Creating leads and generating traffic are challenges often faced within SaaS business management. There are several marketing techniques that can be used to try and reach out to interested parties and encourage web users to click on links and visit sites, but there are few more effective than landing pages. If you’re looking to generate more leads, improve sign-up rates and ensure more people visit your website and consume the content you share, here is a useful guide to landing pages.
What are landing pages?
Landing pages are pages that web users land on when carrying out a specific search and clicking on a link or following up on an advert or a call to action in an email or social media post. Rather than going to a page via the homepage, you can take your customers straight to the content or promotion they’re searching for. Effective landing pages can play a crucial role in increasing conversion rates, improving user experience and generating new leads.
How to use landing pages effectively
Writing some content and adding an image or two or a video clip won’t cut the mustard when trying to produce landing pages that will really set your SaaS company alight. There are several key factors to bear in mind when it comes to designing your landing page and optimising the content.
Creating landing pages: Best practice guidelines for sign-up optimisation
Before you even start to think about how you’re going to ensure your landing pages are visible and accessible, the primary aim is to get the page right. To do this, you need to make sure your landing page provides the right kind of information, it caters for the right customers, and it has a clear call to action.
Here are some best practice guidelines to help you get the best out of each and every landing page:
Understand your potential customer: every page you design should have an ideal reader, buyer or subscriber in mind. Create an ideal buyer persona and gather information about that target client to shape the way you put the page together. Carry out market research, take a look at what other SaaS companies are doing and make sure the layout, the theme and the content are relevant to your product, but also your ideal buyer.
Generate interest and intrigue with snappy titles: web users are often in a rush, and they don’t have the time or the inclination to search for hours or click on several links trying to find the best answer. If they have a query or they’re looking for a service or a product, they’ll usually opt for results that appear towards the top of the page and titles that are most appealing. Kissmetrics research suggests that you have a maximum of 8 seconds to create the right impression. Your titles should be succinct, focused and informative, and they should highlight the benefit of clicking on the link to the web user.
Make landing page contact digestible and don’t waffle: when you’re scanning the Internet looking for a product or a subscription service, you want to find answers quickly and understand exactly what you can expect if you choose to sign-up, subscribe or add an item to your cart. Make sure your landing page content is digestible, break up written text with bullet points, diagrams, images, videos and text boxes, and provide essential information at the top of the page.
Include a clear call to action: when you create landing pages, you have a goal in mind and you should make it as easy as possible for every prospective customer to help you hit that target. If you want people to sign up for a subscription or join the email mailing list, for example, include a box or a form towards the top of the page, and make sure the CTA stands out. Keep reminding the customer as they move down the page, but don’t bombard them with offers. Your landing page should focus on one main target.
Answer questions: most people who are looking for a service or a product are likely to have questions or queries they would like answered before they sign up, register or make a purchase. Your landing page should provide information linked to the kinds of questions prospects may have, and it’s a good idea to use customer feedback to update your page regularly to make sure this is the case. As well as providing useful content, it’s also a great idea to include an FAQ section. You could also improve customer service with live chat and online enquiry features.
Add social proof: a Neilsen report suggests that over 70% of us trust reviews from people we’ve never even met before, and rates soar when related to recommendations from friends and family. If you’re offering a free trial or encouraging somebody to sign up to use an app, adding a section that includes testimonials, user comments, reviews and case studies is an excellent idea.
Getting your landing pages noticed
Unfortunately for SaaS companies, it’s not enough to have a raft of beautifully-constructed, informative, enthralling landing pages. The next step is to make sure that your hard work pays off and you take advantage of the growth of the subscription economy and the popularity of search engines. There’s no point in having incredible pages if nobody can find them. This is where optimisation comes in.
If you’re struggling to attract attention, and you’re keen to drive more traffic to your landing pages, here are some tips:
Ensure your landing pages are SEO-friendly: SEO can be a hugely effective marketing technique for SaaS businesses looking to draw more people to their website. The content on your landing pages should be geared towards search engine optimisation. Use keywords in your titles and URL links, search for popular longtail search terms and phrases to add and encourage users to share your content. Search engines often rate pages that are shared frequently highly.
Go mobile: more and more people are using smartphones and mobile devices to surf the web, so make sure your landing pages are mobile-friendly. You don’t want to lose a potential lead because your images won’t load or the page isn’t responsive.
Go for the kill with the title and meta description: even if your search engine ranking is high, a drab, vague title could still let you down. Imagine you’re a customer faced with a list of links and headlines. What kind of offering is going to tempt you to click? Bear your target market and the type of offer or service you’re selling in mind before deciding on a winner. Once you’ve chosen a fantastic title, make the most of your meta description. Use this opportunity to tell people more and sell the benefits of following that link.
Go forth and land more sales
Effective landing pages can go a long way when it comes to increasing sign-up rates and generating and converting leads. The key to success lies in creating pages that serve a purpose, showcase your service and the offers you’re promoting and appeal to your ideal buyer. Using best practice guidelines, like those outlined in this guide, you can use landing pages to create a buzz around your SaaS company, outshine rivals, increase traffic and achieve your sales and subscription objectives.