How To Create The Best Landing Pages For High Conversions

September 1st 2023
10 minute read

Read on to learn the ins and outs of creating a high-converting landing page with expert optimization.

In the vast and ever-evolving digital world, web resources have become powerful tools for businesses and individuals. A landing page versus a website has clear advantages. It helps attract a target audience and move a customer to the next level of the conversion funnel.

It’s no secret that designing a landing page that fulfills all the marketing objectives is just the tip of the iceberg. There are specific rules to follow to achieve maximum conversion marketing results, including the essential aspect of CRO onpage optimization.

In this article, we’ll cover the following aspects: 

  • What a landing page is
  • How call tracking helps determine landing page effectiveness
  • Ways to achieve good landing page optimization
  • How to improve landing page conversion rate

The Concept of Landing Pages and Their Features

A landing page is designed for a specific group of people to encourage the user to perform a specific action (such as making a purchase, scheduling an appointment, or leaving contact details). The name is related to the fact that it’s the first page a user lands on after clicking on an ad in a search engine, on social media, or in an email.

A landing page can be a one-page or single-page website (without additional tabs) or a special page within a company’s main website. It consists of sections and phrases (CTAs) persuading the visitor to take action.

According to HubSpot research, companies with 31-40 target pages get 7 times more potential customers than companies with 1-5 target pages.

Landing Page Optimization: Everything You Need to Know

Source: HubSpot

The distinctive feature of a landing page is that it primarily has one goal – conversion, which is the action the potential client is encouraged to take. This could be requesting a consultation, subscribing, making a purchase, etc. For collecting email addresses and phone numbers, a feedback form is provided.

To achieve the set goal, landing pages include calls to action, also known as CTA buttons. Examples of such buttons are “Buy Now,” “Learn More,” “Subscribe,” “Register an Account,” etc. The goal of the landing page is to convince the customer to take the desired action using minimal resources.

On an optimized landing page, there are no distracting elements. Each block plays a role in a specific location. The visitor is given only two behavioral scenarios to complete the desired action or not.

On a regular website, there are many more scenarios like this. A customer navigates through pages using the menu in search of the required information. As a result, their attention disperses, and they become distracted from performing the action you want them to take.

Why Landing Pages Are Important

Such a page is tailored for a certain action. You should choose that action depending on the task you want to solve. Landing allows you to:

  • Collect contact information via a specialized form
  • Inform buyers about a specific product/service and encourage them to purchase
  • Boost traffic
  • Increase conversion rates
  • Convert visitors into inquiries or requests
  • Generate interest and establish trust in the company

What Should an Effective Landing Page Optimization Include?

Landing Page Optimization: Everything You Need to Know

Source: Buffer

Here are several essential components of a page that urge the audience to take action:

Visual contentUse it to evoke positive emotions in users. Include animation, a short video, or generate images that accurately represent your product using text to image technology. The visuals on the landing page’s first screen should be high-quality, positive, and motivational.
Captivating and concise headlinesThey should reflect your readiness to solve the visitor’s problem and assist them somehow. Concise headlines are preferable.
Call to actionThe user’s gaze typically falls on the button right after the headline, even before they read the text above it. The button should be prominent and enticing to click.
Explanatory textThis is what’s located above the button. Try to list all the advantages of your offer. Make it concise yet clear.
Closing blockSummarize the benefits for the visitor concisely and vividly. This can dispel any remaining doubts and encourage the person to make a purchase.

Call tracking technology is used to gauge the effectiveness of a landing page through the optimization of advertising campaigns. If a phone number is displayed on the site for calls (for instance, for consultation or orders), call tracking helps determine how many calls were made through that page and where they originated from.

What Is Conversion and How Is It Calculated?

In simple terms, a landing page’s conversion indicates how many people who visited the sales page became customers.

The desired action depends on the landing page’s objectives and can take the form of:

  • Purchasing a product or ordering a service
  • Downloading a file
  • Registering for a service
  • Subscribing to a newsletter or site updates
  • Filling out a form 

Conversion is calculated similarly to how this metric is calculated for other websites or advertisements.

A conversion rate formula is simple:

  • Conversion Rate = (Number of Visitors who Completed the Desired Action / Total Number of Page Visitors) * 100%

For example, 10,000 users visited the page during a month, of which 450 converted into customers/subscribers or filled out a form (completed the desired action).

Then, the conversion rate can be determined as follows: 45 / 10,000 * 100% = 4.5%.

What Affects Conversion?

Many factors influence the conversion rate, including:

  • Quality of traffic: If fewer users are coming from a channel where a highly interested group is gathered, the conversion rate will be higher compared to a situation with more traffic and a colder audience.
  • Business type and competition: Niche businesses with unique offers and targeted advertising tend to have higher conversion rates than businesses in highly competitive fields.
  • Landing page objectives: If the desired action doesn’t require complex decisions (subscription, file download, form completion), the conversion rate will be higher than a landing page with similar quality and quantity of traffic but a more significant task, such as purchasing a course.
  • Brand awareness and reputation: Popularity and trust enhance conversion rates. Even a well-crafted commercial offer with favorable conditions might not resonate with visitors if it comes from an unfamiliar company with an unclear reputation.
  • Region: Analyzing how much location impacts conversion can be challenging. However, this dependency exists because users from different countries and cities have specific needs and interests.
  • Advertising channels: The platform affects the percentage of visitors completing desired actions on the landing page.

What Should the Conversion Rate Be for a Landing Page?

It’s difficult to pinpoint objective figures since many factors above influence this metric. If actual values are lower than expected, it indicates that crucial aspects were overlooked during the development of landing page strategies – such as business specifics or competition level. Lower values can also result from mistakes made.

  • Regardless of the sector, the average conversion rate for a landing page is 9.7%.

For businesses, crucial analytical parameters include the conversion percentage, the quality of leads, and the average order value, all of which can be effectively analyzed and optimized through comprehensive website visitor tracking. Higher conversions are usually found on landing pages with wholesale offers and subscriptions. Lower rates are seen on pages selling products compared to services. The more traffic and the higher the average order value, the lower the conversion rate.

To assess a landing page’s effectiveness, you can use average benchmarks: 2-5% is a good indicator. If it’s less than 2%, it’s advisable to reconsider the structure, create better content and take measures for landing page conversion optimization.

How To Increase the Conversion Rate of a Landing Page?

To boost the conversion rate, conducting a conversion analysis for each target action is essential to evaluate their effectiveness and understand the reasons for low performance.

You can improve a landing page using simple techniques:

1. Define the Ideal Customer

Any conversion strategy should start with identifying the ideal customer’s profile to whom the landing page offer will be most beneficial and interesting. This can involve detailed research on competitors, forums, and social media. Incorporate magnetic words into the text to appeal to the ideal customer and tailor advertising to this target audience segment.

2. Design Considerations

Landing page best practices show that a good design comprises no more than three colors, minimal text with a readable font, proper formatting, accents, and sufficient spacing between sections. If you place too many elements in a particular area, keeping the most important ones and removing the rest is better.

To boost the conversion rate through design adjustments, you can:

  • Organize header elements, retaining important components like a logo, clickable contact details, navigation menu, the action button, and a descriptor (a simple and concise offer description).
  • Emphasize the form for the target action with an interesting accent, such as an arrow.
  • Enhance the form for the target action with a promotion, like adding a choice of a gift for the first order of a product.
  • Create a bright button with a non-standard call-to-action phrase.

Additionally, app developers should regularly test button shapes and sizes. Avoiding sharp corners, small sizes, and colors that blend with the background is crucial for both web and app design. High-quality infographics can be added to enhance the text.

3. Reframe Wording

Effective landing page text is concise, highly informative, and logically structured. Replace vague, complex wording and clichés with simple words, facts, benefits, and proofs. The offer should target a specific segment of the target audience and briefly reflect the offer’s appeal.

4. Reoptimize the First Screen

In this landing page section, it’s crucial to include a form for inquiries, subscriptions, orders, or calls. The headline, subheadline, company name, logo, and contact information are essential conversion elements. Their size should be chosen so all blocks are fully visible without scrolling. 

The call-to-action button and the offer description text should stand out against the background image. Image requirements include high quality and relevance. Using product photos, office images, or work process visuals is recommended. Many companies prefer to cooperate with Webflow agencies for this step to help them navigate the complexities of design and user experience principles.

5. Use Psychological Techniques

To increase orders and other target actions with the same quality and volume of traffic, consider adding elements to the landing page that exert psychological influence on visitors:

  • Offer a free trial of the service or product
  • Add a countdown timer
  • Present expert opinions, industry leaders, testimonials (read more about this here), statistics, and certificates (social proof principle)
  • Highlight guarantee terms and/or refund policies to enhance trust in the offer

These straightforward landing page tips can help increase the conversion ratio. However, don’t assume there’s a universal formula that fits all. Try different approaches, combine them, make changes, repeatedly test, and find what works most effectively for your business.

Wrapping Up

Landing pages hold a unique position in the digital sphere, offering distinct advantages over other online resources. Their ability to facilitate targeted marketing, enhance user interaction, promote lead generation, and optimize conversions sets them apart from social media profiles and blogs.

Understanding how to improve landing page conversion rate empowers businesses and individuals to achieve their marketing goals and enhance the effectiveness of business growth.

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