Getting your Landing page right can require several rounds of trial and error and that is a key element of having a continuous stream of customers and build a viable business model.

Some studies claim that long landing pages can generate 220% more leads than those with ‘above-the-fold’ CTAs. At the same time, other studies have found that merely reducing the number of input fields from 11 to 4 can increase conversions by 120%. What works for one business or product category may not work for another.

Optimizing your landing page for conversions is thus a process of studying how various businesses use landing pages for their businesses and the possible lessons one can gain from them. 

In this article, we will attempt to study landing pages across different industries, product categories and price ranges to see what strategies are common.

CRM landing page example

Subscription tools in general, or SaaS in particular, have been prolific spenders on online advertising. As such, these applications have landing pages that adhere to all the best practices. Take the following example of a CRM application from Freshworks.

The top-fold of this landing page has two CTAs (Call To Action) that a potential buyer would expect to have – the ability to try your product for free, or at least check out a demo. But a first-time visitor would want to have more information about the product before they give away any of their personal information.

The rest of this landing page is a set of visually appealing modules that try to educate and warm up a first time visitor – this includes a graphic that shows how the product is different from competitors, a video message from the founder, a bunch of popular brand names that use the product, and testimonials. 

These visuals tend to warm up the lead and make them ready to convert. The only thing that remains is what plan to sign them up for – hence the CTA at the bottom fold of the page takes the user to the pricing page from where the visitor can sign up for a free trial of the pricing plan that appeals to them the most. 

Notice the live chat icon at the bottom right of the page? Studies show that live chat widgets contribute as much as 30% to the conversion rate of a landing page. 

This page has one controversial element however – the use of navigational menus on both the first and bottom fold of the page. Navigational elements can tend to take a visitor’s focus away from the CTAs and can thus bring conversion rates down. It will be interesting to see if they do have an impact on the conversion rate of this page.

Email Marketing landing page example

Email marketing is a highly competitive industry with average CPC rates hovering between $22 to $55 per click. As such, the landing page must strive for high conversion rates to make up for the insane acquisition costs.

Not surprisingly then, most businesses in the email marketing industry tend to have very low barriers to sign ups. Take a look at this example below.

This landing page ticks most of the boxes when it comes to an ideal top-fold – There are no lengthy forms to fill. The user only has to enter their email address to get started. There is a live chat widget for visitors who need to know more. Most importantly, the top strip of the landing page lets users sign up to a free plan right away without much fuss. 

But like we saw with the Freshsales page, this landing page also has navigational elements in its design. This is perhaps inevitable for pages that are trying to rank on Google Search (as opposed to acquiring visitors through ads).

If we have to nitpick on the design, the other element that might need a rethink is on the secondary folds of the landing page – there are ‘Read more’ buttons spread throughout the entire stretch that can take a visitor’s eyes away from conversion. This is however a compromise to make when your landing page needs to rank on Google Search. These ‘Read more’ buttons take the visitor to various product features that are independently searched for by users.

For instance, there are close to 10,000 searches each month for the keyword ‘Email marketing templates’ and a link from this section to the Templates page is a great way to ensure that your product ranks for these relatively smaller keywords.

Insurance landing page example

Now let us compare the above pages with a landing page from another highly competitive industry like Insurance. Unlike the email marketing example discussed above, insurance landing pages typically require visitors to enter tons of personal information. This brings down conversion rates quite dramatically. 

However, take a look at the example below.

This landing page has managed to do away with the lengthy form and has replaced it with a more ‘visible’ and easy-to-understand CTA. Also, clicking the button opens a pop-over where the visitor is only asked for their email address before they are taken to the insurance comparison page.

This strategy is likely to be highly effective since a lot of competing pages that appear in Search have lengthy forms to fill. A prospective customer is more likely to input their details here than they would on the competing pages.

Online services landing page example

Some online services like logo design or digital marketing are highly competitive, just like the insurance industry. Also, like insurance, these industries require extensive information from their clients in order to produce a quote. This is because every client requirement is unique and it is not possible to offer a quote without knowing more about the brand and its expectations.

Marketers get around this by smartly designing landing pages that give away a lot of information with very little input. Here are a couple of landing pages that demonstrate this point.

In both cases, the top fold of the landing page seeks no information other than the name of the brand. At the outset, this does not seem like a good strategy since you fail to capture the visitors’ details. 
However, this strategy is quite effective since users tend to provide the name of their brand through this input window. Figuring the contact details of the prospect is very straightforward from here. 

Another reason why this strategy is effective is because it seamlessly integrates lead details capture with the service offering. Providing a brand name is the first step in creating a logo and logo maker tools can effectively demonstrate their value in just a matter of clicks through this step.

Marketers may integrate this page with remarketing scripts to follow up with the visitor in case they do not convert right away.

The common thread

What’s common across all these landing pages is the simplicity of data-gathering. People visit your website out of a need – and the more desperate they are, the more they are likely to give all the information you seek. 

However, a lot of industries are insanely competitive and your prospective customers can get what they want from a competitor without much fuss. As such, it is important to offer a seamless and friction-less landing page if you are concerned about increasing conversion rates.

Read next:

• What Is Business Model Innovation
• What Is a Business Model
• What Is Business Development
• What Is Business Strategy
• What is Blitzscaling
• What Is a Value Proposition
• What Is a Lean Startup Canvas
• What Is Market Segmentation
• What Is a Marketing Strategy
• What is Growth Hacking

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