Landing Pages and Their Importance

Landing pages are one of the most important aspects of marketing. As a customer, you’ve probably seen a “join now” or “start here” page of some sort when browsing a company’s website, where you would enter your email address to be added to a mailing list or be offered a free trial or tutorial for the service. 

Perhaps you never thought too much of them and simply followed the instructions displayed on these pages — this is how the business’s marketing team works their magic. To the company, these “landing pages” hold a particular purpose in the advertising campaign, leading the target audience to act a certain way to reach a specific goal. 

This article will discuss the definition, design, and significance of landing pages alongside various good and bad examples so that you’ll know why it is important in the marketing world next time you encounter a landing page. 

What is a Landing Page?

As the name suggests, a landing page is a page where users “land” — but what does that really mean? When users click on a link through an email or an ad through platforms such as Google, YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, they are taken to a specific, standalone webpage on the business’s website. These pages tend to be hidden from the navigation of the website. They are created for a certain marketing or advertising campaign. 

Landing pages encourage users to take a certain action, whether that be joining a mailing list, buying products, beginning a free trial, entering personal information relevant to the website’s purpose or anything else. 

Typically, a landing page is designed to make the user take one action only, as it is easier to allow someone to focus on one specific goal rather than balance three or four separate tasks. This focused “call to action” makes things easier and less overwhelming for users, which increases the likelihood that they will perform the task in question. 

Landing Pages vs. Homepages

Some may be confused about the difference between a homepage and a landing page. It’s simple, really: homepages serve as an introduction to the entire website and have more links as well as a wider target audience. Landing pages, on the other hand, are either “lead generation” pages or “click-through” pages; the former collects information from customers while the latter uses a button to redirect users to perform a certain task.

Take a look at these two pages for Otter.ai side by side. Can you tell which is a homepage and which is a landing page?

If you said the page on the left, then you are correct! The page on the right is a homepage because it accomplishes more than one task; although the screenshot here cannot capture it fully, the homepage walks you through the story of Otter.ai and how various groups of people widely use it. The page on the left is a landing page because it has a single link for a single focused call to action: “Subscribe to Otter Pro.” 

To summarize:

What Does a Landing Page Look Like?

As previously mentioned, a landing page can be one of two types: “lead generation” pages or “click-through” pages. 

Lead generation landing pages collect “lead data” or, in other words, information from the customer such as names and email addresses. Oftentimes the company will ask for this information in exchange for a product or a service. This data can be beneficial for companies to figure out their demographic and target their marketing strategies toward that specific demographic. 

Click-through landing pages use buttons to lead users to a specific course of action. The buttons generally redirect the customer to a different page. The contents of the redirected page depend on the button’s purpose. If the button says “buy now,” the user will be taken to a checkout page. If the button says “subscribe,” the user will be redirected to a payment page.

Why are Landing Pages Important?

Landing pages are important because of their specific focus on one short-term goal. Its simplicity makes the brand’s message clearer and less complicated for easier understanding while building more trust in potential customers. 

Limited links and navigation accompany landing pages, making it less likely for visitors to be distracted. Instead, they will focus on the brand’s call to action and participate themselves. Landing pages increase traffic and the likelihood of a visitor becoming a customer. 

Furthermore, the data that landing pages collect about customer demographics allows the company to understand its target audience better. With this better understanding comes more specific and effective marketing strategies, leading to prosperous outcomes. 

If you’re interested in learning more about marketing strategy and the different phases, check out our blog post on full-funnel marketing strategy. 

What Makes a Landing Page Good?

A good landing page includes the following elements: 

1. Focus on the specific offer instead of the company. 
2. Simple, concise and free of distractions. 
3. A compelling headline with short text and relevant images.
4. Clear instructions regarding the next steps.
5. Provide a thank you and access to other marketing channels. 
6. Call-to-action (CTA) buttons that guide users to the goal. 

Best Practices

• Minimize links — landing pages with five links have an average conversion rate of 10.5% compared to 13.5% for pages with one link.
• Tell your users what to do instead of making them think.
• As soon as the page loads, it should be clear what the goal is.
• Include many landing pages — companies with more than 10 landing pages see a 55% increase in leads. 
• The landing page should load within 5 seconds — after this, an increase in one second results in a 4.42% reduction in conversion and will continue to drop by 2.11% per second afterwards. 
• Repeat the CTA continuously.
• Remove anything that serves as a distraction.

Landing Pages: Conclusion

When customers click a link from an email or an ad through the Internet, they are taken to the company’s landing page. This is where users are encouraged to take one specific course of action through simplicity and straightforwardness in design. These landing pages are important to businesses because they build trust in potential customers and gather information about their target audience. 

With this, landing pages allow businesses to achieve short-term goals and create better marketing campaigns for prosperity. 

We hope that you find this article helpful. Please follow us at Stiddle.com for more marketing blogs like these!