As you know, I am a UX/UI designer, but in my previous life, I was a marketer. Which means I know a thing or two about creating landing pages. I see people designing pretty landing pages all the time, but just pretty pages don’t convert.
Here’s the best UX advice that can keep your conversion rates high and your bounce rates low.
1. Conduct user research
To start with the basics, you need to conduct user research before you start designing your landing page. The goal of your landing page is to solve a problem. So do you know the exact problems your target customer have?
When you create landing pages, the more specific you are regarding what you want to sell to a specific person, the better your conversion rate will be. So, if you have no idea who you are selling to, then your landing page won’t convert so well.
2. Create user personas
You need to have an idea about your target costumers. The user persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer. If you summarize the information you have gathered in step 1, you should be able to come up with 1 to 3 user personas that represent your ideal customer.
Don’t try to build a catch-all landing page. Instead, create one landing page per unique target group. You need to make sure to deliver a different message, depending on the type of customer that you are targeting.
3. Choose one main call-to-action
I see people making this mistake over and over again- the just put a lot of buttons on their landing pages, which results in confusion and of course, lower conversion rates.
If you want your conversion rate to sky-rocket- then simply follow this rule: use a single call-to-action button throughout the entire landing page. In addition, try not to use generic verbs like: "buy now". Instead, use specific ones .For example: “book appointment”, “sign up for XYZ”, “start XYZ” etc.
4. Use high-quality personal images
Nowadays, there’s plenty of free stock images out there, which means that there’s plenty of people using those same images. I know it’s really tempting to use images from one of the most popular websites, like gettyimages.com or pexels.com (that’s my personal favorite), but do realize that all other people are using those same sources.
This means that I keep seeing the same images over and over again. So annoying! And so impersonal…
You can imagine that I can’t really connect to the product they are trying to sell me.
Take some pictures of your product or other people using your product. I know, this may be time-consuming and not your favorite thing to do, but I promise you, it will be worth it.
Those images will be only yours and also unique!
5. Use white space
I can not tell you how man times I see pages filled with text and buttons and colors, and it’s all so confusing and overwhelming to look at!
If you are selling a complicated software solution you might need to use a lot of text and images on your sales page. However, trying to position all those elements literary on top of each other has the opposite effect- you are overwhelming the user.
So, I need you to take a step back and add a sufficient amount of white space, so instead of closing the tab, people would actually keep reading.
6. Increase trust in your product
Imagine if a user lands on your landing page for the first time and is interested in buying your product. She just needs a little nudge, because she’s not familiar with your company and therefore not sure if you are “legit”. Have you ever been in this situation?
There’s an easy way to solve this problem. All you have to do is add some sort of a verification element- a logo from another trusted company, or a badge that your product is secure, or simply offer a money-back guarantee.
For example, if I intend to sell a new UI kit and you come to my landing page and are willing to buy. However, you are not familiar with my work and are wondering if the UI kit will be of good value. Then, you scroll down and see that I was featured on the InVision blog (one of the best prototyping tools). All of a sudden you trust me because you know InVision wouldn’t feature just anyone on the design blog. Now there’a very high chance that you end up buying my product because I am a “verified” seller.
7. Test and improve
You have to be able to test your landing page. If you are on a low budget, all you need to do is ask 5 people that are similar to your target audience to tell you what they see on your page and give you some feedback.
In addition, I highly recommend using tracking tools, such as Google Analytics or heatmap tools like Crazy Egg, so you can see where users are clicking, where they are dropping off and adjust your designs.
Remember, your goal when implementing those UX principles is to provide enjoyable user experience, so people spend more time on your page, feel secure, trust you and finally are eager to purchase your thing.
I hope this was helpful to you, if so, please share this article with a friend who needs it. You can also get the PDF version of this post, which includes a Checklist of all items discussed above.
xoxo Iglika
