Essential elements for a successful landing page
So, what is a landing page?
A landing page is a page within your website where you ask your visitor to do a specific action. This may include hiring your cleaning services or sign up for your monthly newsletter on dog grooming. It is a page where a customer cannot access the rest of your website pages, and you must convince them to sign up or purchase whatever you are offering. On a landing page your customer has nowhere to go, either answer your call-to-answer or leave.
Layout
Your landing page needs to leave a clear image in the mind of your customer. It needs to be big, bold and it needs to make an impact on them. This will normally be in the form of imagery, both photography and vector based. If your trying to sell your software, shows your customers how it works with stills or even a video.
Studies have shown around 80% of a customer’s time is spent above the fold and only 20% is below. This means that you must make sure that all the important information is above the fold. This could mean using bullet points so that customers can absorb key information faster.
Now, I am not saying do not go below the fold, this is the area where you can add in-depth text on bullet points you may have added earlier. You must make sure that your call-to-action is always visible though.
Colour
As well all know colour affects people’s moods. And it is something that all big brands understand, such as McDonalds and Pizza hut. They use the colours red and yellow to stimulate excitement and hunger.
Of course, your landing page needs to keep the same branding as the rest of the room. You don’t want your customers feeling as though they have been taken to a new website altogether.
A bold colour is what draws people to a particular part of your landing page, such as your call to action buttons. But you must make sure that you do not go over the top with the colours on your landing page. Two/three colours that work in harmony will be best to convey your message.
Images
We all know that images help sell products. Whether it’s selling a product or selling your services, customers will always trust a service or store that provides proof of what they are signing up for. But this must be a real image. What I mean by this is that your images must show a true representation of your product or service. If you don’t want to use photography, use illustrations or even a mock up perhaps.
Call to Action
Your call-to-action should always be prioritised on your landing page. It is what tells your customers what they must do to get receive what you are offering. But don’t make the mistake of using the good old classic ‘Submit’. It needs to be personal to your landing page. It can be fun or serious depending on the topic of the course.
Responsive Design
Any page on your website should be a responsive design, this is the very same for your landing page. Around 80% of Internet traffic now comes from mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets. So why would you spend some much time and effort for your customers not to be able to view it correctly whilst on the move.
Social Proof
As humans, we like to be part of a group. Landing pages offer a great opportunity to add testimonials and/or other forms for social proofs. This may include showing how many people have signed up for your monthly newsletter, or just displaying what your past clients have said about your services or products. It reassures new customers that they are not alone and that what they are buying or signup for is good quality.
Forms
Forms should be simple; people do not like giving out too much personal information to companies that they haven’t used before. So before you start asking about address and contact numbers a layer of trust needs to be built first. You can always ask your customer for more information once the relationship has been formed.
Video
Using videos on a landing page have become extremely popular over the last few years. It is a quick way to show people what your product looks like and how it works, or to show what your services can do for your potential client. You must know that this is more complicated than adding a simple photo. Make sure that you keep your video short, to the point and sweet otherwise customers will get bored and feel like your video is dragging on.
Navigation
Now, navigation must be limited when it comes to your landing page. Give them the option to be able to head back to your home page. But why would we want to do this? The main reason is so that other pages such as ‘About Us or Blogs’ do not distract them. We want to keep them on our landing page so removing any distractions that could cause them to leave must be removed. Other than your home page button or video player, your call-to-action button should be the only clickable option on your landing page.
If you would like more information on landing pages and would like to talk to our experts, call us here at CSL Web on 0845 258 1208 or alternatively fill out our contact form here.
