How to make a landing page with a high conversion rate in 2023: 9 useful tips
Do we still need landing pages in 2023? Some may think it’s an outdated way to promote your business because people are more likely to use AI chatbots to find information. But experience shows the opposite.
People are still using search engines, where they can find your landing page. As for today, AI is just in its embryo stage. It will boost search engine algorithms but not replace them for many years. So, this promotion method would not lose its relevance for a long time. Today, we will share 9 working practices to make an excellent landing in 2023.
What is a landing page and why is it so important?
The landing page is a separate page (or even a website) for promoting a product (tool, event, etc). It concentrates on a single item and a single goal for it. It can be anything: leaving a contact data, buying the product, visiting an event, etc. If businesses want to try to promote another goal for the same product, they should create another landing page.
That way they can ensure that they do their best to maintain a promotion goal. Regular websites are usually large, so landing pages may get lost there. Businesses spend money on promotions, but it doesn’t pay out because users get distracted by other content.
Launching a landing page on a small website may be risky too. You should do your best to promote it. But if you do it TOO WELL, you may get caught in traffic cannibalization when the landing page steals traffic from regular pages. And when you decide to remove this page, it affects your Google Rank, and your site may lose its place in search results.
If you want to keep it on your website for less than a year, consider creating a separate landing page. You can promote it organically through SEO and use Google Ads paid promotion. It’s even easier from the technical point of view. You have just one page, one product, and one action, so it will be easier to find suitable keywords.
Then it’s up to a small thing — build a landing page correctly to get the maximum possible profit.
Crucial landing page elements
A whole page is designed around a target action. If some element distracts the user, they don’t complete this action. It’s crucial to keep your landing page as simple as possible.
You can skip the footer or top navigation menu if you decide to built-in the landing page on your website. To save you time, we gather all crucial elements in one place:
- Hero image (shot). It’s an eye-catching picture that should “tell” your potential customers about a special feature of your product that is about to change their lives.
- Main headline. Short (up to 7 words) and catchy text that helps a visitor understand why they need your product. Sometimes, you can add short subheadings.
- Benefits. If you are unsure what to write here, ask yourself “What are my advantages over rivals? How can I write about those features, so clients will see them too?“.
- Credibility elements. Give visitors social proof: trust badges, testimonials, customer logos, and awards. They should see that you are a trustworthy business. If you are just a new business, add case studies. Show that you are worthy of trust.
- CTA (Call to action). It’s a short message that asks users to complete a target action and a small button near it that brings the visitor into the next step of the sales funnel. It can be a call to purchase a product, install an app, subscribe to socials, download a free ebook, etc.
- Closing statement with a unique selling point. Some users are still unsure if they need your product even after CTA. Add a short sentence with strong evidence why a visitor should complete a target action.
9 practices for top-tier landing page
To save you time, we gather 9 proven practices that help you make a landing page with a high conversion rate. We’ve used them in our work and can confirm that those tips work in 2023.
Add a useful video
Create a useful and engaging video that shows the advantages of your product. You can place it as the main image or in the benefits block. It highlights you from rivals and encourages users to take a target action. Make it short, up to a minute. You can re-edit it and put it on socials as an additional promo.
Technically speaking, it would be better to load a video on Vimeo and embed it on your website. That way you can seamlessly insert it, while the user can play it even with a slow 3G connection.
If you decide to put the video directly on the website, the visitor should fully load it. Otherwise, they can’t launch it. And it may be a problem when a user tries to load your 200 Mb FullHD video with a slow connection. If you really need to put a video on the website (not embedding it), make a lightweight file for less than 3-7 Mb.
Grammarly uses this trick to show their tool in work, so you can see how it works without installing the application.
YouTube won’t be so seamless, but it’s fine. Visitors may see its interface which may interfere with user experience. If you don’t need to embed a video seamlessly, you can use YouTube. It will be okay, just like on Loomly’s landing page.
Made a reference to your product in the landing page design
If you are making some digital product, integrate design decisions into your landing. Make some references that represent the product’s mood, if you are selling a physical item or event. It’s an interesting way to draw visitors’ attention.
Coda’s main page is a great example of this practice. They understand they won’t remove this page from a website, so they create a landing page right there. And this decision allows visitors to get a sneak peek at the Coda’s interface before they install it.
Maintain a mobile-oriented design
As for 2023, a perfect website should work well on desktop and mobile devices. And it counts for the landing pages too. The number of mobile users’ overgrown desktop clients a long time ago. But even today, many businesses still ignore mobile users. And it’s self-defeating behavior.
You should create a landing page that works perfectly on a small iPhone 8, tablet, and PC with a wide screen.
Write a shortest possible headline
A landing page is not a Shakespeare poem. You don’t need to write a 3 000 word essay. Come up with a concise headline under 5-9 words. Use Miller’s law (the magical number seven, plus, or minus two). People can keep 7 ± 2 objects in their short memory.
If you decide to put the headline in the blank space, you can use 9 words. But once you put a picture near the headline, it acts as an object. In this case, shorten the headline to 5-8 words. Otherwise, there is a high chance that visitors will get distracted and leave the website.
A perfect example of Miller’s law headline is the Fitbit landing page. It has a 7-word headline, a CTA (call to action) button, and a hero image of three smartwatches that can count as one complex element. Totally it’s 9 components.
Go straight to the point
Socials shift users’ attention span to the point that businesses should create rapid cuts even in text content. Don’t pour water, bragging about the product. Simply tell visitors how it can change their life.
It would be perfect to design each point in the benefits section as a small separate block. This small trick helps retain visitors’ attention just as rapid cuts in music videos. You’ll have more chances that the client will go through the sales funnel and make a target action.
Take a closer look at ēdn website and their SeedPod membership landing page. They give crucial info and benefits as independent blocks that complement each other.
The same rule applies to the Starbucks Rewards page. They provide information on how to earn extra points and what you can get from their company as independent interactive blocks.
Come up with the idea of how to direct visitors to the main website
If you create a landing as a separate one-page website, figure out how to redirect users to the main one. Why do you need this step? Some may think that it’s unnecessary. But in reality, if your product is interesting, many users want to get to know you better. Ease them this task.
You can leave the link to the main site in the header and footer or link it to some illustration. It’s up to you. But we strongly recommend you do it, saving the sales funnel. If you don’t do it, users start to Google info about your business, heading to other websites. It distracts the user from completing a target task.
Use 1-2 designer trends
One-page landings don’t live too long. Usually, it’s 2-4 months, a year at most. So, you are free to choose any trend that suits your branding. You don’t have the same freedom while you create a landing page on your main website. In this case, the landing should follow a similar design guideline.
We’ve collected 14 main website design trends in 2023 in one of the previous materials. Most of them will look trendy even in 2024, so you can use some of them.
Add micro animations
It will make your page more fun and dynamic, highlighting you above rivals. Landing pages don’t weigh that much. You are free to add cool details, like micro animations. Ask the UX designer to make lightweight micro animation that encourages visitors to click on it and complete a target action.
You can find inspiration on Dribble or Behance. They have projects that can give you interesting ideas.
Give a risk-free trial
Ask yourself, would you fill in your credit card data and full name, or send hard-earned money to a company you see the first time? Of course, no. That’s the thing! So, why should other people provide you with this information?
If you ask a user to share confidential data or pay money as the first interaction with your business, prepare that they leave you. You will lose a potential customer.
Give visitors a risk-free trial. It can be some short guide, consultation, etc. If you are selling an event, give users a promo code, or an “early bird” discount and send useful information related to the event’s topic.
Ask for non-confidential information for the first exchange between you and the user: email, Instagram username, etc. It will be enough for you to collect a lead, but at the same time, users won’t be afraid to share contact info with you. It’s a win-win deal for both parties.
Shopify is a great example of a giving risk-free trial. They ask only for an email to give users a 3-day free trial. And if a user is satisfied with it and asks for an extended trial, they give Shopify their credit card info to obtain a 3-month membership for $1.
A visitor is satisfied because Shopify gives them a chance to try the tool. Shopify managers are happy because there is a high probability that this user will convert to their regular client. It’s a great win-win deal for both sides.
Wrapping Up
As you see, landing pages are still great promotional solutions used by big and small companies. But you should stick to certain rules to get the most out of it. Make your landing short and go straight to the point. You can add a useful video. Don’t be afraid to use modern web-design trends and micro-animations.
Ensure that this page works perfectly both on mobile and desktop. And made a design reference to the promoted product, so visitors can get a peek at it. Give a risk-free trial in exchange for an email. Later, you can offer users another profitable deal, so they are more likely to share card info or buy a product from you.
