Tweak a few sentences here, move your button there. Landing page optimization is so much fun especially when you see your variation winning and the real cash flow begin.
It seems so easy, as a novice you might even get tempted into random testing. But don't! Chances are, random testing will only burn you out. You may lose your time and money for nothing.
To have a successful test, you should have a valid (preferably data-driven) hypothesis to test your landing page. Coming up with a good hypothesis can be difficult when you are a novice.
Because there are so many elements to test, below I will cover the most important elements that you must test on your landing page.
Don't worry, Ill also accompany those testing ideas with examples. This will help you come up with good hypotheses to improve the conversions of your landing page:
#1 Placement Of Your Call-to-action Button
People often test button color, size and text. But placement of call-to-action, which is very crucial for conversions, is usually ignored by majority. When I say the placement of call-to-action button, I don't mean it should be above the fold.
The right placement of call-to-action button is when your prospects are ready to take action. How would you know when they are ready? By guiding thought process of your prospects with right visual hierarchy.
You can see the comparison image below for Underwater Audio. They corrected their visual hierarchy by changing the placement of their call-to-action buttons, which increased their online sales by 35.6%.
As is evident from the image, the visitors followed the F-shaped pattern on the landing page. And they converted better when they first saw a relevant testimonial and then the call-to-action button of the variation.
Making your call-to-action pop is important. But make sure that you place them carefully too.
#2 Value Proposition
What's that one unique thing which gives you an edge over your competitors? It can be any feature or service that you provide, which sets you apart from others and add value to your customer experience.
Once you've figured out that distinguishing feature/service, the next part is expressing it right. Please don't even fall into the trap of a superlatives for this. No one would believe you if your value proposition says something like, The #1 arthritis pain oil in America. Such claims are are thrown around everywhere and often make people skeptical. If you really want to go for such hype, make sure you backup your claim with actual proof.
It always works better when you'd rather say something more believable. Sure, you remember the popular Dominos stint that said "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less - or its free". That's the kind of value proposition you need. Simple, crisp, believable, and provides value to your customers.
Once you have yours figured out, it should be the first thing your visitors see on your landing page. And of course you can test it for different wordings.
Here's one of my favorite value propositions from Kissmetrics:
For some more examples and key takeaways on how to write a good value proposition, you can read my article.
#3 Images
So what are the best kind of images? Well, for starters, stock photos are definite NO. They will make you lose credibility if nothing else.
See if you could get your images to look or point to your primary call-to-action, lead generation form, or any other important element on the page, like a heading, product, or anything else that may influence visitors decision. Like, you can see the image below fromLKR Social Media:
The visitors follow the eyes of the girl in the image. This makes them read the impressive headline first, which increases their likeliness to convert. Now they are ready to take action and tada! The next thing that they see is, the call-to-action button.
Directional cues are powerful. And here's an image from Think Eye Tracking to drive the point home:
If it is difficult to find such an image, you can try out something like Freshbooks to guide your visitors with directional cues:
#4 Copy
Don't stuff it with keywords. Write for your customers. Clarity helps convince people easily.
Talk to your customers over social media, emails, and understand their concerns and what they find most valuable about your product/service. Once you know that key feature(s), you can emphasize it in your heading and in your copy too.
Using the same words that are used by your customers also helps. For example, if your most customers use the word cart instead of a basket, go with that. Be on a watch out for such small differences in words. Incorporate them into your copy and set up an AB test to see if you are right.
Adding testimonials is also great for conversions. But you should pick them carefully. Showing any testimonial that says how awesome your service is will not help your case much.
Display a testimonial that explains in detail about how exactly you solved their problem. Bonus points if this testimonial presses even more about your key feature/value proposition.
Of course, add the credentials and picture of the person who sent that testimonial (with due permission of your customer). People should know its a real testimonial.
Your overall tone should be professional yet conversational, like a face-to-face talk over a cup of coffee with a friend.
Remember, buying is an emotional process. Customers like to justify their decisions rationally though. Get them excited about your product/services and you'll see your conversions go sky high.
Message mismatch is also an important issue you need to be careful about. The image below from Unbounce elaborates this perfectly:
And finally, no features. Tell them the benefits of your product/service. This means, explain them how each feature eases their pain points.
The image below is an example of a headline tweak that increased conversions by 38.46%.
As you can see above, its not about having a creative headline or copy. It just needs to get the point across in the simplest way possible for higher conversions.
Your Turn
Have you tested any of the elements above? Have anything to add to the above tips I mentioned? Lets discuss in the comments section.