What a Small Restaurant in Camden Taught me about Landing Pages

The restaurant was well reviewed. It had been recommended to me by some friends, and had even featured in a number of that month’s magazines. I arrived at the street-front entrance, and all I could think about was landing pages…

I should explain. My work (conversion rate optimisation) had recently been called into question by a concerning statistic: for even the top performing websites, landing page conversions rarely climb above 5%. Perhaps more conclusively, only 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates.

As I was considering the entrance of the (quite fantastic) small restaurant, I realised I was asking myself questions that are often neglected when businesses design their landing pages.

So… here are the four questions I think every landing page should answer.

1. Where Am I?

The restaurant’s front entrance was hidden amongst a number of others. It also seemed to jar with the design of the menu and the pictures I had seen in magazines.

Was I at the right place? I didn’t know…

I went inside and saw the name written on one of the walls. However, websites, and E-commerce sites in particular, do not have the luxury of a second click. The point is this: if a landing page is not clear about where the browser is, those precious conversions will disappear fast.

2. Why Am I Here?

The interior was not much more appealing than the outside. There were surprisingly few customers, the tables were dirty, and I had no menu to browse as I sat down.

If I hadn’t been told so many great things about it, I might have got up and left…

As it happened, I stayed. But the impulse to go elsewhere reminded me of an important fact about landing pages: no-one gets two chances at a sales proposal. The instant a customer arrives, they should know exactly why they should stay.

3. What Do I Do?

This question came as a bit of a surprise. It shouldn’t have. I have often stressed the importance of Cognitive Ease to clients. When a site visitor is confronted by doubt and ambiguity, they will generally find a less confusing one to explore. The more mental effort (Cognitive Friction) your site requires, the lower your conversions will be.

What I hadn’t appreciated was how much I was taking for granted about web browsers. That included knowing where to click and what the point of a site was.

As I sat down, grabbing a menu from a nearby table, I didn’t even know what I was supposed to do.

The wait for service did not take long, but I still felt impatient. Without knowing the right thing to do, I couldn’t help but get frustrated.

4. Why Should I Do It?

Here was where the restaurant came up trumps. Not only was the whole place full of incredible smells, but delicious-looking dishes kept emerging from the kitchen.

The reviews had done a lot of the work for the restaurant, but it still showed me what I could expect to get if I waited around.

The point of this is simple: people doesn’t look for websites, they look for content. This content might be the incredible deal you show on your landing page, a beautiful product that you display, or a form of entertainment that you tease. In any case, as soon as a browser arrives, they should be able to smell what’s cooking.

Conclusion

Not every Conversion Rate Optimisation program has to involve testing or marketing theory. Sometimes, thinking like a new visitor and asking simple questions can help make your sales funnel more efficient.

Next time you go out for a meal, or make any other kind of consumer choice, ask yourself how it answered these four questions.