If you aren’t using landing pages, you’re losing customers. As an e-commerce entrepreneur, getting the word out thereabout your store is always the top priority. But how are your Facebook Ads and social media strategies guiding customers down your sales funnel?

A simple redirect to your home page doesn’t work as well as you might think. It can feel impersonal, overwhelming, and ultimately, too much effort for someone who clicked an ad for a specific reason.

Think of it this way: When you see an ad for a particular product, your eyes are drawn to it, and you click to learn more. You can either:

●     Wind up on an unrelated home page, and be forced to search the entire site for the product in question.

●     Land on a customized page with all the information, details, and next steps you need.

Which experience would you prefer?

If you’re like us, then option B sounded pretty great. And that’s what landing pages are all about. A lot of brands (and some marketers!) confuse landing pages with web pages, service pages, and even product pages, but they’re something entirely unique.

Let’s dive into why you should use landing pages, so you can start lowering your CPA while driving conversions higher.

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What is a landing page?

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A landing page is a standalone page on your website that has a specific purpose. It aligns clearly with a specific marketing campaign, rather than offering generalized information to your audience.

Landing pages are crafted to achieve a specific goal, so they correspond with particular ads you run elsewhere, likeFacebook or Instagram. Rather than simply click through to your site, curious visitors “land” on a particular page designed to engage and, hopefully, convert them.

Conversions can vary on landing pages, however. You usually aren’t trying to make a definitive sale at that moment.Instead, you’re likely inspiring them to provide you with contact information to learn more about your products or services.

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Can’t any page be a landing page?

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Technically speaking, yes, you can direct anyone to a page on your site, and they’ll “land” on it after clicking through.But what then?

Landing pages answer the “what next” for visitors. Instead of simply getting them to your site and hoping they take action, good landing pages guide them to your desired outcome.

The truth is that home pages and product category pages have a ton of information that’s already primed to be landing page material.

To really drive conversions, however, you need to take only the most relevant details and place them on their own page. This single action can completely alter the way people engage with your brand and how many visitors become leads.

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Why a Home Page Isn’t a Landing Page

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The biggest mistake brands make when running their ads is linking visitors through to their home pages. They may think this is the best idea, but it actually robs your brand of the chance to make a bigger impact.

Home pages are important, but they aren’t landing pages. They’re filled with lots of details that can distract users, directing their attention away from their initial purpose. This means you run the risk of losing a lead because they simply scroll for a few seconds, then click off when they’re satisfied.

Unlike a home page, a landing page provides a direct path to a specific action to fulfill a particular goal.

Dedicated landing pages remove all the“extras” your awesome home page provides. By crafting landing pages for specific segments of your target audience, you remove any potential action that doesn’t fulfill a goal. In most cases, that’s becoming a lead or making a purchase right there.

The Elements of a Great Landing Page

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Once you know that you need a landing page, it’s time to figure out exactly what to put on it. Some companies go overboard, essentially recreating their home page or just another “about us” page. That doesn’t fulfill any purpose, and it doesn’t motivate visitors to take action.

Other brands cut too much out of the copy, leaving visitors unmotivated to engage further.

To make sure your landing pages always hit their target, here are five essential elements you should always include.

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1.   The Hero Shot

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A hero shot is the definitive image that will wow people who land on your landing page. It is a high-quality graphic that fully captures what you’re offering — whether that’s the product itself or the benefit it provides.

You could opt for generic “happy people” stock photos, but these don’t really deliver any value or promise to your audience.

But a hero shot does so much more than simply show people feeling good. It showcases the benefits of your product by speaking directly to your audience’s experiences.

When choosing a hero shot, ask yourself:

●     How does this image tie into our copy?

●     How does this image relate to our customers’ everyday lives?

●     Does this image capture the feelings we’re leveraging in our marketing?

A good rule is to choose an image that illustrates the scenario your audience is in as they use their products. So, rather than a stale stock image of a woman smiling in a nondescript location, you choose something relatable to your audience where they are now.

Imagine you own a Shopify store that sells dog collars with built-in GPS trackers. For your landing page, you could choose a picture of a person smiling with their dog on a couch. It’s not a bad picture. But what could really reflect your audience’s viewpoint better?

The focus in this case isn’t the audience —it’s the dog they love and want to protect. So, your hero image could be an up-close shot of a dog in an outdoor setting. This is a location owners often find themselves wishing they had the security of a GPS tracker for their pet.

By showing the dog in this environment, the hero shot simultaneously speaks to a desire and benefit of the company’s product.

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2.  A Mobile-Friendly Layout

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Just like your site should be fully responsive, your landing pages should always scale to fit mobile screens. With 70% of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, your brand simply can’t afford to go without mobile-optimized landing pages.

Keep in mind, this will also affect how people interact with your page. A clean layout with a simple scrolling interface that takes no more than 20 seconds to finish reading is best.

Your goal is to tell a story, answer a question, and inspire action as quickly as possible.

Mobile-optimization should also go hand-in-hand with a fast load time. Researchers at Google discovered that 53% of web users abandon pages that take longer than 3 seconds to load.

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3. A Lead Form Above the Fold

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You don’t want people to spend a long time scrolling before they are prompted to take action. Keep the most important details at the forefront of your design and copy.

It’s okay to include some additional details, but your main CTA and form/hyperlink should always be placed directly in front of your audience.

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4. An Immediate Benefit

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Make it clear what’s on offer right away.Every landing page needs to have a distinct benefit that entices users to convert. When you’re using landing pages to generate leads, you need to offer them something valuable in exchange for their contact information.

Freebies go a long way here, like downloadablePDFs, printables, and ebooks. They entice users to learn more, and they’re willing to exchange their details for something they consider valuable to them.

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5. Zero Navigational Links

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Unless you’re hyperlinking to a form as part of your CTA, there should be no links on your landing page. This isn’t an advertisement for your website, after all. Landing pages are product or service-specific pages designed to convert visitors into leads or customers.

This goal is to have all the attention focused on your call-to-action. The only thing users need to do is enter their information or complete an action to fulfill their purpose on the page.

Remember, minimize distractions, streamline your navigation, and focus your landing page on a specific value, benefit, and purpose.

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Conclusion

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E-commerce retailers on Shopify and other platforms all need landing pages to stand out and convert leads more easily. By using the elements of good design and compelling copy, you can make landing pages that lower your CPA and fuel your business’s growth.

Remember that landing pages can also be flexible. You don’t have to make a sale right then and there. Instead, use landing pages and Facebook Ads as a way to generate leads. Once you have their contact info, you can start nurturing them through your buyer’s journey.

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