Landing pages are a critical part of any lead generation strategy. Their focus is always on conversion. There’s even a whole philosophy on creating landing page content – it’s called conversion-centered design. The principles of this philosophy guide writing and designing so a landing page drives the viewer to take the intended action, such as downloading gated content or requesting a demo or quote.
So, how can you improve the conversions on your landing pages? Let’s look at some data, the pillars of conversion-centered design, and useful tips.
The State of Landing Pages
If you use landing pages to acquire leads, your effectiveness depends on many things. Here are some insights and data related to successful landing pages.
- Launching 10 to 12 landing pages can increase leads by 55 percent.
- Landing pages with one CTA (call to action) have a conversion rate of 13.5 percent, which is 1.5 percent greater than those with more than one.
- Landing page content that includes social proof (i.e., testimonials, quotes, reviews) has a conversion rate of 12.5 percent, compared to 11.4 percent for those that don’t.
- Pages that load within two seconds have a higher conversion rate than those that take longer.
- Personalized CTAs convert up to 202 percent better.
- Landing pages with video can improve conversions by 86 percent.
These findings set the stage for how your enterprise content team will develop landing pages. They should also provide insight as you craft the parameters around landing pages in your content strategy.
Now let’s dive into conversion-centered design.
What Is Conversion-Centered Design?
Conversion-centered design is a set of seven principles developed by Unbounce. They define it as “a framework for building high-converting marketing campaigns.”
It’s more than just making the page look vibrant and appealing. It includes persuasive design and copy tactics, psychological triggers, and a focus on driving the viewer to take an action.
Watch the video below from Unbounce on the concept.
The Seven Principles and How They Impact Landing Page Content
- Attention: It’s about getting the viewer engaged with no distractions. That means no footer or header, navigation, or other non-conversion-related components. For copy, it means a title with a strong hook.
- Context: This element considers how a user arrives on your landing page. Was it an ad? Social media? From an email nurture track? That matters in the content you create, as it needs to align with what they experienced before they clicked. The biggest question to answer here with your copy is, “Have you given them enough information to convert?”
- Clarity: You certainly don’t want your landing page to be unclear. To ensure the purpose of your landing page is easy to understand, all the content and design techniques you use should push visitors toward that one objective of completing the form. The offer should be clear at every point, from the title to the body to the CTA.
- Congruence: This just means agreement. You want to align all parts of your page back to your goal. Consider how every header and sentence supports the intent. Failure to do this could cause hesitation. Your design and content should be in harmony to successfully execute this principle.
- Credibility: Demonstrating social proof and authority to visitors is key to building trust. Audiences aren’t going to give you their personal details if they don’t find you credible. You’ll want to include testimonials and quotes, the more specific, the better. It’s also better if you can show your previous customer’s name and company in your testimonials. Other credibility elements could be awards for products, membership in reputable industry associations, and impressive numbers for years in business or number of clients.
- Closing: Next is reducing any anxiety and persuading prospects to click in your closing. Regarding copy, you’ll want to measure the performance of your CTA. You can also set up an expectation with the user. For example, if the page offers a consultation, insert a message like “We’ll be in touch in the next 24 hours to set up your meeting.” Another aspect is to avoid stop words, which are anything that could trigger a negative feeling.
- Continuance: The last piece is what happens after the conversion. By using a thank you page, you can set expectations and provide secondary offers, such as highlights of related blogs they may find of interest.
Weaving these principles into your landing page content can boost your conversion rate. You’ll want to test out different things. Be sure to test one difference at a time, so you can determine in your content analytics the specific element that had better results.
More Tips for Writing Landing Page Content
Beyond conversion-centered design, there are more best practices for the content you create. Many of these go back to content marketing fundamentals.
- Know your audience: Write how they speak about the things that matter to them.
- Use challenge-solution models: Craft content that defines their problem and how the offer from the landing page can help them solve it.
- Be action-focused: Your header, subheads, and CTAs should begin with strong action verbs.
- Describe features as benefits: Being feature-focused isn’t very compelling. You’ll want to tell the story of why the feature helps them.
- Put the most important content above the fold: Copy should be concise at the top, starting with a strong hook then adding an introduction with some bullets. Many people may not keep scrolling, so you want to grab their attention quickly.
- Keep tweaking pages based on data: Once you have a page out there, you are tracking its performance. If you’re A/B testing or using tools that show you how a user interacts with content, you’ll glean insights. Use those to make improvements.
- Speak directly to the user: Using the second person and direct sentences helps put the reader into the situation. Be minimal in mentioning your company name or using we.
Landing Page Content: Writing Your Way to Conversions
Writing landing pages is a specialized part of content marketing. You want to inform and empathize with the audience while persuading them to complete an action. It’s a balancing act that also depends on great design.
Get more tips, insights, and strategies like these by subscribing to the DivvyHQ blog, written by and for content marketers!