How landing page can help you convert visitors into customers

You must be aware that how important safe ‘landing’ is while travelling by aircraft. ‘Landing’ is equally crucial in the virtual world digital marketing as well. While as a marketer, you may not be required to create your landing page yourself, knowing what goes into making it and what makes it effective will help you reach more users and possibly convert them to your customers.

In a sense, a landing page is where a visitor ‘lands on’ or arrive at while navigating the web looking for specific information. Simply put, it is a standalone web page, different from the home page of your website and landing page is designed for a focused objective—that is, to convert your visitors into customers. The landing page is distinct in the sense that it is not linked to your main web page in order to limit the options available to your visitors and guide them toward your goal of converting them to your customers.

Typically, there are two types of landing pages—click through landing pages and lead generation landing pages. As the name suggests, a click through landing page is aimed at persuading the visitor to click through to another page where you can capture more details about the visitor or where your product or service is explained better in order to persuade the visitor to make a purchasing decision.

Often, directing inbound advertising traffic straight to a shopping cart or a registration page may lead to poor conversion—by the way, conversion is, the process of converting visitors to customers—as the ad does not provide sufficient information for the visitor to make an informed decision. As the click through landing page proves more details about your product or service, there is a higher chance of persuading the visitor to make a purchasing decision.

Lead generating landing pages, on the other hand, are designed to capture the visitor’s details such as name and e-mail ID so that the user can be contacted subsequently. Since lead generating landing pages are meant for collating user data, they usually contain a form along with a description of what the visitor will get in return for submitting his/her personal data. For example, you can offer the visitor a discount coupon, contest entry, a free product trail and a physical gift (which can be couriered to the given address) in exchange for collecting user’s personal data.

However, presenting a lengthy form and asking too much information may discourage the visitor, forcing him/her to drop off. Therefore, it makes sense to ask for the minimum amount of information that will enable you to reach out your prospects or prospective customers. For example, if you are trying to contact them via e-mail, there is no need to ask for phone number and address.

A well-designed landing page can enhance conversion—that is, the process of converting visitors to customers—for your pay per click or e-mail marketing campaign. If visitors are directed to your website, they may have a hard time finding out what they are looking for. Landing page, on the other hand, can lead them in precisely the direction you want them to take.

But crafting a landing page is different from creating a website. So what are the key features that would make a landing page effective?

Landing pages need to be really simple in terms of appearance and navigation compared with your website. It should be purely aimed at leading the visitor to the expected call to action (call to action is an instruction such as ‘sign up’, ‘contact us’, ‘call now’ and ‘buy now’ to provoke an immediate response from visitors). Complexity in design and asking for more than required information can distract your visitors and prevent you from converting them to customers.

Also, the copy on the landing page should be clear, concise and persuasive. Lack of clarity may force visitors to drop off before taking the action that you would want them to take. Since visitors’ attention is limited, it makes sense to tell your visitors what they want to know in a few words as possible, and encourage them to respond to your call to action as quickly as possible. In fact, every sentence and word on your landing page needs to be aimed at supporting your call to action.

Besides, if your landing page includes a form, ensure only the most valid information is asked for. For example, 

if you would want to get visitors to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, it is better to ask only for the e-mail ID—they may find anything more cumbersome and unnecessary. If you would want them to buy your product or service, you can make the whole process simple by asking just the billing and shipping information and providing a confirmation screen before they place the order.

The design of your landing page should also be meant to support the call to action. While a cumbersome design detracts users, a simple one enhances the chance of the user converting to a customer.

A key difference between your home page and landing page is this: unlike your website, landing pages should not have site navigation. Instead the only clickable item should be your call to action button and possibly a link to more information for those visitors who are yet to make a decision—either to provide their contact information or to purchase your product or service. Placing your logo on the landing page and linking it to your home page also can be a good idea.

However, while landing page is quite different from your home page, it should reflect the design of your website to reinforce your branding. This can be done through graphics and ensuring similarity in colors and fonts.

It also makes sense to make sure that your call to action button is located near the top of the page where visitors can click without having to scroll down. In order to make your landing page uncluttered, it is also a good idea to limit the number of images on your landing page—more than two images can distract visitors from the message and call to action.

Besides, using larger font sizes will help reduce eye strain for visitors. Effective use of typography can help minimize excessive use of visuals and graphics. Also, if your landing page is linked to an e-mail campaign, ensure that the landing page reflects the look and feel of the e-mail. If the designs of the two are hugely different, visitors may wonder if they have landed on the right page. Keeping consistency in terms of fonts, images and colors can make the landing page look similar to your e-mail campaign which will in turn enhance conversion.