The ultimate goal of every landing page is to have as many conversions as possible. Your conversion rates will depend on a number of factors, which is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there is a lot to keep in mind, but on the other, there are also many ways you can improve your conversion rates.

In this article, you will find six landing page tweaks that can easily boost your conversions.

1. Give your visitors what they expect

Your landing page visitors are coming from somewhere, right? They may be coming because they clicked on an ad, or they might have found your landing page by using a search engine. Or they might have simply come from another page on your website.

They have expectations of what this landing page will be, because they searched for a certain keyword or because your ad told them what they will find on this page. If these clues don’t match the result (your landing page), they will never convert. They will feel cheated and certainly won’t be compelled to do business with you. This discrepancy often happens inadvertently – for example, when you have long-standing ad campaigns where the landing page changes and you forget to change the ads. In short, just make sure that everything leading to your landing page fits what the landing page is actually about.

2. Tinker with your headlines

The headlines on your landing page are the stars. They need to capture the eye of the visitor, inform them of the offer in question, and tell them what they will gain from converting.

They also need to be clear and as efficient as possible (meaning they should be shorter rather than longer). Naturally, not every headline will be able to do 100% of all of the above, but it should always do at least a bit of it.

LastPass does this extremely well. Their headline addresses an issue many of us have online (having to juggle gajillion passwords) and tells you what their product does to help that. Moreover, they let you know it’s free.

Source: lastpass.com

You’ll want to spend time on your headlines, read about the best strategies to write effective headlines, and do some A/B testing to reveal the winners.

3. Be smart about your hero image

The effects of choosing the right images in marketing have been studied for decades, and the research agrees on the following, among other things:

• Images work instantly
• Images have a direct connection to emotions (such as those that inspire buying)
• Images help clarify goals and ideals
• Images bypass rational defenses and evaluations

All of this means that images help you sell – if you do them right.

On landing pages, the brunt of the work is done by the hero image, which should always complement copy. Paired with the right copy, a strong hero image can have an enormous effect on conversion rates.

Of course, it’s impossible to boil down the process of choosing the right hero image to a fail-proof formula, but there are some guidelines that will work in most cases:

• Use images with people in them
• Don’t use cheap-looking stock images
• Be smart about colors
• Don’t be afraid of visual metaphors

The hero image you will find on the EachNight website is the perfect illustration of the last two points – the colors are pleasantly dark and instantly remind you of sleep, which is what the website is dedicated to. They even use dimly-lit stars and clouds to further reinforce the idea of a good night’s sleep.

Source: eachnight.com

4. Play with your CTAs

If you’ve done everything right so far, the next step is to optimize the crucial element on your landing page that will turn your visitor into a customer – your CTA. There is a whole science (and quite a bit of art) behind CTAs, which is apparent from the mere number of articles on them here on Web Design Library.

CTAs have to be:

• highly-visible to pull the visitor’s eye towards them
• in the right place
• succinct but carefully worded
• clear about what will happen when the visitors click on them

You won’t get your CTAs right the first time; there’s no doubt about that. You will have to analyze their performance, alter them slightly, run some tests, and then do everything again. And again.

It may seem like a lot of work, but it is definitely worth it.

5. Cut everything non-essential

Some websites put far too much information on a single landing page. They are absolutely inundated with information (only 10% of which is essential), with various forms that need to be filled before the conversion, with a dozen CTAs for different things, and more.

This is one of the worst things you can do for your conversion rates.

Keep it simple. Keep it minimal.

Absolutely everything on your landing page should serve a single purpose – to make the visitors click on the CTA. You can offer them to choose between two to three actions, but anything more and you’ve lost them.

Just take a look at this landing page by Baselang. It’s an exercise in minimalism and good CTA practices.

Source: baselang.com

6. Add a sense of urgency

There’s a huge misconception that people make purchasing decisions based on common sense and careful weighing of options. In reality, we are far more influenced by emotions, convenience, and atavistic motivators, along with the simple factor of pricing.

This is why urgency works as a selling tactic. When people see an offer ends on a specific date or that a product “is about to run out,” the majority falls for it. Even people who are 100% sure they do not fall for it, do fall for it.

If it makes sense for your landing pages, think of a way to add this sense of urgency to your offer. Let visitors know they will miss out on a great deal if they don’t convert today.

Closing word

Landing pages are the moneymakers of your website. Do your homework, read some studies, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Sometimes a tiny tweak can make a difference.