By Kari Freudenberger, Brook
Group (Published June 4, 2007)
I have a love/hate relationship with shopping online. I love being
able to type in what I want and buy it in just a few steps. I hate
when I have to jump through hoops to get to, or even find, the shopping
cart.
Being in the Internet marketing field makes me intensely critical
of e-commerce Web sites. It’s truly amazing how few companies
do it right. It is fairly easy to type something into Google and
land at the appropriate product page in the natural results. What
confounds me is how companies pay to be in the sponsored results
but never seem to send me where I want to be.
For example, I was recently shopping for a DKNY coat so I typed
it into Google. Out of the top five paid search results, only one
of them actually took me to a page with DKNY coat listings. That
one site was Nordstrom.com, which provided pictures of six coats
and when I clicked on one, it went right to a page where I could
add it to my shopping cart. Nordstrom understands customer acquisition.
It’s not just pay-per-click that so many companies mess up,
it’s online advertising in general. For example, custom landing
pages seem like common sense to me. When I develop a marketing campaign
intended to take someone to a Web page, I create a unique page designed
especially for that campaign. This is a stand-alone page to which
I send customers and they are driven to action. It targets specific
audiences and leads them directly to a sale, or when necessary,
directs them deeper into my site. In other words, it’s a simple
customer acquisition engine.
Getting Them There
Various marketing methods such as search engine optimization, banner
ads, promotions, direct mail, email, television and print advertising
should not lead customers to your home page. Oftentimes home pages
have too many options and no clear path to follow.
A landing page is a more effective marketing tool than a regular
Web page because it is specifically designed to highlight one or
a few products or services. It is typically more focused than other
Web pages, and at the simplest level, it provides limited information
with two options: “buy now” or “learn more.”
The Call to Action
The singular purpose of a landing page is to make someone do something.
The primary call to action is to buy now (or sign up, or whatever
you decide leads to “conversion”). This receives prime
real estate and a prominent graphical treatment on the landing page.
The secondary action - learn more - is slightly less noticeable,
but is still highlighted somehow on the page. This streamlines the
conversion process, allowing eager customers to act, and providing
them with the additional information they want.
The “buy now” link leads customers to the acquisition
page, whether that is a shopping cart or a registration page. The
“learn more” link goes to the individual product page
where customers can read about a specific product. This page then
has a buy now link to the acquisition page.
An effective landing page may have two options, but the calls to
action all eventually lead to the same place: the acquisition page.
Landing pages are all about customer acquisition.
Navigation
Landing pages are unique in that they are merely a means to an
end and therefore do not have to follow the same constructs of a
company Web site. While it follows usability best practices to have
global navigation for your site on every page, the landing page
can survive without it. If it confuses the customer and detracts
from those calls to action, it’s better to leave it off. Whatever
you choose to do, make sure the navigation is clear and simple.
Landing Page Guidelines
When building a landing page, certain guidelines should be followed
to make it as effective as possible.
1. Your landing page should graphically match your advertising
campaign.
Create your landing page to reflect the look and feel of your banner
ad, direct mail piece or television commercial. Don’t be as
concerned as much with branding the landing page to match the company.
They’ll see your corporate brand when they land at the real
Web site.
2. The action you advertise should be available on the landing
page.
If your advertisement is all about saving 20 percent on your product,
make sure the landing page provides the means to do that. Don’t
send customers on a wild goose chase to perform an action. Get it
right up front on that first landing page so conversion is as easy
as possible.
3. Show only the product(s) you’re advertising.
This is a tricky one. While you may want to include related products
on a landing page, it’s best to stick to the bare minimum.
Otherwise, you give your customer too many options, making it harder
for them to make that snap decision.
Customer acquisition on the Web requires simplicity and easy maneuvering.
When it comes to Internet marketing, you need to predict what your
customers want and then give it to them in as few steps as possible.
Whether you’re running a direct mail promotion or pay-per-click
campaign, a custom landing page is vital to maintain a sense of
consistency and ease.
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