What are the key elements of a landing page?
While every landing page is different, almost all will include four basic elements:
- Headline
- Hero image
- The offer
- Call to action (CTA)
If you look through the Leadpages template gallery, you’ll see that all of our designs include these essential features. You’ll also notice that some longer landing pages include additional elements, such as:
- Features and benefits
- Testimonials
- Your bio
- Refund policy or guarantee
- Frequently asked questions
These sections are often necessary for higher-priced or more complicated offers. However, if you’re promoting something free or relatively simple the original four elements will often do. You can always test a longer landing page against a shorter one to determine what converts best.
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What’s the anatomy of a high-converting landing page?
Okay, so now you know the basic elements of a landing page. But simply including these on your page won’t make it great. So, we’ve delved a little deeper and highlighted eight components that almost all high-converting pages have in common.
Here’s what your landing page needs to include if you want the best results.
Captivating headline
Your headline is the most important piece of copy on your landing page. On average, eight of ten visitors will read your headline, but only two will read the rest of the page. So, you need to make it count.
First off, your headline needs to align with the post, search listing, pop-up, or ad that’s sending readers there. If you promised something, make sure your headline makes it clear you’re going to deliver on that promise.
Next, you need to ensure your headline is clear and easy to understand. It’s great to be clever, but if your headline leaves the reader scratching their head it’s not going to be very effective.
Finally, it needs to be enticing. The main purpose of your headline is to hook readers and urge them to keep reading. Focus on the primary benefit of your product or service, or the problem that you’re going to help visitors solve, so they understand the value of your offer right away.
Here are a few headline formulas for you to try:
- How-to headline: This one is pretty straightforward. Is there a goal your readers want to achieve? Then start your landing page with “How to [their goal].”
- Pain point: Determine what problem visitors are experiencing and use that in your headline. For example, “Tired of [their problem]?”
- Value proposition: Instead of mentioning the problem, highlight the primary benefit they’ll enjoy if they take you up on your offer. For example, “Finally achieve [primary benefit].”
- Special offer: Are you advertising a sale or discount? In this case, it’s best to lead with that. “Get 50% off [your product or service]” isn’t an overly creative headline, but the big discount should get their attention.
Try a few different headlines to see which one results in more conversions.
Attention-grabbing hero image
Your copy isn’t the only thing that will persuade visitors to take action. High-quality images are equally important and work as a powerful sales tool when used properly. Studies show that colorful visuals improve readership by 80%, so it’s a good idea to always add some imagery to your copy.
The most important image is your hero image, which sits at the top of the page. This, along with your headline, is what will convince visitors to keep reading.
A good hero image is:
- High-resolution
- Vibrant/eye-catching
- Aligned with your headline
Remember, your hero image and headline work in tandem. A good strategy is to figure out your headline first and then find an image that reinforces that message.
Video
Images are great, but if you want to take things one step further you should consider using video as well. Including a video on your landing page has been shown to improve conversions by 86%.
Luckily, you don’t need to pay a production company a ton of money to produce a fancy video. A simple video of you, shot with your smartphone or webcam where you give a quick summary of your offer should suffice. If you’re not comfortable in front of the camera, a screen capture video where you walk through a presentation will also work.
The point is to give visitors who aren’t big readers another option. Some people might not want to read your landing page, but they will watch a short video, so this helps you get your offer in front of as many people as possible.
Intriguing offer
When it comes to the anatomy of a landing page, what’s often overlooked is the offer. Sure, you could have a tantalizing headline, amazing copy, and incredible visuals—but if your actual offer isn’t something your audience is interested in then your landing page will flop.
The best way to figure out what your audience wants is to listen to them. Read their comments, review industry forums, and reread any customer emails you’ve received. Are there any questions or issues that consistently come up? What are they struggling with?
If you can provide a product or service that offers a solution to their problems you’re sure to have a winner.
Here’s the thing: when you have a really great offer it sells itself. You’ll have a much easier time writing your copy when the value and benefits are obvious. So, do yourself a favor and come up with an offer your audience can’t refuse.
Benefit-rich copy and visuals
We’ve talked a lot about benefits so far, and there’s a reason for that—people want to know what’s in it for them. What problems are you going to solve? How are you going to improve their lives? Why should they give you their email address or payment details?
When describing your products and services it’s easy to focus too much on features. For example, if you offer photography services, one of your features would be photo editing. That’s great, but why should people want that?
Instead of just stating the feature, talk about it as a benefit. For example, “enhance your photo and capture the perfect lighting with professional photo editing.”
You can also use your imagery to reaffirm the benefits. Show people using and enjoying your products and services to make it easier for readers to imagine themselves in their place.
Positive testimonials
It doesn’t matter how much evidence you provide—readers will never trust you 100%. They know you’re trying to sell them something and will take everything you say with a grain of salt.
However, they will trust their peers. In fact, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. That’s why all of the most successful landing pages include positive testimonials.
If you have any reviews from past customers, make sure to sprinkle them throughout your landing page. Showing off social likes, awards, and the logos of companies who have previously hired you are other ways to build trust and provide social proof.
Prospects will always have objections about taking you up on your offer. Is it really worth that much? What if I don’t like it? Does it actually work? These are the questions that will likely be floating around in their mind as they scroll through your landing page—and they may end up being the reason they pass on your offer.
Instead of skirting around these questions, address them head-on. If you can anticipate the objections readers will have and show them why they don’t need to worry, you should increase your conversion rate.
One of the best ways to do this is to include a frequently asked questions section on your landing page. This way, you can bring up any questions visitors might be asking themselves and provide answers that will put their objections to rest.
A single powerful CTA
There's one last thing to consider in regard to the anatomy of a landing page: the CTA.
It’s tempting to use one page to promote several different offers. However, that kind of defeats the purpose of a landing page (to convince visitors to perform one specific action). The data also shows that this isn’t a great idea.
The average conversion rate for landing pages with one link is 13.5%. That drops to 11.9% when there are two to four links, and 10.5% when there are five or more. So, stick to one CTA to keep visitors focused on your goal.
Once you’ve narrowed down what action you want visitors to take, it’s time to come up with a powerful CTA that will drive conversions.
Your CTA should:
- Start with a command verb like “Download,” “Buy,” or “Subscribe.”
- Tell them what they will get if they take action (free ebook, SEO course, digital marketing newsletter, etc.).
- Use words like “Now” and “Today” to add a sense of urgency.
Using the advice above, some examples of strong CTAs are:
- Download your free ebook now.
- Buy this SEO course today.
- Subscribe to the digital marketing newsletter now.
Like other elements of your website, feel free to test a few different CTAs to see which one performs best.
Ready to build your own landing page?
Now that you know the anatomy of a landing page it’s time to put this knowledge to work. With Leadpages, you can build a high-converting landing page in a matter of hours—even if you don’t have any experience with coding or web design.
Try Leadpages free for 14 days and create your landing page today.
Try Leadpages free for 14 days
Easily create your website and landing pages with the only platform engineered by marketing nerds.
