A complaint I hear regularly from business owners is, “I tried creating a lead generation funnel but it didn’t convert.”
When I ask about the different steps in their funnel, the problem is usually their landing page.
This is one of those pieces of your funnel that seems like it should be really easy, but there is enough technique to it that you do have to know what you’re doing to make it work.
I know. It really shouldn’t be that confusing.
And it isn’t if you know what you need to include to have a high-converting landing page.
Just to confirm everyone is with the tour, let’s answer an important question:
What Is a Landing Page?
A landing page, also referred to as a “squeeze page” or opt-in page, is a stand-alone web page that is set up to accept email addresses in exchange for your lead magnet.
If you don’t know what a lead magnet is, please read last week’s blog post.
A good, high-converting landing page makes it easy for someone to see what you’re offering, decide they want what you’ve got and take you up on that offer by giving you their email address in trade.
I’ve seen landing pages that are a single “frame” or “screen,” meaning you don’t have to scroll down to see what you’re getting.
I’ve seen long-form landing pages that give tons of detail.
They can all work, if they’re set up correctly.
If you want your landing page to convert, it needs these 5 components:
- To be solely focused on converting visitors who want your lead magnet.
- Copy that is easy to understand and relevant to your lead magnet.
- A simple opt-in form.
- Visuals that help focus the reader’s attention.
- A button that is obvious and gets people to click.
Yes. All of those components seem easy to come up with. That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve seen so many landing pages that fail because one or more of them is missing.
I’ll go over each of these components to show you why they matter and how to implement them on your own landing page, so keep reading.
But first…
What Tools Can You Use to Create a Landing Page?
These days, many email service providers (ESPs), like MailChimp or customer relationship management platforms (CRMs) like HubSpot include the option to create landing pages inside their systems.
You can also set up a landing page in WordPress, SquareSpace, Wix, or whatever content management system (CMS) you’re using to build and/or host your website.
There are also external landing page software platforms, like Leadpages, ClickFunnels and Unbounce.
My favorite is Leadpages, but I will admit to being biased as I used to work for them.
Please note: All the landing page images in this blog post are Leadpages templates. Hey, I’ve got an account, so I’m using it.
Whatever you use, you want your system to be easy to set up, as in it should take no more than 1 hour to build a landing page, preferably more like 30 minutes.
You want your system to have options in terms of fonts, colors, image sizing, placement, layout, etc.
Ideally, you want to have templates you can start from, like those pictured here, so you can add in your own images and copy, using a pre-built layout.
Finally, you want good tutorials and help documents available, in case you get stuck anywhere in the process.
Now, on to the 5 components of a high-converting landing page.
Why Your Landing Page Can Be the Make or Break Point in Your Lead-Gen Funnel
Yes, this sounds like a strange place to start, but it is true.
When someone “lands” on your landing page, they expect to see indications that they’re in the right place to find the information you’ve promised them.
If there is anything on your page that looks “out of place” or feels like a “bait and switch” people are going to leave.
If there are links to anything other than the opt-in form for your lead magnet, people will get distracted and disappear onto other pages.
If your opt-in form is hard to use or isn’t incredibly obvious, people won’t fill it out.
This is what I mean when I say your landing page needs to be solely focused on converting visitors who want your lead magnet.
I’ve seen ads that take the potential lead to the company’s home page, where there is no indication of how to get the lead magnet the potential lead was promised. Maybe there was a sign-up form in a sidebar somewhere, but nothing glaringly obvious.
I’ve also seen landing pages that are obvious about where to sign up for the lead magnet but offer other products as well.
DON’T DO THIS!!!
Your landing page should be a stand-alone page, focused solely on your lead magnet and getting your potential leads to opt-in for it.
Don’t add links to your website or other products. Avoid all distractions that may lure your potential lead away from this page and the action you want them to take.
In this age of too much information, our attention spans have shrunk to the size of a gnat.
You have 3-5 seconds to grab someone’s attention with landing page.
Here’s how you make the most of that 3-5 seconds.
- Use the same image on your landing page that you
used in your ad or other traffic-driving method. (That includes blog posts,
advertorials, and other promotional materials.) This lets your potential lead
know they’re in the right place because everything looks familiar.
- Leave plenty of “whitespace” on the page so it’s
easy to look at. Cluttered pages can be confusing. If your potential lead is
confused, they’ll click back to where they came from.
- Make all aspects of your landing page “point” to your opt-in form. The easier it is to find and the more obvious it is what you want your potential lead to do, the more likely they are to do it.
As we go through the last 4 components, I’ll explain how all of this works.
For now, know that the only thing you want your potential lead to do when they arrive on your landing page is to fill out the form that gives you their email address and sends them your lead magnet.
Write Copy That Compels Them to Say Yes
Your traffic source should set your potential lead up to be interested in your lead magnet, so they’re halfway there when they arrive on your landing page.
However, you do need to follow through once your potential lead gets there.
The copy on your landing page should either be the same as what you showed in your traffic source or build on that.
For example, you can have a landing page that is nothing but a headline, an image and an opt-in button or form, like this:
In this case, your traffic source should promise the same thing that is in your headline.
You can also give more details on what’s in your lead magnet, to further convince a potential lead that they want it.
Here, you should write a compelling headline, plus 3-5 bullet points that highlight what your potential lead will get from your lead magnet.
As you write these bullets, focus on your potential lead and answer the question, “What’s In It For Me?” This is the question they’re asking themselves as they read the copy. Answer it for them.
Show them the features and benefits of your lead magnet. Make it worthwhile for them to give you their email address in exchange for this information.
With this option, your landing page would look something like this:
You don’t want to give everything away here. You just want to get your potential lead more excited about receiving your lead magnet.
Above all, make sure your copy focuses exclusively on your lead magnet. That’s the only thing you’re offering on this landing page, so that’s the only thing you should talk about.
No hints at what you want to sell them later. That’s what your email welcome and follow-up sequence is for.
Now that you’ve got a handle on your landing page copy, let’s talk about your opt-in form.
Make Your Opt-In Form as Simple as Possible
Let’s say you just met a person in line at your local coffee shop. You’re chatting away, and suddenly, this person starts asking you for a bunch of personal information, like what you do for a living, how big your company is, how much money you make, etc.
Would you feel comfortable with that?
You just met this person. You may never see them again. Why would you answer all these questions, especially when you’re put on the spot?
It’s exactly the same with your opt-in form.
If you ask for a lot of personal information, people are less likely to fill it out because it feels intrusive.
This person has just met you. It’s a bit of an ask for them to give you their email address, because they’re giving you permission to enter their inbox and send them stuff.
Don’t overwhelm them.
Ask only for the information you absolutely need.
First name and email address are the most common fields people are willing to fill out.
If you really want their last name too, you can ask, but don’t make it a required field.
If you desperately need their phone number because your funnel involves a follow-up call, you can add that too, but if you don’t need to, don’t do it. There is plenty of time for that later.
You don’t want to intimidate your potential lead when you’re trying to get them to say yes to your lead magnet.
Make your opt-in form as simple and friendly as possible, like this:
You’ll notice that I did include an image on this opt-in form. It’s the same Featured Image I used in the blog post it’s attached to. Again, that helps your potential lead know they’re in the right place and getting the right information.
I also included the consent checkbox on my opt-in form. Despite the fact that people have been giving their email addresses in exchange for freebies for years now, there are still people who get up in arms when you send them anything if you don’t make it blatantly obvious that you’re going to do so.
Adding this checkbox makes it clear to your potential lead that they will receive emails from you if they opt-in for your lead magnet. It can also cut down on the number of people who mark your emails as spam, which can damage your sending rate and reputation with your ESP or CRM.
I should say here that there are two types of opt-in forms:
- The single-step opt-in form, which shows the form right there on the landing page.
- The two-step opt-in form, which requires your potential lead to click on a button to get to the opt-in form.
Most landing page creators give you both options. It’s up to you to decide which you prefer to use.
There is evidence that people are more likely to fill out the form and hit the submit button with a two-step opt-in form. This has to do with the idea of micro-commitments. They’ve said yes once, why not say yes again.
The image above is the second step of a two-step opt-in form. This is where you would land if you clicked on a button on a landing page.
I recommend that you test this on your landing page to see which form your audience prefers (opts into). Most landing page creators also include A/B testing options that will help you do this.
Make Your Opt-In Form Ridiculously Easy to Find
I know. They’ve come to the page, it’s right there in front of their noses.
Most people should know what to do when they’re on your landing page, right?
Wrong.
Humans are not stupid. They are overwhelmed with too much information and sometimes just plain lazy.
The more obvious you make your opt-in form, or opt-in form button, if you’re going with the two-step option, the more people will actually fill out your form.
If you’ll recall from the second landing page example, there is a big black arrow pointing right at the first opt-in button.
That makes it darn obvious. If people can’t figure that one out, there’s not a lot more I can recommend.
Other good but more subtle options are to include a person in your background image, looking at the opt-in form.
This is called “throwing focus” in theater terms. An actor looking at another actor on stage indicates where the audience is supposed to focus. The person in your background image does the same thing in the virtual world.
Putting your opt-in form or button in the center of the page is another way to handle this issue.
If you do this, make sure your button or form is “above the fold,” meaning it’s on the first screen your potential lead sees.
If you want to include bullets, you can add them in the next section, like this:
The lower section gives you an opportunity to include images and bullet points, as well as another opt-in button or form.
People who know they want in will click on the top button. People who want more information first will scroll down and click on the bottom button when they’re ready.
Which brings us to…
Make Your Button Incredibly Appealing and Clickable
After all this discussion of making your button or form obvious, you also have to make the next step obvious.
This is true whether you’re using a single step or two-step opt-in form.
If you’re using a two-step opt-in form, both buttons need to make the next step obvious.
Make your button say something compelling. Something that gets your potential lead excited about receiving your lead magnet.
Above all, your button text should make it clear what you want your potential lead to do and what they’re getting when they take that action.
The common text is usually “Send Me The Insert Lead Magnet Type” or “Get My Free Insert Lead Magnet Type.”
If you look at the opt-in form example above, my button says, “Send Me the Templates.” (This is for a set of welcome/follow-sequence email templates.)
I could have modified this to say:
“Yes! Send Me My Templates Right Now!”
or
“Give Me The Templates So I Can Get Started Right Away!”
Another example is the text on the button to get to the opt-in form:
Again, this is your personal choice but I do recommend testing it to see what works best for your audience.
Your button should be a highly-contrasting color from whatever background color you’re using. If your page is green, your button should be yellow. If your page is black, your button should be white.
I personally like red buttons and they seem to work for my audience. Again, test this to see what your audience reacts to.
The idea is to make the button stand out clearly from everything else on the page so it is easy to find.
Go Make Your Own High-Converting Landing Page
Now you know the 5 components that go into a high-converting landing page, go create one of your own.
I’ve put together the High-Converting Landing Page Checklist which covers all the steps I detailed in this blog post.
Click on the button below to download it now, so you can get started making your own landing pages to grow your email list.
Hey, look, an easy to see, compelling button that makes it obvious what you should do and what you’ll get. You should click on that.