Landing Page Mistakes That Are Stopping Your Conversions Dead
March 7, 2016
You’ve done the market research, looked at endless columns of numbers and data, mapped out the right strategy to market to your target audience, and managed to get your audience to your site. Now the real work starts.
Landing pages. (dun dun dun)
Nothing can be more rewarding and vexing than creating a landing page for your site that converts well. A good landing page has every element of design, copy, and social working together to tell a narrative that guides the visitor toward your conversion goal. Weaving together that web of magic can be difficult but ultimately rewarding. As much as I’d like to offer you magic to solve your landing page problems, my time at Hogwarts won’t allow me to, but if you manage to avoid these 6 problems that plague most landing pages, you’ll be one step ahead of the herd.
1. A Disconnect Between the Ad and the Landing Page Copy
When you first grab your visitor’s attention, you’re teasing them with the promise of more information. When they click on the ad, they expect to see similar messaging on the landing page. You want to lay a trail of clues for your visitors to follow until they find what they’re looking for. The last thing a visitor wants is to click on your ad, which is promising them something, only to find themselves on a page that doesn’t have the same messaging as the initial ad. Keep things consistent.
2. Wrong Call to Action Color
Each landing page should have one specific objective—one thing that your story is leading them to. The placement and wording of your call to action is important, but we won’t get into that today. We’re going to focus on the coloring.
There are many theories out there regarding which color is best for your call to action button, but without testing your market audience, it would be difficult to tell which one works best. There have been many studies showing that there is no “one size fits all” color for calls to action. How the button color fits into the visual hierarchy or structure of the page is critical. The best color for call to action buttons is the one that works for you and converts highest on your site. The key is to test and test often.
With that in mind, certain colors do incite certain emotional responses from people.
- Blue denotes professionalism. Blue is used by financial institutions for the trust it radiates and also by tech firms like Dell to show professionalism.
- Green is the easiest color for the eye to process. It works well for budget-conscious shoppers. Green is also associated with the word “go.”
- Orange brings to mind feelings of excitement, enthusiasm, and warmth. Sites like Amazon use orange in their calls to action.
3. Not Explaining Your Purpose Clearly
How much time does it take to figure out what you are offering? If the answer is anything more than “no time at all,” you need to change the messaging of the landing page. If you are offering a service, explain what is included. What makes your service unique? Why are you qualified to offer it? Confusing your visitors with unclear messaging is the easiest way to lose a lead.
4. Top Navigation is Not Removed
There has been some conflicting feelings about having top navigation on all landing pages, but recent studies are helping shed some light on why removing your site’s navigation is so important. Your landing page has one purpose: to drive leads. You want to keep the visitor focused on that purpose, which means that the visitor should only be in one place: that landing page. Nowhere else. A landing page is part of an external sales funnel. It’s intended to generate leads or score conversions, so keep the visitor on your landing page and don’t try to drive them anywhere else.
5. Use of Stock Photos
If you search Google right now, you’ll find dozens of landing pages that use stock photos (and in most cases, the same pictures). Stock photos are cheap and easy to get a hold of. Stock photos also look phony and can reduce your credibility. When a visitor gets to your landing page and sees a smiling young woman with a black headset on, what do you think her first impression will be? The simple solution to this is use images of people directly related to the company. By putting a “real face” on your landing page, you’re communicating value to your visitors and inspiring them to trust you more. Generalized stock photos won’t cut it for you anymore.
6. Your Opt-In Form Requires Too Much Thought
In many things, simple wins over complex. Your contact form should be simple. Hubspot researched 40,000 customers and found that conversion rate improves by almost half when the number of form fields are reduced from four to three. The less information you ask for, the easier it is to take action. In most cases, you don’t need more than an email address, maybe first name and phone number. You can always ask for the rest once you get their contact info. The fewer layers you put between your visitor and you, the better.
The great thing about these issues is that, with some elbow grease and moderate amount of work, they can all be solved and potentially lead to better conversions rates.