Сreating a great landing page is not as easy as you may think. This is especially topical for the web design as the users tend to have their expectations from the technology increased. The rules in this industry are very dynamic, and you as a designer need to keep up with these adjustments.

As you’ve already understood, mobile landing page design is a very tricky piece of work. What is a landing page anyway?

A Landing Page: the Definition

First and foremost, this is the main page of the brand. In other words, it’s like a central station for the product or service that you sell that meets and greets the people who are interested in getting it. Typically, those are the people who find your webpage organically, that is, while googling the solution to their problem. Yes, these pages complement a marketing strategy, but they cannot be a whole marketing campaign whatsoever.

Homepages and landing pages don’t share the objective. Although both are used to boost the marketing campaign traffic via such indicator as attention ratio, this very index is different for each.

Attention Ratio: What and Why?

This is the term directly related to the kinds of web pages that we’re talking about. In simple words, it is the ratio of links on the page (that are technically referred to as the interaction points). Namely, a regular home page has a ratio 40:1, which means that from the 40 existing links, only one is the desired action. On the contrary, the landing page focuses on a very specific thing. Its ultimate purpose is to make the person take this one desired action. There are no other links, but one, and the attention ratio on the landing page is 1:1. Therefore, if the company’s marketing is wise, they will be making a separate super-focused landing page to every other campaign.

How Can You Use it as a Designer?

Alas, the current market is fierce. If some 10 years ago you could simply make a good-looking page and rest assured that the product will sell out, it won’t work now. As today users are looking for non usual, creative, but simultaneously simple and logical design.

One Word: CONVERSION

Something that the web developers, designers, and marketing professionals are passionate about. To understand why it’s so vital and what is conversion-centered design, let’s discover how it works.

In the contemporary environment, each web page that you create is seen as “an accountable content.” In other words, its contribution is measured in terms of the impact, purpose, and success that it brings as a viable element of a marketing strategy. If the page manages to convert those who opened your page by accident into those who’ll buy something from it, then it’s convertible, and vice versa.

Naturally, the conversion-centered landing page design is not the only thing that matters. Another critical element is the copy. It should be a quality and engaging peace, that’s for sure. However, even the most sparkling copy won’t help to keep the user focused or make them ignore a distracting or offensive look of the page.

While developing a top-notch convertible web page, it’s extremely important to follow a complex approach. Apply some basic psychology and a couple of design tricks.

Conversion-Centered Design: Top 7 Principles

The easiest way to increase conversion rates is to follow the principles of CCD. They combine the design tricks and some psychological elements: fairly simple but extremely effective at the same time.

#1: Encapsulation

You can influence the user’s concentration through creating the so-called tunnel vision effect. This principle will basically enable you to locate the focus on the main object of the page. For example, if you locate the call-to-action banner as a framed object in the distance, you can be sure that the user will see it. Think about a classic intro from James Bond movies where he’s placed in the center of the tunnel. This episode also illustrates the effectiveness of directional cues and contrast.

#2 Contrast and Color

These two attributes also have the power to influence the user’s perception. With the help of contrast, you can high-spot the elements that you want the person to notice first. To achieve the best effect, go for the monochrome combinations.

However, this principle should be used smartly. For example, white text on black background won’t work, whereas a bright color spot on a pale page will do the trick. Similarly, if the whole page is designed in a minimalist style, putting a massive black button can create a similar effect.

The color is another powerful instrument, with the help of which you’ll be able to create the specific emotional response from the users. Each particular generates a different feeling. Check out the following list.

Color-Emotion Associations:

• Black: heavy, serious, death
• White: pure, honest, clean
• Red: danger, negative, stop, excitement, hot
• Light Blue: cool, youthful, masculine
• Dark Blue: stable, trustworthy, mature, calm
• Green: organic, growth, comforting, positive, go
• Gray: neutral, integrity, cool, mature
• Brown: wholesome, unpretentious, organic
• Yellow: positive, emotional, caution
• Orange: positive, emotional, organic
• Gold: elegant, conservative, stable
• Metallics: elegant, wealthy, lasting
• Purple: youthful, royal, contemporary
• Pink: feminine, youthful, warm
• Pastels: soft, youthful, feminine, sensitive

Overall, the most important piece of advice related to this principle is the following: your major target for conversion must dominate.

#3: White Space

In CCD, it’s not always about the color. The blank (or white) space is the empty area that envelopes some important object. It’s a very strong tool that can emphasize the focal point of the landing page easily. This is a pretty cool instrument, and it can create a somewhat calming emotional effect.

#4 Directional Cues

In short, this principle presumes including the pathways, arrows, and other directional signs that guide user through the page. Obviously, with the help of this in-your-face method, you’ll make the user notice whatever it is that you need them to see. Such design tricks are very appropriate if you want to lead the visitors straight to the focal point of the page.

#5: Scarcity and Urgency

The psychological weapon that persuades the person to take action immediately. These are the “buy now” and “only X items left” banners. An extremely persuasive approach. The only advice is not to overuse it.

#6: Try Before You Buy

This is the principle that came from marketing. The point is to give the user a taste of what they’re about to purchase so that they could see that the product is worth spending. The examples of this principle in action are the items on preview, such as a “look inside” feature on Amazon.

#7: Social Proof

This principle is centered around the idea that the approval of the crowd prompts the person to take similar action. Namely, if everybody says that this product is awesome, you’ll be inclined to think so too. This particular feeling can be created by means of design. You can include the number of social shares of the number of purchased products to your landing page. In this way, you’ll trigger the “me too” factor. The publication of customer reviews has the same effect.

These little know-hows are all you need to enjoy the benefits of a conversion-centered landing page design. However, all your efforts can be in vain if you don’t know your clients.

How to Researching your Audience

Those involved in any kind of online business already know that the environment is strikingly competitive. It’s no easy task to attract a target audience, and it’s even more challenging to keep them. Hence, you really need to research the market in advance if you expect a high conversion.

Before launching any content marketing campaign, ask yourself this question: do you understand your audience?

There are numerous ways to determine the desires of your potential customers.

Predict their Needs

A portrait of a potential customer is very helpful. Having analyzed your target audience, you’ll be able to influence their behavior. The audience analysis is not space engineering. In effect, you’ll just need to follow the basic steps.

Find your Buyer Personas

This is a detailed portrait of the person that you’re going to target. The advantage of having this image in front of you is immense. Such info will enable you to align the marketing strategy with the needs of potential clients. To develop your buying persona:

• Envision the potential visitors. Who are these people? What is their age, gender? Where do they live? What device would they use to google your product?
• Envision their potential problems
• Find out more about their environment and background. The easiest way to get this info is through Google Analytics and similar tools. Also you can learn a lot from observing the behavior of your customers on social media.
• Directly ask your potential customers about their needs using surveys and questionnaires. Again, create pages on social media and communicate with your audience.

Another pleasant buyer persona related bonus is that you can actually generate new content ideas considering obtaining results. It is always a good idea to look at the most popular topics in Google Trends, and research the keywords via UberSuggest, WordTracker, or Google Keyword Planner. However, a profile of an ideal customer can give you so much more, and you won’t even need to mess around with analytics.

Each buyer persona profile must have a section of the key attributes – the major and very specific attributes that your perfect customer is likely to have. These can be the things they totally love or the things they absolutely hate. Just develop a content based on these characteristics!

Overall, the creation of a buyer persona is the key to feeling your audience. Analyze all the gathered info and integrate it into your marketing strategy via some good ideas of conversion design, and you’ll optimize your website instantly.

Watch your Traffic

The easiest way to determine what your visitors are looking for is by analyzing the traffic of your website. You’ll be able to use the most frequently searched queries that brought the people to your website as the indicators of their needs, and optimize your page accordingly. The best tools for monitoring your traffic are:

• GoogleAnalytics
• TagExplorer
• AlexaSiteInfo
• SimilarWeb
• SiteAnalyzer

It would also be a good idea to watch the average duration of sessions on your website. Generally, the site has around 15 sec to catch the attention of the visitor, and a conversion-focused design is one of the best tricks to keep the user on your page for as long as possible.

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