How to Design Landing Pages that Convert

Last Updated on April 23, 2021

Conversions are king in the competitive world of digital advertising. Convincing site visitors to purchase a product, submit a form, or pick up the phone is the name of the game. But too often we forget a vital part of the equation: sending clicks to a landing page that converts visitors into customers. 

You can get the right clicks for the right price, but all your hard work means nothing if your landing page isn’t optimized to convert. 

Table of Contents

1. How Do You Design a Landing Page That Converts
2. Design a Marvel-Worthy Website Hero
3. Incorporate a Gold-Plated Value Offering
4. Establish Your Expertise and Authority
5. Show a Path to Success a Third Grader Could Understand
6. Designing landing pages that convert give you a better chance at success.
7. How do you know this formula creates landing pages that convert?

How Do You Design Landing Pages That Convert?

At USDP, we’ve been designing, testing, and optimizing so we can answer that very question. 

A high-converting landing page performs four critical functions that persuade visitors to convert into customers. 

1. Engages visitors with a clear, attention-grabbing hero
2. Demonstrates tangible value and benefits to the potential customer
3. Establishes unwavering authority in their industry
4. Highlights a simple path to success

Design a Marvel-Worthy Website Hero 

The hero—the large, attention-grabbing image and text combo at the top of a web page—is the first impression a potential customer has of your company. 

Make the first impression a positive one by following these guidelines.  

• Include a large, engaging image highlighting your product or service
• Incorporate a short, attention-grabbing headline that focuses on clarity and value. Avoid going cute or abstract. Tell visitors exactly what problem you’ll be solving for them.
• Use the subhead to provide more detail and persuade visitors to learn more.
• Integrate a form in the hero 
  • Clear, specific call to action (CTA)
  • High contrast with the rest of the hero
  • The fewer fields the better (Google recommends just three)
  • Use an arrow, imagery, or negative space to guide the reader’s eyes to the form

Incorporate a Gold-Plated Value Offering

You know you have a great product or service, so it can be tempting to list every feature and spec. But frankly, your customers just want to know how you’re going to help them and solve their problems. 

• Focus your copy on value rather than a list of features
  • Instead of specs, explain the benefits
  • Example
    • Feature: This cell phone has a 2000 mAh battery
    • Benefit: Use your phone for a full day without having to stop and recharge. Lugging around a charger every time you leave the house is now a thing of the past. 

• Use images and avoid relying heavily on text. People are lazy and our brains are wired to skim content. Images help focus attention on the things your potential customers need to know.

Establish Your Expertise and Authority 

If visitors to your landing page don’t think you have credibility, they’re far less likely to buy from you. Highlight your expertise and past successes to build trust.

• Incorporate trust symbols
  • Awards
  • Certifications
  • Accreditations 
• Leverage past partnerships and successful projects
  • Recognizable brand logos (these have a HUGE impact on conversions)
  • Testimonials and reviews
    • Always put a face to a name. A quote is much more powerful when you see the person who said it.
    • Encourage your clients to get specific when giving testimonials. 
• Use numbers to demonstrate your capabilities
  • “275 Projects Completed in 2020”
  • “Offices in 17 States”

Show a Path to Success a Third Grader Could Understand 

Show customers what they can expect if they partner with you by incorporating an oversimplified 1-2-3 “How It Works” section.

• People are scared of the unknown, so give them a glimpse of life with your company or product
• Oversimplify your process so that a child could understand it 
  • Example (Blue Apron)
    • Choose your meals
    • Unpack your box
    • Cook, create, enjoy
• Incorporate value as much as possible

Designing landing pages that convert give you a better chance at success. But there’s more.  

These essential landing page guidelines will immediately improve your page, but there are several additional landing page sections and tips that are proven to boost your conversion rates even further. 

• Incorporate a secondary or transitional call to action. Sometimes site visitors are interested, but not quite ready to buy. Give them something valuable in exchange for their contact information.
  • Examples
    • Gated Content (eBook, PDF download, Webinar Recording, etc.)
    • Coupon or Limited Time Offer
• Simplify the navigation and footer
  • Remove all links to other pages so that users are forced to leave their contact information or risk losing out on your great product or service
  • Tweak the navigation to only contain anchor links to the various sections of your landing page
• Use bulleted copy as much as possible. (Like this blog post.) The goal is to avoid overwhelming visitors and bullets are a simple way to make your content more digestible.

How do you know this formula creates landing pages that convert? Check out the data. 

Here are a handful of landing pages built by the USDP team over the years that illustrate this is a winning formula.  

• KC Robotics
  • New USDP landing pages compared to previous landing pages:
    • Conversion rate increase of 112%
    • 50% decrease in cost/conversion

• Jack Rouse Associates
  • 82% of eligible keywords earned an “Above Average” or “Average” Landing Page Experience score from Google

If you could benefit from some one-on-one guidance on how to design landing pages that convert, schedule a time to talk.