Envision navigating through a store brimming with items, yet devoid of any sales staff or employees to assist you. Without guidance, it’s challenging to make a purchase or find answers to your queries. You can simply select items at will, pay, and depart. However, would you make a purchase, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the products or visiting the store for the first time? Chances are slim.
In the realm of e-commerce, landing pages act as the virtual sales representatives. They greet website visitors, showcase your offerings, persuade them to buy relevant products, and leave a lasting positive impression that encourages them to return. Landing pages inject a personal touch into an online store. The more human interaction, the more effective the online experience. In fact, websites with fewer than 10 landing pages typically see seven times fewer leads than those with over 30. Isn’t that surprising?
Landing pages are an essential component of any e-commerce platform. Delve deeper into their intricacies, uncover the benefits they bring to your business, and discover how to leverage them effectively.
A landing page is the webpage that a visitor arrives at after clicking a hyperlink or entering a URL. Whether it’s your homepage or a product-specific page, any standalone page designed for marketing purposes is considered a landing page.
An e-commerce landing page has two primary goals: compelling the visitor to take action, such as purchasing a product or service or signing up for a newsletter, and creating a lasting impression. This impact is what differentiates visitors who remain on your page from those who leave.
The primary distinction between product pages and e-commerce landing pages lies in their approach to selling a product or service. Despite their superficial similarities, the techniques and objectives of these two page types are vastly different. A product page aims to educate the visitor, whereas an e-commerce landing page focuses on conversion.
The image above illustrates a landing page. It features a clear call to action (CTA) and all content is crafted around that goal, without additional pathways like site navigation. Landing pages are tailored for a specific audience, appealing to a particular buyer persona and optimized for marketing campaigns. They utilize social proof and present an irresistible offer.
Approximately 72% of visitors who arrive at a product page leave immediately, but those who land on an e-commerce landing page tend to stay longer. This is because landing pages are designed to engage visitors and achieve conversion goals. The key benefit of landing pages is their ability to captivate visitors, prompting them to explore product pages and learn more about the website’s offerings.
The image above depicts a product page. As you can see, the page focuses on the product’s detailed specifications, aiming to educate the visitor without targeting a specific buyer persona. It may include additional pathways like site navigation, product categories, and multiple CTAs to help visitors navigate the rest of the website.
The information on a product page must be comprehensive enough to address potential buyers’ questions. If the product details meet their expectations, they proceed with the purchase; otherwise, they may look for other options on the website or leave.
Creating an e-commerce landing page offers numerous benefits that other pages, such as product pages or homepages, do not. Here are the advantages you can gain from creating a landing page for your business:
ROI (return on investment) encompasses not only the financial investment in your website but also the time and effort you put into it. Your ROI will be low if your web pages are not targeted to a specific audience. With landing pages, you can create multiple offerings that cater to different audience segments, rather than overwhelming visitors with everything you have to offer. This approach significantly improves your ROI.
Studies show that you can increase ROI by 223% if you use CRO (conversion rate optimization) tools. Additionally, certain marketing pairings can further boost ROI.
Lead generation involves generating consumer interest in a product or service. The goal is to convert that interest into a sale, typically by collecting a visitor’s contact information or a “lead” via a web form on an e-commerce landing page.
Most e-commerce web design companies use personalized content and tailored offers by aligning the landing page with the specific interests of the visitor. Intuitive and clear navigation through landing pages can positively impact lead generation. Utilizing online lead generation services can yield similar results for your business.
A conversion occurs when a visitor takes a desired action, such as clicking on your ad, subscribing to your email list, or purchasing your product. Landing pages excel at conversions for the same reasons they generate more leads and increase ROI: personalization. A targeted landing page ensures every visitor finds something of interest, motivating them to take the desired action. By shortening the customer’s buying process through an effective e-commerce landing page and offering immediate rewards like discount codes or free trials, you can capture the visitor’s attention.
A/B testing or split testing is a marketing experiment that divides the audience to test several campaign variations and determine the best-performing one. As a standalone page, the primary benefit of landing pages is their testability. You can modify the copy, design, images, CTA, and other page elements as many times as needed without the risk of making major changes to your entire blog or website infrastructure. This allows you to eliminate any factors that may negatively impact your e-commerce sales. In fact, 44% of companies use a split-testing tool because it is considered the best method for improving conversions.
Customer response refers to your reaction to customer activities. Through a customized e-commerce landing page, you can respond to common themes in customer search queries or demands. When customers feel seen, heard, and understood by your brand, they are more likely to stay on your website and make purchases.
Customer response and engagement are a two-way street. By showing customers that you care, they will respond by actively interacting with your website. For example, using mid-funnel engagement and lead-management strategies on your landing pages can yield a 4-10% higher response rate than a generic approach to reaching out to customers.
Marketing insights refer to information that helps you develop a deep understanding of leads, customers, competitors, and the industry. By testing various types of e-commerce landing pages with segmented offers, you can easily gauge what works and what doesn’t over time.
You can track preferred lead generation channels, promotions that lead to conversions, topics with the highest conversion rates, content that retains customer attention, and CTAs with the most clicks. This valuable information can provide insights into your audience’s interests and help you develop a more targeted and personalized marketing strategy.
An email list is a collection of email addresses of potential and existing customers who have consented to receiving alerts and promotions from your business. A significant benefit of landing pages is that they allow you to exchange your website visitor’s name and email address for the content or promotion offered. Email lists can be further segmented to provide more personalized follow-ups.
Creating a subscriber list through an e-commerce landing page offers the major benefit of curating high-quality leads. This ensures that your email list consists of individuals who have interacted with your landing page and engaged sufficiently to provide their contact details. With the right email marketing strategies, these individuals are more likely to be interested in purchasing your products or services.
E-commerce landing pages come in various styles, each serving a unique purpose. Here are the five most commonly used landing pages:
Click-through landing pages are designed to elicit a click from the visitor. This is a simple page that sits between your ad and shopping cart. It provides just enough context and details about an offer to warm up leads for a transaction and direct them to the purchase page. The primary benefit of this type of landing page is to make an instant sale.
Lead-capturing landing pages collect email addresses through incentives. Lead generation web design focuses on creating a page with no exit paths, links, or navigation, but only a button to submit the visitor’s details. In exchange, the visitor receives an incentive such as an eBook download, discount codes, registration for a webinar, free trials, newsletter sign-up, or gated content. This type of e-commerce landing page is useful for building audience lists and sending targeted information and ads later on.
A long-form landing page, also known as a sales letter, engages the user with extensive information about a product’s features and benefits. As the user reads, they are enticed to continue until they reach the end of the page or the CTA. This type of e-commerce landing page targets individuals at the bottom of the sales funnel who are ready to purchase and only need a final push.
A video landing page uses a video to sell a product or service to the customer. This type of landing page uses minimal complementary copy or images, focusing the visitor’s attention on the video. The video is typically a few minutes long and contains an offer that the viewer can access only after watching all or a sufficient portion of it. A video e-commerce landing page can be part of marketing campaigns for expensive products or gated content.
A microsite is a small supplementary website that can consist of more than one page, published either as part of the parent site or on its own. It has its own URL and utilizes high-budget designs. A microsite is part of a large campaign, such as a car model or movie trailer release. Creating a microsite is an effective way to increase web traffic and revenue for a brand launch or a popular product launch.
If you understand the benefits of landing pages and are ready to leverage them on your website, here are some tips for creating successful SEO landing pages:
Creating e-commerce landing pages can be challenging if you’re unsure where to start. Don’t hesitate to seek assistance and guidance. We are here to help you every step of the way. As a top-rated e-commerce SEO company, we can assist with all your online marketing needs, from creating landing pages to other services. Explore our case studies and discover how Coalition Technologies can unlock the potential of your e-commerce business!