Are your landing page conversion rate downright depressing? Even after you’ve tried your utmost best, from advertising to marketing, none of your campaigns are helping to drive more traffic through your sales funnel. What you need are top-of-the-line optimization strategies that will make your landing pages more attractive so that even mere visitors are converted into interested customers.
But wait.
Why do I even need to bother about landing page conversion rates?
While your business is unique in many ways, it’s always best to compare yourself with your competitors. Being aware of landing page conversion rates can help you:
- spot pages with good conversion rates and allows you to drive more traffic to them
- identify pages that need improvement
- optimize tactics to get more clicks and sales
- save resources
Some landing page conversion statistics to look at
To calculate your conversion rate, simply divide the number of conversions a web page generates by the number of people who visited that page. Keep in mind that conversion rates vary a great deal between industries. What’s ideal for one may be below par for another. Moreover, factors such as industry, product or service, and target audience all influence the ability to convert visitors into leads and leads into customers.
Smartinsights.com shows just how landing page conversion rates differ across various sectors.
So what’s a good conversion rate for a landing page?
Generally speaking, the average landing page conversion rate is 2.35%, according to wordstream.com. As you’ll see, nearly a quarter of businesses have less than 1% conversion rates. However, the top 25% are converting at 5.31% or higher.
But that doesn’t mean you should take the back seat if your conversion rate is higher than this. There is always room to grow. Actively taking steps to get consistently better is the way forward. In fact, focusing on strategically optimizing your landing page can reel in 3–5x the conversions as well as improve the quality of leads.
Want to learn how to increase landing page conversion rate?
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Landing page conversion rates are influenced by different goals. You could be trying to get visitors to fill out a form, watch a video, download a lookbook, or enter an email address. But no matter what the CTA is, you want to direct the visitor towards a single action and acquire their information. Often brands will offer a free or low-cost product or service (lead magnet) in exchange.
Conversion rate optimization enables you to maximize your efforts and convince the maximum number of people to take action. Here are some strategies that can boost your current rate in no time at all.
1. Keep headlines simple
Much like the headline of a blog post, the headline of a landing page needs to grab the viewer’s attention. It should clearly state what you want the visitor to do or what to expect. Using a short yet powerful headline (6 to 12 words) can get the greatest impact, such as a higher click-thru rate, task completion rate, and conversion rate.
Notice how Uber nails it with seven words of copy on its landing page. Visitors know why they want to use the service- a hassle-free mode of transportation that simply helps you ‘get there’. More importantly, the easy-to-digest content helps viewers make a decision quickly.
2. Persuasive subheads
A headline will make a visitor look, but the subheadline should persuade them to stay. Since they are usually placed close to the headline, they are just as attention-grabbing. However, subheadings need to be concise yet have enough details to drive readers towards the intended action, whether it’s clicking on a CTA or filling out a form.
When writing your landing page copy, you can play around with the arrangement of the content. The aim is to create a page that connects with the viewers and efficiently explains what you are offering. For example, HelpDesk flips the position of their headline and subheading to elaborate what the platform offers. Even though the subhead is placed above the headline, the visitors’ attention is drawn to the headline because of its larger fonts and prominent position. More importantly, the phrase ‘delightful customer experience’ holds a great deal of emotional appeal.
3. Offer one option
Most viewers scan content. While it’s important to have a clean design, you want elements of the page to draw the eyes towards the CTA button. That is what will guide people towards the next step and help improve your lead conversion rate. More importantly, you need to offer only one CTA on your landing page, as MailChimp does in the example below.
By eliminating distractions and offering only one option to the audience, individuals are more compelled to make a decision. In fact, you may consider removing navigation bars or links from the landing page. That way, viewers are less likely to wander off.
4. Call attention to the CTA
If your call-to-action button doesn’t stand out on the page, the visitor won’t know what to click on, and all your efforts will go down the drain. A lot of thought should go into the CTA, from its design to the placement.
Common elements of your CTA should include:
- Use imperative language, such as buy, join, get, start, download
- Utilize a contrasting color scheme
- Ensure the text is easy to read
- Add a sense of instant gratification
- Personalize the offer when possible
- Create a sense of urgency
5. Offer something of value
Sure, you know a lot about your target audience. But are you offering something that interests them or helps solve their problems? They won’t opt-in or buy from you if you are just scratching the surface.
The value proposition is arguably the most crucial factor of your landing page conversion rate. Let the viewer know exactly what’s in it for them. So aim at making customer-oriented statements to help bring them on board.
For instance, if you’re a web hosting company providing an amazing uptime and faster speeds, you can really drive home the value proposition by focusing on how your company can help improve the target audience’s website. Notice how the following landing page creates a statement and then guarantees better performance. This builds trust as well as credibility, both of which can boost conversion rates.
6. Direct viewers towards an action
Want to guide viewers towards the most important elements of your landing page, such as the CTA? One of the easiest ways is to use visual aids and directional cues. Wordstream.com stated that the focus levels of consumers on a landing page more than doubled with the use of directional cues.
You could position a model subtly gazing at the CTA on your landing page. Or, on the other hand, blatantly use arrows to point out what you want readers to see. You’ll often see brands implement this tactic on their landing pages.
Chipotle not only guides its hungry visitors towards claiming their free gift card with a large arrow, but also includes simple yes/no checkboxes and a drop-down menu to make the process as effortless as possible. People simply need to enter their email address on this page.
7. Optimize page loading speeds
Consumers are impatient as ever. They won’t wait for a landing page that loads slowly. So optimizing your loading page will not only enhance UX, but it can also significantly lead to better conversion rates.
Using the right tools to analyze your page’s speed performance can help highlight problems. Improving speed can also up your website’s SEO campaign. That means you get more visibility on search as well. So it’s a win-win situation.
8. Adapt for mobile
People are using mobile devices more than ever. While you may have designed a killer landing page for desktops, one that does not display well on a smaller screen can be a big put off. If images, videos, CTAs, text placement, etc. don’t look or function well, landing page conversion rates can drop.
So, optimize your landing page to provide a seamless mobile experience. For starters, offer more clickable options, minimizing the amount of information that needs to be typed. And much like the loading speed of your landing page, mobile optimization has a two-fold impact. Not only does it enhance UX, but it can also influence SEO.
9. Be consistent
Online consumers are exposed to a vast amount of information. This makes them more vigilant. They will be able to see inconsistencies and instantly judge a brand as unreliable. Taking the time to ensure all facts on your landing page and website are consistent, boosts credibility, and therefore landing page conversion rates.
But more importantly, you need to make sure the visual brand messaging remains consistent. Notice how the following brand uses the same text and imagery from their Facebook Ad on the landing page. Not only do they look similar, but they also present the same offer.
10. Invest in tools
No doubt, you’ll find a dozen more tips and tricks on how to tweak your landing page conversion rates. But remember, just like everything else in digital marketing, you can’t depend on a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s time to take your approach to the next level.
You’ve got to invest in the right analytics tools and dig into the data. For instance, a session recording and replay tool and a heat map can help you understand how a typical visitor scrolls, clicks and browses through parts of the landing page. Moreover, you’ll be able to identify which pages get the most clicks. With accurate, insightful information, you can make changes to your landing pages to improve your conversion rate.
Final thoughts
I know for a fact that your conversion rates can be better. No matter how good you think things are, you always need to aim higher. Getting creative with your landing pages and testing which ones resonate with your audience can significantly improve your lead conversion rate. More importantly, by focusing on landing pages that are receiving the most traffic, you’ll be able to tap into their real potential.
Now that you’ve learned the right ways to give your landing page conversion rate a boost, ready to take a leap of faith and grow your business?
Originally published at https://www.setalks.com on August 4, 2020.