guide to landing pages by equinet academy 40+ best practices to Improve Your Conversion Rates

Introduction

So, what is a landing page?

It is essentially a site page that is designed to influence a visitor to take a specific action (i.e. Call-to-Action or CTA), whether it’s by filling up a form or clicking a specific button.

Here’s a common misconception: not all web pages that serve as an entry point is a landing page. They are simply web pages.

There are a myriad of factors that can directly or subtly influence a qualified visitor to either:

A. Spend more time on the page and eventually perform the targeted action (e.g; filling up the form or click a button)

B. Erode their level of trust, or lose their attention, and leave the page without taking action

At this end of this guide, readers will understand the guidelines (industry and legal) to creating landing pages that generate better conversions.

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Keep Your Webpage Scannable with Short Sentences and ParagraphsMost people scan through an entire article, paying attention to the subheadings and the overall structure of the article before deciding whether to begin reading the first sentence.

As a general rule, keep your sentences under 2 lines and your paragraph under 4.

According to a research on how people read websites, “Users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit, 20% is more likely”

— Nielson Norman Group

Keeping your sentences short makes your content easy to digest.

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Get Straight to the pointIn every paragraph and every sentence of your landing page copy, you have a limited time span to convince your readers to take up your offer.

Always ask yourself: Can you retain your message while cutting a few words or sentences?

Consider the two following sentences

“If you enter your email address in this box, you will receive this cookbook full of recipes from celebrity chefs that will teach you how to cook healthy dishes for everyone in your family!

VS

Sign up for this ebook containing secret recipes recommended by celebrity chefs to cook healthier food for your family!

Whether you’re writing long copy or short copy, get straight to the point, from the first headline to the very last sentence.

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Why do we call them bullet points?

Because bullets cut through all the noise and gets straight to the point. Research also shows that employing bullet points improves the scannability of your copy to the human eye.Include

bullet points

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Here are some mistakes to avoid:

1. making bullet points too wordy

2. including too many bullet points in a section

3. creating too many sub-bullet points

Be Clear And Transparent In Your OfferAlways be clear and transparent in what you have to offer.

Being transparent portrays honesty and will help you build long term customer relationships.

For example, if you include pricing tables, make sure you are also transparent with any taxes (e.g. GST, VAT taxes) not included in the stated price.

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Nothing scares a prospect off more than not knowing exactly what they’re getting. Think back to the time when you were excited about an ad that says, “Spend $50 and win a vacation to the Bahamas”

... until you found out what was hidden in the terms and conditions.

Write Impactful HeadlinesWe are exposed to thousands of brand messages every day, and studies have shown that the average person’s attention span is now just 8 seconds. (source: ama.org) To put this into perspective, a goldfish’s attention span is 9 seconds!

A way to work around this is to create a “curiosity gap”. In other words, make the headline interesting enough to be clicked, but don’t give away the whole story.

Check out these examples

Too vague - readers not interested Harry Potter Joins Wizarding Competition

Too specific - no mystery Students Accuse Harry Potter Of Cheating And Adding His Name To The Goblet Of Fire

Example of striking a balance between vague and specific

Did Harry Potter Put His Name In The Goblet of Fire?

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Use Descriptive & Meaningful Sub-Headings

People understand better when given context, and there are few ways more effective than a good subheading.

Use subheading that describe and summarise the section of text below it.

If readers can intuitively grasp your content from reading each sub-heading, it will aid their understanding of the section and encourage them to read further.

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According to a study by the Nielson Normon Group, numerals and digits (i.e. “10 facts” instead of “ten facts”) not only enhance the scannability of web content, but also boost usability and credibility.

Use Numerals and Digits

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Write Engaging CopyWriting engaging copy is a skill that takes time to hone, but there are guidelines you can use to quickly improve your copywriting. Here are a handful:

• Sensory adjectives / emotional words.

Certain adjectives can activate sensory (emotional) areas of the brain.

E.g. “Silky smooth skin” vs “smooth skin”. The former forms a connection (in your brain) with silk, which is pleasing to touch, even though you might not consciously think of it.

• The element of surprise

We’re hardwired to enjoy novelty. When we are told something unexpected, it naturally captures our interest and our ears perk up.

• Tell a story.

Stories are easier to process because they are more relatable. People are more likely to respond to emotional appeals than logic.

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Don’t Make It About YouYou may really want to tell the world about something, but hold that thought. Think first - what can you offer that will benefit THEM?

Once you’ve successfully convinced your prospects you have something that will help them or make their lives easier, you’ve opened up the first step and they will listen to what you have to offer.

People are most interested in howyou can help them, not necessarilywhat you WANT to tell them.

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Use Clear, Readable FontsMessy and small unreadable fonts turn off a reader as quick as a flick of a switch.

You may be able to get away with Freestyle Script on an arty website, but content should always be in a clear, readable font. Using fonts that give your readers a seizure is not how you want to convince them to come back for more.

Standard web fonts such as Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, and Open Sans are a safe bet. This e-book uses Bebas Neue for headers and Helvetica Neue for text.

Also be sure not to make your fonts too light in colour. As a general rule, try not to go below the web colour hex code #666666 (grey).

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Identify Your Value PropositionWhy should your customers choose you over the next dozen competitors already lined up behind you?

Your value proposition is what differentiates your product from the competition. It should demonstrate clearly how your product is able to benefit the ideal customer.

Once again, don’t make this about you. It’s ok to tell them how your product made your life easier, but make the focus about how it can make THEIR life easier.

And don’t just list features – list benefits.

Features are descriptive; benefits are what your customers will connect with emotionally.

For example, if you are a wedding photographer,

Focus your pitch on how you can capture their special day in a way they will remember for the rest of their lives.

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KNOW WHAT YOU WANTMany poorly performing landing pages confuse their audience by failing to identify and focus on a primary objective. If you don’t even know what exactly you want your visitors to do, how can you expect your visitors know?

Identify your primary goal and support it with the rest of your page elements.

For example, if you offer free consultation on loan management and the main goal of your landing page is to collect contact details to follow up with your leads, keep that in mind while designing and crafting your landing page.

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Create Urgency / Imply ScarcityGroupon and many deal sites use limited time offers to create urgency (think countdown timers yelling “16 hours until deal closes”). But use this with caution.

Implying scarcity is also another way to increase conversions. Phrases such as “only 9 seats left” or “first 50 customers only” can influence a user to take action before it’s too late.

It’s also important to keep to your word. If you say you will remove the offer, then make sure you do it. You’ve seen countdown timers telling you that an offer will expire soon.

But when you visit the next day, the countdown timer has magically reset itself. Such tactics may gain you a few quick sales, but over time, people will catch onto your dishonesty.

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However, without a strong value proposition your landing page will look flimsy, as urgency should not be the standalone element on your landing page.

Avoid Grammatical And Spelling Errors

Always conduct a thorough check on grammar and spelling before launching your landing pages. A study conducted by Global Lingo revealed that 59% of people would not purchase goods or services from a company with obvious grammar mistakes on their marketing materials.

It’s sloppy and unprofessional.

Nobody trusts sloppy and unprofessional.

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Words like ‘autopilot’, ‘quick and easy’, ‘one and only’ can sounds deceptive and reduce trust.

Many experiments also concluded that included “negative words” in a privacy policy such as “we will never spam you” on a signup form also resulted in reduction of conversions

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Avoid using ‘shady’ words

Use varied typography such as different font families and bigger font sizes for words or phrases you wish to highlight.

Again, don’t overdo this.

Bold text used sparingly highlights important concepts.

Bold text used across the entire page just looks bad.

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Use Varied Typography And Font Sizes

Use Contrasting Colours / Colours based on contextThere is no “one colour” that always converts best for all websites.

It’s all about experimenting which colours resonate best with your audience.

Using a strong contrasting colour draws attention to an element, and can help certain page elements stand out (e.g. a button).

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Colour is also highly context dependent. For example, experiments showed that red can make you both a winner and a loser.

Wearing red in a martial arts competition implies dominance and aggression, so it increases your probability of winning. However, being shown the colour red before an important test significantly reduced performance because red is used to mark errors in academia.

Use Optimized ImagesAvoid using pixelated images.

An infographic by MDG Advertising suggests that 67% of consumers deemed clear and detailed images to be very important and carry more weight than the product details.

High quality images translates into professionalism while low quality images imply lack of quality and reduce trust. This is often a quick and easy fix, so don’t lose your customers over sloppiness.

However high quality images doesn’t always translate into obscenely large file sizes.

Just make sure the file sizes don’t exceed recommended ratios.

Eg: Stock image is downloadable at a resolution of 5000x2000, but you only require a 800x300 image. Resize it!

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You wouldn’t slap an image of a dog on a can of cat food, so don’t make the same mistake on your landing page.

According to a research conducted by advertising legend David Ogilvy, images that aren’t relevant to your offer will confuse your readers.

This may even lead to accusations of false advertising.

Make sure you only use images that relate to your product or offering.

Use images that are relevant to your product or offering

Avoid using overly used commercial stock photosStock photos that are seen everywhere from marketing materials such as flyers and billboards to websites and landing pages can reduce trust.

Imagine a scenario where a potential customer visited three different competitor sites including yours and saw the exact same smiley-faced mother staring at her baby. What would they think of your brand?

A split testing experiment conducted by Marketing Experiments placed a random stock photo of a lady versus an image of the company’s founder with real credentials on the landing page. The results? Visitors converted 34.7% higher with the latter image.

Where possible, use original images that stay true to your brand.

Use enticing photos that appeal to emotionsA study by the NCBI showed that images are more likely to trigger an emotional response than words or sentences.

What’s more, according to research conducted by the University of California, images on advertisements that appealed to emotions rather than logic were able to reduce a buyer’s inhibitions.

People are more likely to make purchase decisions based on emotions than on logic, so use this to your advantage.

Start by thinking, “where do my customers want to see themselves?” and choose an images that portrays that.

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Display Social ProofThe effects of social proof are powerful, yet often overlooked.

A report by Mintel showed that 70% of consumers rely on reviews and opinions before making a purchase. Another report by Nielsen, which surveyed over 28,000 Internet respondents in 56 countries, found that 92% of respondents trust earned media (i.e. recommendations from friends and families).

Displaying social proof on your landing page may be the final push needed to convert a would-be customer into a paying customer.

Use brand logos of past clients, trust seals, social share counts, customer reviews and ratings, testimonials, or phrases such as “join the thousands of satisfied users”.

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Display your brand logo

In a study initiated by SCA, the results were clear that by displaying the brand logo from the start of a Youtube TrueView campaign video (where an advertiser only pays if a user does not skip the video), overall brand recall rose by 200% compared to another video that displayed the brand logo only at the end.

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Brand awareness is a tough metric to measure and quantify; however its potential to influence a buyer’s decision should not be underestimated.

Keep important page elements above the foldDespite advances in internet speeds, some users still will not scroll down your landing page.

Therefore it is good practice to place your most important page elements such as your brand logo, headline, and video above the page fold (the content you see before you scroll down).

This will ensure your visitors see your most important message.

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consider how many options to includeA Stanford marketing professor conducted an experiment by giving out invitations to coffee-shop customers at different buying stages (early and late stage) to join the café’s loyalty program through one of two choices – by buying one drink (single option) or by several options: buying coffee, tea, or any drink.

The results showed that early stage customers were more likely to sign up when given multiple options while late stage customers were more likely to sign up when given a single option.

There have been many experiments conducted that prove fewer choices = more conversions. Too many options confuse consumers, and make it more likely they won’t take any action at all.

But is this a hard and fast rule? Not necessarily.

Before deciding on how many options to include, first define the audience and the goal of your landing page.

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Researchers in a study conducted by Google found that visually complex websites were rated as less beautiful than the simpler ones.

It also noted that people form their first impressions on whether a website was attractive or not within 50 milliseconds. In other words, less is more, and keeping your design simpler makes your website more beautiful.

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Keep design and layout simple

Shine a spotlight on your CTAA call-to-action (CTA) should do exactly what its name implies— to draw your visitor to take an action.

To maximise click-throughs, use a strong contrasting colour on your CTA button. This makes the button easier to find.

Use phrases such as “Get Your Free E-book” instead of “Submit”. Doing this avoids the subconscious barrier of wondering what the button is for, and makes your audience feel more invested in the process.

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Having too many hyperlinks distracts the user away from the main CTA.

Your landing pages should be focused on making your visitors take the actions you want them to take.

Many landing pages even exclude the navigation menu from the header entirely to avoid the distraction. Remember, every external link is another chance for them to leave your page.

Avoid having toomany hyperlinks

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Avoid Pop-Ups and Pop-UndersOver the years, users have learned to associate flashy popups with malicious ads.

Even with a well-designed popup or pop-under, it is at best an unwelcome distraction from the goal of the landing page.

Your landing pages should be distraction-free and focused only on achieving your main goal.

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Include videos

Customers like to know what they will be getting, and showcasing a sneak preview that rouses curiosity through a video will increases your landing page conversions.

If “A picture is worth a thousand words”, then a video must be worth 10,000. Landing pages with video convert up to 800% higher (Funnel Science). Visitors who view video on retail sites are also 64% more likely to purchase (comScore).

Despite the proven efficacy of videos, many people still do not implement video onto their landing pages.

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Use smart defaults on forms where possible

Anything you can do to make the sign-up process more convenient is worth the effort.

For every additional hurdle they have to cross, your visitor is more likely to leave without completing the conversion.

If you have to include dropdown fields, check-boxes, and text areas, use smart defaults. For example, if you know most of your customers come from Singapore, leave the country field selected as “Singapore” by default.

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Be reasonable with the information you’re asking forUnnecessary form fields tend to decrease conversions.

Dan Zarrella from HubSpot analyzed over 40,000 landing pages with forms and found that certain conditions such as a presence of multiple dropdown fields and text areas were related to a decrease in conversion rates.

Another case study by Imaginary Landscape compared performance of two forms, one standard 11-field contact form and a shortened 4-field contact form over a two-month period. The shortened form received significantly higher submissions.

However do note that in some cases adding more specific form fields (e.g. including a phone number field, budget range) can result in a decrease in leads but an increase in quality of the leads.

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Internet users are now more impatient than ever. Why should they wait for your page to load when they can find 3 other pages in the time it takes for your page to load?

Slow loading page response can result in visitors abandoning your page before even checking out your offer.

According to Kissmetrics, “A 1 second delay in page response can result in a 7% reduction in conversions” and “40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.”

Ensure fast page loading time

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Include contact informationWhen consumers try to search for an office address but can’t find any, they might think the business is hiding something - Probably a newly established small businesses operating out of their own homes, possibly even a scam.

According to a 2014 B2B web usablility report by Huff Industrial Marketing Inc., 81% of buyers prefer to contact via email and 58% prefer to contact via phone.

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To up your credibility score, it is essential to display a phone number, email address, and a business address on your site.

A buyer who doesn’t see this information anywhere on your site may not trust you as much and go elsewhere.

Research & understand your target audience

It’s safe to assume that your customers will only buy something of yours if they feel it can help them.

If you don’t even know what your customers want, how do you expect to craft a pitch tailored to their needs or wants?

Conduct surveys, analyse customer enquiries, and any other type of market research that will help you better understand your target audience.

This will come in handy when crafting your value proposition and designing your landing page.

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To beat your competitors, you must first know their strengths.

Analyse their landing pages, study their value proposition and design cues. What are they doing right (and wrong)? Can you incorporate any of their strengths into your offer?

Study your competition

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“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.

If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.

If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

– Sun Tzu

Redirect them to a Thank You pageOnce your customers have completed the target action (i.e filled up a form), redirect them to a thank you page.

You may wonder if this is necessary – it is.

Converting your customer is only the first step, and if nurtured, that conversion could bring much more value.

The thank you page lets them know that you haven’t forgotten them, and that you’ll continue to extend value to them in time to come. This would go a long way in nurturing brand loyalty and goodwill.

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Don’t stop with just a “Thank you for signing up”; remember once again that a conversion is only the first step.

You can build a lot more rapport by continuing to provide value even after the conversion.

Include a bonus such as an additional free report, ebook, or recommend some free content that may help them further.

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Provide extra value on the thank you page

Consistency is keyKeep the colour scheme, logos, tone of words, and font family of your landing page consistent with your brand image.

For example if your website embraces a “serious and professional” image, your landing pages should not be too “fun and relaxed”. For example, an image of

Having too many different “brand personalities” causes dissonance, and your customers will have difficulty connecting with your brand. This, when left unaddressed for long term, damages sales and prevents your customers from forming brand loyalty and an emotional attachment to your branding.

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Multi-device friendlyEnsure your landing pages are designed for mobile and tablets as well. As of March 2015, the number of mobile users has exceeded desktop users in the U.S alone (com-Score).

It’d be foolish to have an elaborate design that works for only half your customers, leaving the other half with an abysmal experience. A good web design practice is to design your landing pages with a “mobile first” approach, then scale it up for desktops.

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Respect their privacyIf personal data will be published individuals should be notified of that fact. They should also be notified regarding the method which it will be published.

Under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), organisations must notify individuals of the purposes of collecting, using, and disclosing their personal data in connection with obtaining the individuals consent for such processes.

Below are some sample clauses

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I consent for my personal data to be used by <Organisation name> event attendance and publicity materials.

<Organisation name> respects your privacy and will not misuse or sell your personal information.

Conduct A/B Split TestingEven experts are often wrong about predicting what will work best.

The only way to confirm a theory is through solid data, and this can be achieved through A/B split testing.

Always be testing your landing page elements such as the headlines, copy, form layouts, CTA button texts, and placement of important page elements to determine which versions result in maximum conversions.

It may sound like a hassle, and it sometimes is. However, you might just gain a 300% increase in conversions simply by changing the text of one button.

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in conclusion,Crafting a effective landing page takes skill, practice, and patience.

With these landing page optimisation tips, we hope you’ll be able to pick out a handful of these best practices each time you craft your landing pages!

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