When you created your landing page, you designed it to be highly-relevant and irresistible. The page was akin to an oasis in the desert that promised visitors relief from their problems—and visitors listened. They came, they converted, and your organization prospered.
Then something inexplicable happened, for whatever reason, your landing page stopped converting. Visitors arrived, but they either no longer found the information as relevant to their needs or your offer no longer seems as enticing. This could be related to changes in the industry, breaking news or there could be other reasons that aren’t blatantly obvious.
It’s enough to make you rack your brain because landing pages take personnel, manpower, lots of deep thought, and analysis. Most of all, you may have paid ads driving leads to your page, which means your lagging landing page may be costing you money. You can’t afford to maintain an online oasis that’s all-dried-up.
So, what gives?
Check the Source
Before you start tinkering with your landing page, thinking it’s completely broken, begin by analyzing your referral links. Where are prospects landing on your page from? If the answer is AdWords, consider if you have recently changed your ad structure or ad copy.
Your landing page visitors also want to know that you’re going to solve their problems by clicking-through. Whether the link to your page came in via an offline channel, social media profile, e-book or ad – make sure the launching point matches the destination. There is nothing worse than landing on a page that isn’t what you thought it was going to be. Especially if the source manages to hype prospects up; if your landing page only lets them down, it’s no wonder prospects aren’t converting.
Take Oribi, for example. Using a flashy Facebook ad, they drove leads to their landing page that essentially used the same headline. There’s no mistaking that visitors are in the right place, leading to a much more memorable (and convertible) web experience.
If the source of your visitors hasn’t changed, it’s time to examine your landing page from top to bottom.
Look & Feel
Visit your landing page while pretending you’ve never seen it before. Not easy, but try, then determine if the page is easy to use. How long does it take you to determine what to do or how to act? Do you feel safe leaving your information when prompted?
These are questions your prospects may not be speaking aloud or even consciously, but they are asking these questions, and deciding in a second, or a few seconds, whether or not your landing page fits into their life, or should be clicked-away from promptly.
Lyft knows how to create a compelling and eye-catching page that gets right down to business. Really, it’s the engaging photography that retains the attention. Take note if your landing page isn’t converting as well as it used to.
Headline
Your headline should convey your message clearly, speak to your target audience, and adequately describe your unique value proposition.
Look at Zoho. There is no question about the value they are offering, as who wouldn’t want to sell smarter, better, and faster?
Call-to-Action
Nearly every person who reads your headline will also read your call-to-action. However, if you aren’t clear about what you want your prospects to do, you are going to have problems with conversions.
Think of those velvet ropes at clubs and movie theaters. People like to be guided to where they need to go, and they like signs with clear instructions when it’s time to act. Be crystal clear about what you expect from your landing page visitors, and don’t assume they’ll know all on their own.
Upwork lays it all out for prospects when it encourages them to “Get more done with freelancers.” Can’t get much simpler and direct than that.
Because the fact is this: If a person doesn’t know what to do, the easiest thing for them to do is bounce. Don’t let that happen and be intentional with all your CTAs.
Social Proof
No one wants to be the first to fill out your form and download your white paper. Social proof allows visitors to know that others have been pleased with your brand, products, and services. A testimonial or two can work wonders at getting people on board with doing business with you.
On the other hand, if your testimonials are uncredited, not accompanied by videos or photos, and are otherwise bland and uninspiring, you’re not doing your brand any favors. Ask your clients to provide video testimonials and put them on your landing page for a social proof tactic that can single-handedly improve conversions.
Cheap Flights pulled out all the stops when it featured a video testimonial of a satisfied customer on its landing page. Now prospects have proof that the brand’s offer works. Where do they sign up?
What’s Your Unique Value Proposition?
Does your landing page tell visitors – in an instant – what sets you apart from the others in your space? That “element” is why you expect prospects to act because it’s the most crucial aspect of the whole page. People will only take action if they understand the value of your offering.
As a fix, visit competing landing pages and see how quickly your brain comes around to understanding the offer’s value. Incorporate any elements you like into your own pages, or at least test them to see how they perform.
This brand sells artificial grass. There is zero mistaking that fact after visiting the Advanced Grass landing page.
Sales Copy
The sales copywriters of old knew they could sway customers by way of words alone. By tapping into the prospect’s emotions and stroking their fears while inspiring dreams, these sales scribes were masters of their craft.
These days, the tactics of old no longer work as well. They have become “old hat,” but new tactics are always evolving. The best way to write a landing page is the way you would sell to a prospect in person. Write like you talk and let the prospect know that you understand where he or she is coming from. The person is facing a problem and you have the solution. All they have to do is follow your CTA and they’re home free.
If you struggle to find the right words, consider outsourcing and hire a professional writer to get the job done. Or hire a few different writers and test their work to see which one can resonate best with your audience.
But even if the copywriter you hire is flowery with words, make sure the writing is specific and makes the prospect covet the end-benefit. When it comes to an effective landing page, words definitely matter, but only the proper ones will do.
Sadly, 75% of brands have trouble finding a reliable copywriter. Yet copywriting is critical if you want your pages to convert. If you want to see examples of phenomenal landing page copy, look to the biggest brands, which have massive budgets to hire the best writers in the biz, like Microsoft. Follow in those brands’ footsteps and your pages will certainly convert as you expect.
Going Above and Beyond
Truth be told, the problem may not be your landing page at all. If your source is solid and your landing page contains all the language and imagery necessary to compel visitors to take action, maybe it’s your offer that’s the issue. Perhaps a competitor has entered the scene and offered better quality and lower prices. This is not meant to dissuade you. It merely means that sometimes your audience may stop responding as well to various marketing tactics. Call it burnout or fatigue; it simply happens that an audience will move on to the next best thing.
Because the fact is, if you’ve checked your landing page against the above list, and it passed with flying colors, it’s not your oasis that’s dried up. It’s your audience’s need for what you have on offer.
Of course, the best course of action is to test your source, landing page, and offer, something only about half of all B2B brands do. Test often and tweak along the way, and soon you’ll have your landing page back on track and performing once more.
Interested in learning more? Check out how Elevation Marketing increased LifeLock’s website visitors by 600% in this downloadable case study.
