Landing Pages- A Call-To-Action

As explained in our lesson for week one, there are several divisions relating to analytical terms and metrics. Categories these terms fall under include: visit characterization, visitor characterization, engagement and conversion. Falling under the visit characterization category is the term landing page. A landing page is “a page view intended to identify the beginning of the user experience resulting from a defined marketing effort” (Reed College of Media, West Virginia University, 2018). Another definition of a landing page is “meant as a destination page - i.e., any page where website visitors land when they first reach your site” (Whittemore, 2017). At any rate, brands should have a grasp on the landing page as a web analytic tool that can serve a great purpose if used correctly. These pages if used accurately serve specific purpose in situations such as lead generation or inbound marketing on a brand’s website. The blueprint of landing pages must have purpose that has been visualized before the page is created. A purpose for what information the tool will be collecting and how it will be used is essential. An article on SimpleMarketingNow.com described this process saying, “First off, you need to have an offer. It can be an eBook, a checklist, a bundle of delicious and relevant information consisting of links and downloads. The offer must be of interest to your ideal customer (aka persona) and relate to the stage of the buying cycle s/he is in. Generally, when a prospect is at the early stages (e.g., awareness), the offer will be more educational and relate to research on options available. Further down the buying journey (e.g., interest and decision), the offer will be more focused on buying criteria and the decision-making process. Then you create a landing page for the offer that includes several elements:

• A page completely focused on the offer. Even website navigation gets removed so as not to distract from the offer.
• A compelling headline and space to explain how the offer delivers sufficient value that a visitor would agree to leave an email address and other information. Included bullets to detail benefits.
• An image showing what the offer looks like.
• A form for capturing at minimum an email address, and as relevant more information (name, company name, persona qualification question, business questions...)
• A means for delivering the offer - aka the 'thank you' page” (Whittemore, 2017).

(Whittemore, 2017) After the creation of a landing page a brand should then use Key Performance Indicators to make sure that their landing page offering is actually producing the results it was intended for. KPI’s are metrics that measure and assess the outcomes of a particular function or goal that a brand has undertaken. In this case, we would be evaluating whether the landing page is properly activating the intended call-to-action in consumers that it was designed for. One well known way for landing pages to be tested is through the use of A-B testing. An article on Forbes.com provided great insight into this strategy saying, “Your digital strategy was designed based on a goal. The purpose could be to grow your newsletter list, increase the number of downloads of your e-book, get customers to create an account, etc. Whatever that goal is, you need KPIs to track whether your landing page is sending your customer on the correct path to have them complete the intended goal of a page. This metric can be a little difficult to measure, as you may have a different goal per landing page. You can create a custom report from your Google Analytics account to measure the traffic on each page. Then, you can compare the data with the conversion rates to determine the landing page conversions. By doing so, you can see which landing pages are most valuable and bringing in a large number of conversions. More importantly, you can also determine which landing pages need to be revised to increase landing page conversions. For example, if a landing page is getting a high amount of traffic with very little conversions, something needs to change. Use A/B testing to determine how you can get a higher conversion rate. Some simple changes you may want to test out are:

• Changing your call to action
• Changing the call to action button
• Revising the written content
• Adding reviews and testimonials” (Goulart, 2017)

The aforementioned information is intended to provide just a “tad” bit of clarity surrounding landing pages. Again, if used efficiently and effectively they can be a useful tool for a brand’s web presence.

Resources:

Goulart, Matthew (2017, April 6) Five KPIs You Should Be Monitoring To Ensure Your Digital Strategy Is Working. Forbes.com. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/04/06/five-kpis-you-should-be-monitoring-to-ensure-your-digital-strategy-is-working/ - 43ebf74475d3

Joshi, Amitabh (2016, March 15) Puma Increased Order Rates To 7.1% Via Google Analytics Insights. Digitalvidya.com. Retrieved from http://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/puma-increased-order-rates-to-7-1-via-google-analytics-insights/

Reed College of Media, West Virginia University. (2018). Week 1 Lesson: Intro to Web Analytics and the Basics of Web Analytics [Online]. Retrieved from https://cas-ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_97081_1&content_id=_4434991_1&framesetWrapped=true

Whittemore, Christine. (2017, August 28) What is a Landing Page and How Does It Work? SimpleMarketingNow.com. Retrieved from https://www.simplemarketingnow.com/content-talks-business-blog/bid/158884/what-is-a-landing-page-and-how-does-it-work