In these tough economic times, many companies are looking to improve the performance of their online marketing program without any increase in the budget. In fact many program owners are facing the grim reality of driving more from their programs while facing budget cuts! Where does this person start? In this article, I will outline how a program owner can get more out of their program even with less media spend by optimizing the performance of their landing page.
According to Wikipedia, "A landing page typically displays content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link." And that "Landing Page Optimization aims to provide page content and appearance that makes the webpage more appealing to target audiences." Keep these two definitions in mind when reading this article.
Finally these recommendations are based upon best practice and my experiences. I will NOT say that this will guarantee you a ROI positive program. Why? Welll.. if I could guarantee that, I would NOT be working but be on some island enjoying my billions because, heck, I have 100% sure way to make money.
Good Handshake: As the definition above indicates, the landing page is an extension of the advertising link. What this means is that the visitor is looking for a CONTINUATION of the ad that they found attractive or appealing enough to click on. They will take first few seconds to look for that continuation once they are on the landing page. This helps them become more at ease on your landing page.
Example: When looking for "Contact Management software" I saw an ad for "Easily Manage Contacts & Clients. Get a Free Trial of XXXX" When I clicked on it, I was taken to a landing page where the very first language I was exposed to was "The Trusted CRM choice of 63,200 customers" and the offer was a "View Demo" rather than a "Get a Free Trial". My handshake experience was NOT the best here. The landing page DID NOT act as the extension the ad as it should have.
Best practice:
o Repeat similar copy in the landing page banner as in the ad copy
o Use similar design elements on the landing page as in the ad
o If an offer was displayed in the ad, make sure that this offer is prominently displayed on the landing page
o Assume that you have no more than 8 second to communicate the handshake effectively to the visitor.
Right content: When people are searching for some things, it is generally because they are trying to satisfy some need or trying to solve a problem. They visit your landing page with the hope that you have the product/service/solution that will help address their needs. They are NOT coming to you to read your marketing material. The most critical component for the success of your landing page is your content. If you do not provide the visitor with the right content, the rest is a lost cause.
Example: Now I searched for contact management software because I want to "Manage and Service my customers", "Complete view my customers" etc. and I was hoping that I can find a right product that will help me address these needs. Once I got to the landing page, I saw one BIG paragraph -
"Customer relationship management (CRM) is all about the relationships you have with your customers-including your prospects. It's about a single goal: getting more customers and keeping them happy. It's about making your people more productive and giving your managers unprecedented insight into everything related to prospects and customers. CRM starts with sales, but it also includes other customer-facing areas, such as marketing and customer service. Now more than ever, it's critical to be on top of every lead, every opportunity, and every customer interaction."
Ladies and gentlemen -- this is marketing copy that does not tell me ANYTHING about what this product can do and what how it will help me address my needs.
Best practice:
o Believe that CONTENT is KING. No one will buy anything from you until they are sure that the product/service will solve their issues.
o Focus on what issues people are trying to solve using your product/service and address them.
o Use 80%-20% rule. Provide content that will satisfy the 80% of the visitors to the landing page and try not to clutter your content to address those issues that only 20% of your visitors will have.
o Use common speak language in your copy and avoid company/industry jargon. Remember that your visitors are not living and breathing these things daily
o People don't read but scan content online. You should help them scan your copy by making your copy scan friendly. For example use bullet list or smaller paragraphs.
Build "Trust Factor": Today's customers like the convince and multiple options available to them online. BUT at the same time they are very wary of "fly by the night" unreliable companies that are also functioning online. So they are constantly looking for "Trust Factor". Unless you are an 800 pound gorilla in your industry which most people know, your landing page should build trust in the mind of your visitor.
Example: To continue with my example of the Contact Management software landing page, the company was an unknown to me. Only language this company used that can be considered "Trust factor" was "The trusted CRM choice of 63,200 customers". I was not very inclined to trust a self proclaimed number. What I was looking for was third party verification or voice of the customers, etc.
Best practice:
o Post what industry expert & your customers think of you and/or of your product?
o Post any awards won from a known group by your company or the product.
o Post Q&A that address "Refund policy", "Customer Support policy", "Upgrade Policy", etc.
o Make sure that this is viewed as the critical SUPPORT information and not as the central information to the landing page
Right call to actions: Not all visitors to your landing page will in the same stage of their buying process. Furthermore, different people like to take different actions even when they are in the same stage. For example, one person in the buying stage might want to buy online right there and other might want to call the call-center to buy. So to assume that one call to action on your landing page will serve everyone, is like leaving money on the table.
Example: To continue with my example, there was only one call to action on the landing page -- "Get Demo". What if I wanted to talk to someone in person? There was no phone # to call; what if I wanted to chat with someone? There was no online chat. What if I wanted to download a white paper or data sheet? Nothing was available.
Best practice:
o Identify at least three different call to actions that someone can take when they come your landing page -- "Call" ,"Buy" or "Try"
o Always provide a "Live person" option - either a phone number or an online chat option.
o Never assume that all people coming to your landing page would like to take the same action at the end of their visit.
Provide Additional Value: Finally, a landing page should answer the question a visitor would ask "What additional value are you going to provide me for conducting the transaction right here, right now?" Today people have many merchants and many channel of purchase options available to them. You need to provide a value add that is exclusively to your landing page so that the visitor feels compelled to take action right there. This value add does not have to be a $ off all the time. It can be free shipping, a generous support plan, a free extended warranty, a generous return policy etc.
Example: Going back the example give before, there was no additional value provided to me to submit by information to see the demo. If they had also provided some take away document, such as "Four things a contact management should have" that would have helped me in my search, it would have been worthwhile for me to give them my contact information.
Best practice:
o You must think outside the box to understand what additional value you can provide to your customers
o Think of at least three different additional values that you provide. Why? So that people might see at least one thing that they might like; for example free shipping, 60 day money back and 60 day free support
o Understand that value proposition is different than the right content.
Finally you must TEST, TEST and then TEST some more. As I have said before I will NOT guarantee that this will improve your landing page performance. You must test to see what will work for your landing pages. But these are some of the best practices that you should use.
Want to learn more about how to improve your online presence using Analytics? Visit my blog - http://alankartayal.blogspot.com/
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