7 Landing Page Mistakes that Hurt Lead Generation

By Artemus Bryant, Content Strategist

Landing pages are, by design, website pages created to convert visitors into leads. You utilize landing pages to capture leads by offering premium branded content in exchange for a visitor's contact information. The copy you write for these pages has one specific purpose, to convince prospects to fill out a form and download the content. Once this desired customer action occurs, your visitor becomes a qualified lead for your business to nurture. Landing pages done wrong mean a lead generation mistake your company does not want to make.

Landing pages are but one part of your broader conversion strategy, albeit a significant part. Everything within your landing page supports its effectiveness in generating leads.

The Anatomy of an Effective Landing Page

• Headline: It must be clear and concise while informing the visitor of what they will receive. It is also an excellent practice to tell your visitor what they will receive through the use of a subheader.
• Copy: Your text should explain the value of the offer clearly and concisely. Your copy should be compelling and straightforward while keeping the text in smaller sections and taking advantage of your whitespaces.
• Image: Use one or more relevant images or short videos. The image should supplement your copy, not distract. So, do not use too many images.
• Form: Since all landing pages use forms to gather information on their visitors, it is the most critical landing page component. Avoid clutter and confusion and make it easy for them to convert.

Your landing page needs to be highly effective in ensuring visitors are incentivized and intrigued enough to offer their contact information in exchange for your content.

Keeping this in mind, here are the eight most significant landing page miscues that hurt lead generation.

1. Meaningless copy

"You and your business have 7 seconds to make a first impression." - Forbes

You only have a few seconds to grab a visitor's attention. As such, your landing page should be devoid of meaningless copy and haphazard layouts. Your landing page needs to contain enough information to captivate your prospects and inspire them to download your content and no more. Excessive text and cluttered designs confuse and ultimately deter your visitor from becoming a lead.

To ensure your prospect sticks around long enough to become a lead, keep the text short and concise. For example, utilize bullet points, bold text, relevant headings, and high-quality images. A landing page is an exercise towards achieving a balance because not enough relevant copy will negatively affect lead generation.

2. Not aligning with your visitor

"Addressing buyer fears on landing pages can increase conversion rates by 80%." - HubSpot

Not aligning your landing page to your visitor's needs is one of the biggest reasons your landing pages fail to generate leads. 

Conversely, alignment with your visitors is one of the most effective methods of driving conversion. Your landing page is a standalone tool that possesses measurable lead generation potential provided you wield it correctly. This starts with aligning your copy with your visitor through empathy and educating them. Use your landing page as an opportunity to teach your visitor and empower them.

3. Ineffective headline

"9 out of every 10 viewers who read your headline will also read your call to action (CTA)." - MarketingSherpa

The top-performing landing pages all have one element in common, a relevant and robust headline. If you can capture a reader's imagination through your headlines, you can be almost certain they will read your CTA.

4. Ineffectual CTA 

"Personalized CTAs convert 202% better than default versions." - HubSpot

Your CTA is a critical component of your landing page because it notifies prospects of their next step. Utilizing CTAs that are not targeted or aligned with buyers' pain points or interests hurts a landing page's lead generation. 

According to HubSpot research, consumers prefer personalization because it mitigates over-saturation from irrelevant information that doesn't pertain to their interests. Therefore, using a personalized and targeted CTA on your landing page can increase your conversion rates.

5. Not Having multiple landing pages

"Companies get 55% more leads when they increase their number of landing pages from 10 to 15." - HubSpot

One of the biggest marketing mistakes a business can make is taking a one-size-fits-all approach to its landing page. For a decade now, research has shown that the more landing pages a company has, the better its results.

Why is that, you ask? When a business creates a landing page specific to a buyer's needs rather than appealing to everyone with the same few pages, it promotes trust and authority.

Creating a separate landing page for distinct conversion goals, buyer personas, and the buyer's journey stages fosters interest in your products or services and promotes increased lead generation. 

6. Undefined value proposition

"Users make up their minds about a website "in the blink of an eye" – or around 50 milliseconds to be precise." - BBC Research Study

Failure to convey your value proposition concisely and quickly is also one of the biggest landing page deterrents to generating leads. Visitors need you to communicate what sets your company and your content apart quickly. 

To avoid this misstep, strip down your marketing message to its core value proposition. Inform visitors of the issue you are solving, how you can improve their daily lives or your offer's key benefit. 

7. Slow load times

"The first five seconds of page-load time have the highest impact on conversion rates. Website conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time." - HubSpot

A slow load time will significantly reduce your conversions. 

Make sure your page loads quickly by removing clutter, unnecessary text, and graphics. Ensure your landing page is optimized to function across all devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile devices.

Key factors to address when optimizing load times

• Keep your web code clean
• Utilize a fast hosting provider
• Minimize page redirects
• Minimize your website files (e.g., CSS, JavaScript, and HTML)
• Perform routine speed tests
• Sign up to a content delivery network (CDN)
• Minimize server requests
• Optimize your images
• Utilize web caching

An effective landing page addresses these pertinent questions

• What exactly is being offered? (Answer: what is in it for them if they give you their information?)
• What are the benefits of the offer? (Answer: explain why the visitor just can't live without your offer.)
• Why does the visitor need the offer now? (Answer: create a sense of urgency around your offer.)
• How does the visitor get your offer? (Answer: make it easy for the visitor to convert.)

Avoid these lead generation mistakes by following these seven crucial tips.

Sources:

HubSpot, Forbes, Tech Jury, Venture Harbour