And many marketers make it even harder than it has to be. That’s the case with today’s landing page makeover.

BEFORE

AFTER

Let’s break it down section by section.

Hero Section

Which is easier: Convincing someone to buy a product or getting him to take something for free?

The answer seems pretty obvious. Yet many businesses make the offer more of an afterthought than a sales message.

Take a look at the hero section of ZoomInfo’s existing landing page. It’s all about the product except for one line of button copy. And frankly, even the copy about the product could use a bit of work.

Question headlines are overused and often don’t provide enough reason to read on. It’s easy to just answer “yes” and be done. You need to provide more of benefit, differentiator or hook to draw the reader in. Give them some sort of indication that you can give them what they want.

The rest of the hero area is also too generic. Phrases like “…leading sales and marketing intelligence tool” have no meaning or impact without more context. How are you defining leading? What criteria are you using? Is this backed up by anyone else or is it just puffery?

Even the call-to-action, which finally mentions the free offer, lacks excitement. Access to a database isn’t really what the user wants. It’s more of a means to get what he wants: high quality business and sales leads. Always let your prospects know what’s in it for them.

In my makeover, I bring the offer front and center with a headline that gets right to the immediate benefit. The subhead expands on that message with more specifics. And it leads into the call-to-action that says exactly why they should click the button.

Notice how this new hero section conveys the benefits with specifics, not puffery. Instead of telling readers this is the “leading sales and marketing intelligence tool,” the messaging helps visitors come to that conclusion on their own.

Social Proof

The next section of the existing landing page is actually pretty strong. Showing the logos and providing testimonials of well respected customers is a great way to display social proof. The words and actions of others are inherently more credible than anything a company can say about themselves.

That’s why, in my makeover, I only slightly tweaked that section. I added benefit copy to the lead-in sentence to add context and build interest.

I also separated the logos and testimonials from each other. Having social proof in two spots is better than just one, and it calls attention to each individual element a bit more.

Features and Benefits

The current landing page doesn’t start speaking to what the users can do with this solution until the bottom half of the page. A good number of people who go to the page will never even see it.

And those who do make it that far only get a brief callout or two without any further context.

The makeover brings this information higher up to answer the main questions users have with almost any product promotion.

These supporting sections offer more detail and put it into context. It paints a more coherent picture for the user. If you rely on him or her to connect the dots, you’re creating needless friction. Don’t make prospects work.

Statistics

These statistics are good. Numbers are memorable and irrefutable. But the way they are presented in the current page misses an opportunity. It’s self-centered and lacks context. It’s just boasting, “look, we’re big.”

But why should the user care?

A simple edit to the heading completely changes the perspective. Now those numbers are about the prospect’s needs instead of the products attributes.

Call to Action

The call-to-action section is pretty standard. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. And since this is your last chance to get someone to act, you need to make the most of it.

The makeover achieves this by reiterating the benefits and providing additional information to reduce remaining friction.

Specifically, the current page doesn’t indicate anywhere how long the trial runs. That’s a pretty important piece of information when deciding whether or not to move forward. (I went with 14 days because I found that on ZoomInfo’s main website.)

And I drove home the idea that there is no risk or obligation to taking advantage of the offer, so the prospect has nothing to lose.

Small copywriting changes make a big difference

One other big improvement that applies to the entire page is the tone of the copy. The current page makes two big mistakes that are all too common.

First, it takes a self-centered tone. Look how many times the words “we” and “our” appear. Prospects don’t care about you. They are about what you can do for them.

That’s why the remake switches the focus from the company to the prospect. Instead of “we” and “our”, the re-imagined page uses “you.”

Second, there is too much corporate-speak in the current page. Take this sentence:

“ZoomInfo’s robust suite of integrations accelerates business outcomes at every step of your workflow and enables a more streamlined approach to achieving go-to-market success.”

Nobody speaks like that. How many people will even understand what it means without re-reading it a few times?

Instead, sound like a person. Use conversational language that your prospects would use. It’s friendlier, easier to read and understand, and more persuasive.

Apply these lessons to improve your conversion rates

While there is no one size fits all for conversion rate optimization, the principles behind the improvements in this makeover are time tested. And they can easily be applied to almost any landing page.

Getting prospects to take action will still be difficult, but at least you won’t be making it harder on yourself.

If you’d like help optimizing your pages for conversions, please contact me.

The post Landing Page Makeover: ZoomInfo appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

That’s just one of the challenges I addressed in this makeover for the home page of Lakebed.io, an early stage startup in the tech space. Keep reading beyond the before and after images for a detailed breakdown.

BEFORE

AFTER

First Impression

First impressions matter online. You only have a few seconds to grab attention and pull visitors in. The current home page doesn’t do that.

There’s just not much visual interest or intrigue in the hero message. It simply says what the product it does, but not why anyone would want it.

What’s more, there’s mo visual hierarchy to draw my attention to as a starting point.

The made over hero area leads with strongest benefit to give the page the best chance of grabbing readers early. The copy that follows then adds more context, which leads to a strong call-to-action. That’s a hierarchy that’s proven to be effective.

I also created a more standard header with a logo, main navigation and a call to action button to improve the user experience. On the current page, the navigation only visible by hovering over the icon.

Note: since this landing page makeover only includes the home page, I kept the links to the current pages.

Simplified Messaging

Data lakes are a pretty complicated subject, especially for people who may be unfamiliar with the term. The current site doesn’t do a bad job of explaining it, but it takes too many words to it. Lengthy explanations work well for blog posts, but not home pages.

The home page makeover solves this in a couple of ways.

The first is by including much of the information in an explainer video. This format is not as intimidating as a big block of text. So you can do more explaining. Plus, the animations help hold visitors’ attention. You can view the video on my revised Lakebed home page.

Since the home page makeover is strictly for illustrative purposes, I didn’t spend money on a professional voiceover or the pro version of the software I used to create it. That would make it even more effective. Even without those touches, though, it’s a big improvement on the current page.

The second way I simplified the page was by scaling back the amount of information provided. This isn’t the type of product that people will purchase after a reading a web page, no matter how much information it has. So there is no need to get into all the technical details right away. You just need to give enough to get visitors to take the first step.

In fact, much of the copy on the current page could actually be preventing people from moving forward. Take the “How does it work” section, for example. A couple of hour-long calls is a time commitment and sounds like a fair amount of work.

I also chose not to include the price on the home page makeover. I know it’s often the first thing people look for, but for a high ticket product like this, it’s better to demonstrate the value first. You want people to view it as an investment rather than a cost.

Improved Design

Normally, I only worry about aesthetics after everything else is nailed down. But in this case, the complexity and length of the copy compounds the issue. To keep people from bouncing, it’s an area that needs to be addressed.

My first thought was to include nice, big product shots, but the product isn’t overly visual, as you can see from the screenshots. I could show a dashboard or other data visualization tool that you can build with the data, but that could misrepresent what the product does and shortchanges the value it provides.

Illustrations were the perfect choice for a couple of reasons. The simplicity of these images counters the complexity of subject. And the conceptual nature of the product is better represented by illustrations than photos.

Refined Offer

The current site has a bit of a mismatch between offer and call-to-action. In one spot, “Give us a try” leads to a generic contact form. In another, visitors are directed to contact the company to discuss their needs and if the solution is right for them. That sounds like having to put up with a sales pitch.

A strong offer has a clear benefit for the prospect and as little friction as possible. That’s why I chose to promote a demo. It’s a nice low commitment offer with a clear expectation and benefit to the reader.

The new call-to-action buttons lead to a form specific to this offer, which let’s visitors what the next steps are.

Feel free to use these same strategies in your landing pages. Or, if you’d like help optimizing your pages for conversions, please contact me.

The post Landing Page Makeover: Lakebed.io appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.

For this exercise, I made over a page promoting music lessons for a company called Music & Arts that I found through a paid search ad on Google. Here’s what it looks like as I’m writing this post and how I would optimize it for more conversions.

BEFORE

AFTER

One of the first things you’ll notice about the original is that this is a regular page on the site rather than a dedicated landing page created for the PPC campaign. That makes conversion more challenging. Visitors can be coming from just about any source, for a variety reasons. To appeal to them, the page has to be a bit general.

Then there’s the site navigation. It can be helpful when visitors need to find what they are looking for. But it can also take them away from the page before they’ve completed your desired action.

That’s why I recommend creating dedicated landing pages for all conversion-focused campaigns. And that’s just what I did with my makeover. Let’s take a closer look.

Hero area

The top of any landing page is the most valuable area you have to work with. That’s why the top section is often referred to as the hero section. It won’t matter how good the rest of the page is if you don’t convince readers to continue on.

Unfortunately, the current page falls flat. Logos, navigation and irrelevant content, such as the offer at the very top of the page, take up over half of the area visible above the fold. The form and a video are only partially visible.

While the copy that does show tells you what it is you should do as a visitor, it doesn’t provide much of a reason to do it.

Since my makeover page is a dedicated landing page solely focused on conversions, I removed all the links and functions that could distract from the objective. I also made the Lesson Studio logo smaller so that the headline and offer stand out more. As a result, the entire hero section is visible above the fold.

Even more important, it allows me to feature a more targeted offer. If people are coming from an ad with the search term music lessons, it’s safe to assume that they are exploring their options rather than looking to commit to a specific provider.

I found the perfect one in a line at the end of the video, which mentioned touring the facility and meeting the instructors. It’s much easier to get a visitor to do that then sign up for lessons sight unseen.

Social proof callout

The offer wasn’t the only nugget I found buried in Music & Arts’s current material. Amid a long list of bullets was this statistic about providing over 1 million lessons! That’s the sort of social proof that builds credibility and helps you stand out from the competition.

As you can see, it makes an effective callout below the hero section. Not only does it provide a visual separation between sections, it provides the perfect transition to the next section with the line “See why so many people of all ages and skill levels choose the Lesson Studio at Music & Arts.”

Benefits and features

The hero area usually gets most of the focus. While there’s good reason for that, don’t underestimate how important this section on a landing page as well. Intriguing visitors into reading your page is only part of the job. If you want them to convert, you need to convince.

That’s what the features and benefits section is for. It’s you opportunity to back up your claims, demonstrate your value and highlight your differentiators.

The current page doesn’t do this as effectively as it could. There are several reasons for that.

First, the headings lack punch. Does seeing “Your Curriculum” fire you up so you can’t wait to read more? Me neither.

Next, nothing is really fleshed out here. It’s all just bullet points. Those are great for breaking up long text, but when the whole text is bullets, they lose their effect. And with that many, there’s nothing to focus on. What is really important to the reader?

Even worse, they lack context to make them meaningful. You can’t effectively communicate in bullet points alone. Don’t be afraid to use paragraphs, despite what you hear about nobody reading anything any more.

For the makeover, I chose to focus on just the most important selling points and back each up with supporting points that add credibility, context and interest. For example, the text under “Qualified music teachers” reads:

“If you’ve ever felt lost watching a music lesson on YouTube, you know the difference between mere instructing and true teaching. That’s why Music & Arts is chooses teachers carefully.

“All are university trained and provided with continuing education. And background checks ensure that high standards are met, so students have a safe and comfortable learning experience.”

Notice how the comparing it to YouTube lessons gives readers something they can picture and plays on the frustration of not being bale to understand the instructor?

Testimonials

Music & Arts did a good job including testimonials on the page. They are great for building credibility because it’s customers endorsing the company rather than the company making claims about itself.

That’s why I wanted them to stand out more in my makeover. Ideally it would have been great to include a headshot of the people who provided the quotes, but since I don’t have access to the information on these people, I chose to increase the text size and put them in a colored band.

You’ll also notice that I only used half of the testimonials. That’s because the other three are not from students or customers, but from instructors. Since the makeover is a dedicated landing page, I can make it more targeted.

Calls to action and form

The most obvious difference between the current page form and the makeover page form is the positioning. It’s toward the top of the page on the original and at the bottom of the makeover page.

There’s no right or wrong way to handle this. Many successful pages have the form visible above the fold. It does immediately let people know about the purpose of the page.

Ultimately, I decided to move it to the bottom because I wanted to keep the “what happens when you complete the form” copy in close proximity to the form itself. There simply wasn’t enough real estate for all that and the other elements I wanted to lead with.

It provides a nice close to the page as well., which the original doesn’t have. Even if I had left the form at the top, I would have included some call to action at the end.

Without the form at the top to let visitors know up front what they should do, I make sure to include a button which links to the form. In fact, I also included a button at the end of the features and benefits section. This reinforces the offer and makes it easy for visitors to take action.

I made this button blue rather that red to stand out. Since the color contrasts with everything else on the page, your eye is naturally drawn to it. The e-commerce part of the Music & Arts site uses this same color for buttons, so it still fits within the overall brand scheme.

I also wanted the form itself to stand out more, so I encapsulated it with a red boarder. The original blends into the page at first glance.

BEFORE

AFTER

The other thing I wanted to do with the form was reduce the number of fields. The more information you ask for, the more friction you create. Test after test has shown that as the number of fields goes up, conversion rates go down.

Instead of asking for both first and last names, I included a single name field. For this first step, that’s probably all you need. “Are these lessons for you?” is probably not needed either, since Music & Arts can easily ask that when they respond to the prospect. So that isn’t in the makeover form.

Assuming that their funnel includes both phone and email follow-ups, I left those fields. The ZIP code and area of study are also probably needed to match the prospect with the right Music & Arts location, so those fields stayed.

That left the reCaptcha field. The technology is at a point now where reCaptcha can detect suspected robots without requiring a field, so I got rid of that too.

We’re left with a more streamlined form that’s quicker and easier to complete.

My final change was to replace “submit now” with more descriptive button text. Submitting a form isn’t exciting, and it doesn’t give any clues about what will happen next. “Get started” fits the bill nicely.

A couple other notes

You may have noticed that I used a different video than the original page. I did this because the one in the makeover fits the messaging of that page a bit more closely. I didn’t produce this video, so I won’t write too much about it, but you can view them both and see for yourself.

On a desktop or laptop, there was an empty space after the copy next to the form. I added the arrow to fill that space as well as visually connect the copy to the form and draw added attention to it.

If you’d like help optimizing your pages for conversions, please contact me.

The post Landing Page Makeover: Music & Arts Lesson Studio appeared first on SEAN KIRBY.