What is a Landing Page?

In the world of Digital Marketing, there are many new marketing concepts that you may not have known before. In this article, you will find a complete explanation of landing pages, how they differ from homepages, types of landing pages, and why landing pages are essential for business. A little to get you more interested in this topic, developing a good landing page can help you to generate more leads and profit.

Let’s discuss in depth all things about Landing Pages one at a time.

 

 

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a standalone web page in digital marketing, made different from other web pages for a more focused needs. The intended goal is usually related to marketing or advertising. Usually, the landing page will be displayed when a user accesses the website through advertisements, either through paid searches on Google or advertisements revealed on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

As the landing page only focuses on one goal, it can be said to be a tool to follow-up to everything you create on the ad content. Landing Pages are Intermediaries that can convert visitors who come through advertisements to become your customers subsequently. A good landing page will help you convince potential customers to purchase or provide personal information in exchange for getting what you have to offer.

 

Landing Page Functions

What is the function of a landing page? There are two main parts to landing pages, namely:

• Leads. The first function of a landing page is to collect personal data from visitors who are considered potential customers, whom you expect to make purchases in the future.
• Transactions. The second function of a landing page is to boost transactions for purchasing products or services offered by a brand. Landing Pages are specially designed to minimize distraction from menus or navigation buttons to access other pages, in contrast to ordinary web pages, which generally have various menus and navigations.

 

With these functions, you can use more than one landing page at the same time. Based on the experience of several digital marketing experts, we recommend you to use more than one Landing Page at the same time where the content of each Leading Page targets different customers especially if you are a big brand which has a wide variety of products and services tailored to a broader target audience.

 

Some Examples of Landing Pages

To further clarify your understanding of what a landing page is and what it looks like, we present some examples of landing pages belonging to several well-known brands. Apart from being an illustration, the landing page examples you can use to design a landing page for your brand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Differences between Landing Page and Homepage

If you look at it with the naked eye, it’s pretty easy to spot the difference between a landing page and a homepage. However, showing the difference in terms of appearance between the Landing Page and Homepage will not make you understand the concept of why they created landing Pages. The distinction between landing page and Homepage narrows at their functions.

When creating a website, we certainly focus on specific goals to be achieved in the future. The focus is what distinguishes between the Landing Page and the Homepage. If the Homepage is made to explore the menus and features offered by a website, the Landing Page is designed explicitly for advertising campaigns, special offers, or inviting visitors to provide information through a Call-to-Action (CTA) button.

In short, landing pages are designed to convert ads into expected deals. That is why Landing Pages are very effective tool used for Digital Marketing purposes. Therefore, you should also create a Landing Page for business goals if you don’t want your brand to be left behind by potential customers.

For more details, let’s understand the unique features of the Homepage and Landing Page in the following points.

 

Homepage Characteristics

The Homepage has unique characteristics that distinguish it from a landing page, namely:

• Homepage, in general, is the prominent display of a website that users see;
• Homepage is usually the first page that a visitor sees when opens a website, either through search engine or by typing the URL of the website in the address bar;
• Displays menus and navigation buttons to essential pages on the website;
• It is a place for visitors to fully understand all the products or services offered by the brand.

 

Landing Page Characteristics

The Landing Page has characteristics that distinguish it from the Homepage or other pages of the website, namely:

• Is a standalone web page and has a particular function on the website;
• Encourage visitors to focus on one product or service offered by a brand and immediately make transactions on the website;
• Invite visitors who access the Landing Page to make specific desired actions, such as buying products or services, providing personal data by filling out forms, or studying the information provided by brands.

 

 

Types of Landing Pages

Based on the type, we have divided Landing Pages into two types according to their function. The first is the Lead Generation Landing Page or sometimes also known as the Lead Gen or Lead Capture Page. In comparison, the second one is the Click-Through Landing Page.

Here is the explanation of each Landing Page.

 

Lead Generation Landing Page

The Lead Generation Landing Page is a Landing Page whose primary function is to collect data from visitors who can become potential customers. Usually, the data collected is in the form of names and emails. The brand will use this personal data in maintaining relationships with potential customers.

Usually, brands will send various product promotion information, discounts, news content, and other information via email provided by visitors. Therefore brands must offer attractive offers for visitors who come so that they are willing to provide their data. In practice, Lead Gen is often used in B2B marketing models and high-cost brand-owned products or services.

In short, Lead Gen is directly related to the Leads function on the Landing Page.

 

Click-Through Landing Page

Meanwhile, a Click-Through Landing Page is a landing page whose primary function is to encourage visitors to make transactions on the brand’s website. The unique characteristic of a Click-Through Landing Page that you can easily observe is that it has a simple page display. The page usually only has one Call-To-Action button that says “Buy Now,” “Choose Now,” and the like.

The simple display and minimal navigation can reduce the possibility of visitors moving to other pages. In practice, Click-Through Landing Pages are widely used in B2C or e-commerce marketing models. In short, a Click-Through Landing Page is directly related to the Transaction function on the Landing Page.

Apart from Lead Generation Landing Pages and Click-Through Landing Pages, there are also several types of Landing Pages that you can find. They are Squeeze Page, Sales Page, Infomercial, Splash Page, Viral Landing Page, and Microsite. We will briefly explain the types of landing pages to increase your knowledge.

• Squeeze Pages. Similar to Lead Generation Landing Pages, we also use Squeeze Pages to collect user-owned data. However, unlike Lead-Gen, Squeeze Page is generally placed at the top of the brand’s sales funnel. The sole goal of a Squeeze Page is to collect emails belonging to visitors that you can add to the mailing list.

Squeeze Pages have unique characteristics. Namely, they have a short, clear appearance and minimum content. In addition, we should design the Call-to-Action Button as clearly as possible so that visitors do not hesitate to provide their data. Furthermore, the Squeeze Page must also offer a link that will take the visitor to the next step or the option to leave if the visitor does not want to continue.

• Sales Pages. Unlike the Squeeze Page, the Sales Page is usually placed at the bottom of the sales funnel and must convince visitors to make transactions. Creating a Sales Page is often considered the most difficult because you need to completely understand your customers’ needs, skills and expertise in design, communication tactics, and good selling practices.

Sales page length depends on the number of products or services your brand wants to sell and how many things you need to say to explain the benefits of that product or service to visitors. However, the ultimate goal of a Sales Page is to encourage visitors to press the Call-to-Action button and make a purchase.

• Infomercials. For the 90s generation, Infomercial will remind you of the late-night television commercials in those years. But who would have thought that nowadays, many brands have succeeded in incorporating Infomercial-style sales techniques into Digital Marketing? In contrast to a Lead-Gen or Squeeze Page, Infomercial invites your visitors to enjoy a long, complicated, and emotional story so that the people reading it will immerse themselves in the story and make them commit to a purchase transaction.
• Splash Page. Have you ever opened a website, and suddenly a pop-up appears covering the website’s content? That is what is called a Splash Page. Splash Page is a type of Landing Page with the most straightforward appearance.

Splash pages usually consist of only one or two images, tiny text but have an unmistakable message. Splash Page is not intended to collect visitor data but serves only to provide basic information to visitors before they access your brand website.

• Viral Landing Page. A Viral Landing Page is a type of Landing Page whose primary goal is to build brand awareness. Viral Landing Pages usually contain links to other brands’ websites, which are presented subtly and inconspicuously. The key to designing an excellent Viral Landing Page is to focus on informative or fun content for visitors.

That way, visitors who read the content are expected to share the Viral Landing Page page to visitors’ social media accounts. The content on the Viral Landing Page can be in the form of text, images, videos, or even games.

• Microsites. As the name suggests, Microsite is a miniature of a website. Microsites usually contain more than one page but are still categorized as landing pages because they have one specific goal: sales or product promotion efforts. Microsites are typically used side by side with online advertisements or advertisements displayed on electronic media such as television.

 

 

Why Use a Landing Page?

You have worked hard to build a brand and website to achieve your desired business goal, which is to make profit. Of course, you want your hard work to pay off right? Landing Page is a tool that you should use to help achieve this goal.

Landing Page is a form of marketing strategy that is effective in converting incoming visitors into customers. Landing pages can increase visitor traffic, improve SEO performance, and build your brand. But unfortunately, not all brands use landing pages as part of their marketing strategy.

Based on a study conducted by MarketingSherpa, only 68% of B2B companies use landing pages. In the same study, it is also known that 44% of ads belonging to B2B companies point to the brand’s Homepage, not to the Landing Page. The numbers above are pretty low if you look at the benefits of using a Landing Page.

If a landing page is significant and valuable for businesses, why don’t all brands use a landing page? According to HubSpot, there is a kind of stigma that landing pages are complicated to create and maintain. The assumption that landing pages are challenging to create and manage is wrong.

Landing pages invite potential customers to see the products or services offered by the brand and encourage them to make purchase transactions. It is an opportunity for brands to increase sales profits and build customer loyalty. Creating an effective landing page isn’t about getting a good look. It’s about delivering what the prospect is looking for.

So, the adage “Never Start a Marketing Campaign Without a Dedicated Landing Page” is true. Before you know what a good landing page looks like, we outline five reasons why you should use a landing page for business purposes. Here’s the explanation:

 

Increase Conversion Up To 80%

Based on a study conducted by EyeviewDigital, Landing Pages containing video content are proven to increase conversions by up to 80%. Not surprisingly, considering the landing page has a specific goal. So a landing page can increase conversions according to the target expected by a company brand, both to collect customer data and drive sales transactions.

 

Filtering Prospective Consumers

Let’s talk facts. Not all users click on ads, whether the ads are displayed through social media or paid search. Users who visit your brand’s landing page have two tendencies. The first is that they are interested in the product or service that your brand offers.

While the second is that they are visitors who are smart enough to access the ads that appear in front of them. So, indirectly you have filtered passive users and visitors who are not interested or even too lazy to visit your brand’s Landing Page. These visitors will be very inconvenient for your business because it makes it difficult for you to map the target audience correctly.

 

Boosting the Effectiveness of Paid Ads

As discussed above, 44% of paid advertisements belonging to B2B companies point to the Homepage, not the Landing Page. Ads with links that point to the landing page will boost the effectiveness of these ads. It would be a shame if a brand has spent so much money to place ads on social media and paid search but is not as effective in increasing conversions as expected.

 

Facilitate Visitor Tracking, Recording, and Analysis

When creating a landing page, you can put tools such as pixels or site counters to make it easier for you to get insights about visitors who come. Insights help present you with data about visitors, such as the number of visitors, duration of visits, origin of visitors, and many more. Analyzing this data and evaluating the ongoing business strategy to see if it is good enough or needs to be retargeted.

 

Build Credibility and Brand Awareness

You need to use a landing page to build credibility and awareness of your brand. Unsure how? You can put social proof or testimonials from customers who have bought and feel the benefits of the products or services you sell.

The existence of these testimonials will help you build brand credibility, especially if the products or services that your brand offers are of high quality. In short, as the number of visitors to your landing page increases, people will become more familiar with your brand. This means that landing pages can help you build brand awareness in the eyes of potential customers.

 

 

What is a Good Landing Page?

Once you know why you need to use a landing page, you also need to know what a good Landing Page is. Never use the Homepage as a Landing Page. It would be best to design something specific that makes visitors interested in what your brand has to offer for.

A good landing page has several characteristics, namely:

• Focus on content, not brands. Visitors who click on ads that lead to the landing page have a goal: to find out more about the product or service they are viewing. So focus on creating a landing page that can display the answer to visitors’ curiosity about the product or service. You do not have to explain in detail about your brand, its history, vision, or anything else.

Trust me, showing all the details about your brand will not give an excellent first impression to visitors. We are not saying that you do not need to write down brand information on a landing page at all. Write what is necessary, leave the rest to the Homepage to contain all information about your brand.

• Free from distraction. As already explained, avoid displaying too many menus and navigation that allow visitors to access other pages. The content on the landing page must have the ultimate goal of giving visitors what they want according to what the brand expects. Therefore, it is enough to provide one Call-to-Action button to convert visitors who access the Landing Page.
• It doesn’t look intimidating. Especially for those who create landing pages for leads, avoid landing pages that look intimidating to users. What does intimidating mean? Here is the thing, filling out long forms can be scary for visitors and potentially keep them from taking whatever you have to offer.

Keep the form as short as possible, or if not possible, break it down into steps. For example, a form to fill in your name and email address is in the first step. Followed by other personal information is in the next step.

• Have customer segmentation. For big brands with various products and their respective customer segments, you should create more than one landing page. Each Landing Page must contain content that is suitable for each customer segmentation. By targeting specific customers with customized landing page content, you are already nurturing potential customers in the future.
• Gather potential information. Still related to customer segmentation, you can use tools that can give your brand an insight of the visitor’s characteristics. Characteristics of visitors are not just names and emails but also the demographic data, duration of visits, why they clicked, and many more. You cannot get this data just by placing a form that visitors will fill out.

In other words, it is useless to collect information from visitors with the form if you cannot convert it properly to increase sales transactions.

• Provide special offers. Give special offers to products or services for visitors who come. Ensure you have conducted a survey beforehand about the product or service that will make up for a special offer. Make sure the product or service is what your prospect needs and is helpful for your business.
• Say thank you. You must follow up the landing page that you create with a thank-you pop-up for visitors. In addition to being polite, giving a thank you note will also convince visitors that they have completed the transaction that occurred on the landing page, whether it’s a purchase transaction or filling out a form. In short, never forget every detail of the experience that visitors will experience when accessing the Landing Page.
• Insert another link. As mentioned above, we don’t recommend putting too many menus and navigation on the landing page. But that doesn’t mean you cannot insert other links. Our advice it to let users know that your brand has another marketing media. You can do this by inserting a helpful link, such as a Social Media profile or the brand’s Official Store page on the Marketplace.

 

 

Summary

Landing Pages are tools we use as a digital marketing strategy to achieve the expected business goals. Landing Pages have characteristics that distinguish them from Homepage or other pages on a website. In practice, the landing page has two functions, namely Leads and Transactions.

The Different landing page functions, the different types of landing pages are needed. At the end of the day, using a landing page is highly recommended because it effectively converts visitors who come into customers. Hopefully, this article can answer your questions about Landing Pages and convince you to take advantage of using Landing Pages for business goals.

See you later!