A polished, professional landing page can improve your conversion rates, and a messy one can hurt them. It sounds pretty straightforward but what does it actually mean? What makes a good landing page stand convert while others don’t.

While landing pages are essential to converting customers, not all are created equal. It’s just as easy to create a landing page that sends your bounce rates skyrocketing as it is to create one which assures healthy conversion rates. The difference is in the execution. With this in mind, we thought this might be the perfect time to look at the anatomy of what makes a high-converting landing page…

A headline that grabs the user’s attention

The internet is vast. If you want a user to spend time on your page at the expense of millions of others, you need to grab their attention with a killer headline. It needs to not only entice them to read more but establish, without ambiguity what the page / your product or service is all about.

Present a single and focused call to action

You want your landing page to convert prospective customers to actual customers. Having a single purpose to your product or service landing page ensures you keep your reader focused on what it is you want them to do and how it will benefit them.

Strong images, particularly your hero image

We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words, and most users will look past the text to the images in your landing page to provide visual context. After all, we process images 60,000 faster than letters or numbers. So, make sure that your images say all the right things. They should be dynamic and engaging (and of course relevant to the product / service you’re promoting). By all means use word art to encapsulate salient points (like a limited 10% discount or a limited time offer) but don’t make the mistake of drowning powerful images in text.

If you’re selling a specific product, you absolutely need to ensure that your landing page uses images of that product.

Oh, and make sure that your images are large and of high quality (72 pixels per inch). Low quality images will create an association with a low quality product. 

Persuasive subheadings

Don’t expect readers to read your landing page copy from top to bottom. At least not at first. They’re much more likely to skim over it and will use your subheadings to navigate their way through. So, make sure that you use bold, declarative and persuasive subheadings. Otherwise, readers will lose interest and bounce away. 

Keep it all in one place

Users tend not to want to navigate throughout your website without a valid reason. The more you make them move around, the more chance you have of losing them. Thus, it’s a good idea to keep everything on one page and reduce user navigation to a minimum.

Show the social proof

Social proof is massively important when promoting products and services. It’s easy to see why. After all, consumers will always take whatever brands say about themselves with a generous grain of salt.

On the other hand, the word of other consumers tends to have more value, especially if they are consumers they recognize. 

So make sure your social proof is clearly on display. Whether it’s user ratings and reviews, social media posts or (better still) things that prominent influencers have said about you. This will predispose readers to trust your product and your brand.

The social proof is in the pudding!

Sign off with a compelling Call To Action

Your Call To Action will usually be a link or button that users click on to buy or find out more. It will need to have compelling copy to persuade readers to take the plunge. While it will likely be just 2 or 3 words, these can make all the difference.  

For example- “Grab Yours Today” is infinitely more powerful than “Get One Now”. It implies limited availability (scarcity marketing), establishes a timeframe and preemptively implies ownership. 

Believe it or not, a poor CTA can undo all of the hard work the rest of your landing page has done.

Don’t be afraid to experiment

If you’re torn between two different CTAs or even which shade of blue looks best on your landing page, don’t be afraid to make changes and experiment. Indeed, this can send conversion rates through the roof. By continuously A/B testing your landing pages you can ensure that they have optimum impact and address barriers to reader conversion. 

When you master the art of the landing page, it’s much quicker and easier to move prospects through your sales funnel!