The way buyers find and choose the products and services they want to purchase has changed beyond a lot recently. This has led to inbound marketing techniques growing in popularity and businesses to constantly adjust their strategies to fit this new breed of buyer. Online lead generation is now key for many businesses and two of the most effective mechanics being used to fill up the sales funnel are content marketing and conversion offers.
The Process Works a Little Like This:
- A business will pinpoint the key target audience/s it wants to market to.
- A content marketing plan is then put together that looks to grab, nurture and build relationships with these target leads at every stage of the buyer journey
- The content is shared regularly across different communication channels
- Readers are alerted to a relevant ‘offer’ – a more specialist or detailed piece of content that will be of value to them or signing up to something great
- The call to action (CTA) will send contacts through to a specific landing page
- The landing page describes the offer in more detail and includes a mechanism for accessing it – this is usually done by completion of a simple form
- Once a contact has filled in the form to get hold of the offer, they are classed as having ‘converted’
- They then become a lead that can be nurtured and guided along the buyer journey and towards becoming a paying customer
Landing pages are therefore a vital link in the chain and will impact on how successful a company’s lead generation efforts go on to be.
What is a Lead Generating Landing Page?
A landing page is a final message a contact will see before converting on an offer. Each one is basically a mini online sales pitch aiming to convince a contact that they need to take action. The offer itself will only be appealing if it’s properly targeted. It needs to be something of real benefit and value to the contact seeing it. So, it’s important to be pitching the right message to the right audience to get the desired effect.
Visitors need to quickly be able to see the potential value and feel confident enough in you as a company, to hand over their contact details in exchange for it. If you really want to achieve the maximum number of conversions possible, then ideally you will just be asking for their email address at this stage. There will be plenty of opportunities to grab further information later on after you’ve officially made them a lead.
The content on the landing page needs to cover 3 key pieces of information:
- What the offer is
- How it will benefit the reader/why they need it
- How they can get hold of it
What Should a Landing Page Do?
A landing page has one purpose – to generate conversions by turning contacts into leads. It’s as simple as that. If your landing page is not converting traffic into leads, then something is seriously wrong. There are many reasons why that may be the case; from the copy and messaging being pitched wrongly, to how it is designed and what you’re asking on the form.
Another common mistake marketers make is to produce a landing page which is full of escape routes. You want visitors to do one thing and one thing only, and that is to convert. By having links through to your homepage, or other pages on the website, you are potentially sending them off course and diluting your message.
Remember, grabbing their contacts details is key for you to be able to convert a contact from being an anonymous visitor to a lead that you can start building a relationship with. Of course, offers aren’t the only way you can do that. There is also software available to let you see which businesses are visiting your website, even if they never go on to convert. However, you do it these leads will be warmer and more likely to be a potential sales opportunity one day.
What do you need to know before you get started? As with any marketing, it’s all about thorough prep and planning. Before you dive in with a brief for your designer and copywriter, think about:
- Who is the target audience? – Who are you planning to drive to the page?
- What is the conversion offer? – What are you going to offer visitors?
- What are the benefits? – How will the offer be of benefit to them? Why do they need it?
- How will visitors convert? – What do visitors need to do to get hold of the offer?
- What will happen next? – What happens after someone has converted? Is everything prepared and good to go, once the landing page is live?
- What will your conversion goal be? – How many conversions are you aiming for and within what period of time? How many of those coming to the page are you aiming to convert?
- How will you measure success? – What process of analysis and improvement are you going to follow?
What Elements do the Most Effective Lead-Generating Landing Pages Contain?
Landing pages are generally short and sweet but don’t be misled by the size. It will take just as much thought and design work to get it right. And you don’t want to fall at the last hurdle, as this is crunch time for getting conversions. We’ve pulled together a comprehensive list of all those things that the best and most effective landing pages contain.
What to think about with regard to Copy, Design, and Functionality:
Copy
- The best landing pages use a clear and attention-grabbing headline
- Focus highly on readability
- Use short copy that’s to the point and free of waffle
- Feature interesting copy that gives away enough information! (being boring is a huge no-no)
- Focus on benefits
- Use facts and figures to make points and back up claims
- Make use of a bulleted list to get the main points across
- Emphasize that it’s a free offer (if it is)
- Use a tone and style that is a good ‘fit’ for the target audience
- Avoid using jargon, long sentences, and complicated language
- Are persuasive and get across the benefit of ‘why’ someone should hand over their details
- Reassure visitors that their privacy is important and data will be protected
Design
- Feature multiple calls to action (CTAs) – but not too many, two or three is usually the magic number
- They are uncluttered and not too busy
- They use headings, subheading, and spacing to break up sections
- Color and contrast is used to help elements stand out
- The text is always displayed clearly, so it can easily be read even when placed over a colored background
- They use eye-catching and relevant imagery that adds value
- Aren’t over-designed or fussy, which can distract from the messaging
Functionality
- Use click-to-call to make it super easy to get in touch
- Have a short form – they don’t ask too much, as that can be a major put off (just asking for an email address is most likely to get conversions)
- Ask only what they need to and don’t try to get too personal too soon
- Ask simple questions that are easy to answer with little thought
- Don’t make too many form questions mandatory
- Are mobile friendly and work just as well on different devices
- Limit points of exit – they don’t include headers or footers and will limit any other way a visitor might escape, including not using the logo as a link to the homepage
Choosing a Great Headline
Get creative and spend time getting some good options together. But you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are many tried and tested formats that are proven to work well. They include:
- ‘How to…..’ (How to land more sales in 5 easy steps)
- ‘Hacks for..’ (35 efficiency hacks for business managers)
- ‘The secret of…’ (The secret of super effective SEO)
- ‘This is….’ (This is the surprising thing the most successful sales teams do every morning)
You could also consider using a client testimonial as a headline, setting the scene with some sort of cliffhanger that sparks their curiosity, or explicitly stating a problem/pain point that a potential lead may be facing. Think what key message you want to get across and then work out how best to say it. There are also tools online like keywordtool.io that may also be useful for helping in choosing which words and phrases to use (so you can match what people are actively searching for).
Additional Considerations for your Landing Pages
- Have a ‘preview’ option, so visitors get a better idea of what they’ll get
- Mention if there is limited availability, to encourage conversions
- Display the names/logos of current clients to add greater credibility
- Use a short but outstanding client testimonial to boost trust
- Use a mini case study with supporting data to back up your claims
- Use screenshots to show how the product or software works
Finally, Test and Test Again
Make sure you have tried out the whole process personally, so you know what a prospective lead’s experience will be. That means testing it on different devices too. If there are gaps or errors, fix them. Make sure it’s a seamless process from start to finish. Also, it is important to make sure you are meeting all the legal requirements for data protection. For example, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force in May 2018 and brings with it stricter rules around how companies seek consent and then store and use personal data.
If you are using Google Ads (formally Adwords) or Social Advertising like Facebook contact us for a Free Consultation and start including Landing Pages to your advertising campaigns.