You might think–as I did, just this morning–that a landing page is a landing page: of course, it should be well-designed, and there are definitely aspects that can help attract your ideal consumers. But how much can certain elements–videography, page length, design, text–really affect your business?

Well… Here are some quick facts: Moz re-designed their landing page and increased conversion rates by 170%. They also generated an additional $1 million in revenue.

I don’t know about you, but $1 million sure seems like a good trade-off in exchange for a redesigned landing page.

Another company, L’Axelle, increased their call-to-action conversion rates by 93% by re-writing some words on their landing page.

And Highrise increased sign-ups on their page by 102.5% by adding a picture. A picture!

Think of it the other way around: if Moz hadn’t redesigned, they would’ve lost out on a million dollars; and both L’Axelle and Highrise were missing out on almost 100% of their potential customers, because they were lacking a few words and the right visuals.

The largest percentage of your potential customers leave your site after only 8 seconds–rather than focusing your marketing efforts on attracting traffic, what about focusing on the bigger problem: how can you get people to stick around long enough to convert?

By changing some considerably small elements on your landing page, you can see huge results… like million-dollar results.

Let’s take a look at 11 critical design elements that can guarantee higher conversions on your landing page:

1. Let Your Landing Page Paint the Full Picture

Visitors don’t care about how long or short your landing page is: they care about how interesting it is. Make your landing page as long as is necessary to convey your full message. It’s likely that your landing page is all you’ve got to impress and convert potential customers–so all of your sales methods (an explanation of the product, how the product can help your customer, a full list of benefits, and a clearly displayed call-to-action) need to be implemented on this page. Think of your landing page like a sales call–what do you say over the phone to a potential customer when explaining your product? My guess is, you don’t shorten your explanation or leave out essential details because you’re afraid the customer will get bored and hang up. Keep it interesting, and they’ll stick around online, too.

Cambridge Semantics’ website does a great job of this–check out how their landing page is long enough to tell their full story.

2. Stay Away from Sales Language in Your Headline

Have you ever clicked on a website, seen the “Buy Me Now” button, and clicked it immediately? Me neither. Don’t start with “Buy Me Now” or even “Try a Free Trial” sales language–start with your customer’s problem, and how your product or solution can solve it for them. Psychology has shown that people dislike losing more than they enjoy winning (in other words, the negative feelings of losing are stronger than the positive feelings of winning). So your headline should highlight what people are losing by not using your product or service.

Your headline, and sub-heading, should be clear, concise, and grab the reader’s attention.

For instance, Mattress Nerd stays away from “Buy Mattresses Here!” in their heading–instead, they approach it from a buyer’s point of view. Essentially, they reassure the viewer: Don’t lose sleep over stressing about buying a mattress–we can help.

3. Use Images and Graphs to Support Your Text

Did you know the brain processes images 60,000 faster than text? High-quality images will grab your reader’s attention faster than your words–take advantage. Ensure that your images are good quality (not stock), and align with your product or service. Highrise realized that people gravitate towards images of people on their landing page (using a/b testing), so, by adding a picture of a woman, they increased conversion rates by 102.5%.

4. Let Your Readers Trust You by Using Real-People Testimonials

Did you know that people trust a website 12x more with testimonials? This is undeniably one of the easiest ways to increase conversion rates: the trick is, add testimonials from real people. Prove they’re real by adding where they’re from, companies they work for, and positions they hold. As much as it would be cool to see a Tom Brady quote on your website, it’s not necessary–real consumers want to see that your product has worked for real people, like them.

Try what Acorn Deck House Company did… Combine real-people testimonials with video (combining #4 and #5= more conversions!):

5. Add Video Content

Embedding a video into your landing page can increase conversions by up to 80%. Some people like visuals, while others like text: if 40% of people prefer visuals over text, shouldn’t you cater to all your potential demographics, by offering both? Not only are videos an engaging tool, but they also offer ways for your brand to show off personality and creativity in a way that text and pictures can’t.

Check out how InVision uses videos (and video testimonials from Uber, Netflix, and other brand names) to engage their audience on their landing page.

6. Explain Your Product Using User-Focused Language

L’Axelle was able to increase their call-to-action conversion rates by 93% by changing their landing page wording: Instead of saying, “Feel fresh without sweat marks,” they rewrote their copy to say, “Put an end to sweat marks!” With this wording, they’ve highlighted a problem their potential customers have. In the first copy, “feel fresh” (pleasure) isn’t as incentivizing as in the second copy, “end sweat marks” (pain). Think about your product–instead of talking about how much “better” you are than your competitors, how can you phrase it so the customer knows how they’ll be better off after using your product?

An explanation should be in favor of the user: how can they benefit?

7. List All The Benefits

Make it very clear to the user exactly what they’ll get with your service–in phrases that highlight what they care about. If you’re a computer security company, don’t say, “We make sites 89% more secure!”; say, “Your site will be 89% more secure.” If you offer paid membership or a free version, this is especially imperative: make a checklist, so people can visually understand the added benefits of a membership.

On Strategic Spaces Furniture page, you’ll see a general list of benefits (consult, design, etc.). But if you hover over one, like “design,” an additional list pops up with exactly what this entails–it’s visually clean, and let’s the buyer know exactly what they’re paying for:

8. End With a Call-to-Action… And Make it Red

If you’ve got one call-to-action, put it at the end of your landing page… if you have multiple, then create sections, and put the appropriate call-to-action after each relevant section. Either way, make sure your call-to-action stands out–make it a different color than the background, make it bigger than the rest of the font, and use compelling copy. “Change your life today,” “generate more conversions now,” “try a free trial”–these perform better than the more boring, “submit email” or “buy now.”

Don’t doubt that the design of your call-to-action makes a difference: Performable tested their homepage with two buttons… One was green, the other was red. The text (“Get Started Now”) stayed the same. Regardless, 21% more people clicked on the red button over the green. So use a/b testing, and figure out for yourself which call-to-action design appeals to the most people.

9. Pleasure And Pain are Key

I briefly mentioned the loss aversion strategy already, but along with highlighting for customers what problems your product will solve (like ending sweat marks), show your customers how your product or service will increase their pleasure. Think about how your product or service satisfy’s a person’s emotional needs–for instance, does it help someone become more accepted? Successful? Loved? Don’t just tell the viewer what you’re selling–tell the viewer how their emotional needs are going to be met with your product or service.

For instance, look at Kulae’s heading: “Real Good Karma,” it says, and below it, “Kulae’s mission is to provide eco-friendly yoga products in order to create a collaborative and inclusive community.”

Sure, they didn’t outline any “pain points” for their potential buyers–but they sure outlined a lot of emotional needs (feeling included, having a sense of community, attracting good spiritual karma, believing that you’re making the world a better place by being eco-friendly):

10. Make Contact Us Information Abundant and Visible

Make a “customer support” section visible and easy to find, and ensure that your “Contact Us” field is filled out with a name, phone number, email address, and physical address–at the very least, this ensures your credibility as a legitimate company. Also, the easier you make it for potential customers to reach out with questions, the more likely they are to use your service.

Although not “critical,” consider creating live-chat popups where a customer service representative asks if they can assist.

Mike’s Pastry uses a blue banner with white text to clearly highlight their contact information, and embeds a map to show their locations:

11. Make Your Website Easily Navigable: It’s Your #1 Roadmap to Your Service

The placement of all these elements matter: take your potential consumer through a logical step-by-step guide of your product or service. Think of it this way–if your landing page is your online sales call, you don’t want to start with a “buy now” request, followed by testimonials, followed by the first explanation of your product, do you? Trust that the right potential consumer will take the time to scroll through your landing page, and ensure that each segment of your landing page is clear, persuasive, and helpful.

If you need help implementing any of these design elements for your landing page, or want to ensure your landing page is optimized for highest possible conversions, get a free quote from us today.