Looking to increase your landing page conversions? Try the proven techniques below to create a killer landing page that will effectively generate conversions.

A marketing team recently spent countless hours developing a campaign for new product offerings. They were torn between two paths. Would it be better to create a dedicated landing page that will result in a high conversion rate from leads that wouldn’t be fully qualified? Or, would it make sense to link the campaign directly to the product page on the website, which would result in less conversions, but higher quality leads? Is there a balance between the two paths?

If you are finding yourself in a similar situation, read below for five ways you can increase conversions. 

1. Never start a marketing campaign without a dedicated landing page. This is also commonly referred to by the acronym NSAMCWADLP. According to the Digital Marketing Essentials textbook, dedicated landing pages result in significantly higher conversions since they can be designed to perfectly match the visual elements and message of the advertising campaign. It is important to consider three elements when designing landing pages, which I will describe below in points 2, 3, and 4.
   
2. Product or Service. Consider the goal of your landing page. Are you looking to encourage visitors to purchase your product or service? On the other hand, is the purpose of your landing page to generate leads? Perhaps you want to increase subscriptions. Depending on your goal, your message and visual components should encourage the visitor behavior you are trying to achieve. Check out the example of Full Sail’s landing page below. As a lead generation landing page, their phone number, value proposition, and call-to-action were all placed in the upper fold. It is possible to view the page as a short form landing page and quickly fill out the form, however, it is also possible to scroll down to read more about their programs of study. 

3. Message. A successful message should include three key components: value proposition, call-to-action (CTA), and how to proceed. To create the right value proposition, you need to understand your target audience. What are their pain points? An effective CTA will instill urgency in a viewer, encouraging them to take action. With an effective value proposition and CTA, the next step would naturally be to complete the form. Therefore, optimize your form fields and include clear instructions.
    
4. Visual Components. Visual components of a landing page should include a relevant image of the product or service that is being promoted. Match the color scheme and logo to complement both the advertisement and company website. The Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design (RMCAD) landing page is an excellent example of well-designed visual components. Scroll through their landing page and watch the images contract towards the middle of the page. The icons around the individual move around, which adds simplistic animation. 

5. Measure. As the management expert Peter Drucker stated, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Achieve the highest possible conversion rate by continually conducting A/B testing. To explain the concept, A is the existing web page and works as the control. B is the website with changed elements. An A/B testing platform will randomly select the A or B version of the page to display. By continuously testing, it will be possible to implement the right landing page elements to yield the highest conversion rate.
   
   The Los Angeles Film School took a different route in their attempts to encourage viewers to read the content before filling out a form. This technique may be more effective at generating higher quality leads, albeit less than Full Sail or RMCAD would.  
   

Blended together, the above five techniques are the recipe to increase landing page conversions. Referring to the conflict above at Sessions College, the conclusion is that creating dedicated landing pages holds far more value than simply directing viewers from advertisements to the company website. The key is to curate the landing page in a way that it will balance conversion and allow a viewer to reap information about the product or service. 

Written by Kimberly O’Hanlon
Blog for MRKT584: Digital Marketing Platforms
Instructor: Nikki Brown
April 8th, 2022

References:

Draper, Stuart and Larson, Jeff. Digital Marketing Essentials. 2014. Copyright 2019 by Edify Publishing. 

Saleh, Khalid. A 9-step guide to increase your landing page conversion rate. 20 Feb 2017. MARTECH. https://martech.org/9-step-guide-increase-landing-page-conversion-rate/