How To Create a High Converting Landing Page (10 Proven Tips)

Want to know the secret of building high conversion landing pages for your business?

If so, you’re in the right place!

We’re sharing our 10 top tips for creating effective landing pages.

Actionable tips we use for our own pages and some best practices we picked up along the way.

We discuss:

• The different types of landing page
• How to build your own landing page
• Average conversion rates
• How to track landing page performance
• And answer some key questions on building pages.

We’ll also include plenty of examples so you can see what we’re talking about.

What Is a High-Converting Landing Page?

A high-converting landing page is a page dedicated to just one thing – turning a visitor into a customer, subscriber or lead.

Landing pages usually form part of a marketing campaign promoted using social media, emails, ads or other medium.

Prospects will be sent to the landing page for more information, a free trial, free download, to request a demo, discount or other offer in return for something from them.

That something could be their email address, a purchase, subscription, signup or whatever your marketing goal might be.

The high-conversion aspect means the landing page has been optimized as much as possible to convert as many people as possible.

What’s a Good Conversion Rate for a Landing Page?

According to Unbounce, the average conversion rate for landing pages varies by industry.

It also varies depending on who you ask, so only take these as rough averages.

• Higher education – 2.6%
• Legal – 3.3%
• Business consulting 5.0%
• Job training 6.1%

The same study from Unbounce calculated an overall average conversion rate of 4.02%. If you’re converting more than that, you’re doing well!

10 Tips To Boost the Conversion Rate of Your Landing Page

Here are some of the tips we use when building our own landing pages. They work for us so they should work for you too!

1. Attractive Page Theme

We buy with our eyes, so page design is key. We recommend using a similar design to your main website so it feels familiar to visitors.

We also suggest making sure there is a clear flow from the top hero section all the way to the call to action.

We want the visitor to go where we want them to go, and ultimately, convert.

Design is a key part of landing page conversion and forms the basis of everything else you do!

2. Engaging Hero Section with Well-Crafted Headline

The hero section is the first thing a visitor sees when they land on your page.

It’s what hooks visitors and encourages them to scroll down to the call to action so needs to be good.

The headline should cover what and why and the body content should back that up.

You need to answer two fundamental questions. What do you offer and how does it make the visitor’s life better or more profitable?

Answer those two questions and provide a clear call to action and you should have a high converting landing page.

3. Conversion-Oriented Sub Headlines

Sub headlines can help organize content, break it up into bite sized pieces and help reinforce your message.

We think ‘The CartFlows sales funnel builder turns your WordPress website into an optimized selling machine.’ sums it up nicely!

All the best landing pages for conversion will reinforce their key message with subheadings and yours should too.

Make them interesting and make sure they accurately describe the body content.

4. Optimized Above the Fold Content

Depending on your hero section design, you may or may not have space for above the fold content.

If you do, highlight key features from the target audience’s perspective or address common pain points to reinforce the message you began with your headline.

5. Highlight Features and Benefits

Features and benefits sell. When we look for products, we tend to look at what it will do for us rather than what it’s made of.

Address common requirements and perform objection handling by highlighting features and benefits.

Let the reader know you’re on their side, that you understand their situation and that your product is the perfect solution to their problem.

SoFi’s landing page for VA home loans is a great example of this. After the fold, SoFi included pain points that a typical home buyer would bring up, and why SoFi is the best lender to help those who are active personnel, veterans, and reservists with their big purchase.

That’s how you keep them scrolling to the CTA button.

6. Use Testimonials and Social Proof

Social proof tells the reader ‘people like you loved our product because…’

It’s that extra reassurance that real people actually like what you do or what you sell and it isn’t all just a polished marketing exercise.

Social proof includes:

• User reviews or client testimonials
• Google or third-party reviews
• Number of downloads or active users
• Business ratings from established authorities

If you can add any or all of these, do so. The newer your business or your product, the more important social proof becomes!

7. Add Trust Signals

Trust signals are another subtle message reinforcement like social proof. They help reassure visitors they are in good hands and that you’re a safe investment.

The lower the perceived risk, the higher the chance of conversion.

Trust signals include security badges like VeriSign Secured or Verified by Visa.

They can also be guarantee signals like ‘No quibble money back guarantee’ or association trust signals like ‘BBB Accredited Business’.

‘As featured in’ or ‘As used by’ are also trust signals.

Use as many as you’re entitled to use but keep the design simple and effective.

8. Use Images and/or Video

Images and video are more engaging than content and are key to creating the best landing pages for conversions.

Images and video also help add color, flavor and character to a page while breaking up walls of text and helping you show and tell.

Choose images and videos carefully and make sure they are of the highest quality. They should also reinforce your core message to help convert. If you’re struggling to find the perfect visuals, consider using an AI image generator. These tools allow you to describe your ideal image, and the AI will create a unique visual based on your input. This can be a great way to achieve a specific look or concept that might be difficult to find with stock photos.

If you do use video, muted autoplay is your friend. The last thing you want to do is annoy the visitor or give them cause to leave!

Make sure all videos work on mobile too.

9. Logically Flow Down the Page

Landing pages are often sales or lead generation funnels. They should have a simple, defined structure to lead the visitor to the call to action.

For example, a lead generation page should open with a strong hero section with a compelling headline, supporting text and a clear call to action with a button.

If you’re using a form, you could position a small form in the hero section so a user can convert right away. You can also add another form down the page. e.g. to ring you up on your contact center.

Lower sections should answer those key questions, address pain points and solve problems.

All designed to position your offer as the best solution.

Social proof should feature prominently afterwards. Reinforce the idea that your offer is also popular with people like them, followed by another call to action.

Add trust signals, videos and optional content down the page as required.

10. Call To Action With a Single Defined Goal

All the best landing pages for conversions will have a single goal.

That core message can be repeated down the page, but should always have one goal in mind.

It can be a button on its own or have a short message to add context or to convert depending on the offer.

The simpler the offer, the simpler the call to action can be.

What that is depends on the goal of the page, but will usually be something like:

• Sign up here
• Join now!
• Buy now and save!
• Get started for free!
• Free download
• Book now!

The message should be simple, clear and leave no doubt in the mind what you want the visitor to do.

What Type of Landing Page Do You Need?

There are dozens of landing pages you can build, for all kinds of reasons. Most are variations of a theme but all will have a particular purpose.

Splash Page

A splash page appears once you click a link and will open a brand new page.

It can fulfill many roles, from collecting leads to alerting you to discounts, sales, product launches, and anything else you can think of. For example, glitch deals by Amazon use splash pages during sale times to notify customers of unexpected discounts and special offers.

This is a classic example of a splash page:

Source

Squeeze Page

A squeeze page is a type of landing page designed to capture an email address.

It will often offer free access to content, a free trial or download or other offer in exchange for that email.

Here’s an example of a click-through squeeze page from Microsoft:

(Source)

Lead Capture Page

Lead capture pages are probably the most popular landing pages.

They have a single goal, to convince the visitor to provide their email address for future marketing efforts.

In addition to collecting emails, make sure you create SPF records to safeguard your domain from unauthorized email senders.

Here’s a lead capture page that first captures a URL, then asks for your email to access results:

(Source)

Sales Landing Page

A sales landing page is designed to convert.

It should highlight features and benefits and answer common buyer questions while gently guiding the visitor towards a purchase.

Here’s how sales landing pages should be done:

Source

Coming Soon Page

Coming soon landing pages are great for building hype and awareness of an upcoming release.

They often include countdown timers to help build anticipation or announcements of new arrivals.

Here’s a great example of a coming soon page:

Source

Thank You Page

It’s always good to show gratitude, which is why thank you pages can be so effective.

It can also be a place to subtly encourage the customer to continue shopping or engaging with your site.

Here’s a thank you page you’re probably already very familiar with:

Unsubscribe Page

An unsubscribe page is the landing page nobody wants to create but has to.

A good unsubscribe page design would allow the user to unsubscribe but also offer alternatives like pausing, changing email frequency or switching to a free version.

Here’s a classic example of an unsubscribe page:

It provides the ability to change preferences, unsubscribe or pause. All without getting in the way of the user’s goal.

How To Build Your Own High Converting Landing Page

This video walks you through how to build a coming soon page:

If you prefer to read, you can create a high converting landing page in just 5 steps with this guide.

1. Install and Set Up Spectra

Spectra is free and available from the WordPress repository. You can download and install it from there or add it from within the WordPress dashboard.

2. Use a Landing Page Template

The easiest way to build a landing page is to use a readymade template.

Select Pages > Add New Page in your WordPress dashboard.

Select the blue Template Kits button at the top of the page editor.

Select the Pages tab at the top of the popup window and choose a template to import.

You could also import a block pattern using the Pattern tab. This is a readymade page section you can use to build your own landing page.

The Kits tab enables you to install a different theme page to the one you have installed.

This can be useful if your current WordPress theme doesn’t have a landing page template or you want a different look.

Once you find a page design you like, select the purple Insert button that appears at the bottom when you hover over the template.

The template should import in seconds and be ready for you to customize.

3. Customize the Content To Suit the Audience

Your new page template should open in the WordPress block editor.

Use the customization controls on the right or within each block to make any changes you need.

Delete any blocks you don’t want and customize the page so it reflects your brand.

Remember the 10 tips above when building your landing page. The more you include, the more effective it will be!

4. Test Your Landing Page

Once you have finished customizing your landing page, save it as a draft in WordPress and open it in a new tab.

Imagine you’re a first time visitor and check the page to see how it comes across. Check spelling, grammar, headings, body content, images, video and calls to action.

Also check all buttons or forms on the page to make sure they work.

Test in desktop, tablet and mobile modes to make sure everything looks good on all devices.

The more thorough you are here, the lower the likelihood of a visitor discovering an error!

5. Launch and Monitor

Once you’re completely happy with your page, hit Publish in WordPress.

Copy the URL on the right and use it in your marketing efforts. Promote your page as much as you can and monitor the results.

If you created the best landing pages for conversions you can, people should begin converting in no time!

How To Track Landing Page Performance

We think there are 5 key metrics you should be looking at to decide whether your landing page is converting well or not.

All can be tracked in Google Analytics. Other tools are available, but GA4 does it for free.

Once you’re logged into GA4, select the domain you want to track and navigate to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.

Most of your tracking will be done from here.

There is a specific Landing Pages section in GA4 but we find All Pages works well enough for most situations.

Those metrics are:

Page Views

Page views are a fundamental metric. You need to know how many people are looking at your landing page to be able to calculate whether it’s working or not.

Measure:

• Total page views
• Unique page views/visitors

Locate the URL of your landing page and click on it to see the data.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rates are the calculation of how many visitors perform the action you want them to take.

Conversion rates can include filling in a form, registering for an account, buying a product, subscribing to a newsletter or something else.

By tracking the exact goal, you can get an accurate picture of how well your landing page is converting.

Set conversion goals in Google Analytics to track conversion.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is a key indicator of whether your landing page delivers what the visitor is looking for.

You’ll see a box on the main page called Bounce Rate with a number inside.

A high bounce rate indicates your page isn’t delivering what the visitor wants to see or what they expect.

That could be for a multitude of reasons, but is usually:

• Unclear offer or confusing path to conversion
• Weak call to action or lack of powerful headline
• Unclear messaging or unoptimized website content
• Offer or benefit not enough for the perceived effort or cost

Check all of these things and address any shortcomings you find. Or A/B test to experiment with different landing page styles.

Sessions by Source

Sessions by source tells you where the traffic is coming from. This is a useful metric to track if you’re running paid ads or other promotion to attract traffic.

If you’re using a funnel to your landing page, sessions by source will tell you the proportion of traffic being sent via your funnel and from other sources.

If you’re running an email promotion or other marketing campaign, knowing how effective it is can help future planning or show you where improvements need to be made.

You’ll need to add traffic-source dimensions to use this metric. Once done, you should see a new column showing you the source of all landing page traffic.

Session Duration

Session duration or average time on page tells you how long someone spends on your landing page.

It’s an optional metric that’s mostly useful for longer landing pages rather than shorter ones.

The more time they spend, the more value they are finding on the page. Hopefully, this would be reflected in the conversion rate, but won’t always.

Select the URL of your landing page and look for average time on page within the box called Avg. Time on Page.

Landing Page FAQs

Conclusion

So there you have it. Our complete guide to building a high conversion landing page.

We covered the what, why and how. We also shared high converting landing page examples, best practices and showed you how to track how pages perform.

That’s all you need to know to get started. What happens next is entirely up to you!

Put these tips into practice and tell us about the results below. We would love to hear how you got on!