Landing pages can work magic for a Google Ad campaign. A campaign could be well-built, effectively optimized, and driving the quantity and quality of traffic you desire but if the on-site experience is not optimized to convert, you could be in for a long ride and high costs.
There are a variety of reasons why landing pages may make sense for a business. They often are cost effective, relatively fast to build, allow for quick A/B testing and most importantly - they convert better.
For lead generation businesses, sending a user from your Google ad to your website can be extremely risky. The attention span of web users is at an all-time low as hundreds of advertisers fight for precious real estate on your screens and devices every day. This ultimately gives each business often a few seconds to:
1) Make a strong first impression
2) Show the user what information they want
3) Have an easy, yet compelling call to action.
All three of these seem easy, but we’ve continually seen accounts where this is not the case.
Recently we took over an account for a home services company that was doing exactly this -- sending users from their Google ad to their website, where many were not converting into leads (phone calls/form submissions). Analytics showed users were visiting multiple pages and then leaving. Why were they leaving? We suspected the site was too distracting, with an ineffective sales funnel and decided to set-up a landing page to A/B test conversion rates.
The results were resounding...a 133% SPIKE in a couple months.
The landing page eliminated all distractions and encouraged users to use one of the call to actions - a phone call or form submission. No distractions. No roaming around the site aimlessly. No more having potential customers leaving the site because they clicked on the social media feed and just remembered there’s an Instagram story they forgot to watch for Kylie Jenner. It focuses on showing the user the key information they need to make a decision, gives clear direction on next steps, and encourages them to take the next stop. Essentially, it moves them through your sales funnel faster and more effectively.
Considering building your own landing pages?
Here are 4 tips to consider.
- Use a landing page builder - We prefer Unbounce but there are a few good ones out there. A page builder will run you a few dollars/month but most of them come with some well-designed templates, easy conversion tracking setup and the ability to A/B test with the click of a few buttons. Well worth the investment.
- Less is more - Avoid dumping heavy loads of text on your landing page. Use icons and images to make the page more appealing and make it easy to read for people who are scanning your page. Most people will not read line-by-line. They’ll scan your page and then make a decision.
- Focus on benefits - Remember to focus on the benefits your customer will gain, not just all of your features. If you’re selling an online course for example, someone who takes your course - what will they gain? Instead of saying only the topics your course will cover, identify how those topics will ultimately help your potential customer meet a goal.=
- Test Often - A/B variations of your landing page, especially your copywriting. You would be surprised how much words matter.
If your lead generation business is having a tough time converting more calls, landing pages is a great, cost-effective way to test if your site is the problem and to ultimately get more leads.