IT’S ALL ABOUT
CONVERSION RATE
Depending on the type of business a company or individual do through their website, thus the type of Landing Pages used as part of their marketing Campaign will vary.
Now, what is a “Landing Page“?
Well, Landing Pages are stand-alone website pages, that fulfill the purpose of driving traffic to a site, or even accomplishing signups, direct sales or at least some sort of registration and ultimately grow the reach and client list a business already has. This is not to be confused with Direct marketing Email campaigns, which are used to contact and make existing customers or registered users aware of opportunities, bonuses or purchases that can be offered to increase sales for the said business.
Landing Pages are created to bring in new customers.
Why? Because besides search results through search engines, word of mouth, hand-outs and printed media, Landing Pages are the most direct and interactive way to get new consumers interested in what a business has to offer.
How do they work?
Unlike a whole website, which has to implement various SEO techniques to become present in as high as possible position within the search of certain keywords, and so become an option to visit, Landing Pages use other techniques, like a direct link which is provided at an event for instance, or most commonly through Banner Sets which are placed in strategically chosen websites, which have an already rich potential customer list to offer, and so are valuable outlets to buy space in and place those banners. So the Banner Sets are created based on the terms and conditions these sites have for their valuable real estate and following a pre-established marketing campaign which will tie in with the destined Landing Page.
In other words, the banners that will link to the Landing Page, have already explained or at least hinted about a very valuable offer, and a more complete explanation is then given on the destined Landing Page.
So Landing Pages, are not mirrors of the complete business’ website. Instead, they are focused on a specific offer/bonus/etc which then MUST invite users to register in some way, so they can then take advantage of that “special deal”.
It’s good practice to avoid as many clicks as possible, for instance, not having users click on a button, to then be taken to the main site to sign up, at least, not for a basic signup that only includes information like a Name, Last Name, and a *valid* Email account. Instead, it’s better to include a form WITHIN the same landing page, so they can submit at least that information. If there are too many clicks, if it’s too complicated, users will simply close the page and move on, or backtrack to their original location. You want to get them to submit their information while they are still interested.
It’s also best to stay away from having them enter TOO MUCH information, especially things like credit cards. Again, if it’s too much too quick, users will probably decide they don’t want to go through all that trouble, or they simply don’t trust the business in question yet.
In any case, once a full name and a valid email have been collected, it’s enough for a marketing Department to move on with the rest of their strategy to obtain the final results of complete signups, purchases or deposits.
So with all that said, it all comes down to being very clear, very brief and effective with what you show on that Landing Page.
Call to Actions (buttons and text links) have to be VERY obvious and visible. The Landing Page HAS to be RESPONSIVE. So users on any platform can see all the information, from a desktop computer to any type of mobile device. And the Bonus/Offer information has to be all there (including conditions), in a plain and inviting language.
Visual elements have to HELP LEGIBILITY. They are there to make the information attractive, but cannot get in the way, or become more important than the calls to action or what we care most about, having those users enter their information in the provided Quick Form. A user must not have to scroll down to see everything either. All the information must be ABOVE THE FOLD. The Fold is a term used to describe the complete area used by a browser at full-screen display size (so The Fold changes depending on the type of device). The important information at least has to be above the fold – terms, and conditions, and any other legal or corporate text can be below the fold.
In the end, it’s all about CONVERSION RATE (how many signups or registrations you actually got from the campaign), so it becomes paramount to also have the necessary coding included in both the hosted Banners and the corresponding Landing Pages to be able to track click-throughs, and measure those against registrations/signups.
Without that, it’s impossible to know, just how effective a marketing Campaign has been, to drive customer growth and sales.
As Designers, we have to be very aware of all of this and understand that when we structure the visual content of Banner Sets and Landing Pages, they have to work perfectly together to motivate potential clients to become interested and finally, to act on that interest the way the Campaign has intended.
Aesthetics, style, branding, color theory, positive/negative space, Rule of Thirds, Golden Spiral, Responsive Breakpoints, media restrictions/limitations for certain devices and browsers, good use of fonts and establishing text content hierarchy, etc, etc. All of this comes into play, to try and accomplish building Banner Sets and Landing Pages as effective tools for a successful marketing Campaign.
Conversion Rate depends highly on how we put together all the content and information that is behind the attempts to bring in new and loyal customers to an internet business.
And like I always say, it’s not the prettiest that wins, it’s the most effective.
P.S. If you ever wonder HOW MUCH you can charge for a FREELANCE project like this, make sure you check out my “Project Budget Calculator“, it might give you at least, a reference as to how to best calculate the value of your work.
