Have you heard of something called a "lead capture page"? Basically, it is a single web page set up as a landing page to capture leads. What some might be surprised to learn is that lead capture pages generate a whopping 55% increase in lead acquisitions over most other lead capture initiatives.
One of the most common mistakes entreprofessionals and less seasoned marketers alike make is that they usually focus their marketing efforts to direct their target audience to a business’s homepage. What’s wrong with that you may ask. Unfortunately, a lot.
Sorry to say, but there is a major problem with sending your target audience to your homepage. The thing is that a homepage is not designed for converting traffic into leads and interested prospects. A homepage is the virtual front door to the content of your website. It is there to provide an introduction to your firm, discuss the services you offer, and to educate website visitors regarding who it is that you specifically serve. For the most part, it is not designed nor intended to convert visitors. That is because it must be relatively generic in its content because it serves a wide audience. If you focus your marketing efforts to send your audience to your homepage, you’ll likely be disappointed with the results because a homepage is generally for cultivating awareness not necessarily converting your audience into interested prospects.
A lead capture page, on the other hand, is specifically designed for conversion and lead generation purposes.
What Is A Lead Capture Page?
A lead capture page is a landing page that incorporates a lead capture form of some sort that collects an audience member’s contact information in exchange for something that audience member values. This type of page is focused on a single goal and that is to convert.
To successfully collect leads, your lead capture page should have a compelling reward or offer that is hard to turndown. Also, your lead capture form needs to contain questions that are useful for continuous communication with your leads, such as contact information, demographics, interests and any other relevant details that might prove beneficial in future correspondence. Keep in mind that irrelevant information might cause a landing page visitor to abandon your lead capture form. To prevent that from happening, an ideal form should have the least amount of frictions possible and it should be extremely user-friendly. Again, the goal of such a form is to exchange something the landing page visitor values for information about that visitor that you want.
How To Optimize Lead Capture Pages
While email marketing is still one of the best strategies to offer massive return on investment, an email campaign can’t even get off the ground without the contact information of your target audience. With that, it is vital to create an enticing lead capture page. But how do you optimize a lead capture page to result in more conversions? That’s why the Vimagery Team has developed this list of secrets on creating a successful lead capture page.
1. Form
The number one thing that a lead capture page should have is a lead capture form. Why? Because it allows you to gather the information you are looking for relative to your leads and prospects. Without the contact information of those leads and prospects, it is nearly impossible to consistently nurture the relationship over time. Every marketer worth their salt knows that the probability of success with any prospect increases the more they are presented with your message.
Tip: Your lead capture form should have the right length and position. Attach the "lead capture form" above the fold for a shorter-form landing page.
2. Call To Action Button
The Call To Action (CTA) button of the lead capture page should be compelling, visually enticing, and placed at the bottom part of the lead capture form. Conversion rates are improved with the use of bright colors and when the words included in the button are simple and direct about the precise action on behalf of the visitor that is desired. As an example, according to a recent study, the word "submit" has lower conversion rates within a CTA as compared to "click here" or "go." A personalized CTA also convert 42% more visitors than basic CTAs. It makes a lot of sense to try different versions of your CTA to see what works best at motivating the desired outcome for your landing page visitors.
3. Don’t Make Them Guess
When your leads find themselves on your landing page, the look and content of that page should not have them wondering where they are. It should be intuitive, based on whatever they clicked to get to your landing page in the first place, as to where they are and what information is about to be made available to them. Make sure that the content clearly states the offer, reward, or lead magnet that is to be provided in exchange for that particular lead choosing to share their personal contact information with you. Don’t add extraneous information that will distract them from your goal.
4. Relevant Copy, Image, and Video
Design is one side of the coin to successfully attracting an audience to your message. The other side is content. Compelling content is critical to walking a lead from the moment they initially arrive on your landing page to the moment they interact with your CTA. There are three main types of content that can be incorporated into your landing page: copy, images, and videos. Regardless of what content you select, it must be relevant to your target audience's preferences and current situation and consistent with the message you are trying to relay.
● Relevant Copy: You can’t rely on simply writing about your business or offer. Rather, you must engage in persuasive writing. The art of persuasive writing finds its foundation in relevance. If the copy does not strike a chord with the reader, it doesn’t matter how useful the information is, the reader is likely to not absorb it fully or worse, simply abandon the page to continue their search elsewhere. Persuade your target audience to choose you, believe in you, and to take advantage of your product or service.
● Relevant Image: Aside from copy, people love looking at blogs with eye-catching graphics. If you're promoting a product, include a sample picture, or simply attach your photo as the owner of the professional services business. In this way, they'll be more convinced that you're a real person and legit expert. Don’t use photos or graphics that have nothing to do with why the visitor is on your landing page in the first place.
● Relevant Video: 64% percent of consumers admit that they’ve made a purchase decision after watching branded social videos within the past month. This makes sense. After all, it's easier to watch a video than to it is to read long form content. So more people are apt to watch videos and therefore to be motivated to action based on the videos that they watch. As visual beings, we're more likely drawn to moving images.
Conduct A/B Testing On Lead Capture Pages
According to Hubspot, A/B testing is an experiment that shows multiple versions of one piece of content to two similar groups of audience members to see which version of the content performs better.
1. Use An A/B TestingTool
When doing A/B testing, you’re going to need a few things to make it happen. And one thing you surely need is an A/B testing tool. This is important because it will help you see accurate performance results and review which variations of your content are working well and which aren’t. Google Analytics and Google Optimize are free of charge, and are considered some of the best A/B testing solutions available. But if you want a more straightforward A/B testing tool, you may use Hubspot & Kissmetric’s A/B testing tool kit. This tool is ideal for budding businesses that are getting started with A/B testing. It comes with a free kit that tells you how to run A/B testing.
2. Forms
Instead of creating just one version of your lead capture form, create multiple versions. Some could be shorter forms which capture only the most necessary information while others can be longer forms. Ultimately you are looking to see which versions appeal most to your visitors. Usually, the shorter form is more enticing to your audience. However, those prospects that fill out shorter forms may not be as high-quality compared to those who are willing to invest the time an energy to answer longer forms.
3. Variations In Landing Page, Content, CTA-Button And More
Performing A/B testing includes testing the different versions of each element of your campaigns by implementing slight differences on your landing pages, the copy it contains, CTA-buttons, and other marketing elements. In this way, it's easy to determine which works best as a lead capture landing page.
4. Test Multiple Versions Simultaneously
If your campaign goals are to create a high-converting lead capture page and to identify how to trigger your target audience with your business brand, you want to find out which version of your landing page is going to perform best over time. So it might make a lot of sense to run smaller tests with multiple versions at once. Then you can use the data you learn from such A/B testing to hone in on the best performing option and run with it.
Bottom Line
Businesses are looking for more ways to standout in the digital marketing world. They’ve implemented numerous campaigns, published blogs, uploaded incredible images and videos in order to generate more traffic and conversion. One of the best strategies you can employ going forward is to create an optimized lead capture page and test it regularly.
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If you're still struggling to decide on whether to create a lead capture page for your business, allow us to help. Click here to see if you qualify for a Vimagery Strategy Session. Together, we can help you to gain an unfair advantage regarding your efforts to cultivate, convert, and close new clients in the weeks and months ahead.
