What Is A Landing Page & Why Do I Need One?

If you’ve ever clicked on a link, whether in an email, on a social media advert, or from inside a marketing campaign, then you already have first-hand experience with landing pages.

In short, a landing page is a single webpage that is uniquely designed to continue the journey of an active user or potential customer who has chosen to click - with 1 in 10 landing page visitors converting into some form of customer.

Starting to see why landing pages are so important? Let’s dive into more detail about what a landing page is and how it works.

What Is A Landing Page?

If a potential customer clicks on a button that you have told them to click (thereby following the user journey that you have laid out for them) it follows that the page they land on needs to be a continuation of the journey they are expecting.

It needs to use the same language, display some continuity in imagery and visuals, and - crucially - find a way to entice them into taking the next step towards becoming a loyal customer.

For most businesses, a popular landing page is one which captures customer information and invites them to join some form of email marketing list or online community. Whether or not this is the primary and only intention of the page will depend on your business and what you want to achieve, however most businesses find that asking for a small amount of information in return for high value content is a great way of getting that user to commit to something without asking them for any money (yet).

From there, every campaign you launch and every email you send out will require and factor in landing pages - with every button leading to a ‘landing page’ of sorts. All of these will boast their own intentions and their own targets, and the way you frame that journey is up to you.

Why Are Landing Pages So Important?

Landing pages are responsible for turning visitors into customers - and thus form an integral part of your online business strategy. They communicate everything from your brand values and vision, to your USP, the benefits of your product or service, and the way that you can support users with their challenges and needs.

But do they always work?

Most users will visit a landing page or click on a link because they resonate with the messaging and agree with its intent. But whether they take action or not will depend on what it took to get there, and what they find when they arrive.

If your CTA button says, “Want to find out more about XXX?” then only those who do want to find out more will click. However, if your CTA button says, “Click here to find out the secret method to make £1,000 in one day” the click rate will be much higher, and your landing page will receive a lot more traffic.

While the latter may seem like the better option, many of those users will be intrigued in the promised secret but not necessarily committed to purchasing, meaning that the higher click rate also comes with a high bounce rate. Meaning that overall, that niche audience who click to “find out more” in the former option will be a higher value (albeit smaller) audience.

From there, it is the type of landing page offer that can make or break the deal. 

The Most Successful Landing Page Offers

If your landing page is designed to convert visitors into active leads, it follows that you need to offer them something with a high enough value that they are enticed into signing up or taking action.

Here are some of the most popular landing page offers that businesses commonly use:

• Ebooks and Whitepapers. When hidden behind a lead capture form, asking for the users email address and acknowledgement that they will be added to an email list, Ebooks and Whitepapers can be a great source of conversion - especially when you use a blog post and social shares to draw potential readers in.
• Email Newsletters. Simple but always effective, if you can promise your subscribers enough value and lots of tips in an industry or niche that interests them, asking them to subscribe to an email is a good starting point for customer conversion.
• Event Registration or Webinar Access. Again, drawing on the desire of huge value in return for an email address.
• A free trial. This is a great one for seeing if potential customers are genuinely interested in their product or service - and can be ideal for receiving feedback and ascertaining those who find what you’re offering to be of genuine use and value.

What To Do Now...

You can’t have a landing page without a journey to get there - and this journey could be anything (and everything!)

If you already have a collection of emails, then sending them an email campaign with a landing page can be a great way of reactivating them and getting them to the next step of commitment to purchase - for example with a free trial or a new product or service launch.

If you’re looking to collect email addresses to start using more targeted marketing strategies, social media posts and ads with an email capture landing page are ideal - exchanging value and insight for customer information.

So, if you’re ready to start using landing pages to benefit your business…

• Know your USP and create something of value that potential customers will want
• Create copy that entices them into converting once on the landing page
• Design the journey that takes them towards the landing page
• Look at what other businesses in your industry are doing and replicate their processes and designs! There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when they’ve already done the hard work and testing for you.