A landing page is built to encourage visitors to take a specific action. Whether it’s opting in to a lead magnet, resource, or newsletter, purchasing a product or service, or filling out a form, every good landing page requires two things: a great offer and a great audience. (Not sure how to build a lead magnet, check here for our step-by-step guide. And just in case, we made one for building landing pages too!). They’ll be critical to the success of your campaigns and converting visitors into customers. Avoid these 10 common mistakes to create a better experience and convert more of your traffic into sales.
1. Too Many Calls-to-Action (CTA)
Landing pages should be built with one specific action in mind. When there are too many CTAs and paths for your visitor to take, you may not have them complete the action you want them to. If you include one personalized CTA, supported by great copy, the path is clear and intuitive.
2. Bad Copy
You won’t have much time to grab the attention of your visitors, so having well-written copy is essential. Your content should be broken up into short paragraphs, or bullet points. Keep language simple and concise – just enough words to grab your reader’s attention, provide them with the benefits, and tell them what to do next. Focus on your unique selling proposition and steer clear of using too much, or too little information.
Take a look at your headlines. Make sure they’re powerful and that you’re delivering on what they promise. This is the first impression people will get of your business so make sure it packs a punch and tells the benefits of your offer.
3. Poor Design Choices
From bad font choices to clashing colors, a badly constructed landing page can be a turnoff. The best landing pages are not cluttered or complex. They’re clear, concise, and easy on the eyes. A landing page has a natural flow – an attention-grabbing headline, subheader for context, and a combination of short paragraphs and bullet points that sell your offer, followed by a form.
Here are some options to build out your landing page:
- Outline your page and then outsource the building.
- Send your web developer the design on a piece of paper, or an online document, and have them create the page for you.
- Build it yourself, but this will mean you need coding experience and will be timely.
4. Low-Quality Images or None at All
A great image can speak a thousand words. It can help provide context and convey your message to your visitors. Low-quality images, including generic or stock photography, can reflect poorly on your brand. Instead, opt for a high-quality image and place it as your hero shot. An image or graphical representation of your product or service can help boost conversions because visitors can visualize using it themselves.
5. Slow Loading Speed
53% of consumers expect a page to load in two seconds or less, and 40% will leave a page if it takes more than three seconds to load. Avoid excessive use of features that could slow load time down.
There are tools available online like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to get a sense of how quickly your pages are loading on desktop and mobile. They will also offer recommendations for some fixes.
6. Not Mobile-Friendly
Not only will you want to think about how your page will render on mobile devices, but also about the mobile experience of filling out the form.
7. Too Many Steps
This could include a lengthy lead capture form. Don’t ask for information you don’t need. Too many form fields can have cautious visitors abandon your site quickly.Make sure that the content you’re offering is of proportional value to the information you’re asking them to share.
8. Includes Navigation
Your landing page has one goal and that’s not to have your visitor go to another page. Keep your visitor’s focus on the offer at hand by removing navigation and other distractions – that also includes menus. Having multiple options to navigate will lower the conversion rate for your intended action.
9. Lack of Social Proof
Social proof – endorsements by others – is a great way to show you’re trustworthy. It shows the value of the product or service you’re offering and can often help influence visitors to convert.
10. Using Gimmicky Marketing Tactics
Avoid using ploys like aggressive pop-ups, preloaders, and push notifications. It can be overwhelming leading to your visitor bouncing from your site.
Having the most irresistible offer on the planet won’t convert people if they don’t stick around long enough to check it out. So, make sure you’re not guilty of these common mistakes and optimize your landing pages today! If you need help figuring out what next steps to take, we are here to help. The Rockstarr Sound Check will give you the tools to tune-up your site to optimize conversion, drive engagement, and make your audience go wild.
Audit Your Own Landing Page in 15 Minutes
You built the page. You have looked at it two hundred times. You can no longer see it.
So borrow fresh eyes and run this once.
- Open the page on your phone, on cellular data. Count the seconds until you can read the headline. If you get bored waiting, so does your visitor.
- Show the top of the page to someone outside your company for five seconds, then hide it. Ask what the page offers and what they are supposed to do. If they cannot say, your headline and button need work.
- Count every clickable thing. Menu items, footer links, social icons, extra buttons. Anything that is not the one action you want is an exit.
- Fill out your own form with your thumbs. Note every field that made you sigh.
- Read the confirmation message and the first email. Most founders have not seen either since launch day.
Write down what you find. You will have a list of five to ten problems, and most of them will match the ten mistakes above.
Which Mistake to Fix First
You cannot fix ten things by Friday. Pick by where people are dropping off.
Say you send 500 visitors to a landing page this month. 300 of them leave within a few seconds. Of the 200 who stay and scroll, 30 start the form. Of those 30, 6 finish it.
Read that from the top down. Losing 300 of 500 right away points to load speed, a mobile problem, or a headline that does not match the ad or email that sent them. Fix that first, because it touches the most people. Next, 170 of 200 readers never start the form. That points to weak copy, no proof, or too many competing links. Last, 24 of 30 abandon the form. That one is the form itself: too long, too nosy, or broken on a phone.
Those numbers are an example. Pull your own from your analytics and find the biggest drop. That is your next project. Everything further down the page can wait.
Fixed and Still Not Converting? Look at the Promise
Sometimes the page is clean, quick, and focused, and the number still will not move. When that happens, stop polishing the page.
Check two things. First, does the page say the same thing as whatever sent the visitor there? An ad that promises a pricing checklist and a page that opens with your company history will lose people, no matter how good the design is. Second, is the offer something your buyer wants this week? A free consultation with a stranger is a big ask. A short, specific resource is a small one.
If the headline is the weak link, start with how to write attention-grabbing website headlines that convert. If you are rebuilding from scratch, use how to create a powerful landing page for your consulting agency.
Frequently asked questions
What is a landing page? A landing page is a single web page built to get a visitor to take one specific action, such as downloading a guide, booking a call, or making a purchase. Unlike a homepage, it has one goal and no menu. Visitors usually arrive from an ad, an email, or a social post.
How do I find out why my landing page is not converting? Look at where visitors drop off: right after arriving, before starting the form, or partway through the form. Each drop points to a different problem. Early exits suggest speed or headline issues, mid-page exits suggest weak copy or proof, and form exits suggest too many fields.
How do I make a landing page convert better? Make the headline match the ad or email that sent the visitor, keep one call to action, and cut the form to the fields you need. Then add proof from real customers near the button. Test the page on a phone before you send any traffic to it.
What is the most common landing page mistake? The most common landing page mistake is giving visitors more than one thing to do. Extra buttons, a full menu, and footer links all pull attention away from the single action the page exists for. Remove everything that does not help a visitor say yes to the offer.
How long should I test a landing page before changing it? Test a landing page until it has had enough visitors to show a pattern, which for most small businesses means a few hundred visits or about a month. Judging a page on twenty visits leads to bad decisions. Change one element at a time so you know what caused the result.