7 Landing Page Flaws That Damage Your Conversion Rates

Published on May 4, 2015

You have put a significant amount of work into developing your business. You've invested in a responsive website, you've started your presence on social media, and you're on your way to generating leads with an inbound marketing campaign.

Your leads are captured when people find value in the content you present them on your website. In turn, they share with you similarly valuable information about themselves: their name, their email address, their company, and more.

...provided, of course, if your landing page is up to snuff.

Landing Page Basics

A landing page is a page designed for your prospects to land on, get interested about the product you offer, and give you information about themselves which you need to create a first correspondence with them.

(Note that landing page is not synonymous with home page. Business owners can, and often should, have multiple landing pages. You can have separate landing pages for separate promotions, multiple landing pages for the same promotion.)

Landing pages are where you make or break your lead generation goals. These pages alone can persuade (or dissuade) your users to fill out the form and create a lead. The placement of your images, the length of your descriptions, and the wording in your titles directly affect your ability to convert customers in the future.

Unfortunately, many companies often fall victim to these 7 mistakes, recently displayed in an infographic by Quick Sprout (also shared by Hubspot). Here's how you can optimize your own landing pages.

The Top 7 Landing Page Mistakes

1. T.M.I.

The problem:
Visitors are asked to enter in too much information. Leaving the site becomes easier than entering in the information.

The solution:

  • Only ask for essential information for the fill-in forms (like Name and Email address)
  • Make the forms easy to find and fill in
  • Avoid asking for invasive information like Phone Number and Address. Remember, you want to make a first contact with this information. You can get the other information after you've made your lead feel comfortable enough to convert them into a customer.

2. Lack of a Single Specific Call to Action

The problem:
Multiple offers/call-to-actions creates confusion for your leads. This leads to a lower conversion rate.

The solution:

  • Keep it simple. Display ONE (and only one) offer only.
  • Make the call-to-action easy to find, comprehend, and complete.

3. Too Much Text

The problem:
The landing page is saturated with too much text. The text itself registers as confusing and obscures your offering.

Remember, the attention of your visitor should be attracted within 5 seconds. Yes, they should be able to determine the point of your page within that time.

The solution:

  • Consolidate information visually with bullet points
  • Draw the eye to text by using bold font, or visual highlights for important product/service points.

4. Headline is Unexciting (or Missing Altogether)

The problem:
Headlines on the page are boring, generic, or misleading. These instantly turn off a visitor and obscure the point of your page.

The solution:

  • Create specific headlines with compelling language.
  • The headline should be long enough to convey your message, but only at a glance. Any longer could cause your reader to lose interest.

5. Landing Page Load Time is Slow

The problem:
Any website that has less than a 3 second load time loses up to 40% of their customers (and 79% of customers dissatisfied with website performance are less likely to buy from that site again).

The solution:

  • Get rid of unnecessary text and graphics
  • Use the appropriate image type (and compression/size) for websites
  • Test page load across multiple devices (computer and mobile).

6. No Testing Is Performed

The problem:
Creating one landing page without analysis reduces conversion rates.

The solution:

  • Test your landing pages and track results. Anything that is not increasing conversion rate should be changed
  • Text market ideas, page layout, and wording for best results
  • Develop sever versions of landing pages and see which pages are getting the most results
  • Maintain a constant stream of testing and adjusting

7. Site Lacks Credibility

The problem:
Generic endorsements, rounded numbers, tailored reviews and other suspicious references reduce site credibility.

The solution:

  • Add honest, verbatim testimonials
  • Display a "Trust Badge"
  • Don't overstate results
  • Use precise numbers
  • Create articulate, easy-to-understand terms and conditions

Be sure to check out the original Quick Sprout infographic for more!

Questions about your landing page? Need help with your inbound marketing campaign? Don't hesitate to send us an email or give us a call! We'd love to help.