Have you ever wondered why some landing pages are so much more successful than others? The answer, in many cases, lies in conversion design. Businesses that take the time to design their landing pages with conversion in mind often see a significant increase in leads, sales, and other conversions.
Customer experience starts before even making a purchase on your website. In fact, it starts as soon as they land on your page. The visitors will convert only if they find what they are looking for on your page. That’s what conversion design is all about. Sometimes, a visitor isn’t clear whether he wants the product from you or not, but as soon as they land on your site, the game of persuasion begins!
In this article, how does conversion design work? We’ll take a look at the different elements of a successful landing page and how you can use them to increase conversions on your own site.
How does Conversion Design Work?
Conversion design is all about creating a landing page that is optimized for conversions. This means that the page must be designed in such a way that it is easy for visitors to find what they are looking for and take the desired action.
Conversion design works on basic human psychology and persuasion techniques. The goal is to create a landing page that is so appealing and user-friendly that visitors can’t help but take the desired action.
Following are some of the most important principles, which, if followed, can result in a highly effective landing page:
1) AIDA Principles which means Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action
2) Social Proof
3) Use of images
4) Implementing color psychology
5) Use of whitespace
6) Use of headlines
7) Use of testimonials
8) Use of video
9) Use of CTA’s (call to action)
Before we move on to see how you can use these principles in your own landing pages, let’s first understand the foundation of a good landing page, i.e., a well-defined conversion goal.
Conversion Design Starts from the Beginning: The Landing Page Foundation
A lot of businesses make the mistake of thinking that conversion design is all about the call-to-action (CTA) button. However, the CTA is just one small part of the puzzle. In order for a visitor to even get to the CTA, the game begins from the foundation. Before you even plan your CTA, you need to make sure that your landing page is set up for success.
If you want your message to hit home, the foundation must be strong, dug deep, and firm. Let’s see what the essentials are to keep in mind when laying the foundation for your landing page.
The Goal of the Page
The first thing you need to consider is the page’s purpose. What do you want your visitors to do when they land on this page? Where will the traffic come from? What’s the message you want to get across? What do they know already? What should they know?
Once you have answered all these questions, you will find one goal for your landing page: your foundation. Let’s say, for example, that you want visitors to sign up for your newsletter. In that case, the foundation of your landing page will be a form where they can input their email address.
The foundation is the most important part of your landing page because it will determine everything else that comes after.
Study Your Target Audience
You can have the best foundation in the world, but if your target audience doesn’t need or want what you’re offering, they’re not going to convert. That’s why it’s so important that you take the time to study your target audience before you start building your landing page.
Think about your target audience, what they’re looking for, and how you can appeal to them. Are they young or old? Male or female? What’s their income level? What’s their education level? What are their interests? What device do they use? Where do they live? Their psychographic, geographic, and demographic information will all play a role in how you build your landing page.
The more you know about your target audience, the easier it will be to design a landing page that appeals to them and gets them to convert.
Your Unique Selling Proposition
What makes your product or service different from all the others out there? This is what’s known as your unique selling proposition (USP). And it’s something that you need to communicate loud and clear on your landing page.
Your USP is what sets you apart from your competition, and it’s what will convince visitors to convert. If you don’t have a strong USP, your landing page is going to fall flat. So take the time to develop a clear, concise, and appealing USP.
Let me put it this way: Why this product? Why from you? Why now? Answering these questions will help you develop a strong USP.
Uber’s USP is loud and clear. Be the boss, drive, and get paid.
Once you have your USP, make sure it is prominently displayed on your landing page. Don’t make visitors search for it; put it right in front of them so they can see it as soon as they land on your page.
Now, let’s move on from the foundation and talk about some of the most crucial elements that conversion design must take into account.
What Elements to Emphasize First?
Conversion design shows what aspects of your business should be highlighted to improve customer satisfaction and encourage conversions.
What do you want your audience to see right when they land on your website? How your message is delivered is just as important as the message itself. How to design conversion-oriented websites:
The first thing you need to do is to understand how people interact with websites. The average person spends less than 10 seconds on a website before deciding whether or not they will stay. So you need to make sure that the most important information on your website is front and center.
Use Color Psychology
Your landing page should be designed in a way that is visually appealing and uses color psychology to its advantage.
Color has a huge impact on our emotions, and it can be used to influence the way people feel about your landing page. For example, blue is often associated with trust and reliability, so it’s an excellent color to use if you want visitors to feel comfortable converting to your page.
On the other hand, red is often associated with urgency and excitement, so it’s a good color to use if you’re running a sale or promotion.
Think about the emotions you want your visitors to feel and choose colors accordingly.
Leverage the AIDA Principles
Conversion design should also take into account the AIDA principles. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. In order for someone to convert on your landing page, they need to go through all four of these stages.
First, get their attention: What’s in it for me? What can you do for me? Why should I take the time to read this?
Remember, above the fold, you only have a few seconds to make a good first impression. So, make sure you implement the conversion design strategies we talked about earlier.
What elements to use in above the fold?
Social proof:
Your visitors need to see that other people are using your product or service and that they’re happy with it. This is what’s known as social proof.
One of the best ways to provide social proof is by featuring testimonials from satisfied customers on your landing page. You can also include customer logos, social media mentions, and reviews.
A hero image or video:
A hero image is a large image prominently displayed on your landing page. It should be eye-catching and relevant to your product or service.
A hero video is a short video that’s prominently displayed on your landing page. It should be attention-grabbing and explain what your product or service is in a clear and concise way.
A benefit-driven headline:
Your headline should be clear and concise and should focus on the benefits of your product or service. It should answer the question: What’s in it for me?
For example, if you’re selling a weight loss product, your headline could be “Lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks without dieting or exercise.”
Clear call-to-action (CTA):
Your CTA should be clear and concise and tell visitors what you want them to do. For example, if you want them to buy your product, your CTA could be “Buy Now.”
When designing your CTA, make sure to use actionable language and avoid words like “submit” or “click here.”
See all the conversion design elements all perfectly highlighted on the page? This is what you should aim for when designing your landing pages.
Conversion design is all about designing your website to make it easy for visitors to take the action you want them to take.
The above-the-fold elements are sufficient to get attention. Now, the second AIDA principle comes into play: Interest.
Develop Interest:
This is when you showcase your features, benefits, and value proposition. Remember, you need to focus on what’s in it for the customer. So make sure your copy is benefit-driven and that it showcases the unique features of your product or service.
You can use images, videos, infographics, and even case studies to help develop interest. Just make sure that everything you include is relevant and that it helps visitors understand what your product or service is and how it can help them.
Look how ConversionWise uses charts to showcase traditional
.
Create Desire:
Now that you’ve gotten their attention and developed interest, it’s time to create desire. This is where you make visitors want your product or service.
You can do this by focusing on the pain points of your target audience and showing them how your product or service can help them. You can also use scarcity and urgency tactics to create desire.
For example, you could offer a limited-time discount or a free trial. You could also highlight that only a few items are left in stock. This creates a sense of urgency and encourages visitors to take action.
Do you see why two offers are highlighted on this landing page? The use of colors creates a sense of urgency. Plus, free shipping and free bonuses are also great offers that create desire.
Invitation to Take Action:
The final step is to invite visitors to take action. This is where you include your CTA. You can’t just tell visitors to buy your product or sign up for your service. You need to tell them what action you want them to take and make it easy for them to do it.
CTAs should be short, sweet, and to the point. They should use actionable language and be placed in a prominent spot on your landing page.
Depending on your industry, niche, and target audience, your CTA could be anything from “Buy Now” to “Sign Up For A Free Trial.” This is where color psychology comes into play.
The color of your CTA button should contrast with the rest of your page. This will make it stand out and make it more likely to be clicked.
Recheck the screenshot we shared above for the pricing page of the product. Do you see the blue color for free bonuses, red color for shipping, and yellow color for CTAs? That’s how you can use colors to create a contrast.
All these three colors are attention-grabbing, and they stand out against the white background.
Conclusion
And that’s it! That’s all there is to conversion design. This is how conversion design works and how you can use it to design high-converting landing pages.
Of course, there is s much more when you go into learning the practical skills of designing high-converting landing pages. You need to learn about colors, fonts, whitespace, copywriting, and so much more.
But hopefully, this article has given you a good understanding of how conversion design works and what you should be aiming for when designing your own landing pages.
If you want to learn more about conversion design, you can join thousands of businesses in our Conversion Rate Academy. You can also check out our blog for more articles on conversion rate optimization.
Or, if you’re looking for a more hands-on approach, our team of expert conversion designers can help you design, test, and optimize your landing pages. Request a free quote today to get started.
/
