Part 2: The Case Against Using Landing Page Navigation

Read Part 1: Should You Use Navigation on Landing Pages? A Data-Driven Consideration

Navigation links don’t work on landing pages because your landing page is not any other page on your website, and so it shouldn’t look like one. On the homepage, navigation links help visitors move around the website, moving from one page to the other, as they gather more information. On landing pages, however, navigation links just serve as exit links that take the visitor off the page.

For example, the Contact Us link at the bottom of the LabTech ebook landing page, doesn’t increase the chances of more visitors downloading the ebook. What it does do is give a chance for them to exit the page and get distracted:

It won’t matter that the page has an engaging headline, neatly arranged copy, or a big red CTA button. The navigation link would take the visitor away from the conversion goal and you can’t really know whether they’re going to come back to the page or not.

Your visitors have a limited attention span so you need to engage them on your page from the start and make sure that all goes well from there on out.

The same is true for a footer full of navigation links. Imagine a visitor going through your entire landing page convinced on clicking the CTA button and then getting distracted by a link in the page footer. There goes your conversion.

Take Better Homes and Gardens’ sweepstakes landing page. It’s a very real possibility for visitors to get curious about what the “Meredith Corporation” is and click the link to be redirected to another page and lose their button clicking train of thought:

But enough about examples; let’s see what A/B testing evidence has to say about navigation links lowering landing page conversion rates. After all A/B testing is the perfect way to determine which element is working toward your conversion goal and which element is working against it.

To demonstrate how removing navigation links can have a positive effect on conversion rates, let’s look at a case study from AmeriFirst.

AmeriFirst was looking to increase conversions, but were hesitant to do a full page redesign because they were afraid of losing customer trust. Instead they opted to remove the navigation bar, which de-cluttered the page and gave them a 30-40% increase in conversions. Here is the difference in the two page variations:

Likewise, HubSpot ran A/B tests across five high traffic landing pages Version A included top navigation, footer navigation, and social media share buttons while version B was free of all navigation links:

The data showed that removing navigation links actually increased conversions:

What was increasingly interesting is that removing navigation links from middle of the funnel landing pages had a much bigger impact on conversions, with the pages seeing a 16% and 28% lift in conversions. While the top of the funnel landing pages saw a 0-4% increase in conversion rates.

When Minders tested their landing page and removed the navigation menu, they saw conversions increase from 9.2% to 17.6% over the month-long test.

And, here’s test number four. Yuppiechef is a leading online store specializing in premium kitchen tools based in South Africa. They tested removing the main navigation bar from their landing page, so that visitors wouldn’t be distracted by the links and focus on the conversion goal, which was to get them to sign up for the online wedding registry.

This is what the original page looked like:

Here’s the variation they created:

The variation increased their conversion rate by a surprising 100%.

When there are no other links present on the landing page (other than the CTA button) visitors don’t have a chance to get derailed from the conversion goal. A page that features no navigation links is a page focused on only one goal — which is exactly why visitors focus on that one goal.

Not only do navigation links distract visitors from the conversion goal. They can cost you money.

Using PPC marketing to promote your landing pages means spending money for every visitor that clicks your ad. And when your ad doesn’t take visitors to a dedicated page free of navigation links; there’s a much greater chance of losing money because the visitor isn’t able to complete the conversion goal as easily.

Regardless of the type of page you’re creating, whether you’re using landing page templates or starting from scratch when landing page navigation links are included, you allow visitors to bypass the conversion goal and move onto a secondary goal.

With that said, you should know that it is okay to include navigation links on landing pages when the links keep the visitor on the page and optimizes their experience.

Longer landing pages use a sticky navigation bar to help visitors navigate through the page and move from one section to the other with ease.

On information-heavy landing pages, the on-page navigation header helps visitors move to their desired section with a button click. This is much better for user experience than having them scroll the entire page to find the section they were looking for.

The Google App landing page is another example:

Conclusion

Unlike your homepage, landing pages are dedicated pages created to persuade visitors to complete a specific action, and all their attention should be directed at that conversion goal. When you add navigation links, you give visitors the chance to get distracted and leave the page before converting.

Navigation links on homepages are a logical decision, it makes sense to provide your visitors with a roadmap because they have multiple pages to go through and multiple offers to view. Including the links on a landing page, however, makes no sense, because they don’t need a roadmap to go through a single page created to fulfill just one goal.

The data has spoken, your dedicated pages should be dedicated toward one goal. Presenting visitors with an entire menu of reasons to leave the page is not an option you should use.

What great landing pages would you point out as great examples? Would you like me to give my 2 cents about your landing page? Let me know in the comments.

Jump to Part 1: Should You Use Navigation on Landing Pages? A Data-Driven Consideration

To your succes,

Safwan Rahman