Given the advances in technology today, building websites and custom landing pages that convert into sales or leads isn’t as daunting a task as it was just a few short years ago. Yet, the majority of business owners still fall short when it comes to achieving a higher CTR (click-through rate), as well as capturing leads before visitors leave without buying or opting in to get more information.
The advanced landing page creator from GetResponse allows anyone to create their own landing pages and instantly see how the page will appear on various sizes of mobile devices. But even with this technology, it still takes knowing how people use mobile devices and what makes people convert to get strong results. This requires testing various designs to determine which generate the most leads or sales.
Some landing page creators have testing capabilities built in, making it far easier to run tests, obtain results, make modifications, and test again. If you choose to manually build your landing pages, you will need a separate split testing solution.
Effective Landing Page Design Elements
Every landing page design should have a clean, professional look and feel. When it comes to getting the lead or sale, simplicity is the key. Tell the consumer exactly what to do when they land on the page by placing elements in certain areas, such as buttons or form fields.
Do not provide additional links to pages within the website that aren’t directly related to the offer, since this increases the likelihood visitors will leave without filling out the form or purchasing products.
Use images sparingly. Depending upon your market, a high-quality image will increase conversions, but too many will distract the customer from the opt-in area or other call to action.
Put on a happy face. If you use an image of a person, they should be looking at the offer and smiling. The person in the image should be similar to your target audience.
Make sure every landing page is responsive and mobile. Well over 60 percent of users are now using mobile devices, with less than 40 percent on desktops.
Black vs white. White backgrounds convert better in business niches, versus darker ones do better in the entertainment industry (i.e., bars and restaurants).
Ask for only the first name and email. Every additional field you add to an opt-in form, the lower your conversions will be. If you have a sales team and really want to ask for a phone number, make it optional.
Usually, it is best for an opt-in form to be above the fold; however, you must test as in some cases having the form at the bottom of the content converts better.
PPC Landing Pages Are Excellent Examples
A highly converting landing page example is an excellent pay per click layout. The big insurance companies know how to make sales, and they pay a heavy price per lead, too. So their landing pages are simple, asking for only a ZIP code to get a quote:
We have to wonder if Geico tested this opt-in as best practices would suggest that the gecko should be looking at the ZIP code field. Split testing landing pages is important. Find out which elements on a page increase or decrease the click-through rate and conversions.
Minimalism works well if a person wants an immediate quote online, but not if a customer wants more information before requesting an appointment or picking up the phone.
Different Types of Business-to-Consumer Landing Pages
In the services industry, some businesses need to “give” information before they can “get” the lead. Let’s review a couple of examples of landing pages designed by Adrienne DeVita, CEO of Digital Media Cube, that convert well.
The landing page of an attorney should provide credible legal information, but also needs to contain case studies, links to popular review sites, an appointment form, and a mobile click-to-call number. Attorney sites should make sure customers know they can call or fill out a confidential questionnaire 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The image below shows the complex, long landing page of the criminal defense attorney Grant Bettencourt. To see the additional slides at the top, it is necessary to click through to that site.
His most important call to action (CTA) is to get people to schedule a consultation. Notice the large “Meet with Grant” button has center stage; there is also a button in the top right corner with a calendar icon and the words “Schedule Consultation.” It should be obvious what the primary CTA is on this page:
Because Grant Bettencourt offers multiple types of information and services, below the primary CTA are various links to information about specific offenses. The positioning of these navigation elements is optimum for on-page SEO.
This is followed by an introductory video where he verbally explains why a visitor should hire him instead of anyone else. Below the video is another section titled “A Case Like Yours” that encourages visitors to see how the page relates to their own needs.
Testimonials and a “Why Us?” section provide further encouragement and increase visitor confidence in the law firm’s competence. The main part of the home page ends with another offer of the primary call to action.
Note that important elements like company name, addresses, and phone numbers appear on every page of the site. This is critical for local SEO rankings.
How Attorney Site Renders on Mobile
The attorney example site was custom coded to render more responsively on mobile. Note that the home page is the primary landing page and does not contain left-hand navigation. It is present on all internal pages of the site, and does appear on mobile devices.
The best way to see this is to click through to the criminal defense internal page on your desktop or laptop, and compare it to these screen shots from an iPhone 6 Plus. Compare this first screen shot to the desktop site. All of the navigation that appears in the header is collapsed into “MENU.” By clicking the three bars to the right of the word MENU, all of the TOP navigation links are displayed.
Left-hand navigation on the internal pages displays below the main content area and above the footer when rendered on mobile devices. This is beneficial both for users to move around your site and also for SEO. Many sites omit this navigation on mobile devices, which Adrienne DeVita feels is a mistake. She states that in her experience, it is better to build a site that is mobile responsive and not a separate mobile site.
Note that “Schedule a Consultation” is still front and center, but now the mobile user can easily navigate the rest of the site. This next image shows how the navigation renders on a smartphone:
Dental Practice Example
The dental industry has patients with emergencies both day and night. Waking up with a toothache in the middle of the night usually means an infection is present, so patients will immediately search on a review site for a good dentist in the area who can help.
These types of landing pages must contain more than just simple layouts; they require a site showing the dentist’s reputation, testimonials, as well as before and after pictures. A site should help customers feel confident in their decision to fill out the on-site form or to call right away.
In spite of this, the landing page for Lakefront Family Dentistry (below) is far simpler than the attorney’s landing page. Here, there are two primary CTAs highlighted:
Make a payment.
Make an appointment.
To see the highly-effective dynamic visuals at the top of the site you will need to click through. Additional buttons offer patient forms, dental insurance information, and directions to the office. Click on those buttons to see additional landing pages.
Like the the attorney example, this dental practice site is fully mobile responsive and renders exceptionally well on mobile devices. As before, the top navigation collapses into the MENU and immediately displays the primary CTA:
This site is used by existing patients to make payments as well as to generate new business. Click on CEREC to compare that page with what a mobile user sees as they scroll down the page.
First they will see before-and-after images which are very popular on weight loss, dental, and other service sites. You have probably seen images like these offered at the bottom of content on major sites because they get clicks:
They also spell out exactly what you can expect if you visit their office. After that image is a video (as with the attorney site), another before-and-after set of photos, and then testimonials.
Testimonials are essential to establishing credibility and trust. See how the custom coded site highlights this testimonial so that it can’t be missed:
The site also answers a commonly asked question. After establishing trust, the mobile version provides a very prominent “MAKE AN APPOINTMENT” button with a photo of the friendly, smiling faces of the dentist and his staff.
Sites that provide photos of their business location and staff convert much better than those that do not. On e-commerce sites, I have observed that visitors who first clicked on “about pages” containing a photo of the business and staff converted higher. Putting that image on the page so the visitor does not even have to visit the “about page” is even better.
Why All These Images?
I took the time to gather and embed all these images because these two sites are like road maps to exactly what should–and just as importantly–should NOT be on both the desktop and mobile versions of a small business professional services site.
Emulating these specific elements can go a long way toward creating a site that is likely to convert. Remember that first you must do keyword research to determine what pages to create, and then you must test each element on each page to really sharpen your conversions.
That said, if a small business does not have sufficient traffic for testing or a budget to have such comprehensive work done in advance, using an existing site that has been professionally designed and thoroughly tested as these two have will provide a very strong likelihood of success (as long the new site isn’t competing against these).
Data Doesn’t Lie
Both of these example sites convert well, driving new clients to each business and making it easy for existing customers to get additional information. Note that both landing pages list close-by cities. The dentist site lists the county as well; this is not necessary on the attorney site because Orange, California, is in Orange County.
Review Google Analytics data to see which days of the week and times potential leads are visiting, then consider running paid ads during those times with a landing page catered to that market.
If the highest amount of traffic is on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., set up a landing page that mentions it’s Sunday, along with the local city. Consider placing an image of a person having breakfast on the page, if it applies. The more data gleaned and applied to a customized landing page, the higher CTR and conversions.
Consider running a Display Campaign on Google and customize banner and text ads to specific age groups and gender. Split testing different ethnicities in certain regions can bring in a high volume of sales and/or leads.
For example, build a landing page to target Hispanics in Los Angeles, and then narrow the ZIP codes by conversions and traffic. Pull placement reports to consistently reduce the cost per click and increase ROI.
Remember, data plays a big part of building the most effective landing page design once you launch the first layout. Keep it simple and state the call to action clearly; the CTR and ROI should increase significantly.
How Mobile Changed Optimum Landing Page Design
You may have noticed blog themes have changed. Some now have huge headers. Social media icons are larger so they are easier to click on mobile devices. Sidebars have been removed. Some argue that left-hand navigation should be used, but Digital Media Cube’s Adrienne DeVita disagrees:
I have to disagree about left-hand navigation. I’m a big advocate of it. It ranks so much easier for internal linking structures. It looks perfectly fine on mobile.
As mentioned previously, what works well on desktops or laptops does not necessarily convert when users are on mobile devices. This excellent video explains what needs to change:
Video highlights:
• More optimized for fingers and smaller screens.
• Seven primary elements of mobile landing pages:
Totally simple–Fewer elements, larger elements, completely simplified layout, good vertical rhythm to reduce confusion.
Thumb friendly because users can’t hover; buttons need to be >40pixels.
Direct contacting button to immediately dial your business.
Fast load time–Optimize images and design; use a CDN (content delivery network); reduce number or size of images.
Navigation–Easy movement between pages; big buttons across the top; single drop-down menus; have less than five buttons–three is better.
Obvious direction–Strong call-to-action (CTA) on every page; only one final CTA button other than your contact button on a page; use segmentation to drive visitors to the final CTA page.
Most important–TEST your entire landing page and site; getting five people to test using their own smartphones will reveal most issues; test in multiple environments.
These tips have most likely revealed aspects of your site and landing pages that need revision. Hopefully these examples have you well on the way to knowing what to change first.
For additional tips, read “42 Mobile Landing Page Optimization Tips” and “11 Best Practices for Optimizing Sign-Up and Landing Pages.”
The post How to Get More Opt-ins From Landing Pages appeared first on AllBusiness.com
The post How to Get More Opt-ins From Landing Pages appeared first on AllBusiness.com.