A well-designed and laser-focused landing page can make a huge difference to your online marketing strategy. The key to creating landing pages that convert is a smooth and engaging user experience. The more engaging and efficient the journey from ad to checkout, the higher your conversion rate, and the more sales you will make. Clicks cost money, so you want to generate as many sales as possible from your ad spend.
Optimising your landing pages into sales generating marketing assets takes web design skills and lots of testing. The following tips are a good start to boost your conversions, but testing is what will make or break your landing pages.
1. High-Quality Product Images
The product image is the most crucial element of your ecommerce landing page. You must invest in high-quality images of your products. Professional lighting and equipment are essential, but you need to go beyond merely creating ‘nice looking’ images.
Add a dynamic edge to your images and encourage users to commit to a purchase by showing your products in action. The more dynamic and appealing your ecommerce product photos, the better a user can see the benefits your product will bring in real life.
2. Social Proof
Studies show that nearly half of online shoppers will leave a website and go back to the search results if an ecommerce website is lacking sufficient product reviews. Providing the user with social proof is essential for your ecommerce landing pages - 97% of customers look at product reviews before making a purchase.
You want your landing page visitors to focus on converting, not looking elsewhere for social proof. By incorporating reviews into your landing page, you also have more control over the opinions that users will read.
3. User-Generated Content (UGC)
According to Magicdust Websites encouraging customers to submit images and videos of them using your products is an excellent tactic for compiling UGC for your ecommerce landing pages. UGC shows users a real-world example of your product in action, but it also brings a personal feel to your business - instead of a faceless ecommerce website.
With the growth of Instagram over the last few years, UGC campaigns have become more widespread and are no longer limited to major brands. While convincing your users to submit UGC can be a challenge, you can rewarding customers that take part with exclusive discounts and promotions.
4. Urgency
Incorporating urgency into your ecommerce landing page copy is a powerful technique for driving conversions. Direct and action-focused copy can create a sense of urgency that encourages users to convert, but you can also use other ecommerce web design elements:
● Urgent CTAs
● Limited time offers
● Remaining stock levels
Don’t damage your brand by misleading customers - it’s vital to remain transparent. However, if you do have limited stock of an item, a live countdown can create a sense of urgency can encourage users to convert.
5. Benefit-Focused Copy
Feature-driven copy covers the basics of your product - the “what.” But if you want to inspire visitors to commit to a purchase, you need to go beyond the features and illustrate the benefits they will gain from your product - the “why.”
Benefit focused copy gets down to the value that your product provides. For example, let’s say that you sell blenders through your eCommerce store. Feature focused copy might be something like, “blend fruit into smoothies.” It describes the function of the product, but doesn’t differentiate your product from competitors or highlight its benefits. Benefits focused copy could include:
● Removable base for easy cleaning.
● Easy pour design to minimize mess and spillage.
● Titanium blades to ensure fine chopping of even the toughest fruits.
These examples all highlight the benefits the user will gain through purchasing the blender. People buy products because they help them achieve a goal or solve a problem. Make sure your ecommerce landing page copy highlights the value and benefits your product offers.
6. Clear & Compelling CTAs
A tried and tested ecommerce landing page best practice is to place your CTA where it’s going to gain the most attention - above the fold. However, when your landing page is a product page, the danger is that all your product information and pictures can create a convoluted and “busy” page.
Your CTA is a vital element of your landing page, directing and encouraging users to take the next step. However, an ecommerce landing page with lots of information requires the user to scroll down below the fold. If that’s the case, you want to make your CTA button sticky so that it remains visible no matter where the user is on the page. A sticky CTA button helps keep conversion in the mind of your visitors as they explore your product information.
7. Clear Shipping Fees
Being transparent about your product information and shipping costs is essential. A recent study revealed that 58% of ecommerce shoppers cited unexpected shipping costs as their reason for abandoning an online purchase.
Most ecommerce shoppers have estimated costs as they proceed to the checkout - any unexpected costs are jarring at best, and can derail a sale at worst. Being honest and upfront about your fees helps to build trust, convert new leads, and retain existing customers.
8. Exit Intent Popups
The above tips are focused on converting users and making the path to purchase as smooth as possible. So, what if your users are still leaving without making a purchase. You can take a more robust approach by implementing an exit-intent popup.
When a user clicks to leave your ecommerce website, an exit-intent popup prompts the user to proceed to the checkout with any items they have selected but are yet to purchase. While most users that abandon a purchase will have a reason, some may have just forgotten to finish the checkout process. Exit-intent popups remind users that may have forgotten, but also nudge those users that are debating whether to follow through and convert.
You can also create exit surveys to gain insights into why your users are leaving. This information can be used to improve your landing pages and inform future design choices.
9. Enable Social Login
When the average internet user has 130 accounts, the last thing your customers want is to come up with another new password. Implementing social login allows users to purchase products through their social profile. Optimising your conversion rate is about making the path to purchase smoother; social login does this by enabling users to proceed with a single click - no password is needed.
10. Remarketing
While not technically a landing page tactic, remarketing targets users that have already left your ecommerce website. When a user visits your website, a tracking cookie follows the products that the user views. After they leave your site, the user is shown personalized ads based on the information from the tracking cookie.
● Retargeting ads convert 10x higher than regular display ads.
● Retargeting ads receive 76% more clicks than regular display ads.
If you implement retargeting for your ecommerce product landing pages, you can target ads to the users that have already shown an interest in your products.
Conclusion
While product pages are still the norm, ecommerce landing pages have grown in popularity over the last few years. With consumers demanding more and more information, product pages can become convoluted with images and text. Product landing pages make the user experience much smoother and appealing to customers.
Follow the above tips to create landing pages that drive conversions and generate sales. However, as with all of your marketing efforts, testing is critical to achieving positive ROI. Follow the above best practices, but keep testing to ensure your ecommerce landing pages are converting casual browsers into paying customers. And for further reading and support check out this great Ecommerce Solutions Checklist.