It always amazes me when someone tells me their landing pages isn’t converting the way they thought it would and when I ask, they tell me they’re not split testing. No matter how well your landing page is currently performing it can always be better. If you’re not getting a 100% response to your call to action, then here are some split testing tips to increase your landing page conversion rates.
Set up more than one landing page – The only way to test your landing page is to introduce a challenger. Set up two identical landing pages, and change something on one. Drive traffic to both pages to see which performs better then delete the lower performing page and start over testing your new page. Your goal is to keep refining your page until it converts every single time someone lands on it. And until you reach that goal, you need to keep testing and eliminating, testing and eliminating.
Limit your page to one call to action – Give the visitor too many choices and he’ll just choose to click away. Limit your page to one call to action and use split testing to see which one converts better.
Eliminate distractions – Eliminate distractions. That means get rid of links, get rid of banners, get rid of unnecessary images and text. You send people to a landing page to stress the importance of getting them to complete a desired action. If you want them to opt in for you list then tell them that, in as few words as possible, and don’t give them anything else to think about.
Stay above the fold – I saw someone talking about landing pages the other day and he had this really hot tip for changing the color of the scroll bar. Why bother? People do not scroll on landing pages. Say everything you have to say above the fold, get your button in above the fold, and that’s it. If they have to scroll to take action you might as well just leave your button off the page. Better yet, don’t even put the landing page up.
Test the source – Set up a split test for each traffic source you’re using, too. You might find that you’re paying a lot of money for a completely worthless segment of traffic.
Test the keywords – Again, if you’re using different keywords to drive your traffic, do more split testing to identify the most profitable keywords.
Identify your goals – If you don’t know exactly what you’re trying to achieve with your landing page then your readers won’t either. If your tests are all showing that your landing pages suck, maybe it’s because you’re not providing a clear call to action. Research your hot-button keywords and focus your content.
Change the font – Stay away from funky fonts. A lot of computers can’t read them anyway, but some of them are hard to read. Use standard fonts like Times Roman and Arial. Use at least a 12 point font for your basic text and I recently saw someone suggesting 14 or 16 point. So definitely – stay away from teeny, tiny print.
Change the font and background colors – Maybe it’s not what you’re saying, it might just be the color of your page. Try changing your background color. Direct response advertisers suggest that blue and yellow are the best color combination. Blue instills trust in your reader and yellow puts them in a happy, sunny mood – all the better to click the button!
You’ll see a lot of landing pages with red headlines, too. I’d be careful here. The color red puts the reader on alert and makes them think ‘Danger’. Instead try using maroon or even orange. Orange makes readers feel happy and sunny and it’s actually the best color to use for your button.
Offer a guarantee – Try including a satisfaction guarantee to increase your landing page conversion rates. A lot of people are still hesitant to divulge personal information like their name or email address over the Internet. And they’re even more afraid of getting stiffed when they make a purchase.
Show your contact information – Some advertisers, Google and Facebook included, won’t even let you send traffic to a landing page unless it includes your contact information. It lets your visitor know you’re a real person and the can contact you if they have a problem. That little extra trust boost might be all you need to increase your conversion rate.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments below!