How to design an Effective Landing Page
A landing page is a unique, standalone page whose purpose is to make visitors take a specific action in exchange for information. It usually contains a form where visitors can input details such as name, email address, and contact number.
Designing landing pages differ from other pages on your website, such as your homepage, because it only is designed to contain a singular message and to encourage visitors to stay on the page and complete the intended goal.
Your homepage on the other hand serves to give a comprehensive overview of your business and allows visitors to easily navigate to other parts of your website such as blog, services, etc.
Elements of an effective/high-converting landing page design
As landing pages differ in end goals, there is no one-size-fits-all design. However, most landing pages have common elements that make them successful.
Strong headlines and copy
The first thing that visitors will read is your headline. It will need to be short and punchy to capture attention, pique interest, and say what makes your service or product special.
Supporting copy such as subheadlines or body text should complement the headline and enhance your unique selling proposition (USP).
A key to writing a compelling headline and copy is to start with the customer in mind. Focus on how your business can solve the visitor’s problem and state it simply.
Compelling imagery
Another strong complement to text on your landing page is your hero image. Compelling imagery can be in the form of a video, GIF, graphic, patterns, or a photo. It should help your text deliver your USPs and highlight the emotional value that a visitor can benefit from your business.
Be sure to choose authentic, relevant, and style consistent images – and remember that less is more.
Clear actionables
The most important element of your landing page design is a clear and straightforward call-to-action (CTA). Use visual prompts such as buttons to make it stand out and entice visitors to take action.
Apart from having high visibility, choosing the right copy for your CTA is essential. Good actionable are typically short, have a clear benefit, and inject a sense of urgency. Here are some commonly used call-to-actions you might have seen.
For lead generation:
– Schedule Free Demo
– Contact us for a free 14-day trial
– Register now for your e-book
Clear and visible call-to-action. Source: https://www.omise.co/paynow-solution
For e-commerce:
– Add to cart and enjoy 50% this month
– Order now for free delivery
– Purchase today!
For newsletter:
– Subscribe for weekly offers
– Get started today!
– Sign up and save!
Optimise for mobile
Almost 56% of visitors come from mobile (see impact of mobile first index). Visitors will be driven away when they are frustrated with your mobile landing page. A poorly optimised mobile landing page design typically has a slow loading speed, fonts and images of wrong sizes and a layout not designed for touch.
To ensure that none of these happen, choose web themes with responsive design functionalities that will scale fonts and images according to device size. Compressing images and removing pop-ups can help improve loading speed. Another important element of mobile optimisation is building forms that are short, in a single column and are easy to read.
Reduce distractions
It can be tempting to want to add more information or additional moving visuals on your landing page. A rule of thumb when coming to distractions is simply to remove anything on the landing page design that does not get visitors to complete your goal. This might mean removing navigation bars, footers, pop-ups, chat boxes, and/or links to social pages.
Make providing information easy
How your form is designed affects the user experience. Consider the amount of information you are asking from them and the value of what you are giving in return. For example, asking for an address, company name, and interests for a generic newsletter sign-up will make visitors feel that they are giving more than receiving and reduce sign-up.
Simple, clear form fields. Source: https://www.lemonade.com/
Leverage on easy-to-select form fields such as radio buttons or multi-select checkboxes that reduce the need for typing. Remember to ensure that your form is mobile-friendly as a good number of your traffic will come from mobile browsing.
If you are looking to improve the results of your online marketing, have a look at our list of digital marketing courses!
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Assistant Instructor: Yanling
About the author
Yanling is a Digital Marketer who is passionate in helping drive business strategy through digital platforms.