10 Dangerous Mistakes Ruining Your Landing Page Conversion Rate

All good landing pages have one thing in common: all are designed in a simple manner. There is nothing like a simple web page design, which will make the web visitors perform an action.

There are many functions of landing pages. They can be broadly stated as:

• Selling a product
• Signing a petition
• Encouraging visitors to subscribe to any newsletter
• Promoting a downloadable any report or eBook.

Creating a landing page is no big deal in the present times as there are numerous products that are available in the market. There are numerous tools and products which will help you in creating a landing page but practically speaking it does take an effort.

If you cannot make your landing page convert, there is very little benefit that you will get from the landing page.

Let us explore the commonest threats that lead to landing page conversions which are poor.

#1:   Mismatching of Landing Page Headline With Text Ad Copy

There are a variety of reasons for which you should make sure that your landing page headline and Google AdWords text ad should match.

The first reason is that from a user’s point of view, they establish certain expectations from the text ad. Take for example, if your landing page reads “The Truth about Professional Training Courses,” and you text as copy reads “Discover 4 Ways to Improve Your Career as a Web Developer”, the user gets confused for a fraction of second. Though it might seem a trivial issue at first, it causes a lot of problem. If your reader gets startled then there are many chances that the user will abandon the page altogether.

The second reason is the quality of the landing page which is determined by Google AdWords Cost-per-click. This means that the quality of landing page can be improved by increasing the quality score and decreasing you CPC. This should happen when you match the landing page headline with text ad copy. In simple words, the quality of your landing page is in your hands and you can alter it according to your requirement.

When you make an effort to meet the expectations of your readers, you are lowering the abandonment rate and this fact is liked by Google.

#2:   Confusing Headlines

This point is an extension of the earlier problem. You must make sure that the headline that you are using is attractive to your readers. It must make them interested so that they continue reading. You must ask yourself: is your headline stimulating enough?

Here are examples which will throw light on headline that are exciting enough.

• How to Double the Sales of Web App
• 5 Ways to Create Converting Social Landing Page

Those headline are applicable for blog posts but they can be easily be used for landing page. Just like blog posts, the landing page must give the visitors useful, ultra-specific and unique information which should sound attractive and alluring. This part should not be ignored in any case, a captivating title or headline is very important in getting the readers to read your article instead of abandoning. If you feel you are not competent enough for this, you can try hiring professional help. In fact, it should be taken that seriously.

#3:   Poor Grammar and Misspelled Words

Throwing up a landing page in every 20 minutes is a good thing but doing it in such a short span of time is not necessarily a wise decision to make.

This approach will lead to more and more mistakes which include poor grammar and spelling. You must keep in mind that the users are in search for an excuse to not buy from you and by presenting poor grammar, you are giving them many reasons to do so.

#4:   No Trust Signals

Your sale figures depend on the kind of relationship that you have with your clients. No trust equals to no sales. It is that important. You can build the trust of your customers in many ways like:

1. Social proof: This concept is based on the fact that popular landing pages are dependable. Hence you can see that Twitter followers, subscriber counts and number of users are dependable figures.
2. Supply endorsements: Linking with bigger brands on your landing page gives you the desired trust and recognition which helps you in building your reputation.
3. Investing in designs: You must not present a poor design landing page to your users; this gives your visiting page negative marking.
4. Sharing press reviews: If any magazine or blog has something positive to say about your page, you must make a mention of that too.
5. Simplifying terms and conditions: You must not present users with lofty terms and conditions; it always helps when you minimize them.
6. Sharing testimonials: If you users say anything good about your blog, you must mention that in your landing page. This helps in building trust. If you can, you should make a mention of the address and name of the users as well.

#5:   Hidden Call-to-Action Buttons

It is not sufficed that the readers just read you page, the main important thing is to get them to perform some actions like downloading, buying, subscribing, etc. But if you hide your call-to-action buttons you will not get the desired results. You must make a compelling call-to-action button which will force the users to perform some action on you landing page.

#6:   Poor or No Call-to-Action

Taking into account, call-to-action buttons, the visibility of your button is of no use if it fails to make an impact on the user. It is for this reason that the conversion rate declines. You can make your call-to-action button more compelling by using practical language, keeping a consistent design, using active verbs and by creating a sense that the button is moving forward.

#7:   Going off Message With Links

Though links are very good for blog posts, you must make sure that you do not have any links on the landing page. This is more likely to backfire. Sending the visitors off the landing page is the biggest mistake that one can ever make.

#8:   Poor Quality Videos or Images

Your landing page can see a conversion rate boost of 80% by a mere video which is of good quality. Similarly, a poor video can bring the rate down. It should be noted that a good quality video does not happen overnight, it is a result of back breaking toil and hard work. If you do not have the required budget for putting a video, it is advised that you do away with any videos. It is better off without any videos than to have a poor quality one. You should at least include a picture on the landing page which is directly focusing on the goal of the landing page.

#9:  Crowded Landing Pages

You must make sure that all the features that a users would need should have a place above the fold. But you should not make the mistake of keeping everything above the fold. You should prioritize and set the elements with lower priority below the fold. The landing page should be designed in a unique way so that it follows the natural movement of the eyes.

Make sure that the landing page has one and only one clear goal and action. This will help in bringing the focus on the desired goals and actions.

#10:  Never Testing

You can have the best conversion rates for your landing page but your quest should not stop just there. You should look for ways to keep the conversion rate rising. Testing helps you understand what position you are standing and how you can improve your conversion rates. Even if you see that you are hitting your target, you must understand that there is no harm in increasing the conversion rates further. This will be added benefit for you. There are always many ways which help you squeeze in more conversion rates when you thought there is absolutely no place for one.

So for doing this, what kinds of tests you must run? Basically there are two types of tests that are counted as standard ones.

• A/B Test – this is the simpler test when compared to Multivariate test. This test involves testing two elements against one another. For example, you can test one headline against the other or it can be about different call-to-actions. After you know which one works the best, you can easily test it with another one.
• Multivariate – this test involves evaluating many elements that are present on the same page. In this test, various headlines can be tested at the same time. You can also test various images, call-to-action designs, etc. This test will help you immensely when you want to find the right combination for your landing page.

What are other threats to the landing page according to you? Do you have other threats which can be added to the list? Share with us some of your success and failures of landing pages.