You've spent time and money to drive traffic to your landing pages, but are you getting the conversions you want? If not, you might be making some common mistakes that are hurting your conversion rates. In this article, we'll discuss what are the most common conversion killers on landing pages and how to avoid them.
A landing page should have a clear and simple design that focuses on one goal: getting the visitor to take action. If your landing page is cluttered with too many elements, such as images, videos, text, buttons, or links, you risk distracting or confusing your visitors. A cluttered design can also slow down your page load time, which can increase your bounce rate and lower your conversions. To avoid this, use white space, contrast, and hierarchy to create a visually appealing and easy-to-scan layout. Remove any unnecessary or irrelevant elements that don't support your value proposition or call to action.
Many times the creative mind wants to build an awesome looking landing page with video and gizmos and gadgets - which, is pretty cool. However - we forget that the user clicked on a paid ad to get there. The page needs to be very specific and immediate to get them to where they had hoped to go - rather than take them down a sales pitch or upsell alley. It's often referred in sales as as "Talking past the sale" If they clicked on a water bottle - take them to the page where they can buy the water bottle. Do the upsell further down the funnel if you desire but don't make it hard to complete the purchase if they're not interested. Small wins are wins and open many doors if the customer has a good experience.
A cluttered landing page overwhelms visitors, making it hard to focus on the key message or take action. Clean, organized layouts improve user experience.
In my experience, common conversion killers on landing pages include confusing navigation, lack of a clear value proposition, overly aggressive pop-ups, and slow load times. Overuse of technical jargon or unconvincing content can also deter potential customers. Additionally, not optimizing for mobile users or ignoring accessibility guidelines can significantly reduce the effectiveness of a landing page. It's crucial to ensure that the landing page aligns with the visitor's expectations set by the ad or link they clicked on.
My experience has taught me that website owners often want to say it all, show it all, for fear that the customer will not understand the benefits of their solution. This leads to the phenomenon of the remote control: many buttons of which a minority will be used. Simplify your landing pages, write short, impactful messages, take care of your illustrations and, above all, make sure that the visitor follows a journey that takes them where you want them to go (purchase, CTA, etc.). At each stage, clearly answer their questions (shipping costs, delivery time, return, etc.) and clearly indicate what they need to do at this stage. Show them at all times where they are, allow them to easily go back and be transparent.
Your value proposition is the main reason why your visitors should choose you over your competitors. It should answer the question: what's in it for me? If your value proposition is weak, vague, or generic, you won't be able to convince your visitors that you have the best solution for their problem or need. To avoid this, craft a strong value proposition that highlights your unique selling point, benefits, and proof. Use clear and compelling language that speaks to your target audience's pain points and desires. Make sure your value proposition is visible and consistent throughout your landing page.
Failing to convey the unique benefits or value of your offering can deter conversions. A compelling value proposition addresses visitors' needs and prompts action.
Trust is essential for online transactions, especially when you're asking your visitors to share their personal or financial information. If your landing page lacks trust signals, such as testimonials, reviews, ratings, logos, badges, or guarantees, you might lose potential customers who are skeptical or wary of your offer. To avoid this, include trust signals that showcase your credibility, authority, and social proof. Use real and relevant testimonials or reviews that highlight your customer satisfaction and results. Display logos or badges of reputable organizations or publications that endorse or feature you. Offer guarantees or assurances that reduce the risk or hesitation of your visitors.
Trust is vital. Absence of trust signals like testimonials, reviews, security badges, or clear privacy policies can deter conversions. They reassure visitors about credibility.
The form is the most crucial element of your landing page, as it's where your visitors complete the desired action. However, if your form creates too much friction, such as asking for too much information, having too many fields, or using unclear labels or instructions, you might deter your visitors from filling it out. To avoid this, optimize your form for conversion by following these best practices: ask for only the essential information, use fewer and shorter fields, use descriptive and action-oriented labels and buttons, provide clear and helpful instructions or tips, and use validation and feedback to prevent or correct errors.
Complicated or lengthy forms create friction. Reduce fields, use smart auto-fill, and offer guest checkout options to streamline the conversion process.
Your call to action (CTA) is the final push that motivates your visitors to take the next step. If your CTA is not clear, visible, or compelling, you might miss the opportunity to convert your visitors into leads or customers. To avoid this, make sure your CTA stands out from the rest of your landing page by using contrast, size, and whitespace. Use clear and persuasive language that conveys the value and urgency of your offer. Use verbs that indicate what your visitors will get or do, such as "Download", "Sign up", or "Buy now". Avoid vague or passive words, such as "Submit", "Continue", or "Learn more".
A call to action is important -especially one that lines up with the search intent of the query but it's also useful to remember that in many industries, customers don't take a linear path. For a considered purchase where the implications of cost (or a wrong decision) are high, it might be too much to expect a visitor to take the profitable action you'd most like. With this is mind, consider how you can allow them to learn more, develop trust and have 'softer' ways of getting in touch, without distracting from your top priority CTA.
Another mistake that brands make is using multiple CTAs on landing page components. This confuses the customers. Prioritise the next action for the customer by A/B testing different CTAs and optimise basis customer behavior/ preferences. Guided CTAs which are clear and concise help customers take the next action on website thereby improving conversions.
Some more Landing page killers - Slow Page Load Times Unclear Call-to-Action Poor UI, UX Complicated Forms Lack of Social Proof
Upon landing on a page following a cue, the expectation is to effortlessly find information related to that cue; deviation from this rule turns your landing page into a conversion killer. Consider these suggestions: Craft a straightforward message in active voice. Opt for simple words and concise sentences. Avoid using bloated adjectives to maintain message clarity. Align your content with ad keywords to meet visitor expectations and prevent frustration from expectation mismatches. Make sure that the headline features the focus keyword and an emotional trigger for an instant connection. Use a single, clear CTA with an action word to guide visitors effectively. Maintain a fine balance between enough information and information overload.
1) Avoid Irrelevant Pop-ups. It distracts the customers. Pop ups should only be used for targeted audiences for key business objectives. For e.g: If the customer is taking time to take necessary action but interacting with components, a relevant pop up with an offer code might be useful in such case only. 2) Personalized customer experience on website/ app basis demographics/ customer behavior help improve the conversion. 3) Continuous page optimisation basis data analytics help improve the conversion rate. Understand what the customer wants to see on the page & optimise accordingly. 4) Page loading is a major conversion killer. 5) Difficulty in cross page navigation on some website. Breadcrumb navigation can help in such cases.