Most advertisers have goals around conversions when launching digital ad campaigns. Conversions can mean many things — purchases, form completions, calls or other engagement actions. The ad content, targeting and type all influence conversions, but so does what happens after the click. When clicks don’t translate to conversions, one culprit could be that the landing page doesn’t make sense.
People get confused if the landing page doesn’t align with the ad. It can lead to a lot of lost opportunities, so talking to customers about this is essential when developing campaigns for them.
What Are Landing Pages?
Landing pages are standalone webpages that define an offer and provide a way to convert. Businesses often create them specifically for ad campaigns. These are the pages where people land once they click a CTA (call to action).
Landing pages focus solely on optimizing for the conversion. Unlike other website pages, they usually don’t have full navigation or many links.
Local advertisers can use multiple types of landing pages:
- Quote or consultation requests for contractors, roofers or other service-related companies
- Event registration
- Newsletter or loyalty club sign-up
- Reservations for restaurants, spas or other appointment-based businesses
- Product-focused pages with an e-commerce function to buy
What Makes Landing Pages Effective?
There are several keys to effective landing pages. You can use these points to assess a client’s current pages or as building blocks for creating one.
- Scannable content that uses bullet points, with the most vital information at the top
- Benefit-focused language and offers
- A form that correlates with the stage of the offer (Asking for too much information too soon makes people abandon pages.)
- Quick loading
- Mobile responsiveness
- A clear and noticeable CTA
- High-quality and relevant images or video
- Simple design that doesn’t distract from the conversion (e.g., no navigation or additional links)
- Social proof to earn trust, such as reviews, ratings and testimonials
- Clear instructions on what happens after form completion (e.g., “We’ll be in touch; look for a confirmation email.”)
- Font, colors and designs consistent with the company’s brand
Best Practices to Relay to Advertisers About Landing Pages
The primary best practice for a landing page that converts is to align it with the ad. Unfortunately, many companies send people to a homepage or general contact form. This disconnect alarms interested users who click but then land on a page that doesn’t reflect the offer. It’s a top reason they don’t convert. If companies are going to spend the money to develop campaigns, they can’t lose the conversion because they don’t have landing pages.
Getting this right is the first piece. Then, you can discuss incorporating the elements described above. The layout should be simple and clean, with the top containing the callback to the offer and the conversion activity. White space on a landing page is a must, as this keeps people focused on the message and makes it easy to read on mobile devices.
The imagery should always relate to the product or service. Make sure it reflects the audience and their diversity.
The copy should be straight to the point, call out the benefits and address potential objections. Highlighting differentiators can be valuable as well. You can also suggest they use some click triggers, if applicable, such as:
- Money-back guarantees
- Free trials
- Discounts for a first purchase or appointment
- Limited availability or other scarcity messaging
The last part of best practices is testing the landing pages to ensure they look good on all devices and work properly. Another consideration for your customers is to A/B test landing pages to see which variant performs best. Only change one element, such as the headline, image, colors or copy, so you’ll know what made people convert.
Landing Page FAQ
If customers ask these questions, you can provide answers!
How do you build landing pages?
A company can use its website platform, like WordPress, to create landing pages. There are also software solutions for landing pages like Unbounce, Instapage or Canva. They have easy-to-use templates to create professional pages fast.
What are some ideas for the social proof section?
Most companies have third-party ratings, which they may be able to plug into the page. Approved testimonials are also effective. They’ll be more compelling if they can use the person’s name. Other proof factors could include years in business, certifications and awards.
Which digital ad tactics need a landing page?
Every ad should have a landing page. The tactics that commonly use them include SEM (search engine marketing), display, geofencing, OTT, social media ads and email. A campaign using multiple ad types can also point to the same page.
What should guide the landing page’s direction?
It starts with the campaign’s goal and the offer. This must be the focus of the content and design. Other considerations are the audience, the sales funnel stage, product vs. service, and the conversion action (form fills vs. purchases).
For more insights on optimizing for conversions, read our post, Dissecting Campaign Performance: What to Do When CTR Is High but Conversions Are Low.
