Strategic landing page optimization- The Optimal

While the website is the entire appearance of about business or services, the landing pages as to look at individual subpages. Why the Distinguish landing pages and other Page types are so important to why the landing page should never be underestimated and on which Adjusting screws is to make them the potential Can really persuade customers to complete the purchase, we clarify in this blog post.

What role do landing pages play in the

Customer journey?

The AIDA model shows how important it is to deal with landing pages. This model is a simplified representation of the customer journey and visualizes the process of a potential customer’s purchase decision.

For our example, we chose the paid channel Search Ads. It is precisely here that choosing a landing page that matches the search ad is worth cash. In the AIDA model it can be seen that the purchase decision process often already takes place on the targeted landing page. And here it is important to optimize: Because higher conversion rates always mean a reduction in the CPA (cost per acquisition). The process of landing page optimization is primarily understood as a measure of conversion rate optimization (CRO).

Speed ​​for the landing page: when conversions are lost on the approach

Before we talk about the visual, structural and content optimization of landing pages, we should first consider a completely different indicator: the bounce rate. If it is noticeably high, this may be due to the charging time being too long. A recent study by Google on the subject states that 53% of the page visits are canceled due to a loading time of more than 3 seconds. The effects on mobile conversions are particularly large, which is mainly due to the lower bandwidths available to mobile users.

How quickly your own page loads at different network speeds can be tested, for example, with your own devices or with the Chrome Developer Tools. The “PageSpeed ​​Insights” tool is suitable for a brief analysis with understandable recommendations for action. If you want to bring even more light into the dark, you can use “Lighthouse” to create an extensive audit.

It can often be reduced by compressing large image files and caching. In addition, it can be worthwhile to make your pages available via the AMP standard (Accelerated Mobile Pages).

Landing page optimization: what makes the user convert?

Purchasing decisions are largely made emotionally. It is all the more important that a customer feels picked up on the landing page. It is therefore not advisable to forward a potential buyer who already has specific expectations to the company homepage.

An example: Paul is looking for new rims for his car. To do this, he enters “rims for model x”; Via an ad played for the keyword, it lands on the start page of “Toms Felgenshop”.

However, Paul does not want to click through the complicated shop structure first, navigates back and discovers the ad of a competitor who already promises the rims for his car model in the ad:

Paul came full of expectations to the dealer “Felgenfritz” and was not astonished: The dealer found three suitable rims for his car, gave a recommendation to buy, and even has the right rim cleaner in stock. Paul puts the recommended products in the shopping cart and orders.

Elements that were deliberately used-

– visible logo (branding)

– Personalized headline (confirmation of customer needs)

– Features & Benefits (Service-USP) are communicated

– Buy recommendation

– easier decision making on the customer side

– Possible upselling strategy on the part of the dealer

– Different weighted CTA elements / conversion options

– Purchase

– Contact

– Trust elements (customer trust)

But what do we learn from it?

– The user wants to be picked up with his problems and expectations.

– The unique selling proposition of the product or service should be recognizable at all times and should also represent added value for the customer in his specific situation.

– All elements relevant to conversion (call-to-action buttons, forms for establishing contact, etc.) must be integrated without barriers;

– Above the fold if possible, i.e. directly visible to both mobile and desktop users

– however, they should not be used excessively: each additional step for the user reduces the likelihood of a conversion.

The Perfect Landing Page- It is all about testing

Given the diversity of industries, customer groups and channels, it becomes clear that there can be no universal solution. Each landing page must be tailored to one of these sizes for it to work. Which variant is best suited for your products or services can only be found out through extensive analyzes and tests:

1. Optimize the different channels: Traffic that originates from placed AdWords ads usually achieves different performance values ​​than traffic from social media ads or even organic contributions. The reason for this lies in the different user intentions: While users who access the offer via search ads usually already have a concrete intention to buy, users from other channels are even further away from the transaction and have to be convinced of the product differently. This means that content and elements have to be prioritized differently depending on the channel.

2. Analyze user activity: The interaction of the user on the page can be tracked with various tools: The scroll depth indicates, for example, how far a user has scrolled on the page. The Screentime plug-in for Analytics can be used to determine how much time the user has spent in predefined areas. Also, user activity can also be recorded in heat maps.

3. A / B testing and dynamization of landing pages: By playing out landing page variants, you can find out which one achieves better performance values. Through the continuous exchange and prioritization of elements (colors, buttons, text and images) and subsequent measurement, it is possible to gradually differentiate between channels and users. This way, each user receives his dynamic landing page, depending on which channel he comes from.

Landing pages and SEO: does that work at all?

Clear answer: Yes – that can also work. If you want to do without a sophisticated page structure with strict separation of editorial content and landing pages on your page, you can also place editorial content on landing pages.

Why does it work? As we learned, dynamic landing pages can display content differently at different levels. The following scheme is therefore conceivable:

Representation for “organic” users & search engines:

      – Focus on editorial content optimized for search engines

      – Optimized title & description as well as structured data awards

      – Conversion elements exist, but less visible

Representation for users from paid channels:

      – Focus on conversion elements

      – Optimized for short loading times

      – Dynamic titles, depending on the search query (keyword insertion)

However, the effort that the whole procedure entails in practice should not be underestimated. Setting up such a structure requires good planning and will take a lot of time in the start-up phase, primarily for monitoring user behavior and rankings. So if you already have a well-functioning area with extensive editorial content, you can first devote yourself to the creation of landing pages for paid channels, continuously develop the editorial content and then sensibly integrate it into the landing pages.