Dec 1, 2021
Introducing the 10 things that go into designing the perfect landing page
The thing is, you don’t need to be a marketing wizard or an award-wining designer to create high converting landing pages but going through the frustration of designing and creating useless, unproductive landing pages time and time again surely gives you that impression
It’s ok, it’s not your fault, you’ve learned how to design and create landing pages the wrong way, but that ends today because I’m going to give you the recipe of designing and creating the perfect landing page, no matter what business you’re in, following this layout and structure is a guaranteed path to high conversion rate.
Ps: this article is based on another article from marketing examples, you can find the article here, but I suggest you stick with me if you want an easy to follow, comprehensive, elaborative, reconstruction of the original article
1- Your title should either…
- Explain what you do — when your product is unique enough to hook the potential customers just by learning about what your product can do for them, here’s an example of that
fast is a company that provides a one-click checkout service for buyers and sellers, their product is unique enough that will make the prospective clients go for it just by learning about what it does.
but unfortunately, most products are not unique that’s why you need to use
- Hooks — to create an effective hook, simply address your customers biggest objection, here’s an example
Ahref provide a bunch of SEO tools for webmasters to rank higher on search engines, their product isn’t new or unique by any means there are a lot of other similar tools out there, so to differentiate themselves they used a hook (You don’t need to be an SEO pro)
Another useful tactic for creating a compelling headline is to…
- Own your niche — what that means is to position yourself or your product as the ultimate best solution for your customers' problem, the only solution your customers will ever need, here’s an example of that
The above example headline from descript doesn’t only use the “own your niche” tactic (All-in-one audio & video editing) but adds the previous tactic, the hook (as easy as a doc) to it, which results in an irresistible offer their customers can’t refuse.
2- Elaborate more on the subtitle (sub-head)
Your subtitle is where you explain what your product does more specifically and how it adds value to your customers
let’s take an example…
Khan academy subtitle really shows the power of a good sub-head, in less than 2 lines, you get an idea of what khan academy is, what it does, and who is it for.
Your subtitle should be of a similar level of clarity and briefness to boost your chances of converting your potential customers into paying customers.
3- Visuals are not just for aesthetic reasons:
Visuals should show your product in use. Minimize the use of illustrations and abstract images, descript (3rd image above) use a video to artistically showcase the use of their product, that video must’ve been quite costly to produce, you don’t need to go all the way there to showcase your product, here’s an example of a very famous company that uses only screenshots for demonstration…
4- Social proof is your best ally
Social proof can do wonders for your business and can take your sales from meh to oh my god I didn’t see that coming.
Unless your business name or product is widely used and known, you need social proof as an ally to give your customers the boost they might need, also, social proof adds credibility to your headline claims, here’s an example…
with 18,000 five stars reviews, it’s hard to argue with any claim Privy says about itself, you might not have 18,000 reviews on your product, but any number will do, the thing about social proof is that it provides comfort to your potential customers which will make them more likely to purchase your product.
If your product is new and you don’t know how to get initial reviews, go ahead and provide a monthly trial, a free sample, or a giveaway to your customers in exchange for an honest review.
5- CTA (Call to a̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ value)
Don’t use plain old boring CTA buttons like “Sign up” or “Start trial” instead use…
- Call to value — focus on value more than action, keep the trend going, make your button fulfill the promise of your headline
here are some examples:
- Start learning
- Start recording
- Show me my heatmap
- I’m ready to start
you can also use another tactic where you handle your customers’ objections beforehand, here are some examples:
- Start free, no CC required
- Try Prisma in 5 minutes
- Get started for just 1$
You should also pair your CTA with email capturing to make the signup process as easy as it could be and collect customer info later on onboarding.
Everything we’ve discussed so far comes above the fold and is meant to capture the attention of your customers, the fold is simply what your customer will see when he/she/they first enter your website without scrolling down
I know we’ve covered a lot and that’s too much to take in, so here‘s a recap of the most important points we’ve covered :
- State your value and promise in the title
- Explain how are you going to deliver that value (subtitle)
- Show them, don’t just tell (visuals)
- Back it up with social proof
- Make the next step easy to take (CTA)
What’s coming next will all be below the fold, meaning, what your customers will see when they scroll down and is meant to close the sale.
6- Features and objections
Show your customers how your product is going to meet their needs using your product features, just keep in mind that your features should reflect your promised value in the headline, here’s an example…
You should also handle any objections you think your customer might think of and hold them from paying for your product or service like this…
7- Add a second layer of social proof
Reinforce your credibility by adding a second layer of social proof that prove to your customers that your product really delivers what it promises
8- Use FAQ
FAQ’s are for any objections and queries your potential customer might have, use this section to clarify them and provide detailed but not boring answers to your customers' concerns
I’m sure you’ve seen countless FAQ sections and pages, so there’s no need to put an example for it.
9- 2nd CTA
You don’t want your customer to scroll all the way up to sign up or purchase your product, do you?
So it’s only natural to put another CTA button at the bottom of your landing page, after we’ve put all the above sections together there’s nothing more you can do to further convince your customer to give your product a chance
this time though, put a big, more prominent button that screams “Click me, now” (not literally of course), you have all the space you need this time, unlike previously with the first CTA button
10- Founders note:
Now I’m going to go off the trail here and say that this is an optional section, you can add it or leave it, you can also replace it with something else like encouraging them to join your community for example
But what’s a founders note you might ask?
A founders note is simply a short story of you that shows your customers that you were there before and your product helped you get over their problem, it should typically be broken down like this:
- Put yourself in their shoes
- Explain their problem
- Take ownership of it
- Show the happy ending
That’s it phew! that was a lot indeed, so let’s go over it again briefly
The perfect landing page should contain — above the fold:
- Your headline = your promise and your product value
- Your sub-head (subtitle) = explain how are you going to deliver your promise and value
- Visuals = Showcase your product in use either by still images or even better by using a video
- Social proof (1st layer) = Back up your claims by showcasing happy people reviews and testimonials
- CTA = your cool call to action that focus either on the value-added or handle your customers' objection, and don’t forget to capture emails
That’s above the fold — below the fold should include:
- Features and objections = showcase your product features, keep them aligned with what was promised in your headline, and handle any obvious objections your customer might have
- Social proof (2nd layer) = give your customer the push they need to make a purchase
- FAQ = use this section to further clarify with non-boring details any questions and objections you think your customers might think off
- 2nd CTA = put a big, bold, nice button to guide your customers through the next steps
- Founders note (optional) = put a summarized story of you as a founder to show your customers that you were once in their shoes and your product was the solution
You now have the recipe for the perfect landing page, go ahead and try following this method in your next landing page, believe me, your results will be different, better, and you’ll know that creating a high converting landing page isn’t as hard as it seems
My name is Nadir, I’m a copywriter, designer, and content-writer, you can contact me via my LinkedIn profile here
or through my email: nadirbenafghoul6@gmail.com
