On The Rise Blog

Certain people have a keen way of just saying what they mean and others insist on guiding you through a crafted journey that ultimately persuades the same conclusion. At Rise, we’re the latter. We thrive on the journey the user takes and we feed off our ability to provide well crafted ethical persuasions. At heart, we side with our form in the proverbial debate that is: content vs. form. On a long day of code munching and laffy taffy use, knowing that our well tailored path (or form) is the ultimate contributor in a successful conversion, truly makes the invasive sugary goo in the back of our mouths that much sweeter.

But how do we really do it?

We use a concept that, according to Web Design for ROI, has been around for some time; yet, its potential and influence often go overlooked. Landing pages organize a user’s path and in return provide a desired action. More often than not, landing pages miss the mark because they lack in being clear, obvious, and concise. Attempts at being subtle, mysterious, wordy, or even timid dreadfully drive potential clients to the competitor or away all together. It’s important to note that when a new user is searching out a solution, they’re on a quest and the most effective course of action is to provide, yes you’ve guessed it, clear, obvious, and concise answers.

As a designer, these 8 methods exist as my fundamental checklist for a landing page.

I |  Integrate Your Entire Sales Cycle
Landing pages should lend a particular air of confidence because they consciously examine the entire “sales cycle.” When formatting content, it’s important to take into account the types of users that will potentially find one’s service the slightest bit motivating. If the page proves convincing, it must reinforce interest, instill desire, and ultimately guide the user to take action.

II |  Simplify and Separate
When it comes to landing pages, some elect to keep the overall website design and others argue that one should simplify the landing page to focus on the offer. At Rise, we’re firm believers in a hybrid of both techniques. We consider an end user to be extremely experienced in what to ignore on the internet so having too much could easily make a user feel choked and too little may possibly lack in confidence and grant minimal to no success.

III |  Provide an Extension of Your Ad
It is no coincidence that running an ad can become an expensive and timely undertaking; hence the use of similar ad’s or those that don’t divert from the original. With a landing page, it is important to repeat the offer that instills the desire the brand has infused. The landing page must recall the extension from which it arrived and determine the persona that chose to click. Some come via Google Ad’s, others discover the site in print, or discovered through an organic search. All three distinct systems lend themselves useful for tracking purposes.

IV |  Offer Segmenting Option for Different Audiences
It’s sometime unclear how someone will arrive at your landing page, so it’s key to offer segmenting options to the minority. This can be prepared with mini-ads that correspond with each possible extension. The key is to make them visible and not hide them in a drop down or subsequent choice which the end user will need to make. Creating segmenting options cumbersome will provide unsuccessful results.

V |  Use Compelling Copy
Glossy facts and call to actions are important, but not individually compelling; so, it’s imperative to speak to visitors directly. Drowning visitors in code speak will hastily destroy any sort of connection. As you would in any semi-formal setting with a client, explaining things calmly and patiently delivers the best outcome.

VI | Engage Visitor by Relating
Knowing what your visitor cares about is more important for conversion than what you may “think” they care about. Studying your personas and targeting common concerns allow one to effectively determine how to structure comprehensive copy, graphical content, and even what sorts of media to utilize. Knowing and relating to the audience creates a reoccurring relationship.

VII | Clear Call to Action
Of all the nuances that make up an effective landing page, the one that should be understandable to a designer and most importantly to a visitor is the call to action. It is at the epicenter of a landing page and one should be lead there with no mysterious contest. All the elements on a landing page support the “actionable” words whether they read “Add Now” or “Sign Up”; they all guide the visitor to take action.

VIII | Have a safety valve
We can try to plan for every scenario, but it’s inevitable that one or two visitors may miss the boat on a clear path toward further exploration. Some are simply not ready to take the primary offer. Like any risk, one should always carry some form of security. Nothing is truer than when it comes to landing pages. Having a “safety valve” allows the visitor the ability to journey through other substantial yet simpler content. This secondary measure emphasizes the confidence a visitor should enjoy to eventually return to the principal offer.

Though there are over 30 ways to guide yourself with a landing page alone using just Web Design for ROI, these aforementioned methods are the select that stand proudly over the others that I reflect in my use.

What do you use?