Understanding how to optimize your landing pages is absolutely necessary for improving your conversion rates. Let’s break it down into 10 easy steps.
1. What is a landing page?
A landing page is any page you send traffic to for the purpose of converting those visitors to either leads or customers. The percentage of visitors you are able to turn into leads or sales is what is known as your “conversion rate.”
2. Identify your audience.
It’s not enough to have a great product or service to market. If you haven’t done your due diligence on identifying who your audience is, your message will not likely be heard. Spend some time figuring out as much detail about your intended audience as you can before you begin working on your landing page.
3. What problem are you solving?
It’s a fact that the only thing that motivates any of us to purchase anything is pain. We have a problem (we’re hungry), they have a solution (fast burgers made of questionable meat products) so we buy. You must figure out precisely what your potential customers’ pain is and how you are going to provide the solution they need.
4. Does your page’s design hold their attention?
Things like cluttered sidebars, lack of white space, too many options and a lay-out that fails to move the eyes in a logical manner can severely affect your conversion rates. Keep your design simple and clean without being boring. Think about where you place your graphics and choose your colors carefully.
5. Can your page pass the 5 second test?
A surefire way to get people to click away from your page is a slow load time. You have only a few short seconds to grab your visitors’ attention and if that time is used up on a slow page load, most of those visitors will simply click away and go back to browsing. Don’t let this happen to you! If your site is slow to load, check the image sizes you are using. Excessive or poorly written WordPress plugins are another common suspect in slow page loads.
6. Is it clear to your visitors what you are offering?
This is a problem that comes up much more often than it should and is usually the result of one person putting together a page over time without the input of an outside pair of eyes. Pages can become so cluttered and confusing that it becomes impossible for visitors to figure out just what the offer is. It’s no surprise that these pages don’t convert. Having someone review your page and give you an honest assessment can go a long way in preventing this issue.
7. Does your copy deliver?
The most important part of your landing page copy is the headline. The second most important is the first line in the copy. The third most important is the next line. See where I’m going here? Your copy not only has to grab their attention but it has to keep it. Use your page’s copy to clearly communicate what you are offering and why. Let them know you understand their pain and explain how you are going to solve it for them.
8. Does your form pass the Goldilocks Test?
Like Goldilocks’ porridge, there lies a sweet spot in how much information you require people to fill out in your lead generation forms. If you ask for too much information, it can make your visitors feel uncomfortable (“Why does he need to know my mother’s maiden name?!”) and much less likely to fill it out. Too little information and you haven’t gathered what you need to follow up effectively with your leads. Find the sweet spot by testing different forms and tracking their conversion rates.
9. Have you addressed their objections?
Another fact about online consumer behavior is that every potential lead or customer comes to your page with a list of “No’s.” It is your job to turn all those no’s into yes’s by addressing them head-on. “I can’t afford it,” “I don’t have time,” or “I don’t want to be on another email list,” are all common “No’s.” Show them why you’re worth their time, money or email address.
10. Can they trust you?
We might have saved the most important element for last. Building trust with your landing page’s visitors is absolutely critical to boost your conversion rates. Letting them know it’s safe to make a purchase with you or that you won’t ever sell their contact information can go a long way in building trust. Offering a guarantee on your products and services can remove the risk your potential customers feel when they’re ready to buy. Don’t skip this step!
Getting the most from your landing pages
If you’re ready to have an honest, professional assessment of your landing page, contact us today. We’ll even give you one absolutely free, personalized idea on what you can do today to improve your conversion rates.
