It’s no secret, that landing pages have become a crucial element of a good marketing strategy. The truth is that getting it right the first time can be a tough thing to do. That’s why you need to test, optimize, and fix any landing page flaws that may drag down its performance.
To help you predict and overcome the basic hurdles that may hurt your conversions, here are ten landing page flaws that you need to watch out for and how you can fix them.
1. Disconnect between the landing page and the traffic source
One of the biggest mistakes is when the message of your ad, post, email, text doesn’t match the offer on the landing page. This will increase your bounce rates, cost you money and potential customers, and create a sense of dishonesty, which will make your brand less trustworthy.
FIX: Match the message of your ad, social post, or email with the offer on the landing page to create a unified experience. This goes beyond the text – the design, colors, images, logos should match as well to give people a sense of where they are going to land.
2. Load time takes too long
How long does it take for your landing page to load fully? A combination of elements like videos, large images, animations, unnecessary code, and more, may drag down your load time. Slow pages are one of the main reasons why visitors don’t stick around.
FIX: Check what elements affect the loading time and fix them. Use Google’s free tool for page speed analysis. The tool scores your page and gives you suggestions for improvements, both for mobile and desktop optimization.
3. The headline is weak
Headlines that don’t stand out nor tell people right away what’s the theme of the page can be the reason why people leave.
FIX: Write straightforward and simple headlines that showcase the strengths of whatever it is you are offering. A little bit of creativity can go a long way, but not at the cost of losing clarity.
4. There’s too much text
This doesn’t mean all your landing pages should be short with a couple of lines of text. We refer to chunks of text that just drag on and on about the same point, which can be summarized in a sentence or two. It’s not a pleasant sight, nor is it easy to go through.
FIX: Get to the point. Our attention span is short. If there is a need for a longer text, organize it clearly, and make it skimmable. Don’t add big chunks of text, instead list the main benefits and what the visitors get in return, and that should be it. This is not the time for your inner Shakespeare to come out.
5. No visual or eye-candy appeal
A landing page that doesn’t follow brand style guidelines will look like it’s out of its place. And pages with no visuals or poor quality visuals show that you didn’t put enough effort into creating it, so it won’t attract a lot of people to convert.
FIX: Have a clear-cut design for your landing page. Hire a developer or use Loopify’s templates. Avoid using the same five stock images that everyone has seen. Either look for more unique stock images, invest in an illustrator, use authentic photos of your products and customers, or use tools like Canva that let you create images in a jiffy.
6. Generic call to action or absence of one
Call-to-action buttons that are hard to find, and confuse the reader won’t bring in lots of conversions. And a page with multiple CTAs and different offers will get fewer leads as well.
FIX: As soon as your visitors land on the page, the CTA button should draw their attention. It should stand out and be in contrast to the rest of the page. Subtle visuals like arrows and a person’s gaze towards the button (or form) can help a lot. As for the copy of the call-to-action, make it compelling and action-oriented.
7. No proof or credibility
Are you asking the visitor to disclose a lot of information? Is there a price tag attached to the conversion? Without anything to back you and your offer up as a legitimate business or request, you won’t get many conversions.
FIX: Offer proof that you are a trustworthy business and share people’s experiences with your services. Showcase how you helped other people with the same problem as the visitor. This is where testimonials, reviews, and security badges do a great job.
8. You ask for unnecessary info
Do you really need every bit of information from that form? Does it make sense to ask for a home address for a simple e-book download? Long forms and too many fields can scare people for good.
FIX: Think about what information is crucial to get good leads. And make sure that they get more in return than what you ask for. If you must use a long form, consider making it a two-step process.
9. You rave about features and not benefits
If you go on and on about being the best company and what features the product or service has, you are depriving yourself of potential leads and conversions.
FIX: Highlight the benefits instead of the features. Tell visitors what’s in it for them and how you can help solve their problems. Once you switch to how can this benefit the visitor, your conversions will increase.
10. The page lacks focus
This can be a mix of mistakes. Too much text, different call to action, lack of explanation, distracting navigation, too many pop-ups. If too much is happening on the landing page, you’ll only confuse the visitors, and they’ll leave the page in a second.
FIX: Focus on one goal per landing page. This will make it easier for you to create and plan the copy and will make your page clearer and more focused. Try to minimize or remove anything that might guide visitors to leave your page.
Take a look at your landing pages and see if any of these ten flaws are sabotaging your conversions. Make the changes gradually to know which one is leading to more conversions. And when you create brand new pages, it’s good to know which mistakes to avoid, so you start right.