Online visitors are busy, often multi-tasking, and easily distracted. So when it comes to landing pages, you need to pack a punch…and often you have to do it in less than 10 seconds.
Landing page visitors typically fall into four categories:
- Visitors that arrive on your landing page, but leave due to distraction within 10 seconds
- Visitors that leave when they decide your content wasn’t compelling enough
- Visitors that attempt to complete your form, but fail or give up and leave
- Visitors that successfully convert and become leads
With landing pages, you have a very limited time frame to prove your value proposition and get the visitor to convert to a lead. We’ve come up with 5 helpful tips to help you boost landing page effectiveness and raise the number of your B2B conversions.
Keep It Above the Fold – This saying is as true for newspaper advertising as it is for the web. Too much scrolling will hurt your conversion rate. Eliminate as much scrolling as possible by keeping most (if not all) of your important content above the fold…including the call to action!
Simplify Your Form – Nothing is more frustrating to a visitor than arriving at a landing page, seeing a compelling white paper offer, but then realizing they will have to fill in their life history before receiving anything of value. Discourage form abandonment by asking the minimum info required. First name, last name, phone and email are good, as they still give sales enough contact info to follow up.
Test, Test, and Test Again – Sticking to the “one and done” mentality can be very dangerous when it comes to web pages. One great truth about landing pages is they can be continuously improved through testing. Periodically changing the headline, offer, imagery, form length and form field variables can be beneficial to improving lead volume and quality.
Give a Sneak Peek – When was the last time you visited a web page with a header of a business man shaking someone’s hand and said, “Yes, that makes me want to download that white paper!” Chances are…never. Instead, provide a small image of the white paper or demo being offered on your landing page. This gives your visitors something tangible to look forward to and a more compelling reason to convert.
Build Their Trust – Web visitors who are not familiar with your company may be hesitant to give you their contact information, even if they are exchanging it for something of value (like a white paper). Build credibility with the audience and let them know your company is legitimate and their information is safe by listing a few seals, certifications or awards that your company has won in the sidebar or footer of your landing page. Examples include:
- Client testimonials
- Site security badges (i.e. Verisign)
- Ratings from the Better Business Bureau or similar organizations
- Awards and industry recognition
