When you’re a great content marketer, you not only write engaging brand related articles for the corporate blog, you’re often involved in crafting ever more powerful marketing copy for your company landing pages.
To be clear, by landing page I’m talking about a website page that’s built, designed and written for the sole purpose of getting conversions.
Most businesses (whether in ecommerce or not) have multiple landing pages where visitors can get free stuff in exchange for an email and other information.
Landing page conversions include things like:
- Free ebooks
- Webinar registration
- Free trials
- Product catalogues
- Coupons
- Engaging contests
Written well, landing pages can increase leads, spread the reach of your brand and engage your happy customers. But it takes a lot of online marketing smarts - and a love of words - to reach that sweet spot of conversion success.
Here’s seven essentials to improve your landing page copy for conversions.
1. Know your Customer
As a writer and a marketer, if you don’t know who your audience is, you’re not going to be able to connect with them. If you can’t connect emotionally or logically, if you’re not addressing your customer’s problem and you’re not speaking their language, you’re not going to get top conversions.
Before you even start to draft out copy of your landing page, make the effort to list out:
- Who your customer is
- What they’d be willing to give in exchange for your offer
- When they’d click on your page (at work/ home/ mobile)
- Where they saw or clicked on your offer
- Why they want your offer
Now, I know it’s often easier said than done to get your buyer persona completely right. But, the better you understand your demographic and what they desire, the more accurately you can write for them.
2. Focus on One Thing
A landing page should be streamlined and clear. The most effective pages have one single specific offer, with a simple and easy-to-see ask.
We’re all inundated with information, content and company websites. So are your customers.
Keep your landing page copy clear and concise by focusing on your one offer. Now is not the time or place to give your company history or wax lyrical about your other products. It’s not the time to try to upsell either (you can make additional landing pages or set up an email automation campaign once you’ve gotten the initial conversion).
3. Write for your Customer
Okay, this is taking action on knowing your customer. Once you have an understanding of you your customer persona(s), write specifically for your targeted demographic.
One of the really cool thing about landing pages is that, well, once you’ve build a template for your particular campaign, you can build a second or third one too.
The best landing pages are crafted for each specific market you have. Let’s say you’re creating content for a pizza bistro, for example, and they’re promoting a 20% discount for pick up orders. You’ve done your demographic analysis and figure you’ll get the best results for both high school kids and busy young families. Write distinct landing pages for both markets like this:
4. Make a Clear, Convincing and Consistent Headline
You have about five seconds (or less) to get interest in your landing page. Your headline is one the first things people see, and it can convince your viewer to stay longer and convert, or to leave.
If your headline isn’t clear and doesn’t immediately convey what your offer is, people are going to leave. Craft an enticing unique selling point copy for your headline. Make it a short and catchy marketing line, for example.
Using a short, catchy headline is better for creating matching Google AdWords or Facebook Ads. The more cohesive your ad/ landing page copy, the better conversions you tend to get, as people clicking your ad see that they are getting exactly what you advertised.
5. “What’s in it for Me?”
When a visitor lands on your campaign page, they’re not thinking about all the hard work and effort you’ve spent in crafting and designing your landing page. They’re thinking: “what’s in it for me?”
List out the consumer-centric benefits of your offer. Increase the perceived value (and get more conversions) by relating how giving an email in exchange for your stuff will:
- Improve your market’s lifestyle
- Solve a pressing problem
- Feel like you’re joining a cool club
Bring out your inner Don Draper (you know you’ve got it), and use words like:
- Imagine
- This could be you
- Remember that feeling….
- Wouldn't it be nice
- Live the dream
Add in social proof too. Do you have customer testimonials? Choose the most convincing accolades and use them on your page. We like to see that other third-party people have tried out your stuff and we love it when other people just like us have had success. We feel more connected that we can do it too.
List out specifics of your offer too. If you have statistics and data, use the numbers.
6. What’s the Urgency?
Those old scarcity marketing tactics apply even more to today’s online marketing. To get the quick conversions, tell your market that they need to act quickly. If you can’t get your visitor to convert right away when they’ve actually taken the time to click on your page, they’re not likely to come back (unless you’re using retargeting ads, of course).
Use words like:
- Limited (time/ offer/ supply)
- Exclusive
- Act Now
- Don’t miss out
- Only 2 days left
7. Don’t Ask Too Much Too Soon
I’ve seen a lot of pages lose conversions because they’re asking too much too soon. If you’re a B2B, for example, the sales funnel is generally much longer and needs more relationship building than a one-click buy.
I think of our sales funnel as a dating process. We start with small asks, such as to view our blog. We move on to lead generation by giving away free content. Once we’ve got an email and name, then we nurture our leads.
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