how-to-design-landing-pages-that-actually-convertAnyone can design a landing page, but very few are able to design effective ones that produce lots of conversions. That’s because marketers, designers, and business owners often choose to ignore the key elements of high converting landing pages.

4 Suggestions Worth Considering

Landing pages are obviously designed with the intention of driving conversions. Unfortunately, many landing pages don’t take user preferences and needs into account. The result is typically a low converting page that yields minimal returns.

If you want to develop successful landing pages that actually convert, then you need to understand what users are looking for and which elements actually influence their internal decision making.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Be Cautious When Sourcing Images

Visuals have a chance to make or break a landing page. They can either draw a visitor in and push them towards action, or they can turn a visitor off and encourage them to bounce. That’s why you have to be very careful when sourcing images.

While stock images may be enticing and easy to come by, you can’t afford to use such bland selections. Instead, you should use high quality original images to compliment the overall design of your landing page. Take a look at this page from United and then cross-reference it against this page by Direct Rubber Mulch. Notice how the former uses an impersonal and bland stock photo, while the latter leverages quality images that actually add value to the page.

2. Use the Right CTAs

On a landing page, few things are more important than the call to action. While a strong call to action will encourage conversions and produce high returns, a poor call to action can render a landing page totally useless and ineffective.

A successful CTA typically uses strong action verbs and should reinforce tangible benefits for the user. You also have to think about things like placement on the page, size of the text, and the button or conversion form design.

3. Invest in Ongoing A/B Testing

A landing page isn’t something you design and then sit back and watch. In order to be successful, you have to constantly monitor your landing page and make strategic tweaks as you start understanding how users are interacting with the page.

The easiest way to stay on top of a landing page is by investing in A/B split testing. With A/B testing you can gain real-time feedback from users and address individual elements that need to be tweaked. It’s essentially a peek behind the curtains of the landing page.

4. Think About Color Scheme

The color scheme you use on a landing page is a bigger deal than you may think. While it’s easy to simply choose the colors that look best to your eyes, it’s imperative that more thought is put into the selection.

Take this landing page from Lyft as an example. Notice how the color scheme draws you in. The contrast of light and dark helps the call to action pop off the page, while the pink buttons are clearly visible for everyone to see. This scheme is much more effective than a landing page that overloads visitors with pink (the brand’s primary color).

Design Better Landing Pages

Landing page design isn’t always about creating the most visually pleasing page you can. While appearance certainly matters, and we discussed some of these issues in this article, there are plenty of other things to consider.

Spend some time analyzing the performance and setup of your pages to get a better feel for what resonates with your target audience. Success looks different for everyone and it’s imperative that you find your definition sooner rather than later.