{"id":7123,"date":"2016-08-18T10:19:55","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T15:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/?p=7123"},"modified":"2016-08-18T10:19:55","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T15:19:55","slug":"design-conversion-oriented-landing-pages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.invespcro.com\/blog\/design-conversion-oriented-landing-pages\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions You Need to Ask to Design Conversion-Oriented Landing Pages"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 6<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

If you\u2019ve spent time and resources to get visitors to your site, you obviously want to turn them into leads and paying customers.<\/p>\n

Yet, almost half of all businesses<\/a> take their visitors to the site\u2019s main home page where they get lost.<\/p>\n

Instead, if you send your visitors to a targeted landing page<\/a>, you can convert leads and customers at a much higher rate.<\/p>\n

Landing pages are the heart of any marketing campaign. The quality of your landing pages will often impact the quality and quantity of your customers and leads.<\/p>\n

However, before you can design a conversion-oriented landing page<\/a>, there are a few questions you need to answer.<\/p>\n

Question 1. What is your conversion goal?<\/h3>\n

The conversion process<\/a> begins with the end in mind. What you\u2019re trying to accomplish on a landing page will deeply affect its eventual design.<\/p>\n

For example, a landing page for downloading a free eBook in exchange for an email will likely be short. This is because the ask itself – an email address – isn\u2019t huge when compared to the value on offer (a free eBook).<\/p>\n

Hence, you can use a simple design that emphasizes the eBook\u2019s value:<\/p>\n

\"E-book<\/div>\n

If you\u2019re selling a $97\/month SaaS product, however, you need a lot more content to convince visitors. Your landing page will be much longer with multiple points of persuasion.<\/p>\n

\"SaaS<\/div>\n

Depending on the conversion goal, you can divide landing page designs into two categories:<\/p>\n

1. Lead-generation page: <\/strong>Lead generation landing pages contain an opt-in form and call-to-action<\/a> to get contact information out of a visitor.<\/p>\n

Here is an example of a lead generation landing page:<\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/div>\n

2. Click-through landing page: <\/strong>Click-through landing pages<\/a> are effective to warm visitors up for a sale. These pages often lead to another page with more information about the offer.<\/p>\n

Here is an example of a click-through landing page<\/p>\n

\"Click<\/div>\n

If you\u2019re trying to convert visitors into leads, you\u2019ll use the former. If you\u2019re just warming up raw visitors or inform existing leads about a new offer, you\u2019ll use click-through landing pages.<\/p>\n

Question 2 – Who is your target audience?<\/h3>\n

There is no such thing as a \u201cgeneric\u201d landing page. Every successful landing page targets a very specific audience.<\/p>\n

For example, if you\u2019re pitching a white paper to CXOs, you\u2019ll need to emphasize new findings, industry insights, and specific high-level solutions that appeal to C-level executives. You might also want to capture more than just emails in exchange for the download.<\/p>\n

Take a look at this landing page from Salesforce as an example:<\/p>\n

\"Salesforce<\/div>\n

On the other hand, if you\u2019re pitching a \u201chow-to\u201d guide to complete beginners to a topic, you\u2019ll need to break down jargon into simpler terms and use more persuasive copy. Your form will likely ask for just a name and email instead of things like company size, current role, etc.<\/p>\n

See this page from Groupon as an example:<\/p>\n

\"Groupon<\/div>\n

Before you start the landing page design process, clearly identify your \u201cideal customer\u201d for that landing page. This should be as specific as possible. Instead of saying that your customer is a \u201cPerson in his\/her 40s who works in IT\u201d, say, \u201c40-year old man who lives in California, works in a large tech company, and reads TechCrunch regularly\u201d.<\/p>\n

This will help you design much more targeted (and hence, better converting) landing pages.<\/p>\n

Question 3 – How easy is it to consume your landing page?<\/h3>\n

You need to ask yourself if your landing page is inviting and easy to read. If it isn’t, people won\u2019t bother to stick around.<\/p>\n

What makes a landing page easy to read?<\/p>\n

Bullet points<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Landing<\/div>\n

Bullet points allow you to concisely summarize the benefit of your offer . As a result, a visitor can quickly scan and consume your page without getting discouraged by lengthy paragraphs.<\/p>\n

Whitespace<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Economist<\/div>\n

Do you have ample white space which ensures a visitor\u2019s focus goes to where you want it to go?<\/p>\n

Lack of whitespace can confuse a visitor as many elements demand their attention.<\/p>\n

For example, see how The Economist uses lots of whitespace to make its subscription page easy to read:<\/p>\n

Persuasive images<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Images not only add visual flair to your landing page but also help persuade users.<\/p>\n

For example, this landing page shows the product you\u2019re about to download with a high quality image:<\/p>\n

\"Persuasive<\/div>\n

On the other hand, this landing page shows off an emotion you want your users to feel.<\/p>\n

\"Etsy<\/div>\n

This image is purely for persuasion; it doesn\u2019t offer any actual insight about the product.<\/p>\n

Question 4 – How trustworthy are your landing pages?<\/h3>\n

With widespread fraud and security lapses online, gaining trust of a customer on your landing page<\/a> can make or break a lead.<\/p>\n

How do you demonstrate trustworthiness and reliability on a landing page?<\/p>\n

Here are a few tactics:<\/p>\n

1. Social proof<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Social proof is a natural force that compels people to follow what others are thinking or doing. If you don\u2019t have social proof on your landing page, your visitors might second-guess themselves and drop off.<\/p>\n

However, if their peers (friends, experts, other customers) are using and recommending the product or service, they will be more compelled to take action.<\/p>\n

The thought process goes like something like this: \u201cIf so many other people are using this, it surely can\u2019t be bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are many ways to social proof your landing page<\/a>, such as:<\/p>\n