Too often, marketing staff try to get extra mileage from landing pages. The thinking is, “We got them to the landing page for this promotion, so why not give them a link to our other products too?” The focus of your design is conversion, so anything that diverts your visitor from this is detrimental to your goal. If visitors to your landing page are distracted, they may lose focus and not take the desired action. Landing pages should be specific. There is one and only one topic of interest on your landing page, and anything else should be removed. Identify the top three distraction elements on your page (information, pictures, or items that may sidetrack your visitors), and test the page without these elements.
Chapter 6 outlined the principles you should pay attention to when designing your website or campaign. Visitors fear giving out personal information because they do not know you. How can you get potential customers to trust you without ever meeting them?
Assure your customers that their privacy is important to you and will be well protected. Make sure your privacy policy is clear, and easy to understand and locate. Let visitors know that you have taken the time to create safeguards that protect their information. Try placing a link to your privacy policy, an icon that shows precautions have been taken, or a simple statement, such as “Your privacy is important to us,” close to the fields where you want customers to enter personal information.
Consider testing different types of warranties for products or trial periods for services. For example, you can give visitors 30 days to try your product risk-free; after that period, if they are not satisfied, they can get a full refund. You may also test free consultations so new clients can get a feel for your services without spending any money. This will encourage visitors to convert because their risks are reduced. Make sure visitors to your site can easily see and understand your warranty or satisfaction policy.
The fold is the point on a web page where scrolling is required to view additional content. If visitors have to scroll down to get all the information from your landing page, especially the call to action, you may lose them. Therefore, it is important to know where the fold will fall. Unfortunately, this is an inexact science, as different browsers and different screen resolutions will place the fold at different points on your page.
Design your page for the lowest common denominator, which is generally accepted by web designers to be a screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Designing your page for this format will mean that only a handful of visitors (those still using monitors with a resolution of 800 x 600—fewer than 3% of PC owners, and shrinking) will need to scroll. Remember, although the screen may be 1024 x 768, your page design needs to be a little smaller to account for the title, menu bars, and frames of common browsers. This means the size of your page should be no more than 950 x 750. Many of your visitors will not scroll, regardless of how important or pertinent the information is below the fold. It is imperative that you place a call to action above the fold to capture the nonscrollers.
Sometimes, due to the nature of your message, it is necessary to place content below the fold. If this will improve conversion rates, don’t hesitate to do it. Indeed, visitors will scroll before they click on a link to another page. If you have too much information to fit comfortably on a single page, allow users to scroll rather than click to it. Depending on the length of your page, you may need to place your call to action in more than one position. A rule of thumb is to have a call to action for every “screen,” or about every 400 to 500 lines of vertical resolution.
Keep the most important items (graphics, text, etc.) in the center of the viewer’s line of sight. This should be the focal point of the page. Do not allow items on the sidebars to take attention away from this focus. Your message should be conspicuous so that readers who scan the web page will get it. A quick glance at your landing page should be enough for someone to know what you are offering.
Regardless of its purpose, the call to action needs to be clear on your page. Along with the headline, images, and body copy, the call to action should be distinct and easily identifiable. Using a quick tagline within your call to action, succinctly indicating what action is expected, will help it stand out. Examples include “Buy Now,” “Email to a Friend,” and “Register Here.”
We recommend that our clients at least test the following elements for call-to-action buttons:
If you have multiple buttons on the page, make sure the call-to-action button for the primary purpose of the page stands out from the rest of the buttons.
The rule of thumb here is to place the call-to-action button above the fold. In terms of a long copy page, make sure your call-to-action button is visible with every page down scroll. This usually translates to every 400 to 500 lines, as stated earlier.
The standard wording of “Submit” on a call-to-action button will generally have a negative impact on your conversion rates. We recommend experimenting with different wording to see which works better for your visitors.
In the absence of hard-and-fast rules for placement of the call-to-action button, it may be best to discuss where it should not be placed:
Do not place the call-to-action button below the fold!
Do not overwhelm visitors with too many call-to-action buttons on the page.
Do not place the call-to-action button too close to one of your other major elements. Placing it immediately below the headline, right next to your main image, or in the middle of your body copy will reduce its visibility and the effectiveness of the other elements. The call to action is the ultimate point of any landing page; it deserves its own space, as do all the other elements.