Tightly-Focused Landing Pages Result in a Higher Conversion Rate
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Web Marketing Today
Jan 22, 2008, 09:25
Homepages are good at introducing a visitor to your company or product line, but they don't achieve a high conversion rate from advertising click-throughs. Landing pages, on the other hand, have a very focused objective, such as to:
- Sell a particular product or service,
- Acquire a lead, or
- Gain a subscriber.
Any element of the landing page that distracts your visitor from taking the intended step must be ruthlessly eliminated.
Use Links Sparingly
The MarketingSherpa Landing Page Handbook puts it bluntly: "It's a mathematical certainty that every link on your landing page that doesn't result in conversion will decrease your rate." While links can be freely used on most types of webpages, landing pages are a different animal altogether. The only links should be ones that further your chances of getting a sale or response.
JavaScript Opens Small Dead-End Windows
One way to keep people from leaving to follow a rabbit trail is to limit your landing page to hyperlinks that open small windows which answer a question and can be closed easily -- dead-end windows that offer no escape from your landing page.
On my landing pages I use a very simple JavaScript program that opens a small window -- and doesn't trigger pop-up blockers. The first part of the code goes in the <HEAD> portion of the webpage:
function openWindow(url, w, h) {
var options = "width=" + w + ",height=" + h + ",";
options += "resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes,";
options += "menubar=no,toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no";
var newWin = window.open(url, 'newWin', options);
newWin.focus();
}
The JavaScript program is activated when someone clicks on a hyperlink, such as the example that follows:
<a onMouseOver="status='MESSAGE'; return true"
onMouseOut="status=' '; return true"
onClick="openWindow('http://www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/landing_cost.htm', 200, 350); return false"
href="http://www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/landing_cost.htm">High cost of poor landing pages</A>
The program uses standard JavaScript, which you can learn about by studying any basic book or online tutorial on JavaScript. (Please don't ask me to troubleshoot this for you.)
In the program above, when your prospect's mouse moves over the link, a message will appear (in the above instance, the word "MESSAGE"). If your visitor clicks on the link, a new window will open that is 200 pixels wide, 350 pixels tall. If JavaScript isn't working in a visitor's browser for some reason, the link will act like a normal hyperlink and take the visitor to the target page without opening a window.
Standard Site Navigation Templates Should Be Avoided
Some people in your company will strongly protest removing navigation system links from the landing pages. This is because they confuse the goal of branding with the goal of achieving a desired action. Removing the site navigation system from landing pages is vital, however, since it prevents "leakage" to the rest of your website. Landing page click-throughs that begin to wander your site will inevitably become distracted and lose the momentum needed to complete the desired action -- the momentum that you've been trying so hard to create. Free and easy navigation is an important usability design principle for normal webpages. It is not a recommended design principle for landing pages!
Note, however, that an e-commerce store with product pages designed to be reached by browsing needs to retain the site's navigation system. It's the landing pages designed to be reached directly by either organic or paid search that should drop the navigation links.
Show strong discipline. Unless you can find a good reason to include an element, statement, graphic, link, etc., leave it out. Focus, simplicity, clarity, and relevancy will result in the highest conversion rate for your landing pages.
