Creating an effective landing page: tips and tools for creating landing pages that convert!

Despite the traffic you attract, are you struggling to convert? Users who land on your site tend to leave without buying your products or calling on your services? Your landing pages might not be optimized. Discover how to create an effective landing page that captures traffic and converts it into business.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is, as the name suggests, the page where users arrive or land: it's the page visitors enter your site from.

For example, let's say you created Facebook ads — you'll need to choose your landing page. Where do you want to send visitors?

If you highlighted a specific product, you'll probably want to direct them to the page dedicated to that product. If you're advertising a promotion, send users to the promotion page.

Although the concept is very simple, many landing pages still run into the same problem: they don't convert. Visitors click on your ads, but they don't buy your products. How do you improve conversion by creating effective landing pages?

Examples of effective landing pages

To learn how to build landing pages that convert, the first step is observation. What do your competitors do? What do the major web players do? Companies like Amazon spend thousands of euros every year to improve conversion on their site. Warning: it's not about copying them, but about understanding the mechanics in place.

To observe what's out there, analyze landing pages featured in ads or newsletters. You can also simply run searches on Google and look at the top results. Keep in mind, however, that landing pages found in Google's organic results are often optimized for SEO, not necessarily for conversion.

Here are a few examples of landing pages we find interesting.

Landing page example: AliExpress

Do you know AliExpress? The massive Chinese marketplace is one of the web's giants. When you place an order with them, you can expect to receive dozens of follow-up emails with even more offers and choices. It's a good opportunity to analyze how they build and optimize their landing pages.

Here's a landing page example taken from an AliExpress promotional email.

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The AliExpress product page is fairly classic in its structure. Note however that it's very rich in information: the screenshot above shows the elements above the fold, that is the elements visible on your computer screen without scrolling.

Above the fold, we find:

-        The product name, which doubles as a description

-        A large visual of the product, to see it in detail

-        Smaller visuals showing all the colors

-        All sizes available: between sizes and colors, you have nearly 60 products offered to you at a glance

-        Other similar products in the right column

-        The product price, with a big discount

-        Reassurance of fast and free shipping

-        Lots of reassurance elements: reviews on this product are numerous and very positive. We also find a very good score on the store that sells them. AliExpress wouldn't feature a store with a bad reputation in its newsletter.

Note: the absence of a CTA (Call-To-Action) above the fold. To access the "Buy" button, you need to scroll a bit. AliExpress focuses on the product's arguments before pushing you to buy. However, if you start scrolling, the CTA will follow you across the rest of the page.

Landing page example: Cdiscount

Cdiscount is also a web reference in France. Here too, their promotional emails offer deals and discounts, and send you to carefully crafted landing pages. Example.

This landing page example is a bit different from the first. We find some common elements:

-        Title and detailed product description

-        Large visual

-        Smaller image galleries

-        Fast shipping

-        Promotion highlighted

-        Many reassurance elements: very good rating, reputable brand, guarantee offer

However, we note several differences with the AliExpress landing page. In particular:

-        The CTA is clearly visible above the fold

-        Several payment methods are offered, either cash or credit

-        You'll find elements of stress marketing. Stress marketing consists of pressing the user to push them to purchase, for example by making them believe that the product or offer will soon no longer be available. Here, the mention "Already 23 orders in progress!" is used to show the product's popularity, which may soon be out of stock.

-        Cdiscount doesn't offer other similar products above the fold

The strategy of this landing page is therefore slightly different. Rather than reassuring the user and showing them a whole range of products so they find what they need, Cdiscount tries to push them quickly to an impulse buy.

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Create a landing page in 4 steps

Now that we've seen several landing page examples, how do you create one that's effective? You get it: several strategies exist, and the elements above your fold must be selected with care. But other points must be considered. Discover the steps to create a perfect landing page.

Think about the goal of your page

The first thing to do is to think about the goal of your landing page. Are you trying to sell a product? Grow an online community? Get people to try a service? Collect leads?

The strategy to adopt, and therefore the construction of your web page, will obviously depend on this goal you set. If you want to sell, you'll need to think about the arguments, the products to highlight, and the position of your CTAs. If you just want to share a blog article, make sure the title stands out and that your visitors understand the article continues below the fold.

Understanding what the goal of your landing page is therefore crucial to creating it.

Your landing page design: an essential element

Once that goal is defined, you'll need to think about the design and the elements you'll show visitors.

Your landing page's design should generally reuse your site's design. Use the colors, fonts, logos and shapes usually found on your site. The user, especially an experienced user, shouldn't feel on unfamiliar ground.

That said, nothing stops you from taking a few liberties with the classic design of your pages.

A very concrete example.

If you search on Google for "create a website", you'll find Wix.com at the top of the organic results. But Wix may also appear in paid results. For the same query, the site however offers two very different pages.

Wix organic landing page

Wix paid landing page

The second page aims to "activate" the user much faster. It only has four elements: a colorful background image (creative feel), the Wix logo (reassurance for those who know the brand), an authority argument (reassurance for everyone) and a simple CTA to engage the user. There's no top menu, so the user doesn't get lost on secondary pages.

The first landing page is richer, with more elements.

The design of these two pages follows two distinct goals. The first, before converting, seeks to secure a spot in Google's top search results. The page content is therefore crucial. The second doesn't have to worry about such concerns: it's entirely dedicated to user activation.

Your landing page's goal therefore affects your strategy and its final design.

Copywriting: the art of turning your landing page into a conversion machine

Once you've decided which elements to place on your landing page, you'll need to write the content. The art of writing texts that engage the user is called copywriting. Writing techniques exist to encourage user interaction, increase engagement, spark curiosity...

Watch your loading times

Once your page is designed and written, only one element remains to consider: making sure it's technically viable. This covers three major aspects: checking that your page is compatible with all browsers, that it's responsive, and that it loads quickly.

For browser compatibility testing, a manual test is enough. Open your page in Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Opera. These are the market's 4 main browsers. Make sure all elements load correctly and are in place.

To check that your page is mobile-friendly and responsive, Google has created a free and fast tool: the Mobile-Friendly Test. Simply enter the URL of your page: the tool tells you if all elements are well adapted to mobile. Don't hesitate to also do a manual test, either with your phone or using your browser's developer tools.

Finally, and this is a point often overlooked yet crucial, make sure your landing page loads quickly. On average, conversion rate drops by 7% for every second of loading. A landing page that takes time to load is lost business. Many tools tell you how to improve your pages' load time. Don't hesitate to use them. Among them: Google's PageSpeed Insights.

You now know all the steps to build a high-performing landing page. Think about your goal: from it flow your design and your copywriting. Once these elements are ready, make sure your page works well. You'll then have a solid base to lead users to more conversion.

Small CRO tips to create a perfect landing page

To complete these steps, here are a few CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) tips.

-        Your landing page's title is often a decisive element. It should prompt the reader to discover more

-        The offer you present is obviously essential. Offer promotions, a wide range of products, or propose an ebook to download to collect leads: in short, bring value to your visitors

-        Use reassurance elements like ratings, customer reviews or known brands. We can also speak of social proof: it's not you trying to convince your future customers, but other customers already satisfied

-        Place your CTA in a visible and easily accessible way for visitors

-        Limit friction. By friction, we mean the number of clicks a visitor must make to buy an item, or the number of fields they must fill in a form. Friction is everything that can be annoying for a visitor

-        Limit distractions. Like Wix, you can remove your site's navigation so visitors focus on your CTA

Keep all these elements in mind when creating your landing page: you'll maximize your chances of converting users.

Landing Page Builders: the best tools to build landing pages without coding

Now that you understand how to theoretically create a landing page, you need to move to practice. There are tools that let you build your page without coding and without calling on a developer. They're therefore very practical to gain efficiency in your marketing campaigns. These are landing page builders.

Webflow

Webflow is a site editor that lets you build entire websites without coding. Very practical, it also offers many templates you can use, free or paid, to create your landing pages.

All of Scroll's landing pages were created via Webflow: it's our favorite CMS and we use it for many of our clients in our Webflow specialized agency.

Discover Webflow

HubSpot & Brevo

HubSpot and Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) are very complete marketing tools that offer, among many other features, landing page creation. These landing pages can be used on your site or embedded directly in emails. The bonus: thanks to the marketing tool suite provided by these two solutions, you can easily analyze and improve the performance of the landing pages you've created.

Discover HubSpot and Brevo

Elementor

If your site is built with WordPress, you've probably already heard of Elementor. It's a drag-and-drop site builder that lets you publish web pages without writing a single line of code. Know that Elementor also offers many page templates you can reuse for your specific landing pages.

Discover Elementor

Want to improve the quality of your landing pages?

Despite all your efforts, are your landing pages struggling to convert? Don't worry. At Scroll, we know how to build and optimize landing pages to help you sell more or collect more leads. If you'd like to know more or discover our services, don't hesitate to reach out. A project manager will respond to your request.

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