Landing page

What a landing page is

A landing page is the page a visitor arrives on after a click. The term is broad, but in practice it usually means a standalone page fulfilling exactly one task: a sign up, an enquiry, an offer or the purchase of a specific product. It does not explain the whole shop, it leads to one action.

The difference from a category page lies in where the visitor came from. Someone arriving through the navigation is searching and comparing. Someone arriving through an ad or a post was given a concrete promise and wants to see it kept.

How it is structured

The structure follows the visitor's question. At the top is what it is about, in the same language as the ad or post they came from. The reasoning follows: what the offer does, who it is for and what it costs. Then come the answers to the questions that hold the purchase up, as a short list. At the end the action, which should not have to be searched for.

Two rules hold the structure together. First, one page, one action. Offering newsletter, catalogue and purchase at the same time scatters attention. Second, the headline has to pick up the promise of the source. A generic slogan breaks the link between ad and page, and the visitor goes back.

Which elements get in the way

• The main navigation: it invites people to leave. On a landing page leaving usually means losing the visitor.
• Several offers: every additional offer lowers the chance that a choice is made.
• Long blocks of text at the start: the visitor wants to know first whether they are in the right place, not the company's history.
• Forms with many fields: every field is a hurdle. What is not needed does not belong in it.

How the effect is measured

What is telling is which action the page achieves, relative to the visitors from that source. Separating by source matters, because a landing page for ad traffic performs differently than one for a newsletter. The bounce rate above the first screen height and the number of people who start the form and do not finish are useful additions. Those three values show whether the problem sits in the messaging or in the form.

Frequent questions

• Does every campaign need its own page? Not every one, but every one with its own promise. Otherwise the link breaks.
• Does it have to do without navigation? Mostly yes. Individual exceptions such as privacy and contact have to stay reachable.
• Does a product page count as a landing page? Yes, technically. If it fulfils the visitor's task, it is one.