Key Elements Every Landing Page and Thank You Page Need

Landing pages can make or break a user converting on your website. It takes 2.6 seconds for a user’s eyes to land on the area of a page that most influences their first impression. That's why it's crucial to clearly convey your point across in a visually appealing way.

Then, once users convert on your landing page, you have to make the most out of your thank you page. Thank you pages aren’t just for thanking your customer, they can help lead your user to the next step with your organization. We’re going to discuss ways to ensure your landing page and thank you page are fully optimized.

Landing Pages

Let’s start with landing pages! Landing pages take the prospects you attract to your website and convert them into leads. However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to hold people’s attention online, so you have to create landing pages that make a person want to convert instantly.

Key Elements for Every Landing Page

Every landing page should have these key elements in order to keep their prospect interested:

• No Navigation

Once your website visitors arrive on your landing page, you don’t want them to leave until they’ve converted into a lead. That’s why you should keep your navigation options to a minimum.

For example, hide your top and side navigation bars from the site so that nothing distracts them from filling out the form. This method can help lower your landing page’s bounce rate.

• Clear, Concise Heading and Subheading

Your heading is the first thing your visitor will see when they land on your page, making it a very essential component. It can determine whether your user stays and engages or navigates away. To avoid the latter, make sure that your landing page has a clear and concise heading and subheading. It should also be appealing and make the user want to read the rest of the content on the page.

Use your heading to explain to them why they need to convert. Your subheading should dive into more detail of your heading, but should still be concise—no more than a couple of short sentences.

• Relevant Images

Your landing page should be visually appealing and keep your target audience interested. However, don’t just throw a random stock photo on your page. Make sure your image is relevant to your offer and helps “paint a picture” for your prospect that inspires them to convert.

• Short Form

Once you’ve hooked your website visitor with your compelling heading and visually-appealing images, you don’t want to lose them when they see the form they have to fill out in order to convert.

You may want to collect as much information as possible from your new leads, but too many form fields can deter people from converting. A good rule of thumb is that the more value your offer has, the more information you can request from your lead. For example, if you are offering a downloadable checklist, then it’s not appropriate to ask for your user’s home address in a form field.

Not only are people too busy to fill out a long form, but they are also cautious about giving away their personal information. If this is their first time interacting with your website, they may be skeptical about handing over some much personal data so quickly.

• Privacy Policy

Any time you request personal information from a website visitor, you should always provide an explanation about how you plan to use their data. If you don’t have this available on your landing page it could discourage your prospects from filling out your forms.

To reassure your users that you won’t sell their information, link to your privacy policy or include a small line of copy somewhere on the form.

• Compelling Button Copy

Believe it or not, the button on your form is a key element on your landing page! Specifically, the button copy because it motivates and directs your visitors to complete the desired action on your page. This means staying away from vague, boring words like “submit” because you need to be more specific.

If your offer is for a more formal audience, then your button can say “Request Assessment” or “Schedule a Consultation”. If your target audience responds well to a more casual tone, you can try things like “Get My Free Book Now” or “Let’s Chat”.

It all depends on the language your target audience uses and responds to well. Just remember that there are much more compelling options out there than “Submit” or “Complete”.

Thank You Pages

The name “thank you” page leads you to believe that the page simply exists to thank your prospect for engaging with your organization and that’s it. Truly, there is more potential for the page your users see after filling out the form on your landing page. Adding additional, relevant content to your thank you page can help nurture your leads and potentially increase sales in the future.

Key Elements Every Thank You Page Should Have

• Confirmation Message

This is what puts the “thank you” in thank you page. Not only should you confirm that you’ve received your lead’s information, but your confirmation should be helpful. Let them know the next steps of receiving their end of the deal—like checking their email, clicking the download button, etc.

An example of a not-so-helpful confirmation message is “you’ll be hearing from us shortly”. This doesn’t explain how or when they’ll be hearing from you. To avoid confusion, you need to spell out all of the details for your new lead. If you don’t know exactly when they’ll hear from you, give them a realistic time estimate, like 1-2 business days.

• Relevant Calls-to-Action

Including a relevant CTA on your thank you page is the part that most people don’t take advantage of. Think about it, why should this be the end of the road for your user interacting with your organization?

They’ve already converted on one of your landing pages, so it’s obvious they have an interest in your content. That’s why it’s important for any calls-to-action you put on your thank you page to be relevant to whatever they converted on.

For example, you can link to additional blog posts that are around the same topic of your offer. Or, you can ask them to subscribe to your blog because you frequently post about relevant topics for them.

Some other ideas for CTAs on thank you pages are:

• Show them relevant products/offers
• Ask them to share the offer on their social media accounts
• Invite them to like your social media pages
• Share an upcoming event with them

• Social Proof

If you aren’t a big name brand, then you are going to want to reassure your new lead that you have a good reputation and that they shouldn’t be skeptical about continuing their relationship with you in the future. That’s why social proof is a key element because it is the positive influence created when a person finds out that others are doing something.

Examples of social proof can be testimonials, case studies, or reviews. Also, you can drop an impressive stat like “Over 2000 people have downloaded this offer” or “This product has a 99% satisfaction rate”. You want to reinforce that they made the right choice by choosing to engage with your content.

Use these key elements to add value to your landing page and thank you page. Your user’s experience on these pages can make or break a conversion and any future relationship with your organization, so pay attention to how they are performing. Optimize frequently and always make sure that your users are provided with enough information in a clear and concise way!

If you would like help in creating high-converting landing pages and thank you pages, then set up a time to talk to one of our marketing experts! We'd love to help you meet your goals.