When Angela Ahrendts said, “Store windows are like landing pages on a website,” she had probably already left her post as CEO of Burberry to take an executive position at Apple. No doubt she gained an appreciation of both store windows and landing pages in those positions.
The challenge of today’s SaaS PR and SAAS marketers is staying on top of the funnel and converting visitors into eventual long-term loyal customers. Knowing this is a given. Achieving it is a much tougher task. Creating high converting landing pages is the key. Here’s a four-step strategy to get there.
Step One – Assessment
Before launching a plan to improve landing page optimization, it’s important to look at and understand the current landing site. When first-time visitors land on a website, they’ve usually done a search based on need or desire. If the brand’s website doesn’t answer or solve the visitor’s query, they’ll likely leave and never return.
Much of a consumer’s decision to purchase begins with emotion. A landing page that intuitively and emotionally addresses the needs of a consumer will open that doorway.
However, that doorway often isn’t fully opened unless and until another issue is addressed. That issue is why the consumer should buy one brand over another.
Here’s where understanding a brand’s customers is invaluable. Knowing why consumers bought and what motivated them to buy are important.
The most popular reasons must be woven into a brand’s messaging so a company can speak to visitors in ways that appeal to their interests.
Brands that don’t have this data need to survey their customers and visitors so they can better understand them and utilize that data. Validate work with user tests like usertesting.com or fivesecondtests.com or recruit volunteers to walk and talk their way through the brand’s landing page.
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Step Two – The Customer
Many brand landing pages still concentrate on glorifying the product rather than the reasons outlined above. Sure, the brand may have won awards and achieved acclaim but those should be supporting reasons for purchasing the product.
Focus on customer needs and the reason they’re searching first. The customer’s emotional buy-in comes first before the pitch.
One way to quickly do a self-check is to look at the landing page. Is it populated with pronouns like “We” or “Our” or the company or brand name? Or are there numerous uses of “You” instead? Make sure it’s customer centric.
Step Three – Relevancy
When consumers type in a word or phrase during their search, they expect to discover the same when they land on a page. Use dynamic text replacement to satisfy them so they see the same keywords they typed in the landing page text and headline.
Step Four – The Right Customer
By employing the earlier tips, brands should attract the kind of customers they’re aiming for. However, to ensure that it’s working, it doesn’t hurt to try the following things.
Conduct an exit poll of bouncing visitors to discover what they were really seeking and adjust, if needed. Also perform a search query report to find out what key words and phrases visitors used and remove any that don’t align with the brand’s software. If ad copy is also employed, be sure that the header and content are identical.
But most of all, remember it’s all about the customer. “There’s seven billion people on the plant. It’s not about you.” (Angela Ahrendts).
