All the best practices for a successful landing page
The landing page is a web page that you arrive at by clicking on a link. Its url can be posted on social networks, relayed, shared, etc. As part of a social media or digital marketing strategy to promote products, it is an essential tool. How do you create a good landing page? What are the tricks to increasing leads?
A marketing lever
Lead generation
The aim of any marketing action is ultimately commercial. If you want to increase your number of customers, or your turnover (sales) per customer, you can set up a prospecting campaign, including hard canvassing: this is known as the outbound approach. Digital technology has given rise to its counterpart: inbound marketing. The aim is to create inbound leads.
A conversion objective
Newsletters, mailings, landing pages: all opportunities to encourage prospects to discover your offer. Arouse their interest so that they click. And, through this click, the lead advances through your conversion tunnel: this funnel marked out by stages during which he will go from prospect to customer.
Setting an objective
Every marketing campaign must start with a precise objective. From a growth hacking perspective, it's best to think in terms of a simple action, underpinned by a single goal. You need to break down your main objective - "to gain 1% market share", for example - and translate it into a one-off objective, such as "to obtain 50 additional customers via this campaign".
Structuring your message
The importance of what's at stake
Setting a quantifiable objective is all the more important when the action taken represents an investment, such as Google AdWords campaigns that generate traffic on a cost-per-click basis. So it's all the more important to maximise the benefits, with a quality score that gives a good ROI (Return on Investment).
In what situations?
The objective can be of various kinds:
- Encourage purchase: by highlighting a promotional offer, for example, discounts - sales or specific products;
- To collect contact details: this is known as a squeeze page. This is a follow up approach: the recipient will be contacted again at a later date.
The landing page can also be used as part of preliminary market research for the launch of a new concept, a new product or even a start-up. The challenge here is to attract early adopters or unite a community around a project: a focus emphasised by Launchrock, which specialises in early customer acquisition. When it comes to managing email campaigns, ActiveTrail is currently one of the most powerful email marketing tools on the market. It manages :
- Creating and sending emails;
- Building landing pages, forms, surveys and pop-ups;
- Sending SMS messages;
- Marketing automation scenarios.
Plezi, a marketing automation platform, is also an excellent B2B inbound marketing tool, with the ability to manage :
- Download forms - especially for ebooks;
- Blogs and tracking of visitors, views, conversions, etc.
- Landing pages;
- Social networks;
- Email campaigns.
What call to action?
Once you've determined your objective, translate it into a CTA (Call To Action). This involves creating a button or link that can be clicked, prompting a clear action: adding to the shopping basket, downloading documentation or linking to a form, for example. Limit yourself to one CTA per landing page. After all, if you're trying too hard to get your message across, you won't be communicating any of it. It's better to create several landing pages, segmenting them appropriately.
Think content and form
Web design
The ergonomics and visual appearance of your landing page must be carefully considered. Give preference to responsive templates, for a campaign that can be read on all devices. And structure your layout well: use bullets, tables, directional shapes such as arrows... As for the main element, the CTA, put it in the foreground: make sure it catches the eye!
Light content
Use attractive visuals, including computer graphics. Videos are also very popular. Be careful, however, to keep it light in terms of weight: if your landing page takes more than 2 seconds to load, 47% of Internet users will close it first.
Your arguments
Put forward reassuring arguments for the reader: customer testimonials, reviews, number of likes or certifications if you have any. Your landing page should be thought of as a mini-sales pitch, and your value proposition should be clearly stated to prompt the desired action on the part of the reader.
Relevance and SEO
Think SEO (Search Engine Optimization). For traffic from search engines, take care with your natural referencing, and sprinkle your texts with keywords. This applies both to the body of the landing page and to its snippet (the two-line extract used as a catchphrase to entice people to click).
Optimising the performance of your landing page
AB Testing
AB testing, or multivariate testing, is a useful way of checking the quality of your landing page. They allow you to test different versions in order to deduce the best performing combination. Carry out the tests on similar versions, modifying the parameters one by one. This will enable you to identify the best option each time.
Internet user behaviour
Thermography" type analyses allow you to see which areas of the page are clicked on the most. Make sure that their dispersion does not hinder conversion. Channel the reader's path, even if it means reducing the areas that can be clicked, to optimise the impact.
Measurement indicators
AB Testing is a good way of getting rid of our preconceptions and relying on empirical evidence. One of the key indicators is the bounce rate. Google Analytics analyses, connected to your website's back office, or referring clicks, visible on Wordpress for example, are also interesting for your analysis.
Tips for increasing your conversion rate
The landing page is a key element in your marketing campaigns. If it's well designed, it can generate qualified leads at a lower cost. It's up to you to plan the design and content to optimise its impact.
Article translated from French