Landing page optimization is often overlooked when it comes to maximizing conversions. However, it deserves attention because it can have a significant impact on conversion rates.
So, how does it work?
In short, by refining key areas of the page, you can increase traffic, better engage visitors, and ultimately boost conversion rates.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the 11 best practices, examples, and other techniques to help you optimize your landing pages in the best possible way.
Try Omnisend’s powerful landing page optimization tools to improve your conversions and grow your business.
Landing page optimization is the process of analyzing and improving elements of a landing page to increase conversion rates. This includes the design, content, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, images, and layout to ensure everything aligns with user expectations, increasing the effectiveness of the page and driving conversions.
By keeping your landing page simple and focused, you can improve customer acquisition rates and make your marketing budget work harder for you.
Importance of user experience
It should come as no surprise that when a well-designed UX is easy to navigate and meets users’ needs, visitors are more likely to stay longer, engage with content, and take desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up. This, in turn, increases the chance of conversion. A great user experience also lowers bounce rates and encourages repeat visits.
But did you know that responsive design, fast load times, and clear visual hierarchy are also crucial for landing page optimization? That’s why they are widely recognized best practices in the industry. These elements ensure that your site works well on all devices, keeps users engaged, and helps them find important information quickly. This leads to higher engagement and — you guessed it — higher conversion rates. Here are some tips and tricks to improve these aspects:
Responsive design: Use flexible grids, scalable images, and media queries for different screen sizes
Fast load times: Optimize images, minimize HTTP requests, enable browser caching, and use content delivery networks (CDNs)
Clear visual hierarchy: Use larger fonts for headings, contrasting colors for key elements, and organize content with whitespace
Watch our video on setting up a landing page form to ensure your forms are user-friendly and effective:
An optimized landing page with relevant and appropriate keywords is a crucial factor in SEO. This can lead to higher placement in search engine rankings, resulting in more organic traffic. When combined with a strong UX and CRO, this approach can significantly improve conversion rates and achieve desired outcomes such as increased revenue.
By attracting people without paying for ads, SEO for landing pages can reduce your marketing costs and also create a steady flow of traffic over time, leading to sustainable growth and higher conversion rates in the long run. Simply put, higher search rankings mean more visibility and a better chance of attracting potential customers.
11 best practices for landing page optimization + examples
It’s both an art and a science when creating a landing page that not only grabs attention but also converts visitors into customers. If you’ve been having trouble with these aspects then it’s time for some changes. Check out our curated list of some awesome best practices for landing page optimization and their examples.
1. Clear and compelling headline
Image via Dropbox
A great headline is the first thing visitors see, and it can be the deciding factor for whether they stay or leave. To capture and keep their attention (as well as drive conversions), your headline needs to be clear, compelling, and keyword-rich.
Usually, headlines hook visitors by summarizing the page’s content and value, and we encourage you to stick to this approach. A clear, relevant headline encourages exploration and sets the tone, evoking emotion or urgency.
Consider Dropbox’s headline: “Everything you and your business need to work efficiently, all in one place.” This works so well because it’s simple, direct, and highlights the main benefit of the service. It tells visitors exactly what they’ll get and how it will benefit them, making it both relevant and appealing.
When you create a headline that clearly conveys what you offer, you increase your chances of converting visitors into customers. Make your first impression count with a strong, keyword-optimized headline to drive higher conversions, all while improving landing page performance.
2. Strong call-to-action (CTA)
Image via Unbounce
A strong call-to-action (CTA) is essential if you want your visitors to take the next step on your landing page. This is where the conversion happens. To be effective, your CTA needs to stand out, be action-oriented, and really grab people’s attention.
CTAs should be clear and straightforward, directly telling visitors exactly what you want them to do and create a sense of urgency or excitement, encouraging people to act right away. While complex CTAs might seem impressive, technical jargon can confuse many visitors. Simple and direct wording is the best way to go.
Let’s observe Unbounce’s landing page, for example. This company uses CTAs like “Start building for free” in a bright, contrasting color, which clearly communicates the main benefit of using its service. This works so well because the CTA is easy to spot and clearly tells visitors what they’ll get.
Consider using a clear and bright CTA like this, so you can improve your chances of turning visitors into customers and increase your landing page performance.
3. Mobile optimization
Image via Airbnb
Making sure your landing page works well on all devices is crucial. With so many people browsing on their phones and tablets, your page needs to be fully responsive to grab and keep their attention. But what looks great on a desktop can be problematic on smaller screens — think large blocks of text, wide margins, or a long table of contents. These can make your page difficult to navigate for mobile users. Ensuring your landing page is mobile-friendly will help you capture and retain a broader audience.
To do this right, your mobile optimized landing page should be easily adjustable to different screen sizes, quickly loadable, and easy to navigate. A good responsive design makes the UX smooth and keeps the visitors engaged, no matter what device they’re using.
While fancy designs might be tempting, overly complex layouts can annoy mobile users. We’d recommend keeping things simple and intuitive.
A great example to consider would be Airbnb’s mobile landing page. Its pages work great on any device. The webpages adjust perfectly to different screen sizes, load fast, and are easy to navigate, making it simple for users to book accommodation on the go.
If you’ve ever worried about building credibility on your landing page, fear not. Trust indicators like testimonials, reviews, trust badges, and security seals can help achieve this. By including these elements, you’ll reassure visitors that your site is trustworthy and your products or services are reliable.
For the best results on improving landing page performance, place these elements prominently on your landing page. Pro tip: use recognizable icons and badges, and ensure they’re consistently displayed throughout your site.
To get your visitors to focus on the most important parts of your landing page, you need a clear visual hierarchy. Visual hierarchy means organizing elements so the most crucial parts stand out and guide your visitors through the content.
The idea is to have each element, like a catchy headline, grab attention and lead the visitor to the next piece of information, building interest and eventually nudging them to take action. Think larger fonts and bold colors for headlines, highlighting key benefits, and placing CTAs where they’re super visible, using bright, contrasting colors to catch the reader’s eye.
If you want to take it a step further, consider using AI tools to emphasize your design and content. These tools can analyze user behavior and preferences to tweak the placement and look of elements on your landing page. For instance, AI can predict which headlines will be the most engaging, suggest color schemes that draw attention to key areas, and personalize content based on visitor data. This can really enhance the user experience and bump up your conversion rates.
Shopify’s landing pages are a perfect example of how to nail visual hierarchy. Right at the top, the headline clearly explains the value of the product or service, making it easy for visitors to see what’s in it for them. The next line adds more context or benefits, strengthening the main message. And then there’s the CTA button, inviting visitors to start a free trial, placed prominently at the top of the page. This clean layout and smart placement make it easy for visitors to understand the page’s purpose and take action.
Sadly, no matter how awesome your design is, keeping visitors on your landing page often depends on how fast it loads. Research shows that 53% of mobile users will leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load, leading to high bounce rates and a poor user experience.
To avoid this, you’ll need to optimize the loading speed of your site. Compressing images without losing quality, reducing the number of elements on your page, and enabling browser caching to store frequently used files in the user’s browser are effective ways to do this.
A great example to compare would be Amazon. Its landing page optimization is often to provide speed, ensuring quick load times even with high traffic volumes. This approach helps to keep users engaged and reduces bounce rates.
7. Engaging and relevant content
Understanding your audience is key. To really connect with your visitors, you need to know what they’re looking for and provide valuable information that meets their needs. Think about what questions they have and what problems they’re trying to solve.
Tailor your content to address these specific points, and don’t be afraid to mix things up with videos, infographics, and interactive content. Also, make sure to encourage engagement by adding CTAs and posing questions.
Image via HubSpot
HubSpot’s landing pages are a great example of how to do this right. They include educational content like ebooks and guides that speak directly to the audience’s interests and pain points. This type of content not only helps establish HubSpot as an authority but also provides real value to visitors, which boosts the chances of conversion.
When you provide educational content, such as ebooks and guides, you’re helping your audience solve problems or learn something new. This builds trust and positions your brand as an expert. Plus, by using diverse formats and interactive elements, you can keep visitors engaged longer, reducing bounce rates and increasing the likelihood of conversion.
A/B testing is a powerful way to collect real audience feedback to improve a landing page’s performance. It’s a time-tested and reliable method for determining the best design and content elements. By experimenting with different headlines, images, CTAs, and layouts, you can compare the results to see which version performs better and implement the winning elements.
To regularly optimize your landing page with A/B tests, start by setting clear goals, such as improving conversions or lowering bounce rates. Create different versions of your landing page to test specific elements, like headlines or images. Randomly split your audience so each group sees a different version, and then track how well each one performs. Analyze the results to see which version performs better and implement the best design. Repeat this process to continually enhance your landing page’s performance.
Omnisend provides tools for A/B testing landing page elements, allowing marketers to experiment with different layouts, copy, and CTAs to find the best-performing combination.
Optimize your landing page with Omnisend’s powerful A/B testing tools.
Improving landing page performance and conversions can often be achieved through… yes, you guessed it – personalization. This means tailoring your landing page content and offers to match the specific needs and behaviors of your visitors. This approach goes beyond simply addressing visitors by name, and involves creating content that resonates with their specific interests and preferences.
To achieve this, make different landing pages tailored to various target audiences. Start with a basic landing page, then create multiple versions by changing the headlines, subheadlines, and images to suit each specific group of visitors.
A great example would include Amazon using personalization to show visitors products related to their previous searches and purchases. Such features create a more relevant and engaging experience for each visitor, which in turn can increase their relevance and conversion rates.
Clear and concise copy is more effective and communicates the benefits of your offer quickly. We highly recommend providing your audience with straightforward wording to clearly convey the advantages of your offer. Be direct by clearly stating the benefits of your offer, keeping it simple, avoiding unnecessary jargon, and using persuasive language that speaks to their needs. That’s it.
For example, Slack’s landing pages keep things simple and to the point, which means you can quickly understand what the platform does and how it benefits you. There’s no confusing jargon or over-the-top explanations — just straightforward language that gets the message across.
Increasing your organic traffic starts with optimizing your landing page for search engines. By enhancing your SEO, you make it easier for potential customers to find you, driving more traffic to your page naturally.
But how do you do it?
Conducting keyword research using tools like Ahrefs or Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant keywords is one way to go. We’d also recommend strategically incorporating these keywords in headlines, subheadings, body text, meta descriptions, and image alt text to successfully optimize SEO for landing pages.
Additionally, make sure your meta tags are optimized with both primary and secondary keywords, and that you’ve secured quality backlinks from reputable sites to boost your page’s authority. For landing pages, keep them focused without any distracting internal links that might pull visitors away from the main offer.
Finally, monitor and analyze performance using tools like Google Analytics to track the performance of your landing page and make data-driven adjustments to improve SEO and complete this landing page SEO checklist.
Other landing page optimization techniques
Heatmaps
Image via Instamap
Heatmaps are an amazing tool for understanding how users interact with your website. They give you a visual snapshot of where users click and what they tend to ignore, providing you with better landing page optimization. Here’s how you can use heatmaps to get these valuable insights:
Check out high-click areas.
Heatmaps highlight the spots on your webpage where users click the most, usually marked in warm colors like red or orange. By discovering these hotspots, you can see which elements grab the most attention. For instance, if your main CTA button appears in bright red on the heatmap, it means users are really engaging with it.
Notice low-click areas.
Areas with few or no clicks show up in cooler colors like blue or green. These low-click zones can point out elements that users overlook or don’t find engaging enough. For example, if a key link or button is in a blue area, it might mean it’s not visible or compelling enough, suggesting a need for a redesign or repositioning.
See how far users scroll.
Scroll depth heatmaps show how far users scroll down your page before leaving or navigating elsewhere. The top of the page will usually be the warmest, gradually cooling down towards the bottom. If users only scroll halfway down the page, critical information placed further down might never be seen, so you might need to move important content higher up.
Optimize content placement.
Knowing how much of your content is being viewed helps you prioritize placing key messages, images, and CTAs in areas more likely to be seen by users.
Follow user navigation paths.
Mouse movement heatmaps track cursor movements as users navigate your site, giving you an idea of how they explore your content and which paths they take to find information. If you notice users hovering around certain areas but not clicking, it might mean they’re interested but hesitant, suggesting these areas might need clearer instructions or more compelling content.
Session recordings
Image via Hotjar
Ever wondered what exactly your users are doing on your landing page? Session recordings can show you. As one of the most useful landing page optimization techniques, they provide a behind-the-scenes look at user interactions, helping you spot problem areas and find opportunities for improvement. Here’s how to use session recordings effectively:
Watch how users navigate.
Session recordings let you see how users move around your page, tracking their mouse movements, clicks, and scrolling. This gives you a clear picture of their experience and interactions.
Find frustration points.
Look for signs of user frustration, like repeated clicks, pauses, or quick exits. These behaviors can highlight where users are having trouble and what needs fixing.
Improve user experience.
Use the insights from session recordings to make informed changes. If users are struggling with certain elements or missing important information, adjust the design or layout to make the page more intuitive and user-friendly.
Check the impact of changes.
Session recordings are also useful for validating your changes. Compare recordings from before and after adjustments to see how user behavior has changed and to confirm that your optimizations are working.
Want to know what your users really think about your landing page? Surveys and feedback forms can give you those valuable insights straight from the source. Here’s how to use them:
Ask the right questions.
Focus on asking clear, concise questions that target specific areas of interest. For example, inquire about the ease of navigation, clarity of information, and overall satisfaction.
Analyze the feedback.
Once you have collected the responses, carefully analyze them to identify common themes and recurring issues. This will help you understand what users like and don’t like.
Implement changes.
Use the insights gained from surveys and feedback forms to make needed changes to your landing page. Address the issues raised by users and enhance the elements they appreciate.
Conclusion
Landing page optimization is an ongoing process of testing, analyzing, and refining to improve their conversion rates. By implementing best practices such as clear headlines, strong CTAs, mobile optimization, trust indicators, fast load times, engaging content, personalization, and SEO optimization, you can significantly enhance user experience and drive more conversions.
Using tools like Omnisend can further optimize this process and help you achieve better results.
Start optimizing your landing pages with Omnisend today to improve your conversion rates.
Focus on key elements like the headline, CTA, mobile responsiveness, trust indicators, visual hierarchy, load times, engaging content, and personalization. Regularly conduct A/B tests and gather user feedback to keep refining and enhancing your page.
Which 3 key factors are needed to optimize a landing page?
Increasing conversion rates
Improving user experience
Enhancing SEO performance
Should I optimize for landing page views?
While gathering views is important, the main focus should be on converting those views into leads or customers. Prioritize elements that drive conversions and improve UX for better results.
Aiste is a Content Marketing Manager at Omnisend. When she's not searching for the perfect synonym or refining her latest copy, you can find her curled up with her cat, binge-watching yet another TV series.
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