How to Create an Effective Landing Page in 2024 and Beyond 

Landing pages serve as the foundation on which brands build successful online interactions. These crucial entry points play a decisive role in converting visitors into customers. However, to be effective, they need to follow the most impactful strategies. 

In a landscape where every click counts, optimizing landing pages becomes a strategic move for businesses seeking to maximize their efforts. To help you through, we’ll delve into the key principles that define landing page creation in 2024. Join us as we unravel the core staples that will elevate your landing pages and drive tangible results.

What Makes an Effective Landing Page? 

Effective landing pages capture users’ attention, guiding them toward a specific action. Whether you’re looking to boost sales, generate leads, or encourage sign-ups, you should master the art of crafting an irresistible landing page. Here are the key elements that contribute to landing page success:

Compelling Headline 

The first crucial element in building an effective landing page is a clear and compelling headline that communicates its purpose. A well-crafted headline conveys the value proposition in a way that resonates with your audience’s needs and motivates them to explore further.  

Great headlines are precise and short, so try to stick to 10 words or less to communicate your message. Consider your unique selling points and use actionable language to draw visitors in. By using language that speaks directly to the audience, your landing page headline becomes a powerful tool in creating a positive first impression.  

Another way to hook potential customers is to use an eye-catching statistic, educative quote, or clever pun. The goal is to entice the user to navigate through the content, making it more likely for them to take the desired action.

Valuable Offer 

Every part of your landing page should reflect your offer to the users. As they browse the page, they’ll wonder: “What’s in it for me?” It’s important to clearly answer that question.  

You might want visitors to buy your products or services, subscribe to your newsletter, or download your resources. In other words, through your landing page, you ask users to complete an action. And they’ll do that as long as they can see the benefits they’ll get. For example, if you have a skincare brand, instead of saying “buy our sunscreen face cream,” you could say “protect your skin from the sun with our face cream.” And that copy instantly answers the “what’s in it for me” question.   

Clearly stating the benefits is not enough, though. You can further engage users by presenting incentives such as discounts, free trials, or exclusive deals.  

Let’s say you want users to subscribe to your email list–just like Supergoop. The brand doesn’t just create a straightforward CTA with eye-catching copy (“Make your days brighter”), but they also highlight the benefits of joining Supergoop’s list.

They offer a 10% discount off the first order along with early access to new products and guides. These additional incentives ensure the company will build a healthy email list with engaged recipients, which, in turn, is the first step of a successful email marketing strategy for beauty brands and other highly competitive industries.  

Social Proof 

People are more likely to act on a message when it’s backed up with personal stories instead of statistics. This is one of the reasons why social proof is such an effective marketing tool. It’s like the online version of word-of-mouth, directing consumers toward popular brands, products, or services.  

When it comes to landing pages, social proof serves as evidence that other individuals in similar situations used specific products or services and found them valuable. As such, it can influence prospective customers’ buying decisions. In fact, 95% of consumers reported consulting customer reviews in order to make a purchase.  

When users first visit your landing page, they might not know whether or not your value proposition is worth their while. By presenting real-life examples of positive experiences, businesses offer tangible evidence of the practical benefits of their offering. When you emphasize how other consumers have used your products or services, you demonstrate their actual value while building a sense of community. 

Social proof elements on your landing pages, such as reviews, user-generated content, testimonials (especially in the form of video testimonials), or case studies, provide a relatable narrative for your target audience to connect with. It’s one of the most powerful and cost-effective ways to influence potential customers’ perceptions and enhance the effectiveness of your landing page in conveying your existing customers’ satisfaction with your brand. 

Loro did an excellent job on their landing page by combining their brand story with reviews from real customers who enjoyed their meal in one of their restaurants. A simple and straightforward yet effective tactic:  

User-friendly Design 

We can’t talk about an effective landing page without discussing its design. An intuitive and well-structured layout helps visitors navigate the page and discover key information effortlessly. Invest in a clutter-free design with enough white space and a logical flow between elements. Guiding users seamlessly from the first point of contact to your call-to-action contributes to a positive user experience.  

When you design your landing page with the user in mind, the result is a clean and attractive page that lets users access your content in a non-intrusive way. That way, you reduce the risk of overwhelming them while increasing the chances of keeping them hooked to your offer. 

Consider displaying critical information above the fold, where visitors can see it instantly. Add more details below the fold since visitors expect to find more information as they scroll down. 

And let’s not forget mobile responsiveness. With the increasing use of mobile devices, not optimizing your page for smartphones and tablets might be the reason your leads aren’t converting. Mobile-responsive designs ensure that your page looks and functions seamlessly across different screen sizes.  

Plus, mobile-friendly layouts help you cater to the preferences of a diverse audience, following accessibility standards. This is key to providing a consistent experience for all users regardless of the device they use to view your landing page.

Strong CTA 

The point of designing a landing page is to urge visitors to take action. What do you want them to do once they land there? To inspire them to act on your message, you need to create a strong CTA that moves them down the sales funnel.  

Use action-oriented language that evokes a sense of urgency, prompting them to act quickly. Also, your CTA copy must be simple and clear, so users know exactly what to do.  

Craft prominent CTA buttons that stand out visually by using contrasting colors. This is key to capturing the user’s attention and guiding them towards the conversion point.  

Also, make sure your CTA copy is persuasive, highlighting the value of acting on it. Users should feel they are gaining something, and you should let them know what it is as clearly as possible. Remember that a clever CTA turns passive visitors into engaged customers. 

Not every call-to-action has to be a buying prompt, though. You could leverage your CTAs to introduce your values and vision. Mate Libre used their landing page CTA to motivate visitors to learn more about their commitment to sustainability. By clicking, they will discover the brand’s mission and how they invested in an eco-friendly approach for their products. The CTA is prominent and actionable while employing straightforward language for users to understand where clicking will direct them. 

 

5 Best Practices for Creating a Better Landing Page 

Now that you have an idea of the essentials of a good landing page, it’s time to discuss some of the basic steps into creating a landing page that converts. 

Define Your Landing Page Goal 

The first step is to have a specific goal for your landing page. Your objective may vary depending on your industry, business type, or marketing strategy. Some of the most common landing page goals include generating leads, boosting brand awareness, and driving sales. Once you clearly define your objective, you can follow a targeted approach in your design and keep every element aligned with your strategy. 

Let’s consider a landing page for a SaaS company looking to boost its free trial sign-ups. The specific goal would be to convert visitors into trial users. In that case, designing the page involves highlighting the value proposition of the software.  

Also, you’ll need to incorporate a user-friendly and visible sign-up form and perhaps offer a limited-time discount for the users who complete it. By clearly defining your objective, you optimize your landing page to capture leads effectively, increasing the chances of successful free trial sign-ups.  

Deciding what your point of focus is allows you to analyze your landing page performance, too. Establish key performance indicators tied to your specific objectives to evaluate how effective your page is. For instance, if you want to increase sales, KPIs may include conversion rates and click-through rates. With a specific goal in mind, analytics tools let you monitor the effectiveness of different elements and make data-driven decisions on how to improve their performance.  

Minimize Distractions 

Every visitor on your landing page came there for a specific reason. Now that you have them where you want them, don’t direct them off the page to display the explanation. Your focus should be to convert them into leads. Therefore, remove all distractions to persuade them to convert. 

Invest in a laser focused environment where every element works towards your conversion objective. Remove navigation menus that divert users from completing the action suggested. You might think that including more links–such as internal links to your home page–will boost the effectiveness of your landing page. The truth is that your CTA should remain your primary point of focus, without competing links getting in the way.  

Maintaining a clean and cohesive design without distractions is essential for driving conversions. You need to put the most valuable information in front of users to guide them down your sales funnel–and make it scannable to enhance the experience.  

Keep it simple by resisting the temptation to add unnecessary details. Also, it’s better to stick to a single, clear, and prominent CTA. Keeping your landing page focused is key to guiding visitors exactly where you need to.  

Use Eye-Catching Visuals 

Did you know the average time users spend on web pages is around 53 seconds? So, it’s only natural that they won’t read all your copy. This is where eye-catching visual components enter the picture to convey what enjoying your offer looks like.  

Attractive visuals complement the story you tell on your landing page while making it more compelling. Plus, they break up chunks of text, enhancing your page’s readability. Here are some starting points to consider when incorporating visuals into your landing page: 

• Pick visuals that align with your brand colors to create a cohesive user experience. Invest in quality instead of quantity as too many visual components clutter your design and overwhelm visitors. 
• Use videos since they are effective in grabbing attention and explaining complex ideas. It could be something as simple as creating a YouTube video to display your products or services in action. Depending on your budget, you could invest in YouTube video editing software to make your video experience as engaging as possible. 
• Optimize your graphic elements for enhanced performance. Heavy visuals affect your landing page’s loading speed while directly impacting both your user experience and SEO ranking. 
• Get creative with custom images that visualize the benefits of your value proposition. Showing product images on your landing page works great. But including photographs of real people enjoying them is even better since this type of visual content feels relatable. Check out how Quarter Proof did it on their landing page by including compelling images of people enjoying their spirits: 
  

Add Trust Indicators 

With the rise of AI-generated content and online scams, there’s a growing concern about any web page’s authenticity. Online consumers are wary of marketing messages and strategies. For this reason, they turn to businesses that can prove their credibility.  

The best way to do so is by adding trust indicators to your landing page to reassure users that you own an ethical company with trustworthy products or services. Such endorsements of your expertise may come in different forms. Let’s review some of the most common ones: 

• Trust badges. They are usually trademarks and logos of popular brands that put their trust in your products or services or are affiliated with your business. 
• Industry awards. These trust indicators include awards and recognitions you’ve received. Adding links to this type of endorsement establishes you as an authority in your niche. 
• Statistics. Leverage statistics to support your claims. For instance, a SaaS company could add the number of consumers that used their service during the years they’ve been in the industry. 

Test and Optimize  

We can’t talk about building effective landing pages without highlighting the importance of testing. In the production phase, thorough testing ensures your landing page is error-free and visually appealing. Usability testing allows you to identify potential issues such as slow loading times or broken links that hinder the experience. Also, it’s essential to test landing pages across different browsers and devices to ensure consistent performance and appearance. 

Another essential tactic to optimize your landing page performance is to conduct A/B testing. This process allows you to test different landing page versions against each other, changing elements like headlines, CTAs, or layout. By comparing the performance of different variants, you can identify which elements resonate better with your target audience and lead to increased conversions.  

Testing and monitoring results helps you understand what works and where there’s room for improvement. Don’t limit your insights to analytics and metrics, though. Instead, encourage users to provide feedback through dedicated surveys.  

With a feedback collection mechanism in place, you get access to valuable information from the horse’s mouth. Also, you enhance trust with users as they see that you value their opinions and commit to improving their experience. 

Achieve Your Goals with Converting Landing Pages  

Building outstanding landing pages is a bulletproof way to drive conversions and achieve your business goals. High-converting landing pages are a form of art that requires careful planning, goal-oriented focus, and constant improvement.  

From writing an engaging headline to adding the right visuals, every element of your landing page matters to create an exciting and cohesive user experience. Fortunately, it isn’t as intimidating as it sounds. All you need to do is follow the steps in our guide, and you’ll be on your way to converting visitors into loyal customers. 

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Article written in collaboration with Moosend.