Landing Page Trends for 2018

In 2017 a number of landing page trends took place that you can learn from moving on into 2018. A number of these new techniques will prove to be useful for many years into the future because they are fundamentally sound.

On the other hand, some of the trends will pass by and soon be forgotten as new trends take focus of how we approach the task of creating a highly converting landing page.

For those of you that have not been paying to the landing page trends in 2017, here is what you missed out on:

Longer pages

In previous years, landing page experts tried to squeeze in as much content as possible above the fold. Consequently, the user did not have to scroll down to read the majority of the marketing spiel. The logic is that if more content is visibly available upon loading the page the chances of engaging the users will be increased.

However, in 2018 a trend has been occurring where landing pages have gotten longer. As this Crazy Egg study shows, longer pages convert better than their shorter counterparts.

The more detailed landing pages inform the customer a lot better regarding what the product or service is all about. This made the decision to buy a lot easier, because they could now buy in confidence since they know what they will be getting.

It might take more resources to create a longer landing page filled with significantly more content. However, you’ll have more informed buyers that will need less support and hand holding after the purchase.

Minimalist design

In recent years, landing pages have been more focused on one aspect of the marketing campaign, and have therefore reduced in complexity. However, in 2018 this trend has reached new heights and now landing pages are created simpler than ever before.

It’s not uncommon to see some landing pages simply contain a form to complete in the center of the screen and nothing else — that’s as simple as it gets. The results have shown that simplicity removes a lot of the confusion, and it’s evident what the point of the landing page is. Therefore, conversion rates for such simple landing pages are competitively high.

Mobile-first pages

The number of users completing tasks on smartphones will continue to skyrocket in 2018, and therefore it’s a no-brainer to include mobile users in your marketing strategy. Having a mobile-first page as the focus of your campaign increases the number of users becoming aware of your product or service. You don’t want to miss out on this lucrative segment, just because your page doesn’t display well on smartphones and tablets.

For any company trying to be competitive in their chosen marketplace a mobile-first landing page is a must-have. Otherwise you’re giving up a big edge to the competition. Mobile optimization is not as complicated as it might have been in previous years. You can hire freelancer talent to transform a static landing page into a responsive page in no time at all. Or you can use a tool such as Unbounce, which includes a mobile-friendly page version for you to customize.

Autoplay full screen video

In the background of your landing page you could have a video that plays automatically once the landing page loads up. This allows you to show off your video to every website visitor and at the same time give them the opportunity to read the content of your landing page.

This might seem like an intrusive landing page type, because the video is at full-screen size and also plays automatically. However, when the video is chosen carefully to provide value to the target audience, then the results can be overwhelmingly positive.

As with everything though, please test this against a page that does not include the video element and see what performs better for your target market.

Conclusion

The landing page trends in 2018 mentioned here are just some of the top ones we have noticed, and there have been plenty more. You might have noticed some of these yourself, and many are only just beginning to take shape in the new year.

Typically, if you notice a number of well-established companies switching to a specific landing page format, then you can be confident that they are onto something. You would be wise to also take advantage of the trend in the early phase before every player in your marketplace is publishing a copied version of their own.

Originally published at landingpageschool.com on January 9, 2018.