How to Write Landing Page Copy That Converts

Mistake 1: Unclear value proposition

Whether you want to collect leads, drive sales or something completely different, your landing page needs to compel visitors to take action. But too many bury the important stuff halfway down the page underneath a gimmicky, confusing headline. A clever but meaningless bit of wordplay that leaves the audience none the wiser and quickly heading elsewhere.

Talk about falling at the first hurdle.

Take telecom company Frontier Communications’ old landing page (they’ve since changed it). A classic case of a headline that goes for clever over clear.

Mistake 2: Generic/ineffective call to action (CTA)

Your CTA is possibly the most vital element of your landing page as it drives the customer on to the next stage of the journey. No matter how convincing your headline and subhead, if the CTA fails, then your customers are offski.

When are CTAs bad? When they’re weak, unconvincing and ignore the customers’ needs or concerns. When they bang on about fancy features and demand too much personal information upfront.

Think of it like a bad first date. Someone who just talks about themselves, doesn’t care what makes you tick and asks for your vital statistics before the starters have arrived is unlikely to get a second date.

The clue’s in the name. Your CTA should spell out a clear actionable goal that motivates someone to tap the button. Generic CTAs like ‘Continue’ or ‘next’ give your customer nothing to go on. And a self-serving CTA such as 'sign up’ doesn’t tell your customer what’s in it for them. And it’s a long shot at this stage to expect someone to take the next step with little to tempt them.

The fix: Focus on value
A strong CTA, on the other hand, shows the value they’ll receive by taking the action.
‘Create my free account’ tells you the action and that it’s free to do. And you can up the stakes even higher. ‘Schedule a free consultation’ could be improved to ‘Get my free marketing plan’ – the action and outcome – aka value – rolled into one. With a little personalisation to boot.

Your CTA is also a chance to reaffirm your core benefit, not feature, remember. A button that says ‘More data’ is hardly click-inducing. ‘Organise and monetise your data’ is. And you can use them to address potential concerns; ‘start for free – no credit card required’ tempers anxieties about giving out financial details, for example.

A fantastic CTA hack is to use the first-person voice. Using ‘my’ rather than ‘your’ puts control in the customers’ hands and makes them feel empowered to take action. In fact, ContentVerve saw a 90 per cent increase in their click-through rate by using ‘Start my free 30-day trial’ instead of ‘Start your free 30-day trial.’

Website monitoring tool Crazy Egg’s CTA ticks all the boxes. Spelling out several benefits in simple language and using the customer’s voice compellingly in the button itself.

Mistake 3: Not tailoring copy to your audience

Big mistake number three is using your copy to talk about how great your product or service is rather than how it can benefit your audience. In other words, leading with features not benefits.

It’s natural to want to show off a bit. But the truth is no one cares how innovative your product or service is – they only care about how it can benefit them. Ignore this fact and your audience will feel dismissed and promptly tap the back button.

The fix: Show you ‘get’ them
Focussing on benefits, however, unlocks the power of emotion by tapping into people's fears, desires, hopes and frustrations. It shows you understand, and more importantly care about, your audience. Benefits make them think ‘yes, that will make my life or business better, cooler, more fun, easier – I’ll buy it’.

Slack’s landing page is a great example.

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