No matter what your business is, what campaign you’re running, who your audience is, or what your marketing teams’ goals are, there’s one commonality that binds all digital marketers together: the understanding of a good landing page.
Landing pages are one of the most critical elements of your digital marketing strategy. A landing page serves as a pivotal moment in your customer’s journey—transforming casual visitors into leads or paying customers. And, a well-crafted landing page can significantly boost conversion rates. For that reason, it’s even more essential to understand the best practices for creating a winning landing page.
In this blog post, we’ll share five key strategies for a landing page that converts that every marketer needs to know. Whether you’re a designer, copywriter, MOPs expert, or team lead, it’s important to understand how to maximize the value of your landing page so that it stands out and converts effectively.
1. Prioritize fast loading speeds
When you work in the digital space, speed matters. Research shows that a one-second delay in page load time can reduce conversions by 7%. The faster your landing page loads, the better your chances of keeping visitors engaged.
Tips to improve page speed:
- Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify slow-loading elements.
- Optimize and compress images without sacrificing quality.
- Minimize unnecessary code and scripts.
- Enable browser caching for faster repeat visits.
- A landing page that loads in one second has a 5x higher conversion rate than one that takes ten seconds to load
Remember: Slow speeds could cost you potential customers.
2. Keep the design simple and intuitive
Less is more when it comes to landing page design. A cluttered or confusing layout can overwhelm visitors and push them away. Instead, focus on clean, minimalistic, and user-friendly designs that guide visitors toward the desired action.
Best practices for simple design:
- Follow Hick’s Law: Reduce choices to make decision-making easier.
- Use ample white space to direct attention where it matters most.
- Ensure key elements like headlines, CTAs, and forms are immediately visible.
- Use a Z-pattern or F-pattern layout to guide the visitor’s eye naturally.
Additionally, leveraging visual hierarchy can strengthen your landing page messaging and aesthetic. Visual hierarchy is the principle of arranging elements to show their order of importance. It helps those who come to your landing page understand the presented information.
Remember: A well-done visual hierarchy answers the question, “What should I look at first?”
3. Craft an attention-grabbing headline
You’ve worked hard to hone your brand’s messaging and mission. Don’t miss a branding opportunity with a poorly executed headline. Studies show that 80% of people will read the headline, but only 20% will read the rest of the content. Focusing on an on-brand, well-written headline can be the determining factor of the success of your entire landing page.
Luckily there are a few best practices to stick to when crafting powerful headlines.
Effective headline types:
- How-to headlines: “How to Boost Your Website’s Conversion Rate in 7 Days”
- Pain-point headlines: “Tired of Low Conversion Rates? Here’s the Fix”
- Superlative headlines: “The Best Landing Page Formula for Maximum Conversions”
- CTA-based headlines: “Start Your Free Trial Today!”
When brainstorming a headline, stick to the Clear and Clever forms. Clear means you communicate with a nifty turn of phrase. Clear means you’re plain and simple.
Remember: A winning headline combines the Clear and Clever forms, stating the problem it solves with a sense of urgency.
4. Keep messaging concise and relevant
Your landing page should promote the conversation, not overwhelm visitors with information. Research shows that reducing copy length by 50% can increase conversion rates by 30%.
Sticking to short and sweet content requires you to master doing more with less. The art of brevity challenges you to quickly make a substantive connection with your audience. While this might be a difficult task at hand (ask any writer on your marketing team!), crafting short paragraphs containing a few tightly worded sentences must be your aim.
How to write effective copy:
- Use short paragraphs and bullet points for easy scanning.
- Focus on benefits, not just features.
- Address the pain points and provide a clear solution.
- Keep language simple, engaging, and to the point.
Remember: A landing page is where you want to continue the conversation, not conclude it. There’s no need to tell everything there
5. Have a clear and compelling call-to-action (CTA)
A landing page without a powerful Call-to-Action (CTA) is like a sales pitch without a closing statement. Your CTA is the gateway to conversion, so it must stand out and be action-driven.
High-converting CTAs:
- Use action-oriented words: (“Get Started Now,” “Claim Your Free Trial”).
- Make it stand out with contrasting colors and prominent placement.
- Keep it above the fold (visible without scrolling).
- Personalize it when possible: (“Alex, Get Your Free Quote”).
While a powerful headline is key, equally important is a clear and concise CTA. Providing your customers with a clear next step that’s simply written and easily visible enhances your landing page power.
Remember: A strong headline combined with a clear CTA can significantly boost engagement and conversions.
A winning landing page isn’t just about looking good—it’s about driving results. By implementing these five best practices, you’ll create an effective page that loads fast, is easy to navigate, captures attention, delivers a compelling message, and encourages action.
Want to take your landing pages to the next level? Run A/B tests, optimize, and refine based on real user behavior. The more you fine-tune your approach, the better your conversion rates will be.
As the #1 collaborative email and landing page creation platform for enterprise marketers, Stensul dramatically reduces creation time – up to 90% – so teams can better focus on improving email and landing page performance. Stensul makes this possible by streamlining collaboration and simplifying the creation process for all marketers, so they can create high-performing emails and landing pages that drive stronger results.
Book a call with us to learn more about how to maximise your landing page efficiency.
