How to create high-converting landing pages for your online store - what the gurus don’t tell you (5/5)

How to build landing pages that convert?

In the previous parts we've covered the benefits of landing pages and the types of landing pages, now, we've probably reached the phase where you might be asking yourself "Is there a recipe for creating converting landing pages". 

The truth is that over the years, the experts from the marketing world have found that almost all successful landing pages share some common key elements.

Key elements of successful landing pages:

• Hero Shot: An attention-grabbing image or video showcasing your product/service in action.
• Clear and Engaging Headline: A concise and compelling headline that communicates your value proposition.
• Supportive and Relevant Subheadline: Supporting text that elaborates on the headline and reinforces the key benefits. Read this article to learn how to use micro-copywriting tactics to create impressive subheadings.
• Clear Headings and Bullet Points: Organize content with headings and bullet points for easy scanning.
• Single Call to Action (CTA): A prominent and persuasive CTA button that clearly states the most desired action that the user should take.
• Value Proposition: Highlight the unique value your product/service offers to customers.
• Benefits Showcase: Emphasize the benefits customers will gain from using your product/service.
• Product Imagery: High-quality images showcasing your product from different angles.
• Trust Signals: Logos of reputable partners, certifications, or security badges to build credibility.
• Testimonials: Positive feedback from customers to establish social proof and trust.
• Urgency/Scarcity: Elements such as countdown timers or limited stock indicators encourage quick action.
• Form or Checkout: If applicable, the page should have a simple form or other method allowing payment or ordering, alternatively it is good to have a contact form used to collect potential contacts and customer data.
• Clear Navigation: Keep navigation minimal to prevent distractions from the main CTA or if applicable - remove it.
• Visual Hierarchy: Use design elements to guide visitors' attention toward the most important sections.
• Adequate Whitespace: Employ adequate whitespace to reduce clutter and enhance readability.
• Appropriate Color Contrast: Choose a color scheme that enhances the visibility of CTAs and important elements.
• Directional Cues: Use visual cues (arrows, lines) to direct users' eyes toward the CTA. Try to build your design in a way that naturally guides the user down the page.
• Contact Information: Provide contact details or customer support options for reassurance.
• Exit Intent Pop-Up: Display a pop-up when users are about to leave to re-engage them.
• Privacy Assurance: Clearly communicate how customer data will be used and protected.
• Social Sharing: In some cases, having a functionality allowing visitors to easily share the landing page on social media is a game changer.

Once you have checked all the items above, this will ensure that your page meets industry standards. 

But if you want to take it to the next level, you need to apply the best tactics that enable you to create an exceptionally well-converting landing page. 

Expert tactics that allow you to create highly-converting eCommerce landing pages 

Use Compelling Visuals - a Mandatory Requirement

Ensure your landing page features a strong, contextual hero shot along with supporting imagery. The hero shot, which is the primary image or video above the fold, should captivate visitors. Display your product or service in action, helping visitors envision themselves benefiting from it. The most important thing is to keep your visuals contextually relevant.

Remember, a single image can convey volumes of information.

Choose top-notch images that align with your landing page's goal. Ensure these images are optimized for every device, especially mobile, which is increasingly vital for eCommerce. Your images should seamlessly fit phone screens without the need for zooming or scrolling.

Remember, images not only enhance visual appeal but also foster trust and credibility. 

Leverage social proof through images in these ways:

- Incorporate customer testimonials with photos.

- Showcase user-generated content featuring customers using your products.

- Display media recognition and trust seals ("As featured in...").

- Utilize endorsements accompanied by photos of celebrities or influencers.

Opt only for images that elevate your landing page. Steer clear of low-quality images—pixelated, inadequately lit, or unrelated to the content—as they do more harm than good.

Have a Clear Call to Action (CTA) 

Your landing page should present a single, focused call to action. Make your CTA visually prominent and craft its copy to be compelling. 

To avoid distractions, remove secondary links that might lead visitors away from your conversion goal, including any site navigation. Also, make sure your CTA is obvious (from a design perspective) and compelling (from a copy perspective).

In contrast to other pages on your website, landing pages should exclusively feature a single type of Call to Action (CTA). 

Offering visitors a solitary choice simplifies their decision-making process, eliminating the need to evaluate and select from multiple options. This streamlined approach accelerates visitors' progression into the sales funnel, and frees them from diversions, ultimately creating an optimal environment for boosting conversions.

To achieve this, the CTA should be prominently showcased, easily accessible, and tailored to suit distinct customer segments. This can be accomplished by:

• Positioning your CTA at the page's start, above the digital fold.
• Incorporating multiple buttons for a singular CTA across the page.
• Opting for active voice in button text (e.g., "Sign up for Free").
• Generating a sense of urgency or exclusivity (e.g., "Claim Your Offer Before It’s Gone").

Articulate Your Value Proposition 

Clearly state your value proposition using an engaging heading and subheading. Explain why visitors should heed your call to action. Highlight the benefits of your offer and emphasize what sets you apart from competitors.

Outline the features and benefits (with emphasis on the latter)

While it's important to outline the features of your product or service, prioritize emphasizing the benefits. Communicate how visitors' lives will improve by following through with your CTA. Benefits-oriented messaging is highly effective in driving conversions.

Have a Social Proof Integration 

Incorporate testimonials and other forms of social proof into your landing page. People are more likely to convert when they see that others have successfully done so before them. Testimonials, reviews, and partner logos build credibility and trust with prospects.

Reduce Your Form Fields to Minimum

If your landing page includes a form for lead generation, keep it concise. Asking for too much information can deter visitors from completing the form. Request only essential details that are necessary for your follow-up efforts.

Concise and Persuasive Copy

Craft concise yet persuasive copy that communicates the key points effectively. Use persuasive language and communicate the value of your offer succinctly, making it easy for visitors to grasp the benefits quickly.

Limit the clutter.

An effective landing page is simple and easy to use. This necessitates minimizing unnecessary elements. Avoid losing conversions due to overwhelming text or visitors struggling to locate the "Buy Now" button.

To streamline your page:

- Use concise, focused headlines.

- Ensure a prominent and clear CTA.

- Remove site navigation links.

- Employ relevant, high-quality images.

- Present product details using bullet points.

Remember, visitors take mere seconds to decide whether to stay or leave. They're unlikely to read everything, especially if the text is excessive.

Eliminate site navigation

Eliminating navigation from landing pages in eCommerce stores is a strategic move to boost conversions. By removing distractions like navigation links, visitors stay focused on the specific goal, such as making a purchase. 

This streamlined approach reduces decision complexity, guides users toward the desired action, and maintains a consistent message. It also enhances load times, particularly crucial for retaining visitor interest, and ensures a mobile-friendly experience. Overall, this practice optimizes the user journey, increasing the likelihood of successful conversions.

Incorporate multiple CTAs

The difference between product page CTAs and landing page CTAs is that the latter should only have one goal. However, this doesn't imply having just one CTA button. On e-commerce landing pages, multiple CTA buttons are viable, provided they align cohesively.

By offering numerous "Order now" chances across the page, visitors are more inclined to click. This approach is essential for an effective eCommerce landing page, putting the focus on a singular purpose to prevent message dilution and ensure visitors accomplish the intended goal.

Add a specific product or service description

Both landing pages and product pages necessitate descriptive product or service copy. However, landing page copy should be tailored more precisely to the audience, in contrast to the often generic content seen on product pages. Instead of making visitors hunt for product details, ensure visibility – avoid small fonts or burying information at the page's bottom. 

Notably, studies demonstrate a potential 124% conversion boost through the integration of images complementing product descriptions.

Optimize for mobile

Prioritize mobile optimization. Ensuring your pre-cart eCommerce landing page is responsive to mobile devices is imperative, given the prevalence of mobile shopping. Design vertically aligned pages and forms, format multimedia elements to fit seamlessly, and incorporate tapable buttons. 

Mobile-optimizing your landing page elements enables convenient access for mobile users, enhancing user experience and significantly boosting conversion prospects.

Put essential content above the fold

In an era of diminishing attention spans, sparing your visitors the effort of searching for the right content on your page is essential. If they can't easily grasp your landing page purpose and what value it brings for them, a high bounce rate is almost guaranteed.

The first content a visitor encounters on your site is the "above the fold" area. Ensuring crucial information remains above the fold on your landing page is key, as visitors can engage with it without scrolling. 

Placing your primary messaging, value proposition, and call-to-action in this section enhances the likelihood of visitors comprehending your offering and taking the intended action.

Personalize the message based on your social ads

Are you currently running multiple Facebook or Instagram ads, each spotlighting distinct copy and value propositions? If these ads are all being funneled to a static, unchanging landing page, you might be missing the chance to capture valuable leads.

Consider the advantage of tailoring your landing page's content and value proposition to correspond with each unique advertisement. This strategy allows you to guide potential leads on a personalized journey tailored to their ad-specific interests. Implementing this straightforward approach has the potential to substantially amplify the return on investment (ROI) derived from your social advertising endeavors.

Only ask necessary questions on your forms

Asking personal questions on a form (like a newsletter subscription form) drastically reduces the response rate. The goal is to keep the form as short as possible and only ask for the information you really need. 

Limiting queries to only what is truly vital serves to minimize resistance, heightens the rate of completion, and enhances the precision of collected data. By adopting this practice, you streamline the user experience, elevate form submission rates, and augment the overall accuracy of the information obtained.

A/B test your landing page headline

If your landing page isn't getting many people to take action, like signing up or buying, your product or service might not be standing out enough.

A powerful strategy is to change up what you're saying in the main headline. This headline is like the big sign that everyone sees first. By trying different ways to talk about your stuff, you can figure out what words get people excited the most.

This smart move helps you learn from facts and make changes that can make more people do what you want on your page. So, if things aren't going as planned, a little headline magic could give you a boost! Of course, to make sure that the new headline is performing better you should A/B test it against the previous.

Use social proof

Social proof is like the magic ingredient in making more people take action on your website. This special trick has caught the attention of marketing pros. They've discovered that a whopping 84% of folks believe in reviews just as much as if their pals recommended something.

What's so great about leveraging social proof? Well, it helps you create trust and make your brand look super reliable, which is one of the first things that new visitors notice about your store when they are checking you out for the first time. 

How does it work? You can sprinkle things like happy customer stories, ratings, reviews, and real examples of how your stuff has helped real users. So, here's the secret: put some social proof on your landing page, and watch your conversion rates soar!

Create an exit-intent popup that matches your ads [Advanced tip]

Imagine the following scenario: just as someone's about to leave your website, a special message pops up that's perfect for what they're interested in. Guess what? This strategy can seriously amp up the number of people who take action on your site.

How does it work? It's like tailoring a message to fit exactly what someone's into. For instance, if they’ve clicked on an ad about losing weight, you can guess they're keen on that topic. So, you tweak your popup to catch their attention with something about shedding weight. This little move can make a big difference in how many people stick around and do what you want on your site.

Now you are ready to increase your revenue with the help of high-converting ecommerce landing pages

In the eCommerce world, landing pages have long become essential tools for increasing conversions.

This series of articles on our blog introduces you to their application and the ins and outs of creating truly impactful ecommerce landing pages. We think we've uncovered everything important about effective conversion pages and their constituent elements.

Once you're enriched with this information about, you're now ready to go to the next level in e-commerce.

Remember these tips and strategies to captivate your visitors and guide them seamlessly through the path to purchase.

And if you don't have a store (or have one but don't like its capabilities) that provides the powerful tools that allow you to apply everything you learn in this series, it's time to create your own modern store.

Welcome to the CloudCart.com family.