Do your landing page convert as well as you would like it to? Are your conversions keeping up with your online sales goals? If not, then it’s time to take a hard look at optimizing your landing pages through the lens of testing.
Landing page testing enables you to determine which elements of your landing page perform as desired and which ones don t. When you use a good testing tool such as Google Website Optimizer, you can accomplish complicated tests without having to be a techie genius.
Let s take a look at some elements of your website that could benefit from landing page testing.
Headlines
Your headlines should accomplish a dual purpose. They should communicate to the viewer what the page is about and they should provide continuity from wherever the viewer initially clicked (organic search results page or PPC ad) to your landing page.
You can test various wordings and color schemes, but try to keep viewers oriented by using some of the same elements used in the ad hook or link description that convinced them to click in the first place.
Call to Action Button
If you instinctively placed a big orange button on your landing page hoping to attract the attention of your users, you may be disappointed when they fail to click.
Big orange buttons work well for some companies and not so well for others. Only landing page testing can tell you whether it’s working for you.
In addition to size and color, you can also test 3-D buttons versus flat, button text, button text font, and graying the button out once it’s been clicked if multiple clicks create problems for your purchasing process.
Credibility
While security symbols can make a huge difference in whether a customer trusts you enough to give you his credit card information, there are other elements that can influence consumer trust as well.
Placing reassuring text near points of action (such as a We Value Your Privacy” statement that is linked to your privacy policy) can also give customers that extra reassurance that their information is safe with you.
Test various positions and wordings to find the design that works best for you.
Navigation
Experts disagree on whether navigation menus on the landing page are a good idea or a bad one.
Pros include orienting the visitor to his location and allowing him to leave the page without leaving your site, while cons include visitor distraction and the opportunity to take actions other than the conversion action.
The only way to determine how your visitors react is to test and see whether putting navigation on your landing pages increases your conversion rate or not.
There are many other elements you can include in optimizing your landing pages as well. The goal is simply to determine which design best encourages your visitors to convert and then building your landing page around those design elements.