September 5, 2022
Landing page optimization: 8 steps to a better conversion
Landing page optimization can help you achieve better conversions. We'll show you how to do it in just 8 steps
Landing page optimization: 8 steps to a better conversion
This problem might sound familiar to you: You have your own website or landing page that already generates traffic. But the majority of your site visitors just don't convert? Then landing page optimization could help you!
The main purpose of a landing page is to generate leads. Landing pages are a great marketing tool that can help generate great results.
There are some basic things you should keep in mind when creating or optimizing a landing page. This is because page visitors usually decide in a split second whether to stay on a page and scroll down or close the window again.
Details can be crucial: Was the headline compelling? Is your offer relevant to them? Landing page optimization is all about creating clarity for better results.
In this article, we'll give you 8 crucial tips for successful landing page optimization. We'll show you the most important building blocks you should consider to successfully optimize your landing page.
1. Know your target group!
The first tip may sound simple, but in reality it is the key to success! A successful marketing strategy is based on content that is relevant to your target audience. Therefore, you should make sure that you are targeting the RIGHT audience. And on the other hand, that you address your target group with the RIGHT content. Otherwise, your marketing activities will not be successful.
Here's how you can go about analyzing your target audience:
- Record socio-demographic and geographic characteristics of your target audience (e.g. place of residence, age, religion, gender, education level, occupation, income).
- Determine psychological characteristics (e.g. ways of thinking, beliefs, values, opinions, what are typical problems)
- Analyze the buying behavior of your target group (e.g. price sensitivity, brand loyalty, media usage, involvement, why do they buy)
After you have thoroughly analyzed all steps, you can derive recommendations for action based on this data. For example, if you have customers who make very rational decisions and want to weigh the benefits before making a purchase, you can communicate key facts and figures on your site that highlight the benefits. If your target audience is mostly young women, go for visual, emotional messages and more "feminine language."
Your target audience should end up feeling engaged by the content on your page.
2. Hero Section for more success
For a successful landing page optimization, you should check the Hero Section on your page. The Hero Section is the first section on your landing page. That is, the section that your page visitors see first. The upper section of your landing page determines the further success of your page. Therefore, it is especially important to be convincing here. Because in the worst case, the page visitor will directly close the page.
This section of your page should ideally have three features:
- What your offer is
- What makes you or your product unique (USP)
- Create enough excitement to make visitors scroll down the page
In the Hero section, use a compelling headline and a meaningful background. For example, you can choose an image or video as the background. These images and videos are called "heroshots". The "heroes" shown there can be people, products, landscapes or special designs. It is important that your target group can identify with the hero. This is the only way to generate emotions that, in the best case, will lead users to view the rest of your site.
3. Without CTA buttons, there are no conversions either.
Without call-to-action buttons on your page, conversions wouldn't even be possible. Page visitors click on the button and perform the action you want them to take (e.g. "Register for webinar" or "Order now"). So for successful landing page optimization, it's imperative that you address the CTA buttons on your page.
But how can you get users to click on the CTA button?
The text on the buttons is very important and should be checked during landing page optimization. Address your users directly and ask them to take action. The request should be short, concise and clearly formulated ("Register now" or "More info").
In addition to the wording, the placement of the buttons on your landing page is also important. There is a visual order to the landing page structure: Headline, Text, CTA-Button. Alternatively, you can place the button right at the beginning of a promotional message. Make sure that there is a CTA button in almost every section of your landing page.
When optimizing your landing page, also make sure that the buttons are designed conspicuously enough. Because if the button is too inconspicuous, it might be overlooked.
Tip: Also read our blog article: How to make your landing page design work - Avoid these 20 design mistakes.
4. Get personal
Site visitors want to know who is behind a product. A personal connection is important for the user to trust you and in the end perform the action you want.
But how can you use your landing page to build a personal connection with your site visitors? It's simple: With the About Us section! In your landing page optimization, you should check the About Us section. This section is looked at by users particularly often and should therefore not be missing.
3 tips for a successful About Us section:
- Show a picture of you and your team (make sure the photo quality is good).
- Tell something about you and your company in a few short sentences
- Make a reference to your target group (e.g. I had this problem myself and that's why I developed this product as a solution).
5. Establish trust
In order for users to take the action you want them to take (e.g. buy your product), they must first trust you. You can establish trust on your website through trust elements.
Trust is especially important in the beginning, when your brand is not yet well known. Users don't know if they can trust you or not. Trust elements can help to establish this trust. That's why you should make sure to use trust elements on your page during your landing page optimization.
5 possible trust elements for your landing page:
- Seals & Certificates
- Social media links
- Customer reviews
- Test reports
- References
You can find a more detailed guide to trust elements in our blog article: More sales thanks to trust elements on your website.
6. Better ad texts = better conversions?!
In your landing page optimization, be sure to review the ad copy on your site. Well-written copy can be the key to better conversions. But how do you know if your ad texts are successful or not?
Characteristics of good advertising copy:
- Short and concise
- Contains incentives to buy
- Customers are addressed emotionally and with figurative language
- Addresses the target group appropriately
- Correct layout
Another way to write good advertising copy is to translate product features into benefits.
Here is an example of this for a job ad:
- 30 days of vacation = More free time for you and the things you want to do
- High salary = More money that is freely available to you
- Home office = work from home and feel comfortable at work
The goal of this method is to understand the needs of your customers and communicate the benefits to them.
7. What's the competition doing?
It makes sense to do a competitor analysis as part of your landing page optimization. But why is this important?
Entrepreneurs are often convinced that they know their competition. However, this assumption is usually based on subjective impressions and personal feelings. As a result, important facts are neglected or overlooked.
In addition, the market changes very quickly in most industries: New competitors appear or competitors disappear from the market. It is therefore all the more important to analyze the competition in detail and to assess what they do better or worse and where one stands with one's own company in the market. This is the only way to keep your own company competitive.
8. Test your landing page
Another effective way to optimize your landing page is to simply test it. For this, you can perform an A/B test. In this test, you compare the performance of two (or even more) different variants of your landing page.
The starting point is always the "control" landing page (landing page A). There you direct 50% of your visitors and the other half of your visitors to landing page B.
On landing page B you can then test, for example, how a changed landing page structure is received or test other important changes. However, it is important that you only test one thing at a time. Otherwise, you won't be able to track what exactly led to success or failure.
Conclusion
Landing page optimization is about an overall review of your landing page. Even if the performance of the page is good, it may be worthwhile to get the most out of it by performing a landing page optimization.
Try it out for yourself right away! Optimize your landing page and improve your conversions. One way to create your own page for free is to use Onepage. There you can also optimize your page at any time with just a few clicks:
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