If you’re a marketer with business objectives tied to online conversions, landing pages are likely part of your marketing mix. While landing pages have a proven track record of serving as a lead generation funnel and producing solid ROI, not all landing pages are created equal. Enter the process of testing and refining your landing page in order to deliver maximum result – aka landing page optimization.
With so many variables, such as: traffic source, imagery, language and CTA; there is a lot to consider when optimizing a landing page for optimal performance. So how does one develop, implement and refine a process for testing all these elements to produce an effective landing page?
The ‘Landing Page Optimization’ session on day 2 of SES NY, moderated by Bryan Eisenberg (@thegrok) is designed to provide some answers and helpful tips to address that exact question…and more.
Know Your Platform & Leverage Customization Capabilities – Nathan Richter
Platform
Before you can begin testing and tuning your landing page, you first must have a strong understanding of your landing page platform’s capabilities. CMS and landing page software applications can vary greatly in the amount of tools, features and testing they offer. Start by understanding your platform capabilities.
Testing & Customization
According to Richter, who works primarily with B2C, 61% of retailers conduct 5 landing pages tests per month or less. Comparing landing pages to farming, he goes on to make the point that just as a farmer must work hard to maximize their harvest and get the most of their land, so too does the marketer with their landing page. Testing is crucial.
But what to test? Richter pinpoints 3 specific elements that he recommends customizing and testing:
- Copy
- Image
- Product
Consider leveraging ‘triggers’ that, based on how the visitor lands on the page, can dynamically present the visitor with the landing page that best aligns with their needs. For example, a visitor that lands on a landing page on the keyword ‘waterproof landing pages’, triggers can be established to ensure that the visitor is presented with a landing page or a version of the landing page that prominently promotes and offers waterproof landing pages.
Mobile Accessibility – Angie Schottmuller (@aschottmuller)
Accessibility
Schotmuller jumps right into mobile landing page optimization. She notes that mobile use continues to grow at an impressive rate, however, marketers often don’t develop strategies to provide a quality user experience. Start by leveraging your analytics to identify the volume of visitors that access your site by mobile sources. You may be surprised by the size of your mobile audience. And understanding this audience is essentially important when you consider that 40% of users go to a competitor after a poor mobile user experience, according to Schotmuller.
A few ways to ensure your landing page is mobile friendly.
- Target Area: Be thumb friendly by making your target area (where the user can click/touch) approximately 38-44 pixels
- Simple Form: Less is more when it comes to form fields. The fewer the required fields the easier and the more likely it is a mobile users completes the form.
- Size: Mobile devices often cannot cache files of 20kb or larger, so keep this requirements in mind.
- Don’t Forget the Button: Make your main action a button. Why? It works. Use contrasting colors to make button more prominent.
Put it Together
Businesses are leaving money on the table when they fail to provide users what they are looking for. They also limit their audience reach when they fail to plan for the mobile user experience. Poor experiences lead to lost conversions and a thinning revenue stream. Avoid making that mistake and begin capturing conversions effectively by setting up variables or triggers to present the right landing page for your visitor and ensure that your site is in compliance with the mobile requirements listed in this post.
Stay tuned for more posts from #SESNY, with additional updates on Twitter at: @toprank, @leeodden,@azeckman, @bslarsonmn.
