Research shows that businesses that use landing pages are more successful with their conversions than those that don’t. Many marketing experts believe that every campaign should have its own landing page to capitalise on online presence, which is why as browsers we see so many of them; from signing up to a mailing list, registering interest in a product to accessing a free eBook.
What are landing pages and why are they so successful?
A landing page is a single standalone web page that a browser arrives at, or ‘lands on’ after they’ve clicked through from another digital location.
Unlike a website, comprising multiple pages, with multiple click-throughs and choices for action and information, a landing page encourages a single course of action to achieve a single goal. The goal could be, for example, to get more people to sign up, take advantage of a special offer or enter a competition.
Landing pages are often used for specific campaigns, due to their nature of being for just one goal. One of the reasons they tend to be so successful is because there’s no choice available to the browser – there’s just one call to action – and they are often written and presented very persuasively, often part of ongoing messaging to an already warm lead, as well as offering genuine value to an interested party.
Successful landing pages are also often ‘tested’ for the ability to convert and structured hierarchically to successfully lead the browser through to the call to action.
What’s the difference between a website’s homepage and a landing page?
The reason a user lands on a website’s homepage is non-specific. Maybe they’re looking for products, your geographical location, or find out more generally about your business. A visitor to your website’s homepage doesn’t necessarily know what they want to do yet.
Whereas browsers who land on one of your landing pages are there because they already have an interest and have shown that interest.
A homepage has so many jobs to do, and there could be ten or many more other places and pieces of information to navigate to. A landing page has just one piece of information, one purpose and one call to action.
The two main types of landing pages:
Lead gen or lead capture landing pages
Lead generation or lead capture pages are a valuable asset for a business because they collect the personal data from interested users that enables them to build successful marketing campaigns and segment their campaigns going forward for targeted success.
Usually, a lead capture landing page will feature a form, with the call to action for users to leave data such as their name, email or phone number, in exchange for a product or service. The more data captured about a user, the more it can be examined to understand your audience and devise targeted, relevant campaigns, products and services to increase return on investment, especially for paid ad campaigns, and develop your business.
Click-through landing pages
Rather than forms, click-through landing pages use call-to-action buttons to redirect users to another page to carry out the action you want them to. For example, the CTA-button might be, ‘Book a demo’, with the user then being directed to a calendar schedule, or ‘Order a sample today, where their lead to a checkout page.
Persuasive product and sale information would typically feature alongside CTA-buttons and perhaps testimonials of previously satisfied customers to prompt and engage users to join the community.
The benefits of landing pages
Use landing pages to up your credibility. Users like clear and simple messaging and landing pages that show you’ve thought about their needs. You can get out more testimonial and product information and raise awareness.
You’ll reinforce your brand just by using landing pages for your campaigns, offer, etc. If you’ve gone to the trouble of creating strong branding and presence, good use of landing pages will reinforce it.
Both types of landing pages are great for generating leads because they are targeted calls to action. They can be built to focus on conversion rather than education. And you’ll increase traffic just by virtue of having landing pages optimised for SEO and letting more users learn about your business.
Ready to use landing pages?
Starting to see how landing page might help you move your business forward or be good for your marketing campaigns?
If you need help with landing pages, get in touch and our digital savvy team will help.
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