Once upon a time, there was a landing page…the end. This is exactly how your story will go if you don’t capture your audience’s attention with your landing page! A landing page is your chance to make an impression on your audience and tell them exactly why you’re the solution to their problems. And how can you do that? With great copy! In this guide, we share our eight pro tips on how to write a landing page that generates conversions. Need some help? Our content writing services will level up your landing pages.
What is a landing page?
A landing page isn’t the same thing as a home page. Landing pages serve a specific purpose, usually as part of a marketing campaign. Customers “land” on this page when following a link through an email, ad or another medium. Whether your landing page is for a new product or service, to tell customers about a new location or encourage them to sign up for a course – it all serves the same purpose – converting those visitors into leads. An effective landing page captures information from visitors by encouraging them to fill in a form. In return, you might offer a free sample, course, insights or offer code. Landing pages don’t live in the general navigation of your website, usually, visitors can only access it by following a specific link as part of a campaign. Writing website copy is slightly different from your landing page, which is why our top tips are important.
Top tips for writing great landing page copy
So, people have clicked through to your landing page – great! Now what? You need to draw them in with brilliantly crafted copy that makes them want to share information because what you’re offering in exchange is just too good to ignore! So how do you do that? Follow our eight expert tips below and you’ll be well on your way to landing page perfection:
1. Ace your headline
The headline is the single most important piece of copy you’ll write on your landing page – it’s the first thing visitors see and if it doesn’t capture their attention in seconds, they’ll navigate away and you’ve lost a potential lead. Show them what’s in it for them with a benefit-focused headline that’s easy to read. It needs to clearly communicate the value of your offer – whether it’s a discount code or an insightful whitepaper, why should they hand over information or click that link? Here are some great headline formula examples:
- The how-to — “How to [Achieve X Goal]” e.g. “How to win friends & influence people”. This works as it’s so simple and tells visitors exactly what you can do for them, solving their problems.
- The pain point — “Tired of [Annoying problem]? We can help” or “Don’t you hate [XYZ]?” e.g. “Tired of delayed flights? We can help”. This identifies your customer’s pain point and rubs it in, driving awareness and the need to resolve the problem.
- The value proposition — “Unlock [Promise] for [Benefit]” e.g. “Unlock great copy for stellar landing pages”. This headline focuses on what you can offer, rather than the customer’s pain points. It highlights your offer whilst introducing the benefits.
- The call to action — “[Action] [Outcome]” e.g. “Get my FREE course delivered to your inbox”. This tells visitors exactly what your landing page is offering and what action they need to take to get your offer.
- The special offer — “Save [Discount] on [Product]” e.g. “Save 50% on trainers”. Everyone loves a deal, if your campaign revolves around discounts, then this is your go-to headline. It simply states the offer and is extremely effective.
There are countless different formulas for effective headlines, these are just some of our favourites. Play around with different variations to see what works best (more on this at tip number eight).
2. Keep it simple
No one wants to be bombarded with loads of information and paragraphs’ worth of text when on a landing page. Avoid any complicated jargon and keep sentences short and sweet. People are much more likely to convert if the offer is clear and simple with obvious benefits. On the subject of simplicity, you don’t want any navigation on your landing page, only the link on the call to action (CTA). If you link to other pages on your site, you might lose customers.
3. Select your images
Whilst your copy is key, the visuals of your landing page also make a huge impact on potential customers. Images make your product, service or offer tangible, it gives customers a chance to visualise what you can do for them. You should choose a great hero image that shows customers what you’re offering and instantly draws them in. Showing people using your product/service in the images is much more effective than just showing the product. This is because customers can then visualise themselves using your product – try to capture your target audience in these images. For example, if you’re targeting mums, ensure the woman in the image is clearly a mum.
Images enable you to visually show the benefits of your product – try to convey positive emotions and relatability with your visuals.
4. Include customer testimonials
Social proof is an extremely effective way to persuade people to take a desired action. Testimonials tell your landing page visitors that real people have benefitted from your product/service. This immediately validates your offer without you having to actually say “look, this works!” Add your most glowing testimonials to your landing page, whether it’s from well-known brands or a customer buying your product, it adds credibility and authority to your offer. It also helps potential customers to visualise what you’re offering by saying if you purchase/sign-up/download X you’ll get Y.
5. Discuss the benefits
The benefits of what you’re offering should come across in everything on your landing page including:
- The headline
- All copy
- Images
- Testimonials
Visitors want to know exactly how your product/service will benefit them and how it solves their problems. Instead of just listing the features, you need to highlight specific benefits. For example:
- “Waterproof fabric” becomes “stay dry in a downpour with our waterproof fabric”
- “Oven heats up in 5 mins” becomes “cook a healthy meal in 5 mins”
- “100-page whitepaper” becomes “in-depth whitepaper shares valuable industry insights”
Simply take all of the features of your offer and transform them into benefits, telling visitors exactly why they should pay attention.
6. Add some stats
Statistics can really boost your authority, helping visitors to trust and want to use your product/service. Stats are also very easy to read, making it instantly clear to potential customers what the benefits of your offer are. You can use stats to back up your points and capture attention. Here are some examples of statistics you might want to include on your landing page:
- % of customers who have solved their problems with your product
- Insightful industry research stats
- Results of surveys
Any data-backed statistics you can add to your landing page that support your offer should be included.
7. Remember the CTA
Your CTA is arguably even more important than your headline as it’s the single point that leads to the conversion. Your CTA is the reason why you want visitors on your landing page, to carry out the desired action. Your CTA button should be clear and stand out from the rest of the page. The copy should make it crystal clear what you want visitors to do, as you’re writing for conversions. Here are some key CTA tips:
- Be specific — don’t use vague phrases like ‘learn more’ or ‘get started’ – be super specific with terms like ‘start your free trial’.
- Be simple — whether it’s filling in a form or subscribing to your newsletter – be super clear about what you want visitors to do.
- Use action verbs — your CTA should inspire action, use action-orientated words such as ‘download’, ‘submit’ or ‘get it now’.
8. A/B test your copy
To fine-tune your landing page and boost its effectiveness, you should always carry out A/B tests. This provides you with valuable insights into what works best with your audience. You can then apply these learnings to future campaigns. Why not try testing out two different headline formulas and seeing which converts more? Or even trying out different CTAs? The key to excellent copy is to continuously test and improve. You can learn more about your audience and what strikes a chord with them.
Landing pages are valuable methods of converting customers and running a successful campaign. And if you write great copy, you’ll capture the attention of visitors. We hope our copywriting best practices help your landing page story have a happy ending.
Fiona, one of our copywriters at Distinctly says – “You need to give customers a reason to convert on your landing pages. And the only way to voice that reason is with effective and persuasive copywriting. Your headline and CTA are the two crucial pieces of copy on a landing page – get these right and you’ll see fantastic results. Remember, explain the benefits in the headline and tell customers exactly what you want them to do with the CTA!”
