Brittany Patterson - May 28, 2014
We are all busy these days, but are we so busy that we should drive traffic to landing pages that will definitely not convert? Take a step back before launching a new campaign and put yourself in the shoes of the user. Imagine the disappointment a user might experience when he or she is highly motivated to make a purchase only to be taken to an unorganized, ugly, or confusing landing page.
Pretend you are not the marketing manager responsible for this campaign and, in fact, you are your target user. Head over to the landing page you have in mind. Pretend your intent is to make that purchase, fill out the form to learn more, or download a whitepaper. Then ask yourself a few questions:
- When you arrive on the landing page, read every headline. Do they make sense? Is there a call to action? Is the call to action ambiguous? If so, determine what you want the user to do and then re-write your call to action with this in mind.
- Is your major call to action below the fold? What is above the fold? If the user is likely to not immediately notice what he or she should do when landing on the page, the user is likely to have a sub optimal experience and not convert.
- Are the visuals appealing and well organized? Be honest. If they could be better, make them better. There is a lot of competition out there.
- Click on every single link and determine if they make sense to include on the page. If you find that a link takes a user to a log-in page when he or she may not be a registered user of your site; if it takes the user to another unnecessary page in the funnel; if it leads to a page that will distract the user from making a purchase, remove or reorganize it. Determine the intended action behind every link and think carefully before including it on your page.
- Is the content well written, clear, and concise? Is it too wordy? Are there typos?
- If the user must make a purchase or fill out a form, use a test account and complete that process yourself. Is it confusing? Is relevant information, such as pricing, not included where it should be? Is there an opportunity to cross promote and include other relevant product or service options during the process which may add value for the user and increase your sales?
- Have you reviewed the performance of similar campaigns? What does the data say? What did the user do after landing on the page? If you had a high number of bounces and low number of conversions, how did the user’s experience on the landing page contribute to this performance? Analyze your past landing pages and campaign data to learn more about the user experience and then continue testing until you get it right.
By putting yourself in the user’s shoes, going through the funnel yourself, and keeping your goals in mind, you can improve the landing page experience and increase your conversions.
