, or request an information package.

It actually only takes 0.05 seconds for a visitor to form an overall impression of a landing page. Therefore, you need to communicate value to viewers as quickly as possible. If you don’t, you might lose potential customers.

In this article, we’ll cover 10 ways to optimize your clients’ landing pages and create a lasting impression of your brand and products, thereby increasing conversion rates.

1. Understand your client’s users

“When optimizing your landing page, consider your customers’ motivations, expectations, and potential frustrations to create a targeted landing page design. ”

If you’re not familiar with the term “ user-centered design ,” it means thinking like a customer and tailoring all content and services across touchpoints to match what the customer wants to understand and do.

Understanding your customers allows you to tailor your promotional material and design a way to communicate directly with them. When customers understand that a product can meet their needs or solve their problems, they are more likely to convert.

Therefore, understanding your customers, or applying user-centered design, should be part of your marketing strategy.

One way to keep your target audience profile in mind during the design process is to create personas . A persona is a quick shot of your ideal customer profile, containing information about their age, language, income, motivations, goals, and the problems they’re solving.

The best way to create realistic personas is to talk to real customers and understand their pain points and the steps they take to solve their problems.

For example, what led this 30-year-old entrepreneur to look for a new backpack? What keywords will they use to search for your product? What features are they looking for in this product? How do customers compare similar products? And what factors influence their purchasing behavior?

Using personas, we can more easily think about what our customers want and what we need to include in our landing page.

2. Use benefit-oriented headlines

A big part of landing page testing is coming up with the right headline because it’s the first thing your audience will pay attention to when they land on your landing page.

Typically, the title is about the product or a feature of the product, such as “dot grid notebook” or “durable leather goods.” These feature-driven headlines don’t tell users what the benefit is to them or how important it is to have the product in their lives.

A benefit-oriented headline focuses on the awesome home/atmosphere the user will have, or the amazing person they will become once they own the product.

Jakub Linowski, a conversion coach, tested benefit-oriented headlines against generic headlines.

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Benefit-oriented headlines increased conversion rates by 4.3%.

So, when you think about your landing page optimization strategy, focus on the value you provide to your users . If you are talking about the benefits that customers can get , rather than just talking about the company and its products, your target customers are likely to convert.

3. Write clear and relevant content

A landing page is more than just a product listing or detail page. One of the key elements in a landing page is content.

The content you create for your landing page should answer the following questions:

Does this website have what I want?

Is there enough information?

Can I trust this website?

How long will this take?

Is there a return policy?

As you think about the process of landing page testing, remember that one of the best ways to craft effective content is to use the exact words your target customers are searching for or saying , which aligns with their needs and goals.

On my Mentor Program landing page, I used the exact words I expected customers to use on the application form, such as “gain clarity in your learning process.” By using the exact words and phrases that users are looking for, your landing page will speak well to them and make users think, “This is exactly what I needed!”

Because the promotional content was clear and relevant, this landing page achieved a conversion rate of 11.5% over the course of a one-week non-paid marketing campaign.

4. Use real promotional content to design

Lorem Ipsum is often used by designers as placeholder content when the client is unable to provide actual landing page content. This “fill in the gaps” approach may seem to work, but in reality, the actual content almost never matches the placeholder.

If the content doesn't fit the design, you have to start with a new design or change the content to make it fit.

They are both neither ideal nor efficient.

A more effective approach to landing page optimization best practices is to adapt content-first design and make developing content a top priority early on.

5. Focus on one main call to action (CTA)

As mentioned above, the goal of landing page testing is to create a page that gets your visitors to take action. It’s tempting to include bits and pieces about your product on your landing page, but this can make the landing page too full of information.

According to WordStream, 48% of effective landing pages contain multiple offers, which is not a best practice. Instead, you want each landing page to have a specific offer to keep potential customers focused on one thing at a time.

By using only one call to action and removing all other competing elements for the user’s attention , this laser-focused landing page will convert better.

6. Use benefit-oriented calls to action (CTA)

The CTA is the trigger for conversion, so when performing a landing page optimization review, you want to make your offer more appealing. For similar reasons as why we make the headline relevant to the benefit, the CTA text should also communicate the benefit.

All over the internet, we see buttons that say “click here” or “get access,” but they don’t show any context or clues as to where the link might lead. Users have to do extra work to guess what will happen after they “click here.”

Instead, we should make CTA buttons and links more descriptive and explain why users should click the button.

Compare the following two CTA buttons: “Get instant access now” and “Read full article now.” Which one is more descriptive and makes it clearer what the button actually does?

In the control version, users can clearly understand that they can access the full text. In the experimental version, users had to pause and think about what they were being given access to. It’s no surprise that clear CTA content increases conversion rates by 39%!

7. Make sure the design is eye-catching and easy to see

94% of users’ first impressions are related to design elements. Therefore, the first impression of your landing page has a lot to do with its visual design.

A professional design that wows users also makes a better impression. Therefore, clients should hire professional designers who can best communicate the client’s brand values ​​and products through design.

Conversely, some of the highest bounce factors (causing users to leave the landing page) are annoying elements such as pop-ups, surveys, music, and auto-playing videos. Often, disruptive elements that are activated without user permission lead to negative reactions and a worse experience for the user.

When testing your landing pages, don’t be afraid to try different designs to see which ones your users like best.

8. Optimize content length

Landing page marketing content can be short or long. The amount of content you should include depends on the type of product your client offers and should be experimented with during landing page testing.

Here are some general guidelines for determining page length when performing landing page optimization:

Short ads work better when the offer is free, very cheap, or an impulse buy . With this type of product, you want to reduce your audience’s reading and thinking and get them straight to buying. There aren't a lot of hurdles or complicated ideas behind this way of buying.

Long copy is more suitable for expensive or complex products . When rational thinking and analysis are factors in buying, longer promotional content with explanations, evidence and proof will create a more persuasive case.

In short: the more expensive the product, the longer the promotion should be.

9. Use short forms with minimal fields

According to the Baymard Institute, one of the top three reasons for shopping cart abandonment (28%) is a complicated or lengthy checkout process. This includes asking users to fill out long forms.

The more fields you ask visitors to fill out, the more friction you create, and therefore, the fewer people will want to go through the process . Ideally, your checkout form should only ask for the minimum information required, namely where to send the item and who will pay for it.

Marketers often need more information for marketing purposes, such as the customer's gender, the items they want to buy, or their birthday.

But this is not good for user experience.

Customers don’t shop on a website to give out all their personal details so your clients can send them ads on social media.

Before creating a long form, first ask yourself – why do you need this information? Why do we need this now? Remember, you can always collect more information later. Always perform this kernel check during landing page testing and keep great UX first in your mind and don’t try to get as much information as possible from the people who visit your landing page.

The experiment above shows how landing page conversion rates decrease when the number of fields in a form increases (Source: VentureHarbour)

10. Create an eye-catching header

A moving or animated eye-catching header can increase landing page conversion rates by up to 86%. In a competitive market, it may be what you need to create a lasting impression on your clients’ brand and products.

However, the effectiveness may depend on the target audience. For example, video/animation titles are not suitable for selling vintage products to an older demographic.

If you want to use animation or video on your landing page, first identify elements of your product or brand that are unique or that can't be easily conveyed through static text and images.

It does take more time to create an interesting header video or animation, but if done correctly it will help your client’s brand be more memorable and perceived as high quality.

11. Two additional suggestions

1. Reduce page loading time

More and more people are browsing the internet on mobile devices, and the speed at which a page loads can greatly affect conversion rates.

It’s proven that 40% of consumers will abandon a page that takes longer than three seconds to load . As page load times increase from one second to ten seconds, mobile users are 123% more likely to leave the site:

The faster your page loads, the less chances your users will get tired of waiting and close the page.

When designing a login page for your customers, you should:

Optimize the size of images on your page by compressing them using a tool like Kraken

Make sure your website is hosted on a reliable and fast server

Use tools like WebPageTest to troubleshoot and identify issues

While you may not be able to fix server problems on your own, you can bring them to your customers' attention. You can then discuss potential solutions, such as hiring an outside contractor to improve the overall performance of their website.

2. Take a user-first approach to design

In your landing page testing and design protocols, it’s important to keep in mind the most important thing — your client’s users, not their company or product.

The pattern and underlying principle behind these 10 best practices is that it’s all about the user and the user experience . To create a high-converting landing page, focus on on-page optimization. Tell users what’s in it for them and what benefits they will gain from purchasing your client’s product . Then, make it super easy to fill out the form and understand where the CTA links to.

By understanding your client’s users and designing around their needs, your landing pages will become more relevant and memorable. By keeping these tips in mind when optimizing your landing pages, users will be more likely to sign up for what your clients have to offer, which in turn will make your clients more satisfied with your services.

Author: Gong Bopeng

Source: Analysys