Effective landing page design is one of the most underestimated steps of a digital marketing strategy.
With Kenya’s internet users reaching 21.75 million users as of January 2021, Kenyan businesses are in a constant battle to get their share of attention from these users.
Whether your audience is coming from search, social or email, your landing page is where users will either be drawn further to your offer or be put off and end their buying journey abruptly.
Before we discuss the attributes of an effective landing page , let’s begin by making sure you are clear about what a landing page is.
[lwptoc]Understanding What a Landing Page Is
When we talk about a landing page, we are talking about a page that a user lands on, an entrance page. This is the first page a user sees after having clicked some kind of ad source. It could be a PPC ad, a banner in an email, or a link from social media.Landing pages work independently of the rest of a website or app. They are focused on a clear conversion goal.
What is Effective Landing Page Design?
Up to 58% of Kenyans are using social or search as sources of brand discovery. These sources are leading them to entrance pages. What is making some pages outperform others?
An effective landing page does what it is supposed to do, that is to shorten the journey from click to conversion.
Instead of sending your users to a home page where they would have to scroll several layers of navigation to get to the product you showed them in an ad, we are taking them straight to that offer.
Effective landing page design follows up on the promise made in an ad source. It speaks to user motivation and it addresses barriers.
By answering important questions for the user, we create clarity and a clear path to the conversion goal.
5 Steps to Effective Landing Page Design
Step 1: Determine the goal of your landing page
As mentioned earlier, your landing page needs to be focused on ONE specific goal. Some of the most common landing page goals include the following:
Lead Generation – Choose this if your main focus is to collect information from visitors through a contact form when they fill out requests for your services.
Brand Awareness – You can use viral landing pages that are easily shareable on social media by your users. This drives tons of organic traffic to your site.
Growing your Email List – Adding a lead magnet, such as a free download available after visitors complete a form, is a great way to grow your email list for email marketing.
Information/Education – If you do not sell anything online, but would still like to inform your audience about your business, you can use this type of landing page which will act as a digital business card giving visitors “About Us” information.
Step 2:Designing your Landing Page
Landing Page Builders
Fortunately, designing landing pages has been made easier by various companies that offer landing page building software. Take a look at Mailchimp, Webium, Leadpages and Squarespace as a start.The builders will differ but select a landing page builder based on these key characteristics:
- User friendliness and live support in case you get stuck.
- The pages must be adaptive to mobile, desktop, tablets, etc. 99.7% of Kenya’s internet users own smartphones compared with 60.2% with laptop/desktops.
- The builder should be secure to ensure the safety of the data you collect.
- The templates should be customizable in case you need custom sections or you need to embed an HTML code
- A clear pricing plan, look out for hidden costs for bandwidth storage.
Choosing the Right Template for Effective Landing Page Design
Statistics show that 65% of people are visual learners. This means design plays an important part in the overall success of your landing page.
Remember, you only have 2.6 seconds to make an impression on a user when they visit your page, so make them count.
As you go through the templates available on site builders, focus on design quality, information sections available and how the template relates to your specific business.
Above all look for the following from the templates:
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- Eye catching buttons and forms
- Consistent styling
- A logical layout
And do not use old fashioned templates! These will turn away most visitors. According to the most recent design trends, these are the top 6 elements that are characteristic of modern landing pages.
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- Minimalist design
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- Use of geometric shapes
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- Use of unique images
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- Including animation and video content
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- Adding a live chat section
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- Using contrast for your CTA buttons
Step 3: Effective Landing Page Design Includes Content That Attracts and Converts
Now that you have the right design sorted, it is time to add content to it.
Landing Page Title
The first item to work on is your title. You want a strong title for your landing page. One that clearly communicates your offer and is in line with your objectives.The best titles make use of one or a combination of these techniques:
- Clarity of Message
Use your hero screen to state precisely what your business is about.
- Asking a Question
Make your audience open up by asking them a question about their pain points which you have a solution for.
- Keeping it Unique
What is your unique selling point? Why should users choose your offer over others?
- Revealing a Secret
Curiosity is a strong driver, telling your visitors that you intend to reveal something to them can motivate them to explore the rest of your content.
- Making use of “Fear of Missing Out”
Use limited time offers that stress the significance of the value of your offer..
- Guaranteeing Results
Giving your visitors reason to be sure of what they can expect from you is a great motivator. An example of this would be a money back guarantee.
Unique Content
After the title, populate your template with content that is useful to the user but also differentiates you from competition.
It goes without saying that grammatical errors and poor formatting will not do your landing page any favours.
Use this checklist to make sure you have added content that converts.
Engaging Media
Remember, most of your visitors are visually stimulated. Strategically placed media will play a great role in addressing barriers and building trust.You can get your visitors to spend more time on your site just by adding captivating videos. Research shows that users will spend 88% more time on a site with video content. Furthermore, video can be a great way to communicate your message in an engaging way.When it comes to images, avoid stock images. Invest in high resolution media that shows off your own products. Always use best practices when adding media to your site to avoid slow loading speeds, the average download speed of fixed connections in Kenya is 20,72MBPS.
Step 4: Add a Lead Generation Form to your Landing Page
We cannot place a price on data and user information. The ability to collect information is one of the most valuable aspects of an effective landing page.
That being said, your forms shouldn’t deter users from filling them out.
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- Keep the number of information fields to a minimum, requesting too much information will overwhelm the user.
- Use white space to improve readability.
- Ensure the form comes with help text, to explain the requested information.
- Your CTA should describe the benefit of the offer.
- The form must be mobile-friendly.
Step 5: Optimising as the Final Step to Effective Landing Page Design
All this effort needs to be followed with website optimisation to improve search engine placement.
This starts with choosing the right URL for your landing page. A URL impacts the credibility and visibility of your brand and affects your search engine ranking.
URLs
We have listed tips for choosing the right URL.
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- Keep it short – use a domain name with 6 to 10 characters and avoid hyphens.
- Choose an appropriate domain name – depending on your line of business decide if you require a .com, .org or .ke, etc.
- Check for similar names – double check that there aren’t brands with similar domain names.
Meta Description and SEO Title
As for your title tag, the first step is to conduct keyword research and determine which keywords you want to rank for. Once you have your top keyword, include it naturally in your title. Keep your titles between 50 to 60 characters. The recommended structure is:Main keyword – Secondary Keyword | Brand NameFor the meta description – a description of what your landing page is about – keep it not more than 160 characters long. Your meta description will have an impact on the clicks your link receives. It is not enough to rank at the top for a keyword if your audience isn’t enticed to click on your link.
Analytics Tracking
Finally, your landing page is ready and optimised for your audience. As with any digital efforts, you want to keep an eye on the performance of the page and perform A/B tests so that you can adjust it in response to your insights.Be sure to add tools like Hotjar and Google Analytics to your landing page. This way you can track key metrics such as:
- The number of users completing your forms
- How many conversions you are receiving
- The source of the visitor (social, email, PPC)
- The location of your visitors.
Speak to Our Experts About Effective Landing Page Design
It is clear that landing pages are powerful tools to reach your conversion and business goals.
26.1% of Kenyans are actively making online purchases and you should be taking advantage of this market.
At Growthpad Digital Consulting, we have a team of designers and content specialists who can provide you with the expertise you need to make your landing pages effective.
Get in touch with us to schedule a strategy session and you will soon be on your way to realising the benefits of effect landing page design.
