If you’re selling products online, you’re going to need something important — compelling and converting product landing pages.
Landing pages are individual web pages used to introduce an offering and encourage the reader to take the next step toward acquiring that offering. Landing pages come in a variety of styles and lengths. There’s no perfect formula for creating a high-converting landing page. Success often depends on multiple factors such as audience, offer and funnels to product landing pages.
But even with no exact recipe for success, here are some best practices for using visuals and copy on landing pages to increase conversion rates and sell more products.
Related: How to sell stuff online — A comprehensive guide for eCommerce success
Use white space as a design element
Before we dive into talking about copy and graphics, let’s look at one of the most important elements on a product landing page — white space. White space is the empty gap between words, paragraphs, graphics, photos and buttons on a page.
This “non-design” design element is important to break up clutter and tell the eye where to go.
Use it to cut up page sections and big blocks of text to make landing pages more concise and clear.
Related: Quiz — Are you making these 15 website design mistakes?
Add lines and backgrounds to break up sections
Just as you should use white space to break up blocks of information on your product landing pages, use lines and backgrounds to do the same. Break up your content into sections and then use different color backgrounds and clean lines to divide areas and show sections as separate groups of ideas.
Stick to one core call-to-action
While creating a landing page, it may be tempting to use the content to tell the reader to do multiple things. You might want to encourage them to click to buy the product, but also to follow your brand on social media, get your free eBook, and contact your company.
Don’t do this.
Give one core purpose to each landing page, and guide readers to take that next step through clear calls-to-action (CTAs). Otherwise, you might confuse audiences about what to do next or guide them down another path that doesn’t lead to a purchase.
Draw attention to calls-to-action on a page
Once you identify the core call-to-action for a page, make it extremely clear to audiences. Use all of the copy and design elements to point to that call-to-action. Be straightforward in your copywriting, and directly tell audiences what they should do next (such as click, sign up, download, call, etc.).
If you have a lengthy product landing page, feature the call-to-action in multiple places and call attention to the CTA using colorful and large buttons and graphics that draw in the eye.
Put a call-to-action above the fold
When something on a website is “above the fold,” it’s visible before the user scrolls. Audiences can see it as soon as they land on the website.
Your core call-to-action should appear in this placement above the fold.
While you might need to use content on your landing page to convince audiences to take the next step and become a buyer, that doesn’t mean you can’t let them know what to do early on. Open your page by explaining what they need to do and use the rest of the copy to explain why.
Promote benefits over features
As you write sales copy for your product page, always keep the customer in mind. Don’t write copy that you think is important. Write copy that the customer will find useful. That means focusing on the benefits of a product rather than the features of a product.
While the features might seem important to you, the customer doesn’t care as much about the details of an item as they do about how it will help them.
Lead with benefits and then explain the features.
Add photos that show the product or service in use
When creating landing pages to sell online, add content that helps audiences visualize the use of the product or service. Include photos that show the offering in context. For example, show a customer using a physical product, or present a screenshot of software on a computer screen.
An image of a customer enjoying the product is more powerful than a basic photo of the product.
Also, seeing software on the screen rather than just a package with the name on the box helps a digital product seem more real and tangible.
Related: 15 tips to improve product images and boost online sales
Feature customer testimonials
When online shoppers are deciding whether or not to make a purchase, they often look to social proof or reviews to help them make their final decision. So an effective way to guide audiences to take the next step toward purchase is by showing customer testimonials or reviews on your product landing pages.
Include quotes of positive statements from previous customers, and use design elements that make the reviews stand out. When possible, include the name and photo of the customer, and add design elements around the testimonial to make it stand out.
Related: 5 ways to encourage your customers to leave reviews
Don’t forget about mobile
When designing product landing pages, you will more than likely be sitting behind a desktop computer. So it can be easy to focus on the layout and design for a desktop screen. But more often than not, users are viewing websites from mobile devices. They might not see the landing page the exact way you laid it out for a desktop view.
As you design a landing page, you must always think about the many versions of your site and design it so it looks good across a variety of screen sizes.
Take the next step to improve your product landing pages
Use these tips to create landing pages that get your message across and convince customers to take action and buy. But remember that your work doesn’t end once you create one landing page to promote your product. To get the most out of your product landing pages, take the next step toward improving your page.
Use A/B testing to try different versions of the page to see which is better at hooking and converting audiences.
This approach will help you continue to improve the copy and visuals on your page to create the most effective, highest converting product landing pages.
