Six Tips For Boosting Landing Page Conversion Rates
In a perfect world, every stranger to visit your website would become a lead, and every lead would become a satisfied, paying customer. Unfortunately, the world isn't perfect and while it may not be possible to covert 100% of visitors, it is possible to improve your conversion rate by optimizing landing pages.
Yes, it's valuable content that will bring visitors to your website, but in order to actually inspire them to make a buying decision, your site must have strong landing pages that provide visitors with compelling information and clear direction. Are your landing pages up to snuff? Here are six simple ways that you can enhance your landing pages and boost overall conversion rates.
1. Make It Relevant
When a consumer clicks on an ad or some type of call to action, they expect the corresponding landing page to be relevant. For example, if you encourage a visitor to follow a link in order to obtain a free ebook, the landing page must match up with what was promised and focus specifically on how to take advantage of the offer. If you make it even somewhat difficult for a prospect to figure out what steps he/she needs to take in order to cash in on the promotion, they're much more likely to leave your site and never return.
2. Personalize the Message
Many marketers make the mistake of trying to sell their products or services rather than sell the customer on those products or services. It may seem like a minor difference, but understanding how to properly connect with your target audience can make a huge difference in your overall conversion rate. Selling your products or services means simply highlighting its capabilities, qualities, and what sets it apart from the competition. Selling your customers on your products or services means demonstrating the many ways in which becoming a customer will improve or simplify their life through an emphasis on benefits. By understanding this distinction and focusing on selling the customers, you're much more likely to get the desired response.
3. Keep It Clear & Simple
In most cases, the ideal word count for a landing page is 250. When the content on your landing pages becomes too long-winded or wordy, you'll lose the interest of visitors before they are asked to convert. Limit your copy to highlighting personal value and instructing your visitors on exactly what it is that you want them to do, whether that's filling out a form or subscribing to a newsletter. The more clear and concise you can be, the better your conversion rates.
4. Establish Trust
Some visitors to your website may have reservations about providing you with their information or taking the next step in becoming a customer. They may doubt your credibility or the security of their information. To counter this, it's important to embrace trust indicators. This can include the use of 3rd party trust and security certifications, guarantee seals, press mentions, and personal testimonials.
5. Create a Sense of Urgency
What's encouraging your prospective customers to take action right now? Some visitors may arrive at a website with an existing feeling of internal urgency. This might happen when a problem has arisen that needs to be resolved quickly. Other people may need more encouragement. Marketers can introduce information to a visitor as a means of building on that sense of urgency. Special pricing, limited time offers, and other deadlines can help drive the need for immediate action. Even the tone and presentation of your copy can create the need or desire for a consumer to make the decision to "act today."
6. Eliminate Distractions
One of the biggest mistakes that a marketer can make when designing a landing page is to stuff it full with external links and images. When a visitor initially arrives on a landing page, they already have a focused goal or idea of what it is that they which to accomplish. When there are a number of other links present, however, the prospect may become side-tracked. The last thing you want is for your visitors to leave the landing page before they can provide you with their information. Stay on topic or risk losing out on converting new leads.
Without excellent landing pages, all of your other content and inbound marketing strategies are for naught. This is the "do or die' moment for your target audience, so you need to take the time to create a simple map directing them to do what it is that you would like them to do. By following these six tips you'll find that it's relatively easy to accomplish this objective and will quickly begin to notice an increase in your conversion rates.
