If you’ve heard anything from us, it’s likely you’ve heard us repeat the Biblical phrase, “there’s nothing new under the sun.” In short, everything is a remix and everything is grounded in unshakeable principles embedded in the fabric of our existence. That doesn’t mean we don’t believe in innovation, but it does mean we like to abstract problems. Landing pages are no exception.

Landing pages are meant to sell things. And humans have a very specific way of being “sold.” If you want a human to buy what you’re selling, there are a few things that must happen. 

1. They should want or need (or both) what you’re offering
2. They should be able to imagine having, using, flaunting what you’re offering
3. They should be able to justify buying what you’re offering (and buying it from you)
4. They should see a clear path to obtaining what you’re offering

If that looks familiar, good. Because it’s just a basic sales funnel. While your specific offer (and what makes your offer special) will influence where you spend the most energy, you should still hit the same basic stuff in the same basic order. We’ve been using our simplified sales funnel for years to improve conversion rates. Sometimes by ridiculous multiples overnight. 

That’s it in a nutshell. Go forth and prosper. Or stick around to dig a little deeper. 

Sales funnels sell the way humans buy

First things first, let’s think about brains. System 1 and System 2 thinking, a concept developed by Daniel Kahnemen (renowned psychologist and Nobel winning economist) indicates that people think in two ways. For our purposes, we boil this down to “automatic” (fast and intuitive) and “analytical” (slow and deliberate). You could also think about this in terms of “emotion” and “logic” or–better yet–“love” and “science.” 

Our goal when developing a landing page is to try to keep people in that automatic mode, avoiding analysis if at all possible. That said, analyzers still convert; they just don’t typically convert as quickly. So we still make allowance for System 2 thinking. 

When we start work defining a landing page (or honestly, when we start doing practically anything), we consider the sales funnel. For our purposes, we use this very light framework: 

1. Discovery / Awareness
2. Research
3. Comparison / Consideration
4. Conversion

We find breaking it up like this allows us the flexibility we need for maximum flow. It allows us to reorder concepts that are closely related based on who we’re targeting and why they will “want” to buy. 

First, we make sure the whole funnel is represented at the top of the page with a call to action. This may seem daunting, but it’s actually really fun to figure out how to communicate all these elements in a sentence, or a sentence with a couple bullet points. It’s important to include this first opportunity to convert in case you’ve got a real “hot lead” who’s already primed to purchase. 

Then, we systematically include content that serves the basic purpose of each step in our simplified sales funnel. We expand with added detail and assets to effectively persuade those who still need a little persuading. 

Don’t forget to include an opportunity to convert at each point where you may have convinced them they want to. We usually try to include a contextual call to action in every major section of the landing page. 

Discovery / Awareness: What is all this? Why should I care? 

Usually, “discovery” is happening somewhere else, but we use this step to make sure the concept of the page is immediately visible and understandable. 

This might be as easy as writing a good headline. But depending on how you’re driving traffic to this page, you may need to offer up a definition or explanation of the offer / product and how it relates to the potential buyer’s need. 

We usually use this space to produce a “whole story” statement, including a call to action. That might look like a feature area with a headline, 3 bullet points or subtext, and a primary call to action button.

Research: Is this even the thing? 

What are the key details someone needs to know about this concept to “buy it” and nothing extra? We always like to think about the principle of least effort here (Information-seeking behavior stops as soon as minimally acceptable results are found). The brain wants to confirm, but it’s also very lazy about it. The trick is to provide just enough to tick the research box. 

This is usually a great place for one or two stats or a feature grid. Checkmarks are a good way to indicate it meets and exceeds the expectations the potential buyer should have. Help those lazy brains say, “yeah, this is it.”

Comparison and Consideration: Okay, I’m buying – but from you?

Here’s where we tuck in stuff like social proof, trustbuilders and certifications, differentiators, and comparisons (usually in fairly general terms, like, “unlike most of the ____ available…” or a VERY simple comparison grid). Again, we just want to deliver enough to keep the brain satisfied, not enough to kick it into analysis paralysis. The key thing to do here is to sufficiently answer the question, “why should the buyer choose us?”

Conversion: You asked for it! Or did you?

You’ve given your potential buyer the whole story at this point. But you still have to ask them to take the final step. Once we’ve answered their unspoken questions, what should they do next? Make it clear, make it easy, try to be linear about it. Don’t give them 40 next steps, give them one primary next step – and if you must – give them a secondary option, but really make it secondary. 

Tips for Compelling Content

Here are a few things we try to keep in mind to help users get through content and into a convertible state. 

• Make content highly scannable and well organized. Use headers, sub-headers, bullets, iconography, etc. 
• Use targeted language, language the user would use when searching for this solution. Keep in mind, for search ads, this page is a direct answer to their stated need, make sure it delivers.
• Be specific when the user wants a particular thing, be general when the user wants options. Step 1: know what the heck the user wants. 
• Be direct before being cool – always lead with a clear statement and value
• Give people options to deep dive, just don’t make them too front and center (in our experience, potential buyers need the option to explore the brand – especially if they haven’t heard of you before)
• Make calls to action specific, understandable, and action-focused. One rule of thumb is to use this sentence to write the CTA: “Now I will _____”  – Could be “Now I will connect with a counselor” “Now I will watch the demo” “Now I will apply online” “Now I will get my free report.”
  
  PRO TIP: the right CTA is probably not “click here”
  
  
• Make it clear why you’re asking for personal information and what specifically you’re going to do with it. The more specific the better, – “An enrollment counselor will call you within 1 business day to discuss options” vs. “We’ll contact you soon”

Content isn’t the end of the story (but it does appear to be the most important thing)

According to studies like this one from Unbounce, copy is definitively more important than design. But the visual side of the landing page is still extremely important.

It should go without saying, but make sure you’re presenting a very professional vibe. As in, not spammy. There are probably a few instances where looking crazy would be of use – maybe that’s your brand and people get it – but generally speaking, you want to “look trustworthy.” 

Beyond the basics, you should also consider things like: 

• High contrast for high importance
• Proper white space for important elements and to decrease cognitive load
• Super fast load times
• Excellent mobile experience, make sure text is large enough, no fat-finger issues, easy to click on CTAs and phone numbers, here’s more about being mobile friendly. 
• Easy access to single-minded conversion opportunity
• Use directional cues to point to key elements, such as forms
• Avoid false bottoms and keep users scrolling
• Use engaging media and avoid “walls of text” – intersperse video, imagery, infographics, etc. to help users visually understand the content and provide alternative means for them to take in the story. 
• Define CTA colors and stick to it, use a primary CTA with high contrast (opposite on the color wheel to the the dominant design color), secondary CTA color / treatment for less important actions

Testing and Analysis

Keep in mind, this idea that we can keep people moving through the process without letting them overanalyze may require some testing. 

Not all analysis is bad. You should be doing plenty of it. 

• Track critical engagement metrics, especially conversions
• Track / annotate updated creative
• Test and improve, focus on the key performance indicator and how the tests affect that specific data point. For many initiatives, A/B will likely provide more clear direction than multivariate testing.

Competitive analysis is one of our favorite ways to identify potential improvements and tests. Check out competitors, including your own product pages. What are the top performers doing? Are your content and visuals as compelling? Are they more compelling? What can you do to make sure you’re head and shoulders above the masses? How about your own homepage and product pages? Are you doing as good a job on the landing page as you are on your own site? Use what you find to define tests and variations and keep iterating your way to better conversion rates and ultimately better leads.