What is a landing page?

Article topics

1. What is a landing page?
2. What does a landing page look like?
3. What’s the difference between a landing page and a homepage?
4. How many landing pages can I have on my website?
5. What software can I use to create a landing page?
6. How long should my landing page be?
7. What metrics should I measure to determine the success of my landing page?
8. What is conversion rate optimisation, and how can I use it on my landing page?
9. Our top ten tips for creating a landing page

When you have a specific message you want to convey to your customers, you need to ensure that the page you drive them towards is clear, focused, and contains minimal distractions.

In this situation, a landing page is the perfect addition to your website.

Join us as we analyse what a landing page is and how to create a landing page that drives high-quality conversions for your eCommerce store.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a webpage with one specific purpose. For example, to:

• Encourage customers to buy a new product or service
• Generate leads for your sales team
• Collect email addresses for your mailing list
• Promote a sale
• Drive signups for a webinar or event

Landing pages were initially invented in the early 2000’s by Microsoft. Following low sales of Microsoft Office, the marketing team decided to experiment with targeted pages focused on the specific functionality that Office could offer customers. The gamble paid off, and landing pages began to surge in popularity.

Back then, landing pages were expensive and hard to build, with most having to be coded manually. However, as time has passed and new tools have emerged, the process has become much easier!

What does a landing page look like?

Here’s an example of a landing page we created for Harvey Water Softeners. They wanted a landing page to promote a special offer for new parents, encouraging them to sign up for a free quote.

This page is split into three distinct sections. The top of the page highlights the offer and why it is exclusive to the Bounty community.

The middle of the page shows the benefits of a water softener for babies, highlighted in a different colour to draw the eye and encourage viewers to read on.

The bottom of the page showcases the offer and includes a call-to-action in the shape of a form to capture prospective customers’ details.

Of course, not all landing pages look alike. A landing page you create for your business may look very different to this one, depending on the industry you’re in, who you’re targeting, and what your ultimate goal is. However, here are some of the features most landing pages contain:

• A clear and compelling headline that captures attention
• One distinct call-to-action that encourages customers to convert
• Images, logos, and videos that tell a story about your business and what you’re offering
• Easy-to-follow navigation, with as few distractions as possible (for example, links to other pages)

What’s the difference between a landing page and a homepage?

While they may appear similar at first glance, landing pages and homepages have some key differences.

A homepage acts as a signpost to move people around your website. From your homepage, people can view your products, read your blog, check out your about us page, and see what’s on offer.

However, a landing page is more like a one-way street. You want people to visit your landing page, convert, and leave.

There might be some circumstances where a homepage can act as a landing page, but this is rare. For example, when the homepage is the only page on the website.

How many landing pages can I have on my website?

As many as you need.

As landing pages have one specific call-to-action in mind, you might have to build several to achieve all your marketing goals. Some large eCommerce stores may have hundreds of them!

A study by HubSpot showed that businesses with over 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than businesses with less than five.

What software can I use to create a landing page?

You can easily create simple landing pages on your eCommerce platform of choice. There are also extensions and apps you can install to add extra functionality to your landing pages in Shopify and Magento.

Alternatively, you can use a standalone landing page builder. You create the landing page inside the platform and embed the code into your website.

You can even use these builders to create a landing page if you don’t have a website, for example, to link to from your social media accounts.

How long should my landing page be?

As long as is needed to encourage your customers to convert.

Landing pages greatly vary in length. Some are only one hundred words long, while others can run to thousands of words.

A study by Unbounce showed that there isn’t a definitive length that a landing page should be. Some businesses saw success with a longer page, while others saw conversions increase with a shorter one.

When determining your ideal page length, it’s important to consider your target audience, the goal of your landing page, and what industry you’re in.

A/B testing can be great for identifying that sweet spot when it comes to page length. We’ll look at A/B testing in more detail later.

What metrics should I measure to determine the success of my landing page?

The suite of metrics you gather will depend on the purpose of your page. For example, if your aim is for your landing page to rank organically in the search engines, you’ll want to measure page rankings for specific phrases and keywords.

However, the main stats you’ll want to analyse for your landing pages are:

• Conversion rate. How many page visitors are converting on your landing page?
• Click-through-rate. How many people are accessing your landing page through your marketing platforms?
• Return on investment. How much money are you spending on your landing page campaign, and how much are you getting back?

You can get this information through Google Analytics or an alternative analytics package.

Let’s say you have a high click-through rate but a low conversion rate. This might mean that while your customers find your efforts to get them to your landing page clear and engaging, they don’t find the landing page itself of interest.

We’re often asked if there is an optimal conversion rate for conversion pages. While data is available online, the ideal conversion rate can vary from 2% to 27%!

It’s always best to benchmark against yourself. See how your previous landing pages have fared, and do what you can to grow your numbers.

What is conversion rate optimisation, and how can I use it on my landing page?

While we have mentioned examples of landing page studies in this article, these studies are often highly subjective. Just because something works for one business doesn’t mean it will work for another.

For example, check out our investigation into what colour a call-to-action button should be. We concluded that there wasn’t a definitive answer, just as so many factors come into play.

So, how can you optimise your landing page for the right results? Through conversion rate optimisation, or CRO.

CRO is the art of making alterations to your website pages to increase your conversion rate. With CRO, the onus is on making lots of small, quick changes rather than slow, drawn-out ones.

Testing and data is vital to CRO success – all changes made are backed up by hypothesis and statistics. It’s one of the most scientific aspects of digital marketing!

A/B testing is a significant part of CRO. This is when you take two identical pages and make one small change, for example, the colour of the call-to-action button. You then direct half your customers to one page, half to the other, and see which leads to the highest conversion rate. You’ll then have a strong indication of what your prospective customers like most.

Check out the ultimate CRO checklist for more useful info.

Our top ten tips for creating a landing page

Here are our top ten tips for developing a landing page that drives clicks and sales for your business.

1. Stick to one call-to-action only

A good landing page should have only one purpose. While including multiple calls to action to hedge your bets might be tempting, this can be counterproductive as you risk confusing page readers.

Multiple call-to-actions can reduce conversions by up to 266%. If you want to run multiple offers at a time, create additional landing pages.

However, using the same call-to-action multiple times on a page is okay to capture customer attention wherever they are. Just keep the button colour and text identical to ensure familiarity and prime your visitors to click.

2. Think about the whole user journey

How are you going to drive traffic to your landing page? Different ways of getting people to your landing page include:

• PPC advertising (for example, search ads or display advertising)
• Email mailing lists
• Social media (organic traffic and search advertising)
• Backlinks on other websites
• Organic visits through search engines like Google and Bing
• Offline marketing (for example, flyers and brochures)

It’s important to consider the entire user journey and ensure the branding of your marketing materials is consistent with your landing page. Using similar wording and imagery can provide a uniform brand experience.

Here you can see an example of a display ad by marketing tool Semrush and the landing page the ad links to.

Also, review your stats to see which marketing channels drive the most clicks and conversions. This helps you see which channels to prioritise to get the best results.

3. Understand your target audience

Before creating your landing page, you need to know who you want to access it – your target audience. This will steer how your landing page will look and function, as well as the marketing channels you use to target these customers.

You might have a more generic customer for your business (for example, new parents). However, the target audience for your landing page may be more specific (for instance, new mums under the age of 30 living in Scotland)

Ask yourself:

• What are the key demographics of my target audience?
• What are their pain points, and how can my product or service help them?
• What are their hobbies and interests?
• What marketing channels do they use the most (for example, do they have a preferred social network)
• Where are they in the sales funnel? For example, are they ready to buy right now, or will you need to convince them that your product or service is right for their needs?
• If you’re targeting B2B clients, ask what their job title is, where they work, and how large the business is

4. Review and optimise your online forms

Many landing pages use online forms to capture user data. This provides an easy way to get information rather than, for example, asking prospective customers to fill in an email.

It also provides you with valuable data you can use to qualify your leads and see which are the highest priority. For example, if you’re a B2B business wanting to focus on leads at Director level, you can ask for this information in your form.

While forms are a great addition to your landing page, you must tailor them to your prospective customers’ needs. It’s a balance between getting all the necessary information and ensuring you don’t annoy your page visitors.

Plus, the more personal information you request, the more significant your obligations under GDPR.

A good starting point is to only ask for the information you need. For example, unless you intend to call your prospective leads, don’t ask for their phone number. In fact, asking for a phone number has led to 39% less conversions in some instances.

Is there an optimal number of form fields you should use? In our experience, short forms between three and five fields fare better.

However, the number of fields is often tied to the value of your product or service. If customers want what you sell, they’ll be happy to provide more information. A/B testing can help you determine what type of forms resonate most with your landing page visitors.

As well as the number of fields, it’s important to consider the user experience your form offers. Radio boxes and checkboxes are easier to complete than open-ended fields. In addition, consider which fields are mandatory, as well as the error message customers will receive if they fill the form in incorrectly.

5. Use trust signals

Remember the landing page for Harvey Water Softeners we showed you earlier? At the bottom of the page, there were links to reviews and accreditations. This is known in digital marketing as ‘trust signals’ and can be a powerful way to enhance your landing pages.

A trust signal is content that shows your business is reliable and credible. Examples of trust signals include:

• Reviews
• Testimonials
• Case studies
• Logos of companies you work with
• Awards and accreditations
• Mentions in the press
• Links to social media profiles

Adding trust signals to your landing page makes your offer more legitimate in the eyes of your page viewers. This is especially true if this is the first time they have heard of you; for example, you promoted your landing page to them through a search or social media ad.

Using trust signals ultimately leads to more conversions. A study by Unbounce showed that a landing page with three small testimonials resulted in over a third more sales.

6. Consider your page speed

Like the rest of the pages on your website, it’s vital that your landing page loads as quickly as possible. When using images, videos, and other assets on your page, you risk bloating your page code.

5% of landing pages take a staggering 21 seconds or more to load, meaning visitors are highly likely to give up and leave.

Optimising your page assets, reducing the size of CSS files, and using lazy loading can all help speed up your landing page.

Xigen: Your landing page experts

Now that you know what a landing page is, odds are that you’ll want to create as many as possible for your website!

If you’re in the market for a stunning landing page that drives conversions, we can help. Our CRO specialists have several years of experience creating and testing landing pages for businesses all around the world.

Want the perfect landing page? Get in touch today.