Increase Conversion: The Key Principles of Making a Killer Landing Page

Welcome to the first installment of the ‘Increase Conversion‘ series. In the coming weeks we will bring you a host of different articles on how to increase your conversion rate throughout your marketing campaigns. This article will help to explain the key principles of improving conversion on your landing pages:

Your Landing Page is a Linear Process, a Journey

Landing pages are comparable to any good film, you don’t just start with the finale (unless it’s Memento, of course), you have to gradually build up to it. If you instantly go for the sale you run the risk of scaring the user off; likewise, if you spend too much time building up to the sale you will lose the users’ attention – both bad outcomes I’m sure you’ll agree. This means 30 minute video-seminars on your landing page are a no no, and be sure to keep your copy short, punchy and informative – When you’re reading over it , if you see a 20 word sentence that can convey the same message in 10 words, then cut it down. Don’t make the mistake of over-trimming though – make sure your copy reads smoothly.

Always Give the User the Opportunity to Convert

Most people will react differently to a various parts of your landing page, that’s a given. You won’t find a line of copy, graphic, video or audio clip that hits home with every user. Some users will be sold by a flow diagram you have in your ‘How This Works’ section, whilst others may be attracted to how much they could potentially save in the ‘How Much Does This Cost?’ section – This is why you must ALWAYS give your users an opportunity to convert. Some may think this point contradicts the previous section, but I can assure you that the concept is different – I’m not saying that you should jam ‘BUY NOW!!!’ buttons the width of the page every three lines, just have something present so that the option is there.

How you go about achieving the above is up to you. Personally, I’ve used a tonne of different methods from iframes, to popups, and even just implementing subtle call-to-actions after every section; but as with most things in this industry, different methods will work better in different circumstances, so get split testing :)

Keep Your Landing Page Well Balanced

Too many people make the mistake of creating landing pages that are too text-heavy. It’s a proven fact that images & videos can influence peoples behaviour (and they’re pretty, too), but make sure that you think carefully about what you are trying to inspire in people. For example: if you’re trying to sell a Bizz Opp product, then displaying photos of people bathing in money is obviously going to be more beneficial to the sale than a person begging for spare change. Just make sure you avoid the cliché stock photos, people. The last thing you want to do is to send out the message that your product is cheap & tacky.

Don’t Let the User Get Lost

When a user is on your page, there must never be a point where they get lost or confused – If this happens you will just lose the sale. You should keep the choices the user has to make to the minimum, or make one of the choices more prominent than others (The Paralysis of Choice). So, cut the amount of packages that you offer down, and remove the ‘About Us’ etc from the menu bar – hell, remove the menu bar all together; if you really NEED to put extra pages on your site then put them in the footer – If a user really wants to find the ‘About Us’ page to read about what your favourite green vegetable is, they will.

End With an Easy-to-Breakdown Summary

As with any good report, you need to end with an easy-to-breakdown conclusion. A lot of users will just skim through your content without taking too much notice, so you need to sum up in as few words as possible why they NEED this product in their lives, then they can print off the section to convince their wife/girlfriend/dad to lend them the money. Just remember to keep it simple – short sentences, lists & bullet points are the way to go.

Test, Test & Test Again

After every single change you are going to have to split test it with a previous/different version to see which one performs better. It really is impossible to understand peoples psychological behaviour enough that you can make the OPTIMAL landing page, so you have to A/B test to get the best chance; and do it relentlessly – it may be the most boring part of landing page creation, but it’s by far the most important.

So, that’s it! Hopefully if you implement these simple principles to your landing pages you’ll see a dramatic increase in your conversion rate. Remember to subscribe to the RSS feed so that you can catch the rest of the articles in the ‘Increase Conversion‘ series.

Do you have any tips for creating killer landing pages? Post them in the comments below.

About Tom Layfield

Co-Founder & Digital Strategist at Acquisition Engine, passionate about all things web - especially marketing & startups.