Landing Pages

Creating a top notch page view intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort can either make a lasting impression or ruin it.  Specific landing pages tailored to different offers are essential for providing a quality experience for visitors and driving conversions with a targeted message that matches each user’s need. Landing pages could encourage visitors to buy something, sign up for something or visit a physical location among other actions (Lowery, 2014). The most effective landing pages convert people that come to it. While landing pages can have several purposes there are generally two types of landing pages: lead generation and click-through landing pages (Lowery, 2014).

A lead generation landing page allows a marketer to collect data about a site’s visitors including names and email addresses (Lowery, 2014). In order to collect this data, it might be necessary to give the audience something. This could include a newsletter subscription, free trial of a service, an e-book or a contest entry.  The purpose of this type of page is to collect information that will allow a marketer to connect with the prospect at a later time. Therefore, a lead capture page will most likely contain a form along with a description of what a visitor will get in return.

Contently’s landing page is an example of a lead generation landing page. The inbound marketing software company has no distractions on its landing page and gets right to the point. While existing customers can sign in at the top right, the page is focused intently on its message streamlining attention. The background image is understated and comfortable while the companies unique selling proposition stands out. It’s call to action is straightforward but not cliché as it states: “Talk to our sales team about your needs.”

While creating a landing page to sell something is possible, it is unlikely. The visitor will click through the landing page to get to the product page where the transaction will occur. Click-through landing pages are more effective when tied to specific events or dates, such as holidays, particularly because those pages are often a part of an email marketing campaign (Lowery, 2014).  

For this Manpacks landing page, it uses a image paired with a description and product benefit in order to help persuade the visitor to click the call-to-action. Commonly used for ecommerce, click-through pages provide enough information to inform the buyer, making them ready to purchase before pushing them further down the funnel (Gardner, n.d.).

Landing pages live separately from a website and are designed only to receive campaign traffic. Landing pages should also have all navigation and extra links removed so there is only a single call to action to a visitor to take (Gardner, n.d.). This separation allows them to be focused on a single objective and makes analytics, reporting and testing a simpler task for marketers. The main reason for this is to limit the options available to your visitors, helping to guide them toward your intended conversion goal.

Gardner, O. (n.d.). Landing page conversion course. Retrieved January 12, 2015, from http://thelandingpagecourse.com/landing-page-101-intro/

Lowery, M. (2014, August 05). The ultimate guide to creating effective landing pages. Retrieved January 2, 2015, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-creating-effective-landing-pages