There are landing pages and then there are landing pages – some
succeed, some don’t. What differentiates yours from the ones that don’t?
It’s simple – your landing page is meant for your visitor, who is your
potential buyer. If your landing page is not designed to lure, captivate
and retain this visitor’s interest for long enough to make a
commitment, then it’s no good.
1. Simplicity
You have about 5 to 6 seconds in which you either grab your
customer’s attention, or lose him or her forever. Keep your design
simple by getting rid of unnecessary links, Ads, copy, design and
navigational elements. Retain plenty of white space into the area which
you want to be noticed first – your main offer and your CTA (Call To
Action).
2. Smooth User Experience
Ensure fast load speeds; test all your transactional processes to
know exactly what your customer will experience. If you find any hitch
or slowdown in the information and payment processing and order
fulfillment aspects, you need to fix them immediately. Use different,
geographically displayed payment gateways to enable quicker
transactions.
3. Attractive Design
While you need to keep your landing pages simple, by no means should
they be dull or boring. An attractive page, well designed with the right
colors, fonts and graphics will grab eyeballs. Make your content look
good with the right fonts and colors, and use good-looking product
images alongside your copy. Avoid using unnecessary design elements,
even if they’re very attractive.
4. Great Product Search Feature
This is one aspect where many businesses fail – not providing a
search feature. Even if your landing page gives all the product details a
customer might want, do provide a strong, fast search feature. Your
customer may want to check out products other than the one they came
for.
5. Provide A Product Category Filter
Create a drop-down category list feature, along with a good filter so
that people can easily get to the one they want. Also be sure to
provide thumbnails of the products along with their names in your
category index, and provide links to detailed product info in the
category page, including impartial product reviews.
6. Stick To The Scent
Specifically target each landing page based on where your visitor is
coming from, such as PPC Ads, search engine results and so on. It’s one
thing to land on a different landing page, but if all links lead to your
home page, then you’ve lost the game. Stick to the scent, and make sure
that your visitor lands on a page which is relevant to their
information source.
7. Effective Use Of Sidebar
Display various customer testimonials, customer product reviews and
credibility statements from authority sites on your sidebar. Avoid
placing links in your sidebar – you don’t want the visitor to move away
from the landing page. Use the sidebar also to indicate the number of
people who’ve purchased the product featured on the page.
8. Un-clutter Your Header And Footer
Be sure your header and footer are free of unnecessary buttons, links
or useless statements that don’t serve your landing page’s objective.
You can provide links to your Terms and Conditions, Security Policy and
Privacy Policy if you like.
9. Consistency In Design
Make sure that the copy, images, color and design elements you use in
your landing page reflect what’s been used in your Ad or email
newsletter source. This kind of consistency builds credibility, as
customers see you as a company that cares about attention to detail.
Plus, repeating the same design elements and text is a way of
reinforcing your message and reassuring your visitor.
10. Attention-Grabbing Action Buttons
Whatever colors you use for your text and headlines, make sure your
action buttons stand out. For example, if your text elements are in
black and your header is bright navy, let your CTA button be a bright
orange, maroon or green. So whether your button is Order Now, Add to
Cart or Buy Now, make sure even the most shortsighted person can spot
it.
11. Social Proofs
Use various social media widgets to display social proofs. Customers
always want to know how popular you are on social media and putting up a
running tweet window helps. You can also use a widget to keep a running
count of Facebook Likes as well.
12. Smooth Eye Flow
Your landing page template should have a place for your headline,
then the copy, your offer and then your CTA. This creates a smooth eye
flow, with a beginning and an end, and determines the visual hierarchy
of your page elements. Direct the visitor’s eye towards your CTA using
bold arrows. Grab attention for important elements by putting them in
bold colors on a pale background. Avoid integrating anything in the
middle that might distract your customer from the offer and the CTA.
Article by Stephen of invesp,
a conversion optimization company that specializes in offering
customized landing page designing and e-commerce optimization solutions.
Post from: SiteProNews