What is a landing page and how should it be structured?

A landing page is an essential part of any marketing strategy. A well-designed landing page gives visitors the opportunity to find out more about your business or your product. A landing page therefore represents an important point of contact with potential customers.

What is a landing page?

Visitors reach a landing page by entering a search term into a search engine or via a link in an (advertising) advert. The purpose of the landing page is to generate a conversion. By ‘conversion’, we mean that the content of the landing page encourages the user to take a specific action. This action does not happen by chance, but is clearly and explicitly intended by the website operator. The user therefore landed on the page for a very specific purpose.

What is the difference between a website and a landing page?

You might think that a landing page is nothing more than an ordinary homepage. In fact, landing pages and homepages differ greatly from one another. The differences between homepages and landing pages stem primarily from the fact that the two types of page have completely different objectives and are therefore designed to serve different purposes.

In most cases, websites offer a wide range of possible interactions. For example, visitors to a website can obtain information about a company or a product, look up contact details or even make purchases.

A landing page, on the other hand, is designed to achieve a specific objective that has been set in advance by the website operator. Consequently, all elements of a landing page are tailored to this objective, resulting in numerous differences compared with the homepage.

For example, homepages feature numerous menu items, making it easy for visitors to find the information they are looking for. On pages created specifically as landing pages, however, there are often very few or even no menus at all. After all, the aim of landing pages is not to direct visitors away from the page, but to encourage them to take a specific action.

In terms of content, too, landing pages are entirely geared towards the intended objective. By comparison, a homepage attracts visitors with a variety of intentions; consequently, a homepage is designed to be significantly more informative, whereas a landing page is specifically tailored to a particular objective.

What types of pages are there for a landing page?

A landing page is an integral part of professional marketing. Various types of landing pages can be used. For example, some landing pages are designed to sell a specific product, whilst others are created to enable visitors to, for instance, sign up for a newsletter, download an e-book or send an enquiry to the relevant company. The type of landing page is always tailored to a clearly defined objective.

The potential objectives of a landing page

Visitors to a page that serves as a landing page have become aware of it through a web search, an advert, social media or another marketing initiative. Their arrival on the page was therefore not by chance. Visitors usually arrive at the page by typing the URL directly into the address bar or by clicking on a banner or display advert. The page can also be accessed via a search engine’s organic results. However, it is unusual for the landing page to be reached via a website’s navigation menu.

Ideally, visitors who access a landing page will find exactly the information or product they were looking for. A landing page therefore aims to increase interest in information or a product whilst requiring as little effort as possible on the visitor’s part.

A landing page does not necessarily have to be used to promote a product or provide information. It can also be used to provide visitors with contact details or to offer a contact form.

The biggest advantage of landing pages is that visitors who are definitely part of the target audience end up on the landing page. This happens because they arrive at the landing page via advertisements, adverts or search engine results. If the offer did not appeal to users, they would not have clicked on the link to the landing page. This ensures that the right target audience sees the offer on the landing page.

It follows that users who arrive at the landing page have a need that is met by what the landing page has to offer. The aim of the landing page, from a marketing perspective, is to satisfy the customer’s existing need – the one that prompted them to click on the landing page – through an attractive offer. A well-designed landing page has the satisfaction of the customer’s need as its primary objective. Only if the customer feels that the relevant offer on the landing page appeals to them will the objective be achieved: to trigger or reinforce the intended impulse to take action, thereby guiding the customer towards the desired interaction.

The most common reasons that prompt users to visit a landing page include:

• buying products.
• registration for a community or a service.
• requesting quotations for products.
• requesting quotations for services.
• obtaining information.

Understanding the needs of customers who visit the landing page is essential for landing page operators, as their aim is to meet users’ needs. Marketing only works if it takes customers’ needs into account and addresses them.

How should a professional landing page be structured?

A well-structured landing page is specifically tailored to and optimised for the target audience. It consists of various elements, all of which serve the purpose of creating or reinforcing the users’ need and satisfying it through an offer that the customer can take up by interacting with the page. For this to be successful on a landing page, landing pages should include the following elements:

• catchy headline
• An interesting sub-headline
• Main image, which reinforces the customer’s need
• Benefits that show the customer what they get from the offer
• Trust elements
• CTA button
• Conversion element (for example, a form)

It is essential that all elements on the landing page are incorporated in a way that makes sense and serves a purpose. Landing pages are clearly structured and designed to achieve a specific goal. It makes sense for the landing page to incorporate elements that appear in the advert, as the user has, after all, shown a positive response by clicking on the advert.

In principle, there are no set rules governing the design or the layout of the content on a landing page, as the design of the landing page always depends on its purpose. Nevertheless, there are elements that should not be missing from a landing page. For instance, landing pages should be created in line with the corporate design so that they can be clearly associated with the company. This helps the user establish a connection with the company. A suitable headline and sub-headline are also essential on landing pages to capture the reader’s interest. Furthermore, good landing pages should highlight the benefits users can expect if they take up the offer. An input field for data collection is also useful, alongside cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored and saved when a user visits a page. Through these cookies, users leave traces that can be analysed for marketing purposes. Cookies therefore provide an important source of information for drawing conclusions about the success of landing pages. This analysis reveals the difference between leads – that is, potential customers – and actual customers, making it clear whether the landing page needs optimising or is fulfilling its purpose and successfully converting leads into customers.

An important component of a landing page is the call to action. A well-executed call to action turns leads into customers by encouraging them, on the landing page, to take advantage of a specific offer. An eye-catching button can be helpful in ensuring that leads can respond to the call-to-action with minimal effort and take advantage of the relevant offer.

Furthermore, trust elements and testimonials in the form of seals or certificates can be useful tools for building trust with potential customers and enhancing authenticity.

What makes a landing page effective?

For a landing page to be successful from a marketing perspective, there are a number of aspects that can be taken into account during its creation to make the page more persuasive. As a general principle in marketing, it is important to bear in mind that people accept offers based on emotions rather than acting purely rationally. Accordingly, it is helpful to appeal to the emotions of potential customers in order to make an offer appear attractive. This can be achieved, for example, by addressing a problem faced by users and then highlighting the benefits of the offer. It is also beneficial to build rapport. This gives the target audience the feeling of being understood and of being presented with a clear, straightforward solution to their problem.

A restriction – for example, a limited number of appointments – can also mean that the user no longer hesitates but takes up the offer.

The visual design of a landing page must also be just right. An understanding of colour psychology is certainly helpful here in ensuring the landing page is appealing. Equally, the website must be responsive, i.e. optimised for all screen resolutions. A responsive web design agency can help you with this.

Tips for creating a landing page

To build a successful landing page, there are certain factors that should be taken into account during the design process. For instance, users do not read a page; they skim it. To improve readability and guide the reader’s eye, it is advisable to make use of formatting and bold text. Furthermore, it is important to understand the target audience and their needs. Otherwise, there is a risk of presenting users with an offer that is not appealing to them. It is also essential that the landing page has a simple and clear structure. The page should therefore be well-organised. Clarity is also essential in terms of content, so that users are not confused or even distracted from the offer.

When creating a landing page, there are many aspects to consider and implement. This is not always easy, as the visual design and the page’s content as a whole should be perfectly aligned, and all elements must be geared towards a specific goal. This can involve a great deal of work and be very time-consuming. To enable you to focus on your business, we can assist you in creating a landing page. If you need help creating an optimised landing page, the marketing experts at our Munich-based advertising agency will be happy to assist you.