Last week we had a great webinar on landing page optimization with Josh Krafchin of Clever Zebo. The full recording of the webinar is on our website. It is a 50 minute webinar and totally worth your time. Put it on in the background as you work.
Basically Josh spent the entire time going through tests from WhichTestWon. He showed two versions of the same landing page and then asked the audience to vote on which landing page they thought had the best conversion rates. After looking at all those landing pages and all those tests, a few themes started to emerge.
Here they are…
1) Typically the landing pages with less copy did the best
The most interesting comparisons were between landing pages that had paragraphs of copy vs. some that had a headline and perhaps a subhead.
ALWAYS the landing pages with less copy won. Period.
A headline, a subhead and some bullet points will always do better than paragraph after paragraph of copy. There are very few scenarios when this isn’t true.
But my product or offer is very complicated, I have to explain it?
No you don’t. You have to explain the benefit your product or offer provides. That’s it.
Less copy is better.
2) The landing pages with more succinct calls to action did the best
Sometimes we marketers make things difficult on ourselves. We focus on complicated processes and products. In reality, simplicity is king.
Short titles, short CTAs, and short headlines win on landing pages.
CTAs and headlines that focus on the benefit to the visitor will win. Don’t tell the visitor what they’ll get if they fill-out a form, instead tell them how what they’re getting will help them. When you buy a drill you aren’t buying the drill, you’re buying a hole.
How can what you’re providing them help them?
Focus your headline and your CTA around this benefit.
3) Pictures are good
Almost universally the landing pages with more pictures, pictures of real people, even pictures of products did better than landing pages that didn’t have pictures or had ‘stock’ images of some sort (i.e. business porn).
Pictures can convey meaning that words simply cannot. If you want a landing page that converts a lot you should use pictures.
4) Videos are good, but they have to be used with care
One of the most interesting tests pitted a landing page that had a video on it with another that didn’t. The audience–including myself–assumed that the landing page with a video on it would win.
We were all wrong.
The landing page with the video on it was smashed by another landing page that had a couple of pictures on it.
Josh pointed out that videos are generally good on landing pages, but just because you have a video doesn’t mean a landing page will convert more. You still have to pay attention to other factors.
Also, a video can serve as a distraction and sidetrack your visitor, even causing them to click-through to YouTube or another site in an effort to watch more videos.
Videos are good, but be careful.
