Lead Generation Landing Page Best Practices for Your Website, Email Marketing, and Social Media Campaigns
Does your website offer poor content? Is there just a lonely contact form with which a customer "might" contact the sales department? If so, it will be very difficult for you to generate new leads.
If you want to be successful, you need customers. It's not just about attracting as many prospects as possible over social media or search engines. You need Leads. You need contact details. You can get those with a Landing Page.
At a minimum, each marketing campaign to gain leads must include a landing page (with a signup form), and email marketing drip to nurture those leads. Ideally, you’ll want a follow-up call at some point in the nurture cycle, a freebie, and management of those leads in your CRM of choice.
But what exactly is a landing page and why is it so important in online marketing? How does it differ from other pages on your website? What are the advantages of a landing page and how is it optimally structured?
“Social networks, search engines, websites, and email marketing serve as delivery channels for your Direct Marketing. By clicking online coupons, the user can be directed to our campaign's landing page. They can enter their data in the fields provided and agree for these to be used.” Andrews Wharton
Using Landing Pages for Effective Lead Generation
Landing pages are not considered a basic building block of successful lead generation for nothing. Compared to non-specific subpages or the start page of your website, they have three significant advantages:
With a good landing page, you significantly increase traffic, leads, and conversion rate.
Landing pages focus on a single offer and can thus be perfectly adapted to individual campaigns.
The probability of a purchase increases significantly with a landing page since there are no distracting elements on landing pages.
“Lead generation starts with not just any data – it starts with your data. Make use of your CRM to really understand your users and their needs. Is your CRM giving you the desired level of user data and insights? Should we be talking about that? Your CRM shouldn't be holding you back.” Andrews Wharton
What Exactly is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a page that leads potential customers to a targeted action (a conversion). The focus of the landing page is a specific offer -- your lead magnet. This can be, for example, a whitepaper, a product, an event, or a special service.
Regardless of what the offer is, the following principle applies one page - one offer - one action.
Landing pages for lead generation don’t necessarily have to be related to your actual website. A landing page always works on its own, as it contains all the information your prospect needs about the offer in question.
Landing pages are also a very good way to qualify leads or to promote offers, services, and benefits to your existing customers, social media followers, or newsletter subscribers.
The Difference Between Lead Generation Landing Pages and Your Company Website
Your website primarily conveys an overall impression of your company, and its many products and services. And that's okay because you want to present yourself appropriately to your website visitors.
A landing page for lead generation has only a single action as its goal, which relates to a single offer. Consequently, the landing page focuses on a specific topic and does not contain any distracting elements such as further links, navigation, or other offers.
What's the Purpose of a Landing Page?
Even before you think about building your landing page, you should think about what action you want to trigger before you create it. For example, your visitors could:
sign up for a newsletter,
download a whitepaper,
make an appointment,
buy a product,
book a service,
arrange a consultation,
donate money or much more!
For you as a company, this is always about:
(1) Attracting leads
Since landing pages focus on a specific offer and have only one call to action that is tailored to that offer, they naturally generate more leads.
(2) Increase traffic and visibility
A good landing page has a better chance of ranking in search engine results than your website itself because it's specifically tailored to a single topic.
(3) Increase conversions
Due to the high relevance and the targeted offer, conversions on landing pages are significantly higher than on mixed product pages or start pages.
“How does SEO affect your Lead Generation? More than you think. Before working out concrete lead generation data collection, you should have a mature SEO strategy. Words are not the only factors for a good ranking on Google.” Andrews Wharton
Landing Pages: 4 Things You Should Do Before Creation
Landing pages that convert poorly or communicate completely past the target audience can happen. So this doesn’t happen to you, we’ve included four basic steps important to the creation of a landing page.
Step 1: Research, research, research
Knowledge is power - this also applies when preparing for landing pages. The more you know about the needs of your potential customers, their pain points, and their desires in relation to your offer, the easier it will be for you to generate leads.
However, it is important to note that a landing page should only ever address one target group -- one demographic. If you want to address multiple target groups with your offer, each target group needs a landing page created specifically for them.
Step 2: Write a product sheet for your landing page
The next step in preparing your landing page is to create a product sheet for your respective offer. This serves as the content basis for your landing page and builds on all the insights gained so far from research, target group analysis, and understanding your customers.
“Use a landing page with minimum clutter and have just one ask of that prospect or visitor to convert them into a contact you can essentially nurture and close.” Forbes
Step 3: Define your target group down to the details
The next step is to define your target group or review the existing target group analysis once again. Because even if you know the target group for your company, individual offers that you advertise on a landing page may only appeal to smaller groups. The more precisely you know your target group, the more precisely you can address them and the more successful your landing page will be.
“If we are to help people, we first need to get their attention. It doesn’t matter if you want to get the attention of teens looking for their first car, working moms looking to invest in the market, or seniors in Frog Eye Alabama looking for health insurance.” Andrews Wharton
Step 4: Focus on specific and real leads
Based on your previous research and analyses, you can now drive corresponding customers to your landing page. At this point, it’s no longer a question of superficial data. You know who your target group is and what they want.
Social Media: capturing qualified leads on your social media platforms and bringing them onto your landing page.
Email: gathering information on the needs of potential customers and their email addresses either via the web or as part of your sales funnel
Website and Search: increasing sales by retargeting prospects via Google Ads
The Basic Structure of a Good Landing Page
A good landing page is like a successful consultation or even a sales pitch. However, with the advantage that you already know the needs of your prospects and the potential customers who have come to you. However, it’s important that you understand the basic characteristics of a landing page:
Remember: Focus on a single offer.
These elements belong on your landing page:
Landing Page: Above the Fold (visible before scrolling on a desktop device)
1. Your Logo
Since your lead generation landing page stands on its own, recognition is key.
2. No Menu!
There should be nothing to distract from this page or let the visitor accidentally leave.
3. Headline and Content
The headline answers the visitor’s needs. Adding one or two USPs clinches the deal.
4. The Hero or Heroine Image
Draw the attention of your visitors to your offer with an eye-catching image. It’s called the “Hero or Heroine Shot” because the prospect can visualize themselves in the image. All the more important to have unique landing pages for specific demographics.
5. A Contact Form (The 1st Call to Action -- or a link to a contact form)
There should be no need for a visitor to scroll further. Offer two CTAs -- “Get more information” as well as “Book an appointment.”
Landing Page: Below the Fold (visible after scrolling) -- if you haven’t convinced the visitor yet, you have a second chance.
6. Further Information about the Offer in Detail
Summarize the most important information about your offer.
7. The Benefits, Properties, and Features
Now it's time to convince your prospects. Include a short video with the benefits of your offer.
8. The 2nd Call to Action
At this point, you have the opportunity to address those people who weren’t immediately convinced “above the fold.”
9. The Testimonials (Trust Elements)
Just like a sales pitch, you now need to dispel any doubts of the prospects: convince them with meaningful testimonials that your offer is really as good as you claim.
10. Reiterate the USPs and Benefits -- perhaps with a short FAQ section.
This section also helps people find your landing page through search. Google loves FAQs.
11. The 3rd Call to Action
Last chance: Ask the visitors to your landing page to perform the desired action with a final call-to-action, just in case they haven’t already done so.
The best landing page is the one people use!
5 Tips for Successful Lead Generation Landing Pages
People search for you using words
Your landing page may service a Google Ad or other indexed search need. What is it that you want people to find you for? Ask people what they would search on Google. Write it down. Now ensure that your landing page has those words included, not stuffed in the meta-description, but as part of the headlines and copy.
2. Use multi-step patterns
Nobody likes paperwork, and the same goes for forms with too many questions. If you really need to ask more questions, do it in a few steps. Instead of showing the visitor 12 questions on one page, break it up into multiple steps or four or 6 questions. Start with easy questions and leave the harder ones for last -- people are more likely to answer them if they've already invested time answering the first set.
3. Avoid manual data entry
Offer visitors options in a dropdown menu instead of manually entering information. This reduces effort and time and increases conversion rates. If you’re collecting information for market research purposes, it is easier to group this data too.
4. Add a privacy policy
Lead generation patterns generally collect personal data, which requires some sensitivity. Add a clear link to the privacy policy to let visitors know that you care about protecting their personal data. Show that everything is in compliance with data protection laws.
5. Say "thank you"
When users submit the form, direct them to a thank you page specific to the landing page. Let them know the form was received and provide additional options to connect. Take the opportunity to offer them a newsletter subscription, redirect them to another website with special offers, upsell, or take advantage of a premium subscription. There are several options, including offering free downloads or informational videos, which can increase conversion rates.
“Well-optimized website landing pages should convert prospects into leads. Think of it this way: Your website is like a storefront. A good landing page is a storefront window that welcomes customers by eliminating confusion and improving discoverability. Ultimately, it should convert prospective customers into solid leads.” Think with Google
Are You Ready to Land Your Leads?
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