The landing page. This is the tried and true digital version of the classic sales letter. It is often torn apart through testing and optimization, reconstructed, retested, and torn apart again until sales begin to tick steadily upward. Anyone that cares about conversion rates uses landing pages — they’re the first, and hopefully only, page on our site that our traffic sees before making a purchase. We can send any kind of traffic to landing pages, from PPC marketing to email marketing. Even traditional direct mail can direct people to a landing page.
Every effective landing page shares a few essential elements. Let’s take a look at what they are.
1. The Call To Action
The goal of the landing page is to get a customer to complete an action – to buy a product, to become a lead, to submit a contact request. There are two types of calls to action: hard CTAs and soft CTAs. A hard CTA is direct call to action, like “Add to Cart.” It directly impacts your company’s bottom line. A soft CTA requires no investment from the user and is typically featured after your hard CTA at the bottom of the page — like “Follow Us On Social Media.” Each landing page must have at least a hard CTA, and some may have a soft CTA as well.
2. The Hero Headline
The first line of copy that the audience reads upon opening your landing page should be your hero headline. It may be located at the top of your page above anything else, or it might be superimposed over or shown next to a “Hero Image,” a large photograph or vector illustration that captures the user’s attention. The point of the “Hero” section of your website is to improve user interaction. It allows us to put our calls to action right at the top of the page to focus users immediately on completing their on-page objectives. It frames the messaging we’ll use to reach the customer. Above all, the goal of the first line of copy is to get the reader to read the second line of copy. If we can’t do that, we’ve failed.
3. The Benefits and Features
Your benefits section is built entirely from the “pain points” in your target audience persona documents. In the benefits section, we illustrate how we have solved any or all of their pain points. Three to six benefits statements are typically the most effective.
4. Social Proof(s)
The social proofs of a landing page can be testimonials, a Facebook widget, a comments section full of praise, or a badge that shows how many customers you have (or all of these!). Social proofs do exactly
what the name purports to do: show customers that others have purchased the product or service and been satisfied.
5. A Header and Footer
The oft-overlooked but all-important header and footer section of a landing page are rarely read, but they are always seen. This is where we include our trust badges, our copyright information, and links to privacy policies, terms and conditions, and our contact form. The header and footer bind your landing page together as a trustworthy offer by a brand with a good reputation.
If you’re selling something online, you need an effective landing page. Be sure to include each of these five elements on yours, and be prepared to fine-tune them until the your landing page is getting the conversions you want.
Reach out to our experts at Ballantine today for a consultation or to simply learn more!
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
