How to create an effective landing page

You might have poured plenty of resources and effort into your marketing schemes. However, it will be all for naught if you don’t have a converting landing page.

The whole point of rolling out your marketing strategy is to lead potential customers back to your site. And when they do reach your site, you need to ensure that they stay. Otherwise, you’ll have an insignificant return on investment.

One way to make visitors interested in staying on your online store is to have landing pages that compel them to have a look around your online store.

Now, several online store owners might be tempted to confuse their site’s homepage with a landing page. And they’d be wrong.

A homepage introduces your audience to your brand in general. It contains several links to other areas on your online store.

However, a landing page only cares about ensuring that your audience is focused on the page’s subject. In other words, a landing page only has one call-to-action and link, all geared towards converting the visitor into a customer. As such, you’ll have to take different approaches when constructing a useful landing page.

In this article, we’ll show you how to create a great landing page. However, before we can get into that, we’ll first take a look at a few landing page types and why you need them for your online store.

Let’s get into it.

Why you need a great landing page

Since you sunk plenty of resources into your ad campaign, you need to make sure that you haven’t wasted those dollars. Landing pages are a great way to increase your ROI.

When a client follows an ad, they don’t land on your homepage. It has too many distractions and links that would take the client away from your intended converting action.

What landing pages do is point the prospect directly to where you want them to go on your site. This ensures that your ad money has done precisely what you needed it to do, that is, bring clients closer to your goal.

That’s why you can have several landing pages and only one homepage on your site.

Speaking of, here are the most typical and crucial landing page types:

• Click-through landing page: Here, you don’t actively collect any customer information. Instead, you use minimalist persuasive copy to direct a customer straight to the given product’s buying section.
  
  It’s more like a stop-over for the prospective client after they clicked on your ad and they’re on their way to check out the item.
  
• Sales landing page: This is a page that requires you to put on your sales game face. You have to craft copy that doesn’t come off too salesy to the potential client. It could put them off.

However, you also have to ensure that you present compelling copy. When you perfect this balancing act, the prospect is more likely to follow through on your call-to-action to buy.

Now we can get to the all-important business of showing you how to create a successful landing page.

How to create an effective landing page

As we’ve already seen, landing pages are essential to the success of your online store. If you’re looking to make sales or capture leads, an optimized landing page is a go-to solution.

Here are the different ways through which you can create high converting eCommerce landing pages.

1. Keep the design as clean and uncluttered as possible

Your landing page layout shouldn’t distract your potential customers from what you want them to do. If it’s a lead generation landing page, you want their attention on the form into which they should fill their information.

This minimalistic approach also means that you shouldn’t include or emphasize links other than your CTA. You might want to display and promote other offers, but it would defeat the page’s entire purpose.

Your landing page is there for only one reason - whatever it is that the CTA says. So, if it’s a clickthrough landing page, you don’t want the prospect doing anything else other than clicking that button that takes them to the product in the cart.

No doubt, you want visitors to still find their way around the site. However, making the navigation bar glaringly visible will steal the shine of the CTA button or link.

When it comes to the landing page’s actual layout, use fewer design elements than you would typically use on home or product pages.

Typically, that would be: Minimum text. One bright, hi-res image. A visible call-to-action. And that’s it!

This example features a clean and uncluttered design. A simple header, concise copy and a timer to create a sense of urgency so that customers feel compelled to buy.

2. Use a clear header

When a potential customer visits your page, it should have a clear and comprehensive header. This captures the prospect’s attention and lets them know what exactly the page is about. If your landing page has a bland title, visitors will exit the site as quickly as they came onto it.

Therefore, you need to call on that sales game face we talked about earlier. Use it to craft a headline that entices customers to stay on your landing page. An ideal landing page headline is short and engaging. In several instances, it provides vital information about the product.

Since the headline is short (keep it to at most 10 words), you need to use your limited text wisely. Do this by highlighting the brand’s or product’s benefit. Rather than defining the product, state its use and/or advantage over similar items on the market.

After all, the landing page already shows the product photo. Mentioning the product in the headline is unnecessary. Additionally, you’ll be wasting precious headline text. By getting straight to the product’s benefit, you’ll have the audience hooked. They’ll be more likely to look through the rest of the landing page.

3. Add crisp, unique, high-res images

Effective eCommerce landing pages use high-quality images to make the page visually appealing and exciting to visitors.

Therefore, you should add high-definition photos. These should show the product from unique angles and visual perspectives. In other words, show off your product in a way that your audience might not have seen before or that often.

And by captivating and unique images, we don’t mean you should exhibit your photo editing prowess. Much as the photos should go through post-processing, don’t embellish them with unrealistic features or what you consider to be cute filters.

Your prospective customer wants to see the unadulterated product. In other words, they want to see the product just the way it is. After all, that’s what they’ll get if and when they follow through to make a purchase.

Adding those other flourishes takes away from the visual brilliance of a clean photo. Therefore, make sure that you use high-resolution photos that show all the small details. Close-ups are especially good at this. Additionally, they provide an angle that customers rarely see.

If you have a limited budget, you might be tempted to go the stock photo route. However, this might cost you more in the long run. You need to invest in professional photography for your online store. This way, you’ll get a crisp and unique image that the client hasn’t seen on some other website.

4. Use creative, riveting copy

A minimalist header, creative but straightforward sub and unique images. All this is geared towards capturing and maintaining your potential customer’s attention when visiting your landing page.

Now that you have their attention, tell them what you have in store for them.
However, don’t just blandly dump it on the page. Engage and convince them of your product or brand. What will the product do for them? Can it solve the problems they have in your niche?

Answer these questions using language that moves potential buyers closer to making a purchase.

If you’re creating a lead generation landing page, apply a writing style that makes your audience want to leave their email address. A sales page should have copy that moves the prospect to click that “add to cart” CTA.

Crafting this kind of compelling copy requires you to appeal to the customer. In short, speak their language. If they can relate to your brand voice, they’re more likely to stick around. Therefore, you need to have a pretty good handle on your target audience.

In the initial stages of your online business, you created a theoretical image of what your ideal customer is like. This intimate knowledge of what your customer thinks and what they want allows you to craft relatable copy that appeals to them.
Keep in mind, the visitor shouldn’t spend a lot of time reading through your copy. It needs to be straight to the point.

And when you present it in a relatable format, you’re in with a chance of increasing conversions on your online store.

5. Highlight one main call-to-action

High converting eCommerce landing pages are successful because they focus on one main call-to-action (CTA). They don’t give the prospect any chance to get distracted by other page elements.

They don’t provide the visitor with more than one CTA. The prospect will be caught in two minds, wondering what they’re supposed to do on the page. When the customer has several options from which to choose, they’ll likely exit the page.
People opt for online shopping because it’s convenient. Therefore, your landing page shouldn’t make the customers have to think things through. If you’re giving them more decisions to make, they’ll lose interest and try elsewhere.

And because of all this, you should include and highlight only one CTA.

All the previous tips have been leading to this one button or link. You’ve been conditioning the customers to want to click it.

To increase your visitors’ chances of clicking the CTA, you should make it a different color from the rest of the landing page’s visual theme. This draws the customer’s eye and makes them more aware of the CTA.

Furthermore, avoid standard and plain wording. Instead, use descriptive language in your call-to-action. Rather than putting a simple “Download”, use “Read Full eBook Now”. Instead of using “Buy Now”, add “Add To Cart And Get Free Gift”.

These CTAs explicitly tell the customer what will happen when they click. They’re more persuasive. You’re doing all the thinking and decision-making for the customer, adding to that convenience they’re looking for.

Conclusion

We’ve gone through the basics of how to create a great landing page. Employ these tips to ensure that your landing page increases conversions on your store.

Additionally, you need to keep in mind that this isn’t an all-healing tonic to your conversion problems. You need to test different landing page aspects to figure out which variations work for you. Put all the best bits together to create a winning landing page.