Optimising your landing page — Review
Use a single web page to focus on a single offer so you can turn those visitors into customers
Just when you think having a website is enough to get leads through the (virtual) door, in comes a nifty digital marketing marketing tool called a landing page. If you’re wondering what the heck a landing page is, you’ve found yourself on the right article. Today, I’ll be talking about the role that a landing page plays in digital marketing and why it’s important to optimise such a tool in order to maximise its benefits and hopefully drive your conversions.
Disclaimer: I am no expert, merely someone who’s in the midst of growing her understanding of growth marketing and all that comes with it. This is purely my interpretation, so if at any point there are points that are factually incorrect, please proceed to email me at farahnabilaayesha@gmail.com so you can help me correct my understanding.
In the digital marketing world, a landing page is a standalone web page created specifically for a marketing or advertising campaign. Basically, it’s the first page that users “land on” once they click on an ad source be it from an email or ads on search engines or social media platforms. It isn’t part of the website, but much rather it works independently off a website or app.
Contrary to web pages which typically have many goals and encourage exploration, landing pages are designed with a singular and focused conversion goal in mind, otherwise known as a call to action (CTA).
Unlike web pages, which typically have many goals and encourage exploration, landing pages are designed with a single focus or goal, known as a call to action (or CTA, for short). In this sense, landing pages are purposefully made to be optimised in order to drive conversions.
So what makes an optimised landing page effective?
According to conversion optimiser cum wildlife photographer Michael Aagard (you can learn more about him here) who runs the course titled Landing Page Optimisation on CXL Institute, some of the characteristics that make an optimised landing page include:
- It shortens the journey from click to conversion i.e. making CTA apparent
- It follows up on “promises” made in ad source
- It speaks to user motivation and addresses barriers — helps to build momentum and remove barriers to conversion
- It answers important questions and creates clarity
- It creates a clear path to conversion goal
In order to exemplify the above, I’ll be taking you through a real life example as a basis for understanding.
For context, I’m currently considering getting the iPhone 12 on a mobile plan from a telco. So I plug in the search terms “iphone 12 mobile plan” on Google. I then click through on the first five links that I see.
I’ll break down each and every landing page of the five that I clicked through.
- You will notice that in my search results, this ad comes up first. However, there is no mention of the iPhone in both the SEO title nor the SEO description.
- Once clicking through, there is absolutely zero mentions of the iPhone 12, which means that I have to further dig through their site to look for the information. Safe to say, this lengthens my journey from click to conversion.
- As I scrolled down the page, there were more than one button for me to click through which gives me more anxiety than it does peace of mind. It becomes a deterrent to getting the iPhone 12 from Tune Talk as the barriers to do so seem too big at this point.
- To be fair, since it doesn’t even mention the iPhone 12 in the search results, naturally it wouldn’t follow up on the promise made in the ad source. Nevertheless, it makes you wonder why they would spend on the ad space without an absolutely clear CTA.
In conclusion, I’m ruling Tune Talk out without even attempting a further search. The path becomes too long and complicated for me, and I’m not willing to do the digging at this point.
- In the search results, it does mention the iPhone in the SEO description but has a pretty generic SEO title. This doesn’t instil confidence that they can offer what it is that I’m looking for.
- However, upon clicking through, at the top of the landing page, I am greeted by a big banner that promotes the iPhone 12 Pro. As I scroll further down, there are banners featuring the iPhone 12, iPhone 11 and the iPhone SE. Looks like they’ve followed up on the promise made in the ad source, but may have overpromised by providing me one too many options than I would have liked.
Overall, definitely a more positive experience than Tune Talk bar the generic SEO title. Truth be told, had it not been for this experiment, the likelihood of me clicking on this particular ad source would be low since it isn’t very indicative nor representative.
- From my search results, the SEO title is very clearly communicated. I can almost expect to see the iPhone 12 staring right at me once I click through the ad.
- Upon my arrival, I am instead greeted by what seems to be the general page for mobile device plans with all the latest deals available. I have to click on the tab that says “Apple” in order to view the iPhone 12 options.
Although it’s an additional step, it’s not too big of a deal. On one side of the spectrum, it lets me see the latest deals and the brands of phones that it offers on mobile plans. However, if I was pressed for time or the type of shopper who knows exactly what I want and am unbothered by going through too many web pages to get it, I’d likely not be compelled to buy from Celcom. I do believe that it would be more effective for them to have a specialised iPhone 12 landing page so that users can pretty much cut to the chase.
- In the search results, the SEO title is also generic but the SEO description is pretty on point. Definitely something I want to check out.
- Upon clicking through, I land straight at the conversion page whereby all I have to do is choose the colour, capacity and plan before adding to cart. Voila — conversion is a success!
I love that it landed here. This checks off all the characterises of an optimised landing page according to Michael.
- In the search results, the SEO title and description clearly mentions that I can upgrade to the iPhone 12. Kudos on the highly effective copywriting.
- Upon clicking through, the promise is further reinforced by the opening statement of owning the iPhone 12 Pro from only RM171/month. Now that’s a compelling promise that I can take them up on.
- As I scroll down, all I’ve gotta do is choose my capacity and monthly device instalment, and I’m good to go
Another winner in the optimised landing page books for me. Short, clear and pretty much fuss free.
It’s clear that an optimised landing page isn’t just about fixing certain elements of the landing page or making it look pretty (though a visually aesthetic pleasing one does help). Optimising a landing page zeroes in a clear and singular focus that makes it your best bet at increasing the conversion rates of your marketing campaigns, and in turn lowering your cost of acquiring a lead or sale.
Having fewer links on your landing page will increase conversions, as there are fewer buttons for users to click on which leads them further away from the desired CTA. The power of an optimised landing page lies in its simplicity of promoting a single offer in order to turn visitors into actual paying customers.
