Listen, we both know your product (or service) is awesome. It’s faster, more reliable, less expensive, cooler, or just better overall than what the competition is offering. We just wish your audience (you know, the one you put valuable resources into building) knew it as well.
What better way to educate and convert your future loyal customers and brand champions than a fantastic landing page? Oh, you’ve done that already, but it’s not converting? That’s preposterous! Let’s look at some of the reasons your landing page might be falling short.
It’s Too Busy
If your landing page looks more like one of those “Deals, Deals, Deals!” pages you throw out in your junk mail, that’s probably the first clue to why you’re not converting. We know there are many things you want to say and show, but keeping things simple and streamlined removes distractions that might be keeping people from opting in to learn more.
We know that educating your audience is super important in helping them feel comfortable and ready to commit. Canvassing a landing page with 2000 words on every single reason they should choose you is not the answer! The best approach on the education side is to understand both your audience and the tools you used to get them there. If your landing page is paired with PPC campaigns, identify the key messages you used to speak to your audience. If you’re segmenting out your audiences in your campaigns, you can even get fancy and A/B test that messaging!
It’s also important to remember that people are easily distracted! Got a navigation bar? Toss it out! Multiple links in your copy? Get rid of ’em! Multiple calls-to-action (CTA’s)? No way! Decision paralysis is real. Put the metaphorical blinders on, and you’ll be rewarded.
You’re Not Trustworthy
If a lot of your traffic is “cold”, it’s your job to convince visitors you’re as perfect a match for them as we both know you are. Whether it’s an e-commerce purchase or even just giving up their e-mail in a lead form, you’ve got to earn new customers’ trust.
Social proof through testimonials is a great step in the right direction. And, the more authentic the better! Leveraging user-generated testimonial content that champions your brand is a fantastic way to build credibility.
Your Offer Isn’t Enticing
What value are you giving someone in exchange for their money or contact information? Whether you’ve developed an e-commerce landing page or a lead generation page, if your offer isn’t strong enough, your conversion rate will suffer.
Your first step should be to lead with the benefits. Your offer and how it will make your visitor’s life better, easier, or more enjoyable should be at the forefront. If that’s not clear, you’re starting from a disadvantage. This is especially important when trading contact information for gated content like a whitepaper. Have you demonstrated how much value is packed into your content?
Is the offer compelling enough to push your user over the edge? Consider the weight of what you’re asking for. In gated content lead generation pages, does the value of the content justify handing over one’s contact information? In e-commerce pages, does the perceived value outweigh the cost?
In e-commerce specifically, you’re likely leveraging a promotion in your landing page. Does this promotion truly entice users to buy? If you’re offering $10 off a $300 product, will it push users to purchase? Testing your promotional offer to find a perfect balance will turn your landing page into a conversion machine.
There’s No Reason to Act Now
Along with clearly communicating your benefits and providing an irresistible offer, your users may still need a little nudge to convert. Creating urgency is a great device to push users in the right direction. Callouts like deadlines or limited quantities have been shown to motivate people to take action, so use them when possible! You could even combine this with an additional promotion like a free trial or percentage discount to layer value on top of urgency.
Your Call-To-Action Isn’t Clear/Good Enough
If you feel like you’ve demonstrated value, and your offer is solid but you’re still not converting, you may be suffering from too many CTA’s or you may just have a weak one. Keeping our first point in mind, use a singular, high-vis CTA to make the action users should be taking extremely clear. Keep that CTA high on the page as well, so users don’t need to scroll to find it. In most landing pages, navigation is even removed to make your CTA the only action available.
In some cases, a secondary CTA is necessary. This is usually on higher profile products or services, where there’s a lot more education needed than you can reasonably put on a single landing page. Things like product comparisons and whitepapers are good examples of secondary CTA’s that ease the intimidation factor in a larger purchase journey. In these instances, it’s important to clearly identify the option as a secondary CTA.
While it’s important to keep all these best practices in mind when developing a landing page, there are always exceptions to the rule. Collecting and analyzing data, along with lots of A/B testing, will always be the path to a fully optimized landing page. Our approach has always been to marry beautiful, impactful creative with strategic messaging and an analytical testing process. If you’d like to learn more about how Saturn Lounge can help you with your digital marketing efforts, get in touch. We’d love to work with you.