No, I’m not about to sell you on some multi-level marketing scheme that involves you recruiting your mom.
I’m talking about your landing pages.
You’re spending marketing dollars to drive people to your landing pages. In turn, you’re hoping that the leads those pages generate turn into more money.
And this is where you’re missing out on the money.
With a few simple tweaks, you can give your lead page conversion rate a nice bump. That nice bump then leads to more money.
See how that works?
Here are 6 reasons your landing page isn’t converting, as well as how to fix those problems.
You’ve Got A Lousy Headline
The Internet has created hordes of people, myself included, who can’t focus on anything.
Ever.
You’ve got a split second to grab the attention of your visitors before they lose interest and click elsewhere. And when I say “split second”, I literally mean as little as 50 milliseconds .
This means you need a killer, attention-grabbing, clear as crystal headline. A headline that grabs visitors by the digital collar and won’t let them go. A headline that makes visitors want to read the rest of the page content.
If your landing page isn’t converting, there’s a good chance your headline is what’s killing it.
As copywriting assassin Joanna Wiebe says , a headline should be:
- Specific
- Succinct
- Focus on 1 thing
- Reflect the expectations of the visitor
Check out the ConversionLab homepage :
I love this headline for it’s simple clarity. There’s no confusion about what is being offered, and the customer pain point is implicitly identified. Right away, I know that ConversionLab can help me with my landing page.
Ask the following questions of your headline:
- Is it crystal clear?
- It is compelling and does it create a sense of urgency?
- Is it interesting?
- Is it ultra-specific?
- Does it immediately tell the visitor what they can expect from the landing page?
If you find yourself struggling to create a compelling headline, CopyBlogger gives you 10 proven formulas for creating irresistible headlines . If you want to actually test your headline, head over to CoSchedule and use their Headline Analyzer .
When your landing page isn’t converting, the headline is suspect numero uno.
You’ve Got Too Many Options
A landing page should not function like a Swiss Army Knife, with a hundred different options. A landing page should do one thing, and one thing only.
If you want to collect email addresses, ask people to enter their email address. If you want people to sign up for a webinar, drive them to the signup form. If you want them to schedule a free call, drive them to the call.
Do NOT try to get their email address and sign them up for a webinar and book them for a call. If you give people more than one option, they’ll probably choose no options at all.
Check out this landing page for AccuPOS:
My brain hurts just from looking at this page! Am I supposed to download the free trial software or schedule a live software demo or request more information?
Here’s what I’ll do: find a SIMPLER page!
If your landing page isn’t converting, you may have too many options on it. If you need to accomplish more than one thing, create a different landing page for each thing you need to accomplish.
You’ve Got Too Many Opt-In Fields
You know what I don’t have time for? Filling in a thousand different fields on your opt-in form.
My time is valuable, and I certainly don’t want to waste it by giving you a bunch of unnecessary information. Just give me my lead magnet!
It’s been proven that having unnecessary fields to fill in can absolutely kill your conversion rate. Norway’s leading online beauty store removed three fields and immediately saw an 11% jump in conversion rate. Dan Zarella analyzed 40,000 different landing pages and discovered three fields that automatically create lower conversion rates.
The moral of the story?
Only collect absolutely necessary information on your landing page.
As Neil Patel says :
Many people have a highly developed sense of privacy, especially when it comes to online interaction. For a website to be requesting detailed information about one’s identity is considered an invasion of privacy. You’re better off requesting just the basics than getting greedy and asking for a lot.
Check out Wistia’s landing page:
Only ONE required field – email address. Getting started with Wistia is easy, it’s quick, and it isn’t complicated in the least.
This is the kind of opt-in that draws me in immediately.
Don’t unnecessarily clutter your landing page with too many fields. Get exactly the information you’re looking for…and no more.
If your landing page isn’t converting, consider stripping down the amount of information you’re after.
Your Call-To-Action Isn’t Clear
The call to action on your landing page should exactly match what the visitor is getting.
This is called the “conversion action”.
If they are downloading a free PDF guide, the call-to-action button should say, “Download My Guide” or something along those lines.
It shouldn’t say, “Submit” or, “Enter”, or, “Request”, or anything else that doesn’t sound like they are downloading something.
If they’re getting a free trial of a software, the call-to-action should say something like, “Start My Free Trial”.
This isn’t rocket science, but it’s surprising how often something this simple is overlooked.
SalesForce offers a demo in exchange for contact information. The call-to-action here – “Watch it in action” – matches user expectations. If they had used a word like “Submit” instead, they would have created customer confusion and killed their conversion rates.
Your Benefits Are Blurry
People buy because of the benefits a product or service offers. They buy because something promises to enrich their lives, or make life simpler, or give them more energy.
People don’t buy because of product features, they buy because of product benefits.
Unless you’re a hardcore gearhead, you don’t buy a car because of the 2-inch tube running into the carburetor. You buy because of the benefit of leather seats or a rumbling sound system.
You buy a tablet to watch movies, not because of the microprocessor.
In light of this, your landing page should prominently feature the benefits of your product or service, not the features.
The geniuses over at Copyblogger offer this four-step process for extracting the benefits of your product:
- First, make a list of every feature of your product or service.
- Second, ask yourself why each feature is included in the first place.
- Third, take the “why” and ask “how” does this connect with the prospect’s desires?
- Fourth, get to the absolute root of what’s in it for the prospect at an emotional level.
If your landing page isn’t converting, take a close at the items listed on the page. Are you listing features or benefits?
If you’re listing features, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
Conclusion
To put it bluntly, you can’t afford a low conversion rate. The difference between a 10% and 20% conversion rate could be thousands, or even millions of dollars, depending on what business you’re in.
Taking the time to fix your low converting landing page isn’t a waste of time, it’s actually a highly profitable venture.
And the reality is, your low conversion rate is probably easy to fix, as long as you know what to look for.
Use these six points as a checklist of sorts. If you run your landing page through the gauntlet of these questions, I’m confident you’ll boost your conversion rate.