May 17, 2021 06:00:00

What I learned by improving 200 landing pages of web services and SaaS

Many websites have goals such as 'getting visitors to register for accounts' and 'getting them to buy products.' To reach this goal,

optimizing the first landing page your users visit is critical. A person who has improved 200 startup landing pages in a year explains what websites tend to miss on landing pages and specific improvement points.

What I learnt roasting 200 landing pages in 12 months
https://blog.roastmylandingpage.com/landing-page-roasts/

Oliver Meeking, a freelance marketing consultant, started a project called ' Roast My Landing Page ' in 2020 to 'improve the landing page of a corporate website' to support early stage startups. bottom. About 200 startups have participated in the project in the past 12 months, more than 2,000 email subscribers, and revenue of £ 70,000 (about 10 million yen) in one year, Meeking said.

On many websites, the landing page was created by the founder of the startup. While improving landing pages, Meeking noticed nine things founders often overlook.

◆ 1: Set 'only one' goal

Of the total, 50% of the founders had set 'only one' goal on the landing page. In this case, the goal was to sign up, download, book a demo, etc. Meanwhile, the remaining 50% of founders have multiple, prioritized goals on their landing pages, which confuses visitors and makes analysis difficult, Meeking said.

◆2: Focus on USP
USP stands for 'Unique Selling Proposition'. Many services have unique strengths that other companies cannot imitate, and while founders could mention USPs when asked in surveys, only 20 services actually mentioned USPs on their landing pages. It was said that it was about %.

If the user or purchaser of the service is in the consideration stage, the USP will be an important factor in determining whether it is suitable for their needs. For this reason, it is important to list the USP derived by comparing with competitors on the landing page.

◆3: Clear and relevant social proof
Your landing page should display objective evidence such as Testimonials, Ratings, and Awards that show that other people are using and liking your service or product. However, it seems that only 40% of the websites displayed these on the landing page. In addition, about 50% of the landing pages included “customer testimonials”.

◆ 4: Use easy words

Mr. Meeking says that one-eighth of the landing pages he read did not understand the content in the first 'skim'. Mr. Meeking had the purpose of 'improving the landing page', so I tried to understand it even if I could not understand it, but the general public would stop reading if they could not understand it.

It's important to avoid jargon and abbreviations and describe your services in clear, simple language. Meeking recommends asking yourself, 'If the other person was a 12-year-old child, would they understand this landing page?'

◆ 5: Stir emotions
In copywriting, a technique is used that uses 'emotional words' to stir up the actions of the other party. Landing pages can also use emotive words and images to evoke feelings they are experiencing, but only 1 in 15 landing pages actually use emotive language. It didn't exist.

Using words, stories, or visuals to vividly describe the 'suffering' the other person is going through can help.

◆ 6: Clarify benefits and use cases
It seems that there were many landing pages that said, 'Although we talk about the details of services and products, there is no mention of the benefits and actual use cases that will be brought about.' Explaining in profit-based terms increases

conversions , says Meeking.

◆7: Make the CTA easy to understand

CTA is an abbreviation of “Call To Action”, which literally means “call to action”. Examples of CTAs include messages like 'Call now,' 'Learn more,' and '24 hours only.'

Although many landing pages had CTAs, Meeking said they lacked explanations such as 'what happens when you click'. Mr. Meking said that the context around the CTA should be written firmly, such as 'How long does it take to register?' 'What will you agree to when you register?'

◆ 8: Ask without thinking too much
Three out of five founders said they didn't know what was wrong with their landing page in the first survey, but then they actually asked visitors, 'What's wrong?' It was said that there were few people. Mr. Meking advises that one way is to ask the visitor directly, 'Why did you leave the landing page without applying?'

◆ 9: Know the statistics
Most of the founders had Google Analytics installed on their websites, but many did not check the reports or had limited goal settings.

In addition to the above, Mr. Meeking cites the following seven points as `` ideas to improve the performance of the landing page ''.

◆1: Make it more niche

Create landing pages for as many niche audiences as possible until you get your first customer. Landing pages intended for a wide range of users with a wide range of use cases will result in lower conversions. Start with a niche audience first and expand later.

◆ 2: Make the question small and explain it sufficiently
No one subscribes or buys without fully understanding their problem, the solution, and the cost. List what visitors need to know before registering and make sure the list is well explained before the first CTA.

◆ 3: “Show” instead of telling
It is important to 'show' more clearly and powerfully with tables, visuals, demos, illustrations, etc.

◆ 4: Address user questions

As you read through the landing page, a few questions should arise in your visitor's mind. If questions are not answered, conversion rates will drop. It is necessary to understand and solve visitors' questions through user tests and surveys.

◆ 5: Improve the image
According to Meeking, about 65% of the landing pages used ``image materials that are often used on multiple landing pages.'' Landing pages should use meaningful images, Meking says, and should put more effort into finding images that fit the description and context.

◆ 6: Know the statistics
Even those who know how a landing page performs don't measure the entire funnel from marketing channel source to account signup, Meeking said. Set up funnels in the analytics tool to see how dropouts occur throughout the funnel.

◆ 7: Test regularly
None of Meeking's customers had a regular testing schedule. Through constant testing, you can learn more about your customers and drive improved profitability.