Without a doubt, landing pages are an extremely important part of any marketing strategy. After all, a landing page is a remarkably effective way to generate business leads and begin fostering that all-important relationship with your customers.
Despite the lead generation prowess of landing pages, it took a while for businesses to realize their value. Even as recently as last year, brands were still struggling to create optimized landing pages, making all-too-common mistakes like using homepages as targeted landing pages.
Similar to many digital marketing tactics, truly impactful landing pages are constantly evolving. Unfortunately, we’ve found the most common landing page blunder is a failure to analyze, tweak, and improve existing pages. Marketers must be diligent in assessing and updating their landing pages to maintain or potentially increase their conversion rates.
What Should Be on a Landing Page?
- Compelling Headline: The headline should be clear, direct, and relevant to the landing page's purpose. It should immediately convey what the visitor can expect from the page.
- Subheadline: This supports the headline by providing additional context. It should be concise but persuasive, reinforcing the main message.
- Call to Action (CTA): A clear, action-oriented button or link that directs users on what to do next (e.g., "Get Started," "Sign Up," "Learn More"). The CTA should be prominent and visible, ideally placed above the fold and further down the page. A strong call-to-action is crucial for guiding users to take action.
- Visuals: High-quality images, videos, or graphics that align with the message. These should support the value proposition and avoid overcrowding the page. Consider using hero images or demo videos to highlight your product.
- Value Proposition: Clearly explain what benefits the visitor will receive and why they should take the desired action. This can be in bullet points or a concise paragraph, addressing the pain points and desires of the target audience.
- Form or Sign-Up Area: If the goal is to collect leads or sign-ups, a simple, easy-to-complete form should be present. Keep it minimal by only asking for essential information (e.g., name, email).
- Trust Signals: Social proof, customer testimonials, or recognizable certifications can build credibility. This helps to reduce skepticism and increase conversion rates.
- Minimal Distractions: Limit links to external pages and keep other navigation options to a minimum. The focus should be on conversion without distractions.
- Benefits and Features: A brief section that outlines key features or benefits, preferably with short bullet points or icons for quick scanning. Highlight the unique selling points of your product.
- Responsive Design: Ensure the landing page is optimized for both desktop and mobile users, with fast loading times and a design that adjusts well to different screen sizes.
- A/B Testing Elements: Consider adding variations of your CTA or headline to see what resonates best with your audience over time. Tools like Google Analytics can help measure the metric of your landing page performance.
Landing Page Tip #1: Assess Your Customer Experience
With all the clutter and distractions of today’s digital world, consumers are more impatient than ever. Consequently, your landing page has to, first and foremost, make intuitive sense to a potential customer. When a customer clicks on your link or ad, are they expecting the page they see next, or do you completely surprise them?
For example, if your ad offers a “free” product or service, but your landing page contains three forms and requires the user to submit credit card information, you’re stretching the limits of “free.” Sure, you might technically be offering something for free, but if the potential customer is frustrated by all the hoops you’ve asked them to jump through, many will decide the offer isn’t worth their time.
Rather than surprising your potential customers, keep things easy and give them no more or less than you promised. According to research conducted by Unbounce, landing pages that use simple and to-the-point language convert the best. Further, a single call to action can increase conversions up to an astounding 161%.
Put yourself in a customer's shoes and assess whether your landing pages give users a simple, enjoyable experience...or something else. If it’s the latter, you’ve got work to do!
Landing Page Tip #2: Optimize Landing Page Workflow
In keeping with the theme of delivering an experience your customers expect, an often overlooked component of landing pages is how you handle incoming leads. We’ll call this your landing page workflow.
You could have the most amazing, highly converting landing pages on the planet, but if your landing page workflow isn’t optimized, guess what? The vast majority of your leads will go to waste. Why?
Response time.
Think about it. When you’re looking for a product or service and finally reach out to a company, you expect to hear back fairly quickly, right? It’s shocking, then, that only 37% of companies respond to digital leads within an hour. There is no excuse for this lag. An hour is an eternity in the digital world, and, in some cases, your lead will make a purchase from a competitor in the time you haven’t responded to them.
In our increasingly digital world, it’s not enough to target an audience and collect their information. You need to respond to their questions and interests in real time.
Once you have your landing pages in place, don’t overlook the lead workflow. Who in your company contacts new leads, and by what method? Is this contact immediate? Have you A/B tested these touchpoints? The answers to these questions are as important as the landing pages themselves.
Landing Page Tip #3: Tweak and Test and Then Test Some More
Measurement and testing are a significant part of the landing page design process. Don’t be afraid to test and tweak your landing pages constantly, as you can always return to the things that worked the best. It’s a fact: some landing pages convert better than others. If you don’t measure the performance of your landing pages, how will you know which ones to tweak and how to improve them?
As an example, over the course of a 20-month campaign, the digital team working for Barack Obama conducted approximately 500 A/B tests that increased conversions by 161% and increased donations by 49%. These are no small feats, and they underscore that constantly monitoring and improving landing pages is vital.
Quick Landing Page Best Practices
- Keep it Focused:
- The landing page should have one clear goal. Avoid clutter and distractions by keeping the content focused solely on the CTA (e.g., signing up, downloading, purchasing).
- Clear and Concise Headline:
- The headline should immediately explain the value or benefit the visitor will receive. It needs to grab attention and clarify the page's purpose.
- Use an Engaging CTA:
- Your call to action should be specific, action-orientated, and easy to find. Make it stand out visually and clarify what happens when the user clicks it.
- Create Urgency (When Relevant):
- If applicable, add elements that encourage urgency (e.g., "Limited Time Offer," "Only a few left," or "Sign up today to get 20% off"). However, use this technique sparingly to avoid overwhelming the visitor.
- Use Trust Signals:
- Testimonials, reviews, security badges, or recognizable logos (if applicable) help build trust and reduce friction in the decision-making process.
- Optimize for Mobile:
- Ensure the landing page is mobile-responsive, as many users will access it from their phones. The layout should adjust automatically, and the CTA should remain prominent.
- Fast Load Times:
- A slow-loading page can lead to high bounce rates. Compress images, minimize scripts, and ensure the page loads quickly to keep visitors engaged.
- Keep Forms Short:
- If you’re collecting information, keep forms as short as possible. Ask only for the essentials, such as name and email, unless more information is absolutely necessary.
- A/B Test Regularly:
- Test different elements like CTAs, headlines, and images to see what converts best. Regular A/B testing can provide insights to improve the landing page's effectiveness over time.
- Minimal Navigation:
- Reduce navigation options to keep users focused on the goal. Avoid linking to other pages or sections of your site that could distract from the landing page's purpose.
How Does AI Improve the Effectiveness of Landing Pages?
AI improves the effectiveness of landing pages by personalizing the user experience, analyzing visitor behavior in real time, and optimizing content for higher engagement and conversion rates. AI can dynamically adjust headlines, images, and CTAs based on user demographics or browsing history, making the page more relevant to each individual. Additionally, AI tools can provide insights through A/B testing and heatmaps, allowing for continuous refinement of design and copy. By predicting user intent and offering personalized recommendations or targeted messaging, AI helps reduce friction, enhance user experience, and ultimately increase the likelihood of conversion.
Contact Us for Effective Landing Pages in 2025
Overall, the importance of landing pages will only become more prominent as businesses realize they are living, breathing components of a marketing strategy. The time is now to get the jump on your competitors who are still taking the “set-and-forget” approach to their landing pages.
Do you have any other landing page tips and best practices that we didn’t mention here? Contact us and let us know!
