3 Things to Test on Your Landing Pages

Landing pages are ideal when running paid marketing campaigns. By sending the traffic to a page that is created specifically for generating leads, you have an advantage over sending this traffic to a website where the user can easily get lost and leave without converting.

Combining the landing page strategy with ongoing A/B testing, allows you to consistently improve the results you get from your campaigns.

In the digital marketing world, the concept of testing is often thrown around but not executed on very well.

We put together 3 things to test with new landing pages. In general it's a good idea to start with larger tests when first launching a campaign, before you start testing small things like button color.

1. Call to Action/Conversion Goal

Start with the CTA as one of the larger things to test. By testing ‘top-down’ and focusing on big picture things first you can start out with a better performing page right out of the gate.

The CTA should relate directy to the conversion objective of the landing page.

Examples of CTA's are:

1. Download a white paper or PDF

2. Request a demonstration of the product

3. Sign up for a free trial

These should line up with how you respond to the action taken as well. If you are going to go with ‘request demo’, you need to make sure you have marketing automation in place to assign the leads to a product specialist or salesperson that can reach out right away.

2. Social Proof:

Testimonials from current clients are a great way to support the conversion goal of your landing page. Visitors to your landing page will love the internal reinforcement they get when reading these.

Badges, awards, and certifications are also great to highlight as well as # of customers and any other stats you might have. The added trust you get from having social proof elements on a landing page are proven to increase conversion rates.

3. Headline:

The H1 headline is one of the most key elements of your landing page. It’s what the visitor reads first, and can often mean the difference between a bounce and a conversion.

The main principle is having the headline sync up to what was clicked on in the ad. 

For example, Bob clicked a Facebook ad offering a 14-day free trial of a subscription coffee service - the headline needs to match that copy as closely as possible.

These are 3 elements that should be tested right out of the gate with your new landing page. Once you find the (statistically valid) champion, put together a new design to test against the current winner.

Happy testing!

Why We Love Landing Pages

All too often, marketers make the mistake of sending campaign traffic to a website’s homepage, and not a dedicated landing page.

First impressions are everything, and a well designed landing page is the best way to generate new leads directly from paid marketing campaigns. Below, we’ll explain a few key reasons why you should use landing pages in your paid marketing campaigns.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a single dedicated page containing ONE call-to-action for the visitor. The call-to-action (CTA) is what we want the visitor to complete.

The CTA can vary based on your campaign goals. Popular examples include signing up for a newsletter, submitting a form to receive more information, or scheduling an appointment for a service.

We love landing pages because they box users in, and produce measurable and testable results. Results that you can show your boss and take home to your Mom.

Here are a few reasons why we like them so much:

1. Focused lead generation

Because a landing page only focuses on one goal, the visitor is more likely to complete the call-to-action. While conversion rates on a website are generally lower than 2%, landing pages can often have conversion rates of 10% or higher.

Whether it be signing up for a free proposal or scheduling a demo, the moment they complete this call-to-action you have secured a new lead.

Most businesses are going to have a longer sales cycle than a single interaction. You wouldn’t expect to sell a user on a several thousand dollar software subscription on the first visit right? It’s better to capture their name, email address and phone number so that you can follow up with them directly.

2. You control the messaging and the CTA (call to action)

While your website is meant to appeal to all types of visitors — current customer or not, a landing page is designed to have specific messaging and a specific conversion goal aligned with where the user is in the buying process.

This is your first opportunity to capture their attention and help them understand the benefit they get for subscribing to your product or service.

Giving something in exchange for a lead is a great way to maximize your conversion rate. A PDF download, e-book, or access to a free webinar all are effective ways to do this.

3. You can improve your results with A/B testing

One of the best things about landing pages is that you can easily A/B test them to see which one drives more conversions. This can make a significant impact on the performance of your campaign.

We recommend testing from ‘big to small’. Work on the biggest differentiators like two different CTAs (call to action) first to determine a winner. Then focus on smaller things like button color and text positioning.

Ongoing A/B testing over time will lead to the best campaign results. We use Unbounce to A/B test and set conversion goals for our landing pages.

In summary:

Once you have found an effective landing page + campaign formula, it’s time to scale up your campaign budgets. There are a lot of technical implementation steps involved so reach out to us before you get started to avoid pitfalls and save time.