Optimizing Your Landing Page Copy for Maximum Conversions

Your landing pages are the most important pages on your website. These pages are where casual users take the next step down your marketing funnel or become customers. It’s critical that you optimize your landing page copy for conversions.

Fortunately, landing page copywriting is learnable. As digital marketing guru Neil Patel puts it, conversion copywriting is “only partly skill. The rest is just technique — technique that you can learn and master. You — yes, you! — can unleash the same wizard-like conversion copy powers, as long as you understand the techniques that are at play.”

In this article, we’d like to show you some ways to tighten and improve your landing page copy.

7 Steps to Optimize Your Landing Page Copy

The goal of landing page copy is to anticipate what your prospects need to make a purchasing decision and give it to them. You simply have to show them something they want and then clear away their objections. Follow these steps to create better copy that drives more conversions.

Step 1: Focus on the Benefits, not the Features

This is a timeless piece of copywriting advice, but it’s absolutely critical when you want your reader to take action.

People don’t really care about your product or service. The size of your product or the materials it’s made from don’t really matter. How quickly you deliver doesn’t really matter. Those are just means to an end for your customer.

What they really care about – the end – are the benefits they receive by using your product or service. They want to know how their lives will be different after working with you.

Take a look at this example from Unbounce. They promote the benefits of their product in a few ways:

• “Without IT” – Simple and no need for developers.
• “High converting” (button) – Obviously the reader wants more conversions.
• “Doubled and tripled conversion rates” – More language about higher conversions.
• “Ship without engineers” – More language about not needing technical people.

Here’s another great example from Evernote. Notice how they explain the benefits of their product in one succinct sentence.

If your copy pitches the solution you provide, you’re not answering their questions and alleviating their fears. You have to mention your solution so the reader knows they’re in the right place, but focus on how you can make their lives better.

Step 2: Craft a Compelling Headline

Even if you write the best copy in the world, most of your readers will barely read it. 79% of users scan new web pages briefly before making a decision to move on or back.

However, nearly all of your readers will read your headline. If you satisfy them with your headline, there’s a good chance they’ll read the rest of the page.

Your headline should be…

• Clear – Skip the fancy metaphors, clever language, and humor. Get right to the point so the visitor understands exactly what your page is about.
• Relevant – The headline should relate closely to however the visitor found the page. If they clicked a “free trial” ad on Facebook, the landing page should reference a free trial.
• Empathic – Connect with the visitors’ problems right away. You don’t have to solve their problems in the headline, just make the reader aware that you understand those problems.

Your headline should be ten to fifteen words. Any less and they won’t get enough information. Any more and you’ll overwhelm them.

Make your headline the biggest element on the page so it can’t be missed. Place it at the top center of the page, or aligned to one side just above your supporting copy, but still at the same height as you form.

Step 3: Organize Copy Into a Simple Format

Like we said before, users rarely read every word on the page. That’s especially true if your copy is long, dense, and overwhelming.

Instead of throwing difficult paragraphs at your readers, organize your copy into a scannable format that lets them consume it quickly. If readers notice they can skim your content quickly, they’ll be more likely to read it fully.

How do you make your copy skimmable?

• Follow your headline with a subheading that gives important information.
• Use bullet points to break out the main benefits of your product or service.
• Use relevant pictures, not just stock photos that look pretty.
• Make your call to action obvious so they understand the next step.
• If you need paragraphs of copy, break them up with section headers.

Step 4: Use Simple, Straightforward Language

Unless you’re selling to a super niche group of highly technical people, there’s never any reason to use complex language in your landing page copy. It’s always better to be simple, clear, and concise.

Avoid jargon and meaningless marketing words wherever possible. People groan when they read a bunch of cliches that over-inflate your topic.

One way to craft simple copy is to stop thinking of it like copywriting. You aren’t marketing a product or service, you’re having a conversation with a friend. Write like a human. Here are some tips:

• Don’t be afraid to bend (or break) grammar rules.
• Keep your sentences short with no more than two clauses.
• Use the first person perspective.
• Limit yourself to words you would say in a conversation.
• Read your copy aloud. If it sounds silly, rewrite it.
• Vary and randomize your sentence lengths.
• Use expressions you would pepper into normal conversation, like “Wow,” “You know?” or “Yeah…”

Furthermore, make sure you don’t use words or phrases your audience doesn’t understand before you explain them. For instance, this iBoske landing page uses a confusing headline because readers may not know what a “decision tree” is or why they need one.

Step 5: Use Numbers and Data to Make Your Points

Which one of these statements is more compelling?

• “If you work with us, your sales will explode!”
• “Our customers see a 45.4% increase in sales in the first 60 days.”

Obviously the second statement is better because it’s believable. It sounds like someone actually measured their effectiveness rather than spitting out a vague sales pitch.

Include data and metrics throughout your copy to support your points. This helps your readers put your results in their own context. For instance, if you claimed to help your customers get 100 leads in the first year, the reader would do quick math in their head to calculate what 100 leads means for their business.

Use specific numbers wherever possible. “2,834” sounds better than “thousands.” “67 days” sounds better than “under three months.”

Step 6: Use Your Customers Own Words

Actual words from your customers are powerful tools to improve your landing page copy. Why? Because the source (other customers) is more reliable. Your readers know you’ll praise your own products and services, but praise from other customers adds a lot more weight.

This landing page smartly uses a customer’s words as the headline in addition to a picture of the customer to drive the point home.

Freshdesk doesn’t make their testimonial the focus of the page, but it’s used nicely in a supportive way.

Step 7: Experiment with New Ideas and Test Your Copy

Your final step to optimize landing copy is arguably the most important.

We’ve given you a number of best practices when it comes to landing page copy, but you should never rely on them. Every customer base is different. What works for one group may backfire when applied to another group.

To create the best landing page copy, it’s important to experiment with new ideas and test your results. This is the only way to know what kind of writing improves your conversion rate.

A/B testing is the practice of sending portions of your traffic to different versions of your landing page. Each version would have one difference. Whichever version converts is the winner and should get all of your traffic. Then you test another variable.

Here are WordPress plugins that will help you A/B test your pages:

• OptinMonster
• The Simple Page Tester
• Visual Website Optimizer

Test every bit of your landing page copy, like your headline, subheading, benefits list, button copy, form labels, etc. Your conversions won’t explode right away, but over time you should be able to meticulously increase your conversion rate.

Establish Your Landing Page Copy First

Your copy comes first. Decide what you want to say before you worry about color schemes, layouts, or images. Once you understand what you want to say, you can create a page design to present your message visually. We hope these optimization tips for your landing page copy help you boost conversions and ultimately your sales.