4 landing page optimization strategies that marketers often forget

In this digital age, we have multiple electronic devices on at all times, and multiple tabs are open on each device. Our attention is hard to capture and keep. 

So, how do you know if your landing page optimization strategies are capturing your viewer’s attention amidst all of today's distractions?

This blog outlines several landing page optimization strategies that will make your landing pages more appealing to viewers, increasing your CTA and form conversion ratios. 

The 5-Second Test

As always, first impressions matter.

There’s no better way to test the first impression your landing page gives than the tried-and-true 5-second test. The 5-second test is when someone looks at your landing page for no more than 5 seconds. After 5 seconds, the person assessing your page explains what they believe the page is about.

A great way to do the 5-Second Test is to use UsabilityHub.

UsabilityHub allows you to conduct as many tests as you want. You can use it for landing pages and home page designs, logos, brochures, and more. Here's why UsabilityHub is a great resource:

• All you have to do is submit your landing page for a 5-second Test, and they show your design to a bunch of people for 5 seconds.
• Those viewing your landing page offer what they believe your landing page is about. UsabilityHub lists all of the responses and generates a word cloud of all the commonly occurring keywords. The cloud helps give you an insight into people’s first impressions.
• If the responses are drastically different than what the page was made for, then you know you have problem with your viewers getting lost.

Depending on the responses, you may get a few clues for what you should change about your page. If you’re not sure where to start, continue reading for some additional landing page optimization strategies. 

Readability

Having a readability issue means your viewers may struggle when reading your landing page. You could be using overly complex words or run-on sentences. An easy way to test the readability of your landing page is by using readability-score.com.

• This website is a free tool that estimates the level of education someone would need to easily understand a piece of copy.
• The tool takes into account sentence length, syllable count, percentage of multi-syllable words, and more to calculate your readability score.
• You want your readability score to be around an 8th grade level, which will appeal to the broadest audience, but it really depends on your target market. 

Another way to improve the readability of your landing page is to avoid hyperbole. As marketers, we’re guilty of using hyperbole quite often. Saying things like, “the BEST decision you’ll ever make” or “the COOLEST new product this year” are both examples of marketing hyperbole.

You may believe that your product or service is the absolute best, but describing it in those terms can come off as a little disingenuous. It also stops you from describing how your product or service is actually the best. Blanket terms such as ‘the greatest’ or ‘best’ are too generic for viewers and won’t convince them that your product is anything worthwhile.

The Dejargonator is a Chrome extension that you can download and run on your landing pages to test for excessive jargon or hyperbole. It highlights offending phrases in red and tells you what’s wrong. This will help your landing page have more specific and meaningful copy that your viewers can understand, which will make them more likely to convert.

Visual Identification

Your hero image, the main image on your landing page or web page, is one of its most important aspects. 

Case studies from Dell and KinderCare have shown that hero images can increase conversions and decrease bounce rates. With the hero image being such a high impact area on your landing page, it’s vital that it resonates with your viewers.

So, how does your hero image stack up?

• Ask yourself if can you tell what your business does by just the hero image. If it’s not abundantly clear, chances are your viewers don’t know either.
• Choose an image that's recognizable, easy on the eyes, and shows what your business does, so your viewers will know in 5 seconds or less.
• If you’re having difficulty finding the perfect hero image, add a caption. People read captions, and although the image is important, a caption can be used as an enhancement if you don’t have time to find or create a new hero image.

Attention Driven Design

You’ve probably already heard of growth driven design (or GDD). In this highly distracting era, it’s time to consider Attention Driven Design.

Attention Driven is Design is developed with the intent of drawing the viewer's eye to the most important elements of your page in order to drive conversions.

The success of a landing page is inextricably linked to its ability to guide a viewer’s attention from the top of a page to a CTA. Designing for attention is about offering interactive and understandable visual paths.

You want your viewers to use as little brain power as possible when navigating your landing page, so how do you create a visual pathway to get them to your CTA?

• Use contrasting elements on your landing page because it draws attention. As Modgility pointed out in one of their blogs, “a specific color on your call-to-action or submit button doesn’t actually convert better than another. The color that will convert the best is the one that contrasts with the rest of the page.”
• The most important elements of your landing page, such as the offer and CTA, should be in contrast with the rest of your page, so people receive the most important message first.  

Bonus Tip: One CTA

Last but not least, here's a quick win: If a page isn't getting enough conversions, simplify it by using one CTA. The simpler, the better. Remove internal links and replace them with a CTA to give your viewer a clear idea of what you want them to do, and there are no further distractions. It'll also help focus your copy towards one, unifying message.

Remember, with every change and tweak to your landing page, test and measure its impact so you can see if your landing page is getting closer and closer to hitting the mark.

Testing through trial-and-error is the most important part of landing page optimization -- otherwise you’re shooting in the dark. 

If you'd like to learn more about optimizing your landing pages, reach out to us. We'd love to share some ideas with you and your team.