9 Tips for Creating Landing Pages That Can Make Your Sales Take off!

The term “landing page” is widely misunderstood in today’s world of digital marketing – not to mention in the senior living industry. Worse yet, its critical role and value in the lead capture and prospect conversion process is often disregarded or marginalized… big mistake!

Your Landing Page Has as Critical Purpose

Unlike other pages in a website that you might “land on,” true landing pages exist for a very specific, purposeful business reason – to identify and engage prospects that can become your buyers.

Landing pages are the transitional bridge between your Call to Action (CTA) and a meaningful and productive dialogue with your prospect. For example, an online shopper who responds to your CTA on an ad will be directed via a link to your targeted landing page. The landing page includes a form for the respondent to complete that provides the customer information you need to transition that individual to a prospective buyer.

According to Hubspot, “There’s no question that landing pages – and the lead-capture forms that come with them – are two of the most important elements of lead generation. Without them, marketers would be much more limited in their ability to convert website visitors into leads – and generate reconversions, too. That’s because landing pages enable us to direct site visitors to better-targeted pages that have the ability to capture leads at a much higher rate than forms on other web pages.”

Landing pages also differ from other website pages in two distinct ways:

• They always contain a form to capture consumer information.
• Their sole purpose is to capture that information.

Landing pages should be appropriately viewed as a key element of your strategy for maximizing sales success. Make no mistake, optimizing your landing page significantly improves your odds of influencing and motivating your prospects and achieving sales.

Best Practices for Optimizing Your Landing Pages … and Your Sales!

Jason McCloud, VP of Digital and Integrated Strategy at SageAge Strategies, says, “Like many other tactics in business today, there is now evidence-based science behind the creation of high-performance landing pages. The experience of the marketplace has demonstrated that by taking some simple key steps you can significantly improve the productivity of your landing pages in the form of higher conversion rates.”

Several expert sources confirm this and offer a variety of tips that can enable you to maximize your landing page output. These tips are:

1. Include the key components – Optimized landing pages should contain the following: a headline that matches your Call-to-Action language; a value-based description of what you’re offering; an appealing, supporting image; and a form to capture the respondent’s information.
2. Eliminate distractions and page clutter – Remove any navigation buttons so that your landing page visitors aren’t tempted to jump to other parts of your website. Also, as they say, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Keep your landing page simple and clean. Avoid visual and textual clutter that can distract or confuse visitors by creating too much “noise” on the page.
3. What’s in it for me? (i.e. your customers) – Make sure you highlight the benefits and advantages of what you are offering (i.e. its value from your customers’ perspective). How are you meeting their needs, responding to their interests or solving their problems? To keep it simple and easy to follow, a brief list of bullet points is often best.
4. “Less is more” when designing your form – With your customers’ limited patience and “tolerance for pain” in mind, it is best to limit your form to only have the information needed to engage and qualify your prospects. A longer form means more work for the individual responding and typically reduces the response rate. You can also shorten the appearance of your form by designing it to take up less space on the page.
5. When more is better – Having several links to specific landing pages has proven to be an effective online strategy. According to Hubspot’s 2012 Marketing Benchmark Report, the more content, offers and landing pages you create, the more opportunities you have to generate leads for your business. For example, if you are a residential memory care community, sections of your site could link to targeted landing pages for more information or offers regarding the latest advances in social engagement therapy; mental stimulation activities, special safety and security features; dietary and nutrition services; wellness programs and more.
6. Make it shareable and mobile – Include the most relevant social media button(s) to enable sharing with others, (e.g. Facebook). However, keep in mind that you want to avoid clutter. And, don’t forget to make sure your landing page also works on mobile apps and tablets – think about the adult children!
7. Minimize consumers’ “form completion anxiety” – For many good reasons, people today – and especially senior adults – are wary of sharing information about themselves. You can help to reduce their concerns by providing a brief privacy statement that assures them that you will never share or sell their email address, cell phone number or other sensitive information. Including a supportive customer testimonial can also provide prospects with a sense of confidence in your brand.
8. Restate the benefit with your “Click to Submit” button – Better yet, don’t use the word “submit” at all! Instead, restate the value of your offer by saying, “Get your free brochure on the social benefits of assisted living now,” or “Subscribe to our newsletter on helpful tips for Alzheimer’s caregivers today.” Additionally, make sure your button is large, colorful and impossible to miss.
9. Be consistent with your branding – As one of my marketing professors at the Wharton School used to constantly remind us, your brand – and what it stands for to the public – is your greatest asset. Treat it well! Be sure to include your branding on all of your landing pages. Also, be consistent in how you present it and where you place it on your landing pages.

To summarize, there is both art and science involved in creating top-performing landing pages that successfully convert prospects into buyers for your community. The key is to make sure your landing page is clean, simple, easy to use and focused on the value that you provide to your customers. Taking the time and applying the expertise to do it right can pay dividends immediately and boost your revenue stream long term.

We Would Love to Hear from You!

If you have comments or questions on the value of best-practice calls to action and landing pages, we would love to hear from you. We also encourage you to share any experiences you have had in these areas, whether they have been successful or not. Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.