Landing Page Do’s and Don'ts
A landing page should be the destination for your email marketing campaign — hosting the survey you want people to take, the asset you want people to download, or the details of the webinar you want them to register for. There should be a seamless transition from your email (or social post or ad) to the landing page, with the landing page having a bit more context and a clear reason for people to convert. |
Landing Page: A landing page is a standalone web page that a person "lands" on after clicking through from an email, ad, or other digital location. There is typically a form on the landing page. Once they're on your landing page, users are encouraged to take an action, such as joining your list, downloading a piece of content, or buying your products.
Website: A set of related web pages located under a single domain name, typically produced by a single person or organization.
Microsite: A branded web page or group of small web pages that exist outside of a company's primary website and serve to promote the content, products, services, and/or events of its brand.
Landing Page Do’s
Use a good headline: Headlines should be clear and concise
Keep your form simple
Use good design practices
Keep the copy short and sweet
Position the offer above the fold
Provide enough information about the CTA
Remain consistent with the rest of the campaign
Have a clear message
Have one action that you want a user to complete
Make the content instantly understandable (who is selling and what is being sold)
Check mobile version for responsiveness
Ensure quick loading time
Say “thank you” with a separate page that appears after they’ve converted
Landing Page Don’ts
Don’t include links directing away from LP
Don’t include your website’s nav bar (that might distract people from converting)
Don’t include information that distracts away from the CTA
Don’t ask for too much information in your form
Don’t share vague information
Don’t make the content inconsistent
Don’t use contrasting colours
Don’t make it difficult to navigate
Landing pages and websites are two different things. Each has different purposes and they are aimed toward different audiences. To get the best possible results for both your website and landing page, you should have a dedicated website that explains your business, highlights your products, features customer use cases, and gives people a way to communicate with you, and a dedicated landing page for each of your marketing campaigns.
Landing Page | Website | Microsite |
1 Page | 5+ Pages | 3-5 Pages |
Provides details about the offer | Provides all information that readers need to know | Provides all information that readers need to know about a specific topic |
Appealing to users who are most interested in the offer | Appealing to users with a general interest in the business type | Appealing to users with an interest in a specific topic within the business |
Limited navigation | All pages accessible | All pages accessible |
Is about the conversion of a predetermined action | Is about directing to another destination | Is about directing to another destination |
Is specific and focused on one objective | Is about brand awareness and messaging | Is about brand awareness and messaging on a smaller scale |
Has limited points of entry | Has multiple links and points of entry | Has multiple links and points of entry |
Like a leaflet insert for a special offer | Like the front cover and table of contents of a book | Like the front cover of a book |
High commercial intent | Top of the funnel | Top of the funnel |
Forms
Forms act as a point of conversion. They’re the place where someone becomes willing to share some of their personal information (e.g. their name, contact details, or place of work) in exchange for a webinar invite, a place on a product waitlist, or an in-depth piece of content. It’s also the place where a prospect becomes a lead. Once your sales team has those details about a customer, they can be better equipped to qualify that lead and pursue it if it’s the right fit.
Our 8 best practices for building effective forms in landing pages:
Prioritize good design practices
Choose the right spot for your form
Make the form as easy to fill as possible
Make sure your form is responsive
Consider the incentive
Keep user behaviours top of mind
Avoid turning people off from filling out your forms
Stay compliant
Click this link for more information about building forms
A/B Testing
As organizations become more data-driven, they need tools and processes that can collect the insights necessary to make informed decisions. A/B testing can be used both with emails and landing pages. Research shows that this approach delivers real-world results around engagement, click-through rates, and other conversion indicators.
With this information, you can improve your reader experiences, increase key metrics, reduce your abandonment rates, and optimize your content with very little risk or investment. This, in turn, can translate into increased revenue for your business.
Click this link for more information about A/B Testing
Accessibility
Accessibility should be just as important a consideration in online spaces so that everyone can access the content they want in a format that makes sense to them. The truth of the matter is that a lot of online content – whether it’s an email, landing page, or mobile application – isn’t fully accessible. And, unfortunately, for many businesses, making that content accessible isn’t always at the top of the list of priorities. But it should be.
It is important to first understand what we mean by accessible content. According to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a set of recommendations developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), there are four key principles for creating accessible digital content that meets the needs of auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech and visual disabilities.
4 key principles for creating accessible digital content:
Perceivable
Operable
Understandable
Robust
Click this link for more information about accessibility
Landing Page Conversion
Landing pages are specifically designed to create conversions. Removing navigation and links directing away from the landing page removes all distractions for the visitor. This way you can get the visitor's undivided attention which then allows you to guide them directly to a form or action you would like them to complete.
The more landing pages you have, the more your conversion rates will increase. Companies that have more than 10 landing pages see a 55% increase in leads. This shows that the more pages you produce, the more targeted you can be with your targeting and messaging.
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