Landing page trends are becoming more unique and innovative every day. Businesses and individuals alike are using their landing pages to customize their marketing messages to all kinds of different traffic sources and customers. But at the end of the day, every landing page has to have a few traits in common. One of the core traits is clear communication. If someone lands on a page, and all the scannable headlines, attractive imagery, and clever subheadings don’t communicate effectively and in very short order, the viewer is going to be left wondering why they’re even on the page in the first place.
First and foremost, we should be designing experiences that don’t confuse potential customers, but landing pages across the Internet do that very thing. What are people doing to make their information clearer and more direct? We’ve compiled a list of seven new trends in landing page design that are doing just that. They serve to present information to the customer in ways that are direct and succinct, without overwhelming the customer and pushing them away out of boredom or information overload. Let’s take a look at these trends right now, so you can implement them on your own pages.
1. The 2-step Opt-in/Signup
Process This trend has fixed a pretty big issue with landing pages. One-step sign up forms are the traditional way of getting people to create accounts. These are sign-up and opt-in forms that are immediately visible and prominent on the page. The problem is that people are pretty good at filtering out this kind of solicitation on the Internet. What usually ends up happening is that these visible forms send a message to the visitor that the page wants to take from them instead of give them something valuable, which drives them away.
The two-step signup form is different, because it requires that the visitor initiate the process. The signup form only appears when it is clicked on, at which point a form is brought up or a separate page is opened. This trend has been noted to create a 30% increase in conversion rate compared to the one-step method.
2. Retargeting ads
Customers may leave your page without converting, but that doesn’t mean the conversation is done with. Customers will remember your landing page, and good landing pages will get customers ready for future conversion opportunities. Retargeting ads fill this purpose. A retargeting ad is an ad that is displayed to your visitors after they leave your landing page, usually on some kind of social media platform like Facebook. While retargeting ads aren’t actually a part of the landing page, they will help you get those customers the landing page didn’t convert the first time around.
3. Exploit the Halo Effect
Showcasing your customers is an effective way to utilize the halo effect, and it’s a very popular trend on landing pages right now. So what is the halo effect? The halo effect is the bias that influences the way people view one another through the company they keep; good friends create good impressions. Let the visitor know that you have good friends by showing off the popular businesses that you partner with. If you’re in good company, you’re worth reading about.
4. Target the Deciders
Landing pages get a wide variety of visitors, but not every visitor you get is going to have the authority to make a purchasing decision. Good landing pages are recognizing this fact, and they’re incorporating language that speaks directly to managers and leaders. You’ll notice phrases that talk about enabling teams or employees, for instance. Dropbox is a good example of this, their page is full of language like “What can Dropbox for Business do for your team?” and “Employees will pick up Dropbox for Business in no time.” Speak to everybody with your landing page, but particularly those who have authority.
5. The WIIWRDIGM formula
This is a classic copy writing formula that’s popping up all over the place these days. It stands for “What Is It? What Result Does It Get Me?” Good landing pages are all answering these questions. This is a good template to follow if you want your visitors to sign up for a specific product or service. It’s very easy to use, and proven to be effective (if not difficult to pronounce).
6. Floating Nav Bars
Landing pages can be filled with information, which means that lots of scrolling can be involved. Floating navigation bars are the popular solution to the navigation problem for long landing pages. Floating nav bars are a navigation bar that remains visible at all times, no matter how far down a visitor scrolls down in the page. They often include links to highlights on that particular page. This helps visitors get to the various bits of information on the page quickly, eliminating the need for tedious scrolling. The easier pages are for visitors to use, the more likely they are to stay.
7. Mobile Friendly Landing Pages
Mobile devices account for over half of all Internet usage. Good landing pages are designed to accommodate this fact in the marketplace. Making a landing page mobile friendly is more than just a trend, it’s becoming an absolute necessity. The benefits to your visitors are obvious, but Google is throwing its hat in the ring as well. Mobile friendly websites will soon start receiving a rank boost in search results and a “mobile-friendly” badge. Mobile friendly landing pages are good for your visitors, and good for your rankings too.
Conclusion
A lot of these trending practices are well known best-practices that have been used by marketing professionals and copy writers for a very long time. Other trends are responses to the changing technological make-up of the market. The universal trend is a friendly and more effective use experience that recognizes the psychological and technological realities of the market. These trends are all worth keeping an eye on, and depending on the specifics of your page, many of them are worth implementation. What landing page trends are you noticing in 2015?
