Landing pages are key elements of effective inbound marketing strategies. They are effective lead-capture tools that can help businesses expand their online presence and create targeted content funnels for key audiences.
The primary focus of an effective landing page is to drive your visitors closer to action. There are a couple of best practices for landing page creation that differ from website design, and it’s important to know which strategies work best before jumping in. Here’s how you can create the perfect landing page for your software to increase downloads and generate leads.
Why should you have a landing page for your software?
While site visitors at the top of your marketing funnel will visit your website seeking information about a product or company, others that are farther down the funnel may be ready for a more tailored experience that drives action. This is where a landing page comes in!
A landing page is a web page that users arrive at after clicking on a link from an advertisement, email, social media post, or other online sources.
It is designed to capture the user’s attention and encourage them to take a specific action, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading a document, or making a purchase. Because of this, landing pages generally rely on hyper-specific content that serves one purpose. Websites and microsites, on the other hand, may include multiple subpages or a broader range of information for users to explore.
Landing pages often contain succinct, attention-grabbing headlines and brief descriptions of an offer, as well as a contact form that is used to capture potential leads. Landing pages are often used in conjunction with online advertising campaigns as a way to measure the efficacy of inbound marketing campaigns.
A landing page is integral to marketing your software
Landing pages are an important part of any online marketing strategy. They are highly effective conversion tools that often emphasize a unique selling point, value proposition, and strong calls to action.
These elements can help with marketing efforts by providing a place for potential users to find themselves one step closer to investing in your software. These stand-alone web destinations are also especially useful marketing tools because they return focused insights and analytics.
This makes it easy to track and measure the effectiveness of different branches of your marketing efforts, like determining which CTAs are most effective for which users.
While the goal ultimately is to promote sales and downloads of your software, landing pages provide additional opportunities to drive user activity in the form of lead capture. You can use your landing page to offer something of value in exchange for contact information, creating a base for mailing lists and other inbound and outbound marketing opportunities.
A landing page can focus on a specific audience
Landing pages lend themselves to more flexibility than traditional websites regarding style, format, and content. While a main webpage may adhere to specific branding and marketing efforts that are crafted to appeal to a range of audiences, landing pages can leverage unique content experiences for specific audiences.
This is especially helpful when designing with different demographics in mind. For example, you may choose to highlight specific case studies in some landing pages that are used to target one user over another, or you may choose to design your landing pages to attract different audiences!
The more tailored a visitor’s experience, the better. Targeting your landing pages can boost your conversion rates by as much as 300%!
A landing page can promote targeted offers
Did you know that targeted offers can impact 78% of people’s decisions to take action or purchase a product?
Targeted offers “cut to the chase”, and they allow you to provide content that you know specific audiences want to see as they make decisions about what action to take. This increases conversion rates, selling your software more efficiently than non-targeted efforts.
A landing page makes it easy to couple targeted offers with organic content. This includes promoting special offers alongside CTAs, whitepapers, case studies, etc. While targeted offers may come across as aggressive and “salesy” in traditional website content, they are perfect for landing pages that your already interested leads are visiting. This is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of their expressed interest!
How to build the perfect software landing page
Pick an offer that’s relevant to your target market
The first, and most important, step in building an effective landing page is to choose an offer that’s relevant to your target market.
Determining the right offer for your target audience shouldn’t be based on guesswork. The more tailored the offer is for your target audience, the more likely they will be to take action. Start by considering and defining who your target audience is.
You may have more than one, and that’s okay! In that case, it would be wise to consider if they share commonalities, and if not, to create a unique landing page and special offer for each profile. Ask yourself some of these questions to help determine what sort of offer will be most relevant and useful to your target audience:
- What problems or barriers is your target audience facing when selecting a software solution? What would help them solve those problems?
- What unique qualities can you highlight in a trial or use to generate interest?
- What incentives is your target audience most interested in, convenience, cost, etc.?
Answering these questions will help you come up with an offer that appeals to your target market and compels them to take action.
Keep your copy short and sweet
With a special offer in tow, you can start to craft, copy, and write content for your landing page.
When it comes to copywriting, less is almost always more. Try to keep your copy short, sweet, and to the point. The more focused it is, the better! Only 16% of web users read copy word-for-word, so it should be skimmable and pack a punch.
Strive to highlight relevant features with strong language that is engaging, and don’t forget to sprinkle in the perfect CTAs that direct their next actionable step.
Use visuals to improve conversions
Visual elements are a crucial part of creating an engaging landing page. While traditional websites may rely on more text-heavy elements, a landing page can capitalize on multimedia strategies.
Images and videos can be powerful parts of your content strategy. More than 70% of consumers prefer videos to text-based marketing! Adding compelling visuals will make your landing page more eye-catching and persuade people to take action.
Be sure that your images are carefully selected and are consistent with your design and software branding. A cluttered landing page can have the opposite effect of one that relies on clean, simple, and relevant media.
You can also use A/B testing to experiment with different types of content to see which ones have the most significant impact on conversions.
Use a strong call-to-action (CTA)
Don’t forget about your call-to-action (CTA)!
Your CTA should tell visitors exactly what you want them to do next— whether that’s signing up for a free trial or downloading a whitepaper related to your software. It should be impossible to miss (think: big font size, bright colors).
Placing your CTA above the fold—the part of the page someone sees when they first land on it—is considered best practice because it ensures that visitors will see it immediately.
Other strategies work here, too. Placing your CTA in blank spaces that make them more visible, using a CTA button that looks like an actual clickable button rather than hyperlinks, and using directional imagery are all other strategies that can boost conversion rates.
Every landing page is different—so make sure you test different placements for your CTA before settling on one spot.
Want to create a mini website to promote your software? Build a microsite with Zoomforth!
Not sure that a landing page is a robust enough solution to market your software? Try a microsite! Microsites offer the breadth to include subpages that may not otherwise make it into a narrowed landing page. They also feature the same insight and analytics toolkits that come with websites, so that you can dive deep into the efficacy of your software campaign strategies.
Security features and custom-built templates make it possible to tailor your microsite content to be as personalized as you want it to be. Best of all? They are as easy to build as a standard landing page!
Try a demo today and see if a microsite is a right fit for your software.
Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash