Landing pages are specifically created web pages on your website that people land on when they click on a search result, an ad, or a link in one of your marketing emails. They are the cornerstones of marketing an online business. Depending on what you want the visitors to your landing page to do, you will serve them different types of content that will encourage them to convert – that is, take the desired action. That action might be buying something, leaving their details, going to another page on your website, and so on.
Crafting a persuasive landing page takes a lot of research, incessant testing, experimenting, and a whole lot of hard work. This is true for both the design and the copywriting aspects of coming up with a landing page that will convert.
When it comes to writing copy, persuasive landing pages are equal parts art and science. This article will provide you with four tips that will help you walk that fine line between the two.
1. Let Your Strategy Guide You
If you are working on your landing pages, chances are that you are actively doing marketing, which means that you probably already have a marketing strategy in place. The good news is that if you have a marketing strategy in place, you have a very commonsense guide for your landing page copy.
You would not believe how many marketers and business owners struggle to understand how exactly something as high-level as an overarching marketing strategy is supposed to inform writing copy for landing pages. That is exactly the point of your marketing strategy – to guide you in crafting messages for your potential customers and to help you create those messages more quickly and efficiently.
Just think about what your marketing strategy has already defined for you (provided you have done it well):
- Who you’re talking to – if you are targeting people who are over 50, your landing page copy will not work packed with internet culture references and teen-speak.
- What your product’s strengths are – if you’re not the cheapest, don’t write landing pages indicating you are; if it’s not the most complete solution on the market, don’t advertise it as such.
- How you compare to the competition – accentuate your advantages over the competition and avoid aspects where you lag behind.
- What part of the sales funnel the particular page addresses – encourage the exact actions that you want your potential customers to make at that particular step in the sales funnel and skip everything else.
Of course, these are all oversimplifications and your strategy will actually be much more helpful, to the point where you will feel that it is writing your landing page copy itself. If you let it.
2. Meet Their Needs
Your business is there to meet the needs that a certain part of the market has. Perhaps you are meeting people’s need for cheap sunglasses. Perhaps you are solving companies’ issues with payment processing. Perhaps you are helping people avoid catastrophic data breaches.
Whatever you are dealing in, you are meeting the needs some people have. Your copy needs to remind them of this at every turn.
Most people don’t care about the 472 features your project management tool has. They care about how it will save them 20 minutes every day and ensure tasks are done in the right order.
One of the most common ways to do this is to use the question-and-answer format. You frame the need of your potential customers as a question and then you tell them how your product or service can help them.
A great example of this is this landing page from StubGroup.
They are asking a question that the vast majority of people will answer with yes or at least with maybe. They reinforce the question further by providing some staggering facts on Facebook advertising and telling you how they can put you in the position to answer no to this question.
I’ve been using Cloudways since January 2016 for this blog. I happily recommend Cloudways to my readers because I am a proud customer.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to use the question-and-answer format to show that you understand the needs of your customers. Domo does this perfectly well on this landing page.
Their copy clearly describes the many problems companies face when handling their data, and then they proceed to explain how their solution helps solve those problems.
3. Understand Who You’re Talking to
One of the most important things to know when crafting copy for landing pages is who you are talking to at that specific time.
First of all, you will have a target market segment that you are “talking” to with your landing page. This target segment can include any or all of the following characteristics, depending on your product/service and how narrow or wide you are going:
- Age
- Location
- Gender
- Education
- Profession
- Financial status
- Type of company (size, industry, etc.)
- Position in the company (for B2B products/services)
- Interests
All of these will inform how you write content for your landing pages.
For example, if your target segment is higher management with a college education and company budgets at their disposal, you will probably go with facts over emotion for B2B products. That’s because this is a consumer segment that rarely makes decisions based on how they feel about a product.
A great example of a landing page that understands not only who its target audience is and what will convince them is this page from Havoc Shield, a company that provides cybersecurity solutions to small businesses that are often neglected by cybersecurity companies.
They understand their target segment perfectly. They know that smaller companies don’t have the need or the budget for full-time chief information security officers. They also provide a number of scenarios where their services can help businesses in specific situations that can become information security nightmares. The language used is aimed at professionals, mostly small business owners who are guided by logic and the need to keep their companies safe.
4. Provide Just Enough Information
You might find yourself inspired to put as much information as you can fit on a landing page, wanting to cover all the bases and explain why your product/service is the best in detail. This is a perfectly understandable impulse. If you add just one more detail about your offer, that’s more people that will become interested, right?
Well, not really.
In reality, unless they are waaaaaay down the sales funnel, people don’t feel like reading a thousand words on why a specific offer is great. It’s a combination of a lack of intention of the average internet user and the fact that you might come off as desperate.
Landing page copywriting is actually an exercise in moderation and hitting the potential customers’ pain points in as few words as possible.
For example, take a look at this landing page from the homepage of Basecamp.
Their copy is well-thought-out and paints a nice before-after picture. However, it just looks a bit too much. There is so much text that you feel overwhelmed, almost discouraged from reading it all. The rest of their page is just as text-heavy, almost oppressive. Now, a lot of that has to do with how they built their brand from the start and sharing their story with their users, but it could still use a bit of decluttering.
In contrast, take a look at this landing page from Protective.
The copy is tidy and elegant, providing all the information you need without overwhelming you with a wall of text. The rest of the page is just as easy on the eyes, inviting you to scroll down and learn more, where you’ll also find a handy diagram explaining how fixed annuities work. Short and to-the-point sentences clearly state the benefits of the annuity plan, projecting a confident and professional voice. After all, these are people’s retirements we’re talking about, and every bit that instills a sense of confidence and trust is important.
Of course, there are some exceptions to this rule. The most common example are review websites that occasionally feature comprehensive guides to certain products. They build those pages for SEO performance, doing everything they can to provide as much information on a certain type of product and then earn income when people purchase products by learning about them in those guides.
A great example of this is the review of king size mattresses on Eachnight. As you can see, they not only feature extensive reviews on the mattresses but also explain the differences between the different types, and more. They don’t want the readers to leave their page until they are ready to make a purchase, and they make this happen by providing as much information as they can.
Closing Word
There are many more nuances that you need to keep in mind when writing content for landing pages. These tips will ensure you do the basics right; you can then build on them, experiment, and find what works best to persuade your visitors to buy. We hope that you enjoyed our guide on crafting a persuasive landing page.
