Ecommerce Landing Pages: What They Are & How to Do Them Right

Even if you have just begun your ecommerce venture, you have probably heard the term “landing page.”  On the surface, there is not much mystery about landing pages. But what is it, exactly?

What Is a Landing Page?

A landing page is simply the page where a website visitor lands after conducting a search or clicking on a hyperlink. It could be your site’s home page or a product-specific page. The goal of a landing page, wherever it is located within your site, is to get the visitor to take some type of action.

Of course, it’s somewhat more complicated than this.  For example, a home page does not really work as a landing page because it is more general, providing an overview of your company.

Two Main Types of Landing Pages for Ecommerce

There are several types of true landing pages. The most common are click-through landing pages and lead-generation landing pages:

• A click-through landing page describes a product or service to the degree that the potential customer will click on the link that leads them to the purchase form, more detailed product description or a free offer that could be a newsletter, a welcome gift or sale information.

• A lead-generation landing page has a different, immediate goal: to obtain the customer’s contact information to conduct additional marketing to that customer in the future. The desired action with a lead-generation page is to encourage the customer to leave that contact information rather than make a purchase right away.

Relevance Is Key to a Successful Landing Page

Site visitors are more likely to take action after clicking on an ad for a specific product if they land on a page that provides detail and great photos about that product. Landing pages usually have much higher rates of conversion than home pages or even broad category pages because they focus on one thing. For instance, a page promoting antique beer trays converts much better than either a page promoting antiques or beer trays.

In short, the more relevant the page is to the ad or anchor link, the more likely that the potential customer will remain engaged.

Other Factors to Consider When Developing Landing Pages

Relevance is critical, but it is not the only component of a successful landing page. Pay attention to the following items when developing landing pages:

• Make sure the design is consistent with the rest of the website.
• Write the copy and the call to action using the same format and tone as the rest of the site.
• Make sure the landing page call to action message is similar to the headline on the ad.
• Make it easy for visitors to obtain needed information and take the action you want them to take.

You should understand a few technical matters as well:

• There should be very few links on a landing page so that the visitor’s only option is to click on the action item.
• Make sure the landing page works on a mobile device.

And it should go without saying that you need to test your page once it is live to ensure that it is doing the job you want it to do.

You Are Not Alone When It Comes to Landing Pages

You don’t have to design, write and test a landing page for your ecommerce business by yourself.  Take advantage of an experienced web marketing service provider and get the help you need to create the most effective landing page possible to meet your desired goals.