This is round 3 of landing pages overviews. In my previous landing page overview posts I discussed Adobe’s and Shutterstock’s landing pages. I discussed the important elements of landing pages and how to use them correctly. Landing pages have the potential to convert many users as they are the first page your visitors see and therefore they give the first impression of your product. You can read more on landing page optimization in our blog.

In this post, I decided to focus on Vertical response’s Landing Page. Known and used by several marketers, they allow you to create free email newsletter templates. So it will be interesting to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the page and discover 5 quick landing page tips.

1. Above the fold

Marketers always talk about “above the fold” but what does it actually mean? The fold is approximately the top 400 pixels of your landing page (this changes across devices). The majority of visitors see only this part of the page without needing to scroll, a minimum of people actually make it to the bottom parts of pages. Therefore you should keep all your crucial elements above this section.
In the case of Vertical Response, the fold is marked below.

What do you think? Are all important elements of the page placed above the fold? Would you add anything else? Remove anything? I’ll get to what I would do in the end of the post.

2. Call to Action

A recent study by Marketing Sherpa showed that 48% of landing pages contain multiple offers. This statistic is amazing. One of the basic rules in landing page optimization is to focus on one call to action; Decide what is the most important step you want your users to do, and just ask them to do that. Too many options cause confusion and lead to Analysis Paralysis -a psychological state of over-analyzing a situation to the point where a decision is not made. This is the result of being presented with too many options. Therefore sometimes less is more.
In the case of Vertical response’s landing page, it contains multiple call to actions. You are asked to get started, log in, use the designs, start with the designs and create an account. In particular, showing users multiple buttons might be confusing. Vertical response uses their “get started” button 3 times on the page, which is great and recommendable, only when it comes to the “above the fold” section, you want to make sure your visitor focus on one part of the page only and drives into action. Another idea would be to turn the log in button into a text link. That would make the “get started” button stand out more. Another good point for Vertical response it the color contrast they chose for their button.

 

If we look at their competitor’s landing page iContact, we’ll see they place their button in a prominent area, with a strong contrasted color from the background, while the sign up and login options are placed at the header as text links which grab much less attention.

3. Title

“Headline writing is an art form” (Jennifer Lee, screenwriter at Disney).

Vertical response chose “free email newsletter templates” as their title. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, you should watch out from multiple call to actions, but there is one place where it is important to use a “call to action” which is the title. Usually, the title is the first thing your visitors see, therefore it should be focused on the benefit your users will get from using your product not the actual product. Free email newsletter templates are offered by many websites, Vertical response should find the emotional response they want to trigger in their users add that to their messaging.

Let’s take a look at their competitor’s landing page from MailChimp: Their title is simply “Send better email”. This title is fantastic for 3 reasons: It’s short, contains a call to action and gives a benefit to the user.

 

4. Mobile & browser compatibility

This is how the landing page looks in my mobile phone.

As I mentioned about above the fold, the same rules apply in mobile. So the only thing I see when entering this landing page from my mobile is text, and I’m required to scroll down to get to a button. I would consider adding a button somewhere in there, to guide my users to the right place.

Another major element in landing page optimization is browser compatibility. You want to make sure all your users are able to access your page. For example, this landing page is not functional in Internet Explorer 8. I don’t know how many of their users are using this browser version but it may be worth checking and making it compatible.

5. Messaging – follow the KISS

Keep it simple stupid or KISS is a very good principle to take under account when building your page. It is always a temptation to write about everything you have to offer to your customers and all the wonderful features of your product. But similar to analysis paralysis – you don’t want to overwhelm your users with too much information. What might be considered a useful feature to one user, is completely useless to another. Therefore, create different landing pages, and minimize the number of benefits you choose to describe by showing different benefits in different pages. (Don’t see the point in creating multiple landing pages? businesses with over 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than those with 1-5 landing pages – according to hubspot).

I love the way Vertical response shows their features. They kept it simple by adding an icon to each section, and only give 1-2 bullets for each feature. Also the language they use is about the benefit or “what’s in it for me” and not just the feature or “see how good our product is”. Talking to the users in their language is always a good way to increase conversions.

So we are approaching the end of the post and I will finish the overview with my tip about above the fold. If you have read our posts in the past you know how important it is to keep your Call to Action button the first natural place a visitors looks at. Right now what the users see is a beginning of a form to create an account and some users might be discouraged because they think they are about to go through a long and exhausting form. To avoid this, I would bring the entire form higher and make sure the button is visible.
Do you have any other tips about landing page optimization? Share with us.

Would you like us to review your landing page? let us know in your comments.

Imagine going to a friend’s house for the first time. You get to the house and see a “welcome” sign, but no door. It doesn’t have any windows and basically there’s no way to get in. Seems strange right?

Your landing page is the front door to your website. It is the first thing your visitors see, and it needs to be inviting, welcoming and most importantly easy to understand and access.

To make sure your landing page is optimized in the best way there are various elements you should include on your landing pages. We’ve gathered the 5 most important of elements for you to implement:

 

1. The Call to Action

We wrote a whole post on call to action buttons alone, but here are some quick tips for CTA optimization, and making you call to action buttons stand out:

• Size- If you want your users to click on your call to action button, it is only logical to make it stand out. One important way to get your call to action buttons to stand out is making them the center of attention. Make sure the call to action button is large, and that no other element on the landing page is blocking its attention. For example, make sure the image or any other external links don’t overtake the attention from the button.

• Attention – Another way to attract attention to your call to action button is by using images, for example having an image of a human or animal looking at it, or an object pointing to it. Let’s take a look at two examples:

• The landing page below has an image that captures all the attention and does not compliment the call to action. The image makes it very hard to single out the call to action and use it.

• This landing page has different images all pointing towards the call to cation and form section, making sure that the attention is towards the action:
  • Check out our article to learn more about increasing revenue with images.
• Color – color is yet another great way to make your call to action buttons stand out. Make sure your CTA is contrasted in color from the rest of the colors in the page. Also, allow space around your call to action button, to make sure it stands alone and is not interfered by anything around it.

• ONE call to action: Use one call to action on your page. Don’t confuse your visitors with too many messages and requests, decide what you want users to do and ask for that only.

 

2. The Colors

Colors have a huge role in driving your users into action. It is far more extended than just preferring one color over another, colors have proven emotional effects on people. Check out this emotional color guide we created to better understand what colors you should be using to provoke different emotions.

Each color triggers a different mood or emotion. Colors may affect us slightly differently as each individual has slightly different perceptions about each color, however some colors have a common universal perception.

Unfortunately there are no thumb rules to use when it comes to colors. For example, you will find endless case studies in which red buttons don’t work, and green buttons are the best, but you will also find case studies that show the opposite. I wish it was that simple, but what works for one landing page will not necessarily work for another. The truth is that everything should be tested, since the success of the color of your button may be depended on many factors such as the rest of the colors in your page, the layout, the images, the emotion you should convey and how they all interact together.

Important tip: Try not to have more than 2-3 colors in you page. More than 3 tends to confuse your users and will make it harder for you to draw their attention to places on the page which deserve their attention.

3. Titles & Content

A good title is one that is inviting, short and to the point, includes a call to action, and talks about the benefits to the users, rather than the features of the product. With emotional targeting, it’s crucial that your messaging focuses on what you want your visitors to feel and gain from your product or service and not the actual product.

In your landing page, keep your content short, relevant and valuable. You have a wonderful product with many great features? That’s great, but don’t give it all away. Most times less is more. Figuring out what your visitors are actually looking for in your product emotionally (not the price and features) can help you design better messaging and more accurate landing pages that will convert much more.

Pro font tip: Another good tip to avoid confusion and overload is to use the same font in the page. A simple thing as that can increase your conversions.

 

4. Images & Visuals

Content featuring images has 94% more total views than content without images (MDG Advertising). According to the Picture superiority effect, images are better remembered than words, so the pictures and images you use in your landing page have an enormous effect on how memorable you are, and this in turn can boost your conversions. What is a converting image? To know the answer to that, you should know your target audience. An animated image might be very converting in one landing page, but can drive your traffic away in another. Sometimes it is better to use an image of a cat or a dog, sometimes a baby and sometimes older folks. It depends on your product and the emotion you want to convey.

When choosing an image for your landing page optimization efforts remember to ask yourself 3 questions:

1. What are my test goals? What do I want people to do?
2. Why do people want my product or service?
3. How do people feel about themselves once they’ve purchased my product/service?

These questions will help you better understand your audience and the emotions you want to convey.

Click to learn how to design a memorable logo.

 

5. Above The Fold

80% of our time online is spent above the fold (Nielsen Norman Group). Above the fold is the top 400 pixels of your landing page. Therefore, you should keep all of the elements I discussed above, and particularly your conversion actions in this area.

On a previous post about Shutterstock, I showed this image of their landing page, where you can see the call to action placed under the fold, forcing users to scroll down.  

For the complete list of landing page tips, visit our landing page optimization tips article.

Want to dive in deeper into landing pages tips? Check out our checklist and see how well your landing page is doing.

In my previous landing page overview post I discussed Adobe’s landing page. In that post I established the importance of the landing pages and its elements. The landing page is one of the first steps in the funnel which users convert from, and has a huge impact on your ROI. Optimizing your landing page should be an ongoing process and continuous (Tips on landing page optimization).

In this post, I decided to focus on Shutterstock’s Landing Page. I’ve been seeing it around quite a bit and thought it would be interesting to analyze it.

From theory to real life – Shutterstock’s landing page

1. Headlines

A good headline is one that contains a call to action. After all you do want your visitors to take an action, so why not motivate them from the first words they see on the page?

We have also discussed the importance of describing the benefits of your product on your landing page, not the features. – What’s in it for me? Check out the headline in bigstock. They’re headline is “Images for everyone” – making it accessible, real & easy. These benefits makes the headline more convincing and interesting.

Shutterstock’s headline is “Access 30 million images”. The focus in this headline is on the feature (variety) and not on the benefit to the visitor (be unique, or you don’t need to look anywhere else). It does contain a call to action which is very important, however it lacks any emotional message, therefore not fulfilling its potential for creating an impact. On the other hand this headline is following the number 1 rule for headlines: Short and to the point.

2. Call To Action

The call to action is one of the most important elements on your landing page. Shutterstock’s call to action is a red “Start Downloading Now” button. To be sure,  your call to action must always be above the fold. Placing it under the fold can be a conversion killer. If you want your visitors to hit the button, it has to appear in a place on the page that doesn’t require scrolling. A better option for Shutterstock would be to place a large button below the headline, and place the rest of the text below the button.

A very strong and useful call to action for Shutterstock could be “Download Images Now”. Not sure why Shutterstock chose to say “Start Downloading Images Now”, but it’s always a good idea to A/B test your call to action buttons and use less words. Read more about A/B test here.

* The fold is marked in – - -

What about the choice of red for your call to action button? I’ll get to that later.

Learn how to improve your Call To Action buttons.

3. Trust

Shutterstock’s landing page doesn’t have any trust icons. Trust icons come in handy a lot, especially when you present prices to your visitors. Visitors need to know it’s safe to make a purchase on your website and trust icons help achieve that. Your visitors shouldn’t have to think twice about the security and credibility of your site. The only trust related elements are the links to the “website and licensing terms” above the call the action. There you can see one trust icon which I would recommend placing in the landing page. On the other hand Shutterstock is a very well known brand, and that is priceless when talking about trust.

This blog post gives good tips on how to increase trust on landing pages

4. Choice of colors

So, I’ve mentioned Shutterstock chose to use red for their call to action button. Red is associated with increased excitement, energy, passion, action and desire (emotional color guide).

Generally speaking, any color that is in contrast to the rest of the page is a good color for a call to action button. However in Shutterstock’s site even the red button, which is usually a strong color that stands out, manages to blend in and is not be prominent enough. It would probably make more sense to increase the size of the button and increase the color contrast.

This landing page should also feature an image. This can make the page more memorable. A mind blowing image is to be expected from a website which sells beautiful images.

For example take a look at this landing page by Depositphotos, Shutterstock’s  competitors.

The image is quite attention grabbing, and this makes all the difference.

 

5. Load time

There are many tools out there that test your site’s speed (a very helpful tool that gives tips and recommendations on how to improve your site speed).

On my browser Shutterstock’s load time is about 3.3 sec. Remember, you have about 2 seconds before your visitors become impatient. A longer load time may result in a skyrocketing bounce rate.

What else?

There are many other elements you can discuss about on this page, for example form optimization. Every field you remove from your form can increase your conversions. One way to do so is by progressive profiling – gathering your leads over time instead of all at once as Shutterstock tries to do on this page. You reduce the number of fields and use subsequent forms to gather the additional data you need. The advantage is a high conversion rate, with higher qualified leads because of their continuous interaction with the website.

Conclusion

Shutterstock is a well known stock photography website, entered by millions of visitors from around the world. For a high profiled site as this, I would consider taking the mentioned steps to optimize the landing page in order to increase conversions.

Having said that, remember that everything you change on your landing page should be tested. Every element you alter should have a clear conversion optimization strategy behind it, and this strategy should be well defined before you start your tests.

Learn more on optimization your landing page  here.

It’s your chance to determine who takes the next spotlight, which brands would you like us to analyze next?

If you have ever created a landing page for your site, you probably know there are some basic guidelines to follow in order to create a truly converting landing page (some landing pages tips). The landing page is one of the first parts in the funnel in which users convert from and so it is extremely important to optimize it.

Since you want your landing page to be as converting as possible, you should build it based on your users’ needs, and the emotional triggers that will get them to convert, not based on what you think is right or they way you think you should market your product.

But how do these guidelines actually work in real life?

From theory to real life – Adobe’s landing page

You have less than 2 seconds to convince your visitors to stay on your page. After 2 seconds, up to 40% will abandon your website, which means you have to direct your efforts into keeping everything quick and simple.

 

1. Headlines

There are a number of things to remember about headlines:

• Headlines should be short and persuasive

• A good headline is one that makes visitors want to keep reading

• Headlines should describe the benefits to the user, not the features of the product. For example, take a look at this headline in the “capital one” site.

*taken from here.

The benefit to the user is very prominent and they even use the word “you” twice to make their statement more personalized.

Adobe’s headline on the other hand is simply “Adobe flash player”. With no personal take to it, it lacks the emotional advantage other landing pages have and its vast potential for hitting a home run.

 

2. Call To Action

The call to action is one of the most important things on your landing page. It’s what your users see when they wonder whether they should make a move or not. An efficient call to action button is big, bold, contrasted in color from the other elements of the landing page, and in other words – one that users can’t ignore. The text on the button should make an offer that the users won’t be able to refuse.

Get more tips on how to improve your CTA buttons here.

On one hand, Adobe’s call to action is a bold “update now” button. Its yellow-orange color stands out in comparison to the rest of the page which is in shades of grey. On the other hand, the most dominant feature on the landing page is Adobe’s logo and not the actual call to action button.

Take a look at skype’s landing page:

See the difference between the “get skype” call to action and the “learn more about skype” call to action. Which do you think is more converting? (see how SKYPE could change their colors to increase conversion) + See how the call to action button is smaller than the blue element on the page..

3. Trust

A simple trust icon can increase conversion tremendously. Not all sites choose to show trust icons, simply because they don’t understand the emotional impact such icons can have on us (more about the emotional triggers trust icons create). Social proof in the form of testimonials or reviews work the same way by providing proof of the legitimacy of your site.

Adobe have one priceless advantage as far as trust – their brand. Not all brands are as well known as Adobe, and even their logo can be a very useful trust icon for other companies.
They are also well known for their Flash Player logo, and its distinct presence in the page helps to make it more trustable. Also, the Mcafee trust icons is always a good icon to have on your page.

4. Choice of colors

Generally, it’s a good idea to have no more than 2-3 colors in your landing page. Adobe’s choice of colors is interesting. The dominant color in Adobe’s landing page is grey. Grey as a background color is generally good for highlighting other colors in the page. The more contrast your background has with the call to action button, the better. The second color Adobe chose is red. Red is associated with increased excitement, energy, passion, action and desire (emotional color guide). Its contrast from the grey background makes it stand out even more. The color of Adobe’s call to action button is yellow. Yellow is mostly associated with optimism, friendliness and enthusiasm, which makes this choice a very wise one.

 

5. Load time

Did you know that 47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less? As mentioned earlier, when a visitor hits your page you have less than 2 seconds to convince them to stay. This means that you need to make sure your landing page loads quickly otherwise your bounce rate will skyrocket.

On my browser Adobe’s load time is about 2.8 sec. Remember that every fraction of a second counts when we’re talking about conversion optimization. Load time depends on many factors and is different for every page, browser and operating system. Because load time isn’t the same for everyone, you should do your best to minimize it and QA before launching.

 

Conclusion

Adobe’s landing page is very different than others. Even the way they built of the page is different  - for example they divide their landing page into 3 sections – on the left they give some info about the flash player, the middle has an optional offer and on the right they placed their terms and conditions, a section of the site which is usually hidden and unnoticeable. It would be interesting to see what would happen with a different build of a page and an AB test. From headline to the position of the CTA and colors, Adobe’s page has many variables that can be tested.

 

When building a new landing page, or optimizing an existing one, remember to take your time in building your conversion optimization strategy first. To improve conversion rates consider both your company’s goals, but also your target audience needs and wishes – understand what your client is trying to gain from your product emotionally.

 

Learn more about landing page optimization here.

It’s your chance to determine who takes the next spotlight, which brands would you like us to analyse next?

A while back we discussed “Anchoring” the emotional trigger used by Steve Jobs, that increases conversion rates time after time and helped sell millions of iPads. Similar to Anchoring, there are many other psychological triggers that affect our decision making process we aren’t aware of. The one we’ll discuss today is Loss Aversion, “discovered” by the same researchers whom determined “anchoring”  Tversky & Kahneman.

Loss aversion refers to people’s tendency to strongly prefer avoiding losses to acquiring gains. Some studies show that losses are twice as powerful psychologically than gains. It implies that one who loses $100 will lose more satisfaction than another person will gain satisfaction from a $100 gain.

Loss aversion is used a lot in the world of marketing as people will make an irrational decision to avoid the loss. For example, manufacturers of books, washing machines etc. send out their products without requiring prepayment. They say, “Use them a week, and if you don’t want it, send them back.” Most people don’t.

Increase conversion using loss aversion:

• The world of free trials: Loss aversion is the exact reason companies offer full free trials for a limited period of time. It’s based on the fact that once you have this product and you get used to it, you’re not going to let a little thing like a payment issue, get in your way.

• In the 1970’s cigar salesmen used to give packs to their customers and tell them to smoke 10 of them. If they don’t like them, they can send them. I wonder who sent them back..

A good example from the online world is Kaspersky. Dealing with your computer security, once you’re protected, you’re not going to go back to the insecure world…are you?

• It’s all about timing: A limited time offer with an expiration date on it triggers that exact emotion. People are people, and they do not want to be the ones losing out on an amazing one time offer.

A while back ago we used the loss aversion trigger on the banners we designed for one of our clients. As you can see below there was a counter working it’s way backwards warning users of the amount of time left for the one time sale.

• The world of unknown: Rather than talking about what people may gain from your services or product, researches have shown that talking about missing out on a special offer will increase your revenue much more than talking about gaining from it. Interesting strategy for PPC campaigns.

 

• Wheel them back again: A good example of bringing back the customers is the punch cards people collect at coffee shops. As apposed to a 10% immediate discount on their daily coffee, most people will prefer a punch card that grantees the 10^th coffee for free. People will keep going back every day to get that coffee and not miss out on it.

The key to conversion optimization is recognizing your audience’s emotional triggers and using your messaging and design to express them.

People don’t like losing things they already have, or are very close to having. So much so they will often make irrational decisions to avoid the loss, and as we already know 90% of all our decisions in life are irrational so why not use it to your advantage and increase your conversion?