February 18, 2013

How to Build an Effective Landing Page [examples]

lead-captureWhat is a landing page?

Landing pages are often referred to as “lead capture pages”. Typically, they are connected to a specific campaign or call-to-action. They don’t sit in your main site navigation and most commonly can only be found when a user clicks on an ad, an optimized search engine result, or a call-to-action within your site. But the driving force behind effective landing page design, is action.

What do you want the user to do? Complete a lead capture form!

That's at the heart of what you're trying to achieve with your landing page. You want to gather your prospects information so that you can continue marketing to them, nurturing them, and hopefully turning them into a customer. The design of your landing page should complement this effort.

What makes an effective landing page?

There are a few key factors that can make or break the effectiveness of your landing page. Here's our list of what to keep in mind as you're developing your page:

  • Keep it simple. Don't clutter the page with information that isn't relevant. Only include the elements that are necessary and that supplement your offer. You want your page to be easy to understand and follow.

  • Remove the main site navigation. The last thing you want is for the user to click away from the landing page once they're there. By having the main site navigation at the top of the page, it encourages the user to browse your other pages. Your goal is to keep them there, so no navigation is a good thing.

  • Highlight the offer. "Why am I here?" Once on the page, the visitor should be able to answer this question immediately. Your offer should stand out - whether that's with a compelling design, attractive headline, or placement (ideally a mixture of the three!) - and you want this to be the main focus of the page.

  • Keep your content relevant. The content should speak to what you're offering the visitor. You want only the key points - enough to peak their interest - and drive them to the form.

  • Short is better. Don’t make your landing page feel like a chore, where your visitor has to do a ton of work (like reading). You'll lose them quickly. To keep their attention, keep it concise.

  • It’s all about the form. Using the right form is key. Ask only for the information that you absolutely need. If you ask for too much, the visitor may feel reluctant and you'll end up losing them. We like to think of their business card - ask for that type of general information.

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So now onto the fun part. We've included some examples of landing pages that are particularly effective and why they made our list. 

1. Tomorrow People. Why this works? The page looks almost exactly like their main site, but has removed the navigation, keeping it on brand. The form is short - just enough information to learn a little about the customer.

Tomorrow-People-Landing-Page

2. HubSpot. Why this works? Talk about clean, this landing page is it. The CTA really pops off the page, and the 3D nature of it, makes it clear that you're about to download an e-book. The headline speaks directly to the offer and the landing page stays on brand with the logo in the upper left corner. Most importantly, the form is clear and simple, and it doesn't ask for too much information.

Free-EBook-Landing-Page

3. Optimize 3.0. Why this works? There isn't a lot of copy here, but it speaks to the offer and explains what you can expect with your download. The form is also short. We would like to see a picture of the offer and perhaps moving the other callouts to the bottom of the page (they're a bit distracting).

Optimize-3.0-Landing-Page

4. New Breed Marketing. Why this works? The page clearly still belongs to the main site, we have just removed the navigation. Our form asks for only the visitor's basic information (or their business card information) and there is clear direction that we want them to complete the form to access their download. Both the copy as well as the imagery are relevant to the offer, without being over the top.

Do you have an example of an effective landing page that you have built? We'd love to see it! Just leave us a link in the comments below and we'll be sure to check it out.

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Christopher Mathieu

Christopher Mathieu is the Chief Design Officer at New Breed, where he oversees the creative strategy behind every project we produce. His unique ability to combine his fine art background with his technical web expertise has led Chris and his team to produce countless sales-ready websites and inbound marketing...

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