Poor UX can send potential customers running. It happens far too often on a company's landing page, where the customer relationship is not yet formed and fragile. Companies that fail to improve their landing pages run the risk of creating a poor user experience and, therefore, a high bounce rate. We have a dozen tips that will help you improve your landing page so that each end-user will be more likely to convert.
Why UX Matters?
Creating a web experience that aligns with the end-users needs, wants, and priorities are critical to improving conversions and reducing bounce rates. While there isn't a specific single type of design that always equates to good user experience, UX designers aim for a landing page that aligns with your brand in a way that keeps customers coming back. The problem is, most of the time, we get this wrong.
The latest numbers are in, and they are bad; nine of every ten visitors to the average landing page bounce, and don't buy. It's an understatement to say this has a seriously negative impact on lead generation campaigns.
Potential customers can bounce from a page for all kinds of reasons. Some things are out of your control, but lots of other things are not. For example, if the end user's cat walks across their keyboard and sends the customer away from your site, there's not much you can do. (Bad kitty!) But what if your website is loading slowly because you failed to optimize the graphics on your landing page? What if you forgot to make the landing page responsive to all digital screens, particularly mobile? Could the content be annoying or misleading? Maybe the design just stinks.
No matter the problem, a high bounce rate means a smaller number of leads for your sales team — and that's something nobody wants. The reality today is that consumers have many choices, so they're fickle. But with these 12 tips, your team can create a landing page that will boost leads and create customers.
12 Rules of Landing Page UX
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Optimize the Landing Page
If your page loads slowly, you're going to lose customers. Truconversion says more than 83% of your customers expect your page to load in three seconds — or fewer. About half of that number will abandon a web page if it takes longer. They also say if an e-commerce site is making $100,000 per day, even a one-second page delay could cost $2.5 million in annual sales. Trends show your audience has a declining attention span, and they're growing even more impatient, thanks to the immediacy of the Internet.
There are all kinds of reasons that your landing page could be slow to load. High-resolution images, when not handled properly, can slow things down. Flash content (though thankfully going the way of the dodo) is notorious for causing lag. Too many HTTP requests can also slow things down. Some of the ways you can improve your page load time include:
- Optimize your mobile browser by using local memory to cache resources to reduce the number of server requests.
- Carve down unnecessary script tags, which increase page load time.
- Eliminate redirects and serve the landing page to the users directly.
- Clean up your source code by removing unnecessary characters, a process called minification.
- Use CSS3 and HTML to improve page load time.
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Improve Your Graphics
To lessen landing page abandonment, pay attention to the graphic elements to create a pleasing UX. Graphics should be of high resolution (no stretching, shrinking, or blurring) and relevant to the content. However, keep images under 100kb; high-resolution images gobble up more bandwidth and process time.
More importantly: Your graphics should be relevant. Always think about what graphics will be most relevant to your audience!
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Give Them Clean Copy
Good copy sells. Your landing page should pique the interest of your target audience. It starts with an enticing headline that brings the reader further into the landing page. Make sure that there are no grammatical and spelling mistakes in the copy, of course. But you should also write a solutions-driven copy, not just dull product descriptions. What problem will your product or service solve for the client?
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Use White Space
The white space on your landing page is just as valuable as the content and graphics. It doesn't mean that the area around the content on your landing page has to be white, just that there needs to be empty space. This is especially true at the top of the landing page, which naturally draws the eye first. If your landing page is too cluttered, the customer may simply be overwhelmed and walk away.
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Align Graphics and Content Properly
UX draws from graphical design elements. To keep your content neat, make sure it's aligned and organized alongside images and other details on the page. People can be susceptible to things being even slightly out of place. A viewer may not be able to tell that the text box margins are out of alignment with other elements, or that a given image is a few pixels shorter or wider than its neighbor. However, it won't look completely right to them. This can make a viewer feel like your content is unprofessional or poorly done – so be sure to check your alignment!
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Make Your Content Relevant
Your copy should entice the end-user by explaining the "why" of your product or service. It's essential to use keywords in the copy. This helps viewers know right away that they're landing on a page that has the information they're seeking – but also be sure to include related or semantic terms, or discuss problems that buying your product or service will solve. Don't just fall into the trap of marketing jargon or buzzwords. Think about how customers or users will benefit from using your product or service and explain how you will solve their problems.
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Use Social Proof
Customer testimonials go a long way toward telling potential customers that your brand can be trusted. Humans are social creatures, so using social proof – reviews, ratings, testimonials, awards, or anything else that demonstrates success at helping real people – on a landing page immediately establishes your credibility with potential clients. As Hubspot says, "Testimonials produce conversions as nothing else can." When users trust that you and your product or service have delivered value to people like them, they'll be more likely to convert.
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Use Pop-Ups Wisely
The Internet can be a cluttered mess. But the intelligent use of a pop-up is like muting the background noise and saying, "Look at me." Tread cautiously, though, because pop-ups can also cause people to bounce from your site. If the first thing a user sees when opening your page is a pop-up, they might just close it then and there. But a thoughtful pop-up – say, one designed to capture information or sign them up for your newsletter when they look to exit your page – might get more leads.
"On exit intent" is an excellent trigger for a pop-up. If someone was already about to leave the site, you're risking much less.
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Have a Solo CTA
It's "call to action," not "calls to actions," okay? Make sure your landing page has only one single offer and CTA. Including more than one offer confuses visitors and could cause them to abandon your page. (Remember that Mercedes-Benz landing page? You'll notice that there is only one CTA: "Shop Now." It's repeated a few times, but it's always the same action we're trying to get people to take.)
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Use Landing Page Builder Software
The beauty of the Internet is that there are so many affordable and easy to use software tools out. This is true for landing pages; there are tons of software products on the market that offer conversion-optimized and responsive landing page templates. Such tools not only save time but also provide functionality like A/B testing and dynamic headlines based on keywords.
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Fonts and Colors Still Matter
Use readable fonts and colors that are easy on the eyes. Always stay within your brand colors, but be sure to design a landing page that's easy to read and nice to look! Things like font size can matter, but this is something that you can A/B test based on how users are interacting with your landing pages. Visual appeal in everything, from colors to fonts to product imagery, will sell your product in a very potent way.
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Open Links in a New Tab
If you are linking to other pages of your website from your landing page, make them open in a new tab. This does several helpful things. First, it keeps your landing page open longer, meaning that if someone exits to the new tab, they're still on the original page – so they can still see the messaging. Second, it provides a more continuous, less disruptive experience, as they can continue reading your landing page before switching to the new tab. This reduces the bounce rate.
Conclusion
While it's pretty easy to create a landing page, it's also just as easy to create an ineffective page that causes potential customers to leave. Following these tips will help your team improve your conversion rate and the number of leads you send to your sales team with top-notch landing pages.
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