Online marketing ensures traffic on your website. But how do you use this to win new customers? Landing pages help to generate real leads through anonymous visitors.
In e-commerce, every extra step, users need to take in order to buy a product, can be a step too much, which can lead them to abort the order process. The reasons are manifold: The user is unsure, which step he needs to take next, a technical fault occurs, the order process takes too long or the buyer has simply changed his mind.
A landing page will satisfy these aspects. This does not mean a page with the unique and exclusive goal of creating a conversion, i.e. the sale of a product or generation of enquiries. If a prospective buyer clicks on a banner or text ad, he will be taken directly to the landing page instead of the homepage. On this page, the promoted product will be presented and the user will have the opportunity to place a direct order.
The layout of the landing page is generally based on the design of the actual homepage but without the “unneccesary” elements. “Unneccesary” in this case would be all elements, which can distract from the objective of the landing page and can even include navigation elements of the website. In the following, you will find the most important aspects, which should be considered when designing a landing page.

Success Criteria for Your Landing Pages:

URL Design

When planning a landing page, you should pay special attention to the web address of the corresponding page. If the landing page is promoted via text ads in newsletters or search engines, the URL part of the ad should not consist of cryptic characters but should be designed as memorable and attractive to customers as possible.
Consider how you can communicate the use of your product in the URL, e.g. with a URL of the type www.domain.tld/loose-weight-now for a diet product or www.domain.tld/free-catalogue, if the aim of the landing page is to generate catalogue orders. Maybe there is still a suitable domain combination available, which you can use for your landing page.

Link Between Ad and Landing Page

The idea of the ad should be continued in the copy and design of the landing page. The user must recognise that he is on the “right” page. You can, for example, include a question in the ad, which will then be answered on the landing page.

Clear Prompt for Action

At the bottom of the page, the user should find a specific prompt for action. Sum up the benefits of your product in one or two sentences and tell the user what to do to profit from these benefits (e.g. “Would you like to save up to 70% in telephone costs? Fill in this form to order XY…”).

Communicate Benefits

Clearly communicate the benefits of your product on the landing page. A clinical list of the product features usually is not sufficient to motivate visitors to buy. Instead, convince them with “killer arguments” and put the specific benefits of your products in the foreground: Which benefits does your product offer the buyer? Can he save time or money? What makes you different from your competitors? Why should the visitor complete the form as soon as possible? Maybe your offer is limited (in time), the postage free or the deadline for returns is particularly long?

Create Trust

When the exposure of personal data is involved, most users are very sensitive, even when it is only about requesting information material or similar. Lower the inhibition threshold by openly communicating what the data will be used for. “Your data will not be shared with third parties and will only be used for this order process. Here, you will find more information on our data privacy guidelines…”
Of course, the obligatory link to the data privacy statement should not be forgotten. In addition, we recommend that you use a separate column to publish a few lines about your company as no one likes to leave his data to strangers. This brief “about us” text can conclude with a link to your homepage, which can be opened in a separate browser window.
You must use SSL encoding, when requesting sensitive data on the site. Furthermore, you can create trust by using testimonials in the form of positive quotes from previous customers.

Comprehensive Information

If the aim of your landing page is the sale of a product, your should make sure that you provide all information relevant for the purchaser. Apart from comprehensive product information, you should include information on the postage costs, a link to the General Terms and Conditions and details on guarantees and return options.

Short or Long?

The question of the optimal volume of a landing page cannot be answered generally, it depends very much on the product and the target group. In most cases, the best results can be achieved with a short page, i.e. all information visible at one glimpse without the need to scroll  and with a typical screen resolution of 1024×768 pixels. Ideally, the order or enquiry form can also be completed without scrolling. Generally, the form should only ask for the most important information. Try to get by with three or four fields and if necessary, ask further details optionally on the confirmation page.
In the case of target groups with a high information demand, e.g. with technical products, a longer page may be sensible. However, we recommend to determine the optimal length through tests. Depending on the product, it may be sensible to offer further information through hyperlinks, which open pages in a new browser window. In this way, the page itself remains compact and at the same time offers prospective customers further information.
Further offers can be communicated on the confirmation page after the submission of the form. This is also the ideal place for a “send-to-a-friend” form or a newsletter subscription form.

Test, Test, Test!

As always in online marketing, this also applies to the use of landing pages: The success can be analysed in a detailed manner and should continuously be optimised. Simply create several versions of your landing page and test, how editorial and design-related changes affect your conversion rate.

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