You’re getting ready to start a new campaign. Is your landing page optimized for success?
Landing pages play a crucial role in any online ad campaign. But in order to perform at their best, they need to meet a number of key criteria. Wondering if your landing page passes muster? Here’s our landing page checklist to help you improve.
Your headline copy aligns with ad copy.
How are your visitors finding your landing page? Through a Facebook campaign? A Google AdWords promotion? And email blast? No matter what avenue your visitors take to come to your page, you want to be certain the landing page meets their expectations.
If your ad copy says “free ebook,” you don’t want your landing page to be for a product, or even for a “free downloadable whitepaper.” Your ad says “ebook,” so should your landing page.
You’ve written compelling and comprehensive copy.
One of the frequent questions we hear when it comes to landing pages is “how long should it be?” The answer is: As long as you need it to be to give your visitors the information they need to convert to a lead (or a sale).
If you’re targeting people who probably already know your business and are highly informed and ready-to-purchase, then you can get away with a shorter landing page.
On the other hand, if you’re dealing with barely-warmer-than-cold leads, you’ll need to provide more context.
That isn’t to say you should fill your landing page with useless information just for the sake of length. On the contrary: you want your copy to be focused, informative, and action-oriented. When your visitors come to your page, they should be able to clearly see what it’s about, from headlines to imagery. The headline should make a clear value statement, and the copy should support it.
You included a strong Call-to-Action (CTA)
The rule for landing pages is that they only have one CTA. One landing page, one action. Too many CTAs, and you’re going to have some of your visitors diverted toward doing things you don’t necessarily want them to do. Instead of burdening them with decisions, keep their options clear.
Furthermore, the wording of your CTA is important. It should be descriptive and actionable. Buttons like “submit” imply passive action. Instead, have your CTA complete the sentence “I want to…” Download an ebook? Schedule a demo? Receive a free trial? All good options.
You’ve optimized form elements.
The more form fields you have, the less likely someone is to fill it out. The ideal is just a name and email address. (Or, heck! Maybe even just an email address!) If you want more details, ask for them in a double opt-in email. This is a follow-up email you send once they’ve submitted their email address to confirm that they actually want to be on your list. You can use that email as an opportunity to ask them to tell you a little more about themselves. If they want to, great! If they don’t—you still have their email.
You should also include a CAPTCHA on your form to make sure you don’t get spam sign-ups. However, use a smart CAPTCHA, such as a check box or a math problem, that can easily be completed by users who rely on screen readers or other accessibility aids.
You added a GDPR transparency statement.
The General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) passed recently by the EU stipulate that EU citizens have a right to know how their information is being used. For landing pages, if you’re collecting email addresses to be used in your marketing campaigns, you need to provide transparency about what you plan to do with their data.
Fortunately, this has been a best practice of landing pages for a while now. You don’t need to make it complicated. It can be something as simple as: “we promise not to sell your data or distribute it for use by anyone else. We may sometime send you marketing information, which you can withdraw from at any time.”
You included trust factors and social proof.
Do you have reviews? Testimonials? Logos of companies you’ve worked for? These will go a long way toward reassuring your visitors that your company is a legitimate business and not a scam. Your visitors aren’t about to trust you just because you have “trust me” written large across your headline. Instead, think about tying your page into social media or other review sources so that people can leave their feedback on your landing page.
Your form integrates with your CRM.
If you have a CRM, you want to make sure your landing page leads enter into it automatically, without a need to import them yourself. You’ll also want to tie your CRM leads into appropriate workflows based on their information and your campaign.
You’ve set a Thank You page.
When someone hits your CTA, you want to direct them to a landing page so that they know the action they took completed successfully. There’s nothing more annoying than clicking on a button and feeling like nothing happened. Furthermore, a thank you page gives you the opportunity to offer them a follow-up action, such as subscribing to your social media page, or viewing more products.
For the best CRO, you need more than one landing page.
Most businesses have more than one target persona, more than one product, and more than one location they’re optimizing for. For the best conversions, make landing pages for each of these places. This will help you identify how your various campaigns are performing, and adjust your messaging accordingly. And, with a higher level of targeting, you’ll see better conversions overall.