Landing pages are a key element of any modern website. They help businesses engage new customers and get them on the path to conversion. A good landing page is an indispensable asset that can be tailored to your business's needs. However, designing it is no simple task, as there are countless principles that you have to adhere to in order to stay a step ahead of the competition. Here are the most effective marketing trends for landing pages that can help you increase conversions in 2021.
Focus on benefits
Mentioning the features of your products will only get you so far. You need to think about the viewer's perspective. How will particular features benefit them directly and improve their day-to-day life? That's a question the viewer will ask, and you have to answer it.
Plenty of ads focus on diverse and interesting features without taking the viewer into consideration. Instead of telling the viewer what the specs are for a graphics card or processor, tell them what it can do while running a game. You can't count on people to be impressed by products unless they're experts in the field. They want to know about how it will help them, while the rest of the info is mostly irrelevant.
Create compelling copy
Many of today's marketers are over-reliant on certain phrases in their copy. Asking people to sign up and register for a service is getting old, and people are tired of getting instructions whenever they visit a website. Creating such dull copy won't convert anyone, and it makes your written content seem dry and boring.
You need to remember that visitors don't want to read copy. Instead of sticking to the same style, you should do your best to stray from it. Anything that sounds sales or tedious should be avoided. On the other hand, visitors want to learn more about particular products and services. Marketing copy helps them get a good perspective on what they need, as long as it doesn't bore them to death in the meantime.
As a result, you need to create a copy that can keep their attention and answer their questions quickly. A short and concise copy that delivers essential information should be the main goal.
Focus on one goal at a time
When you're designing a landing page, you'll probably want to keep your options open. It seems like a good idea to show visitors all of the great things you have to offer, especially if you have multiple deals available. After all, shouldn't at least one of them appeal to a user? Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. In most cases, multiple offers will only distract a visitor and take away from your main conversion goal.
The persuasiveness of your page depends on how well you can focus on that goal. Consider how written content needs to be displayed. Appealing to too broad of an audience will only muddy the waters and not convince anyone to convert. If you want to increase your persuasion, you need to have a singular goal that you focus on at a time. Create specific copy for a product or service and highlight its benefits on the landing page.
Remove navigational distractions
The landing page has one mission—to convert the visitor. The rest of your website has its own tasks and goals, but the landing page should be treated differently. Plenty of website owners make the mistake of adding too many navigational elements to this page. If a user wants to examine your website and all the products or services you'll offer, they'll move on from the landing page without issue.
However, the landing page shouldn't encourage them to move on. You want it to convert and bring them closer to your products. As a result, you should keep your landing page free of links. Avoid putting any content or navigational links anywhere on that particular page. Don't even keep site links in the footer. The audience is dealing with enough distractions as it is while they browse the website, so the landing page shouldn't stray far from its goal.
Aim for a responsive design
Nowadays, people want to be able to access content with any device. It's become especially important for the mobile crowd, as mobile phones have basically taken over. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone that never uses their smartphone to search for products and services.
It should come as no surprise that these users want to see designs that cater to them. Long gone are the days of pinching the screen to get a better view of the text. If your landing page design doesn't accommodate mobile users, you'll alienate half of your audience. At best, they may be annoyed by the page and leave to look elsewhere for products and services.
Images and buttons on your page need to adjust based on the device that's being used. This is why creating a responsive design is absolutely necessary nowadays.
Stick to good design principles
One of your top priorities should be to make the landing page simple to understand and use. This is the key to good design, and it increases the chance that a visitor will convert.
Starting with the text, it should be easy to read and skim. You don't have to get all of the information across, as long as the visitor can get the picture. Keep it in blocks to make sure it can be read quickly and coherently.
Avoid adding any unnecessary distractions. If a design element sticks out and it's not supposed to, it's only going to keep the visitor busy in an unproductive way. The majority of the focus should be on buttons and links that you want to display prominently.
Choose visuals carefully
A great way to increase simplicity is to introduce visual elements that reinforce the information you've presented. While we did mention that distractions are unnecessary, making alternative paths to conversion is perfectly fine. A user might not want to read a block of text, so you can provide them with visual cues that help them get the same information instead.
Infographics are considered especially good for this purpose. They can give visitors a quick and effective overview of the contents of your text. Create one that displays the benefits of your product or service in a concise way. It's going to allow users to instantly figure out whether or not they need to make a purchase, while also building trust in your design.
Work on page load speed
Keeping your pages fast and efficient is a crucial part of good web design. While a few tenths of a second might not seem like much time, people subconsciously notice even the smallest delay in page load speed. The moment it takes too long to load, they'll switch over to a competitor's website. After all, why wouldn't they? There's no reason to stick around if they haven't even seen your content quick enough to evaluate it.
If you want visitors to get your message, you need to deliver it quickly. However, you have to do it while maintaining a good look and design. It's a massive challenge that many websites struggle with, especially when it comes to the landing page. An internal team might not be equipped to deal with balancing these elements. It's recommended that you work with an experienced web design agency to optimize the landing page speed while working on your design and copy. It's a surefire way to have a competitive load speed while not sacrificing other aspects of the design.
Utilize directional cues
It would be perfect if every one of your website's visitors behaved predictably, but that's never the case. Just displaying your headline, body copy, and images don’t lead to users evaluating your offer and making a decision. You have to nudge them in the right direction.
The use of clever directional cues can make a huge difference. People are easily distracted, so adding a proverbial arrow in the right direction can lead them to the right path. Sometimes, you can use an actual arrow to point to specific buttons, but that may be a bit too direct. A great and intuitive way to get them to the offer is to use the gaze of a human face. If your landing page features someone's likeness, point their eyes towards one of the buttons or links featured. People will notice it just by following their gaze.
Personalize messages
One of your goals should be to increase the relevance of your messaging. The best way to do this would be to personalize the messages, as this helps increase ROAS. Each audience segment needs to have a specific kind of message, which you can achieve using multiple different methods. A good place to start would be with dynamic keyword insertion and message match, but you might need to go deeper.
Personalizing at scale is the most effective way to get the attention of specific demographics. It's important to drive content that viewers can relate to and provides a good narrative. For this, you'll need a strong understanding of what motivates viewers and helps them overcome buying objections.
Conclusion
Your website's landing page serves a critical role in obtaining conversions. It has to use minimal space and effort to convey a ton of information. With good design principles and some external help, you'll be able to tailor it to your target demographic perfectly.