Landing pages are an important part of digital marketing, but they’re not worth their weight in pixels if they can’t help convert visitors into customers. High-converting landing pages do the lion’s share of the work, like the one in this case study.

Are you willing to bet a million dollars on your landing page’s conversion potential? The right landing page can make a huge difference, but if you’re making mistakes with your landing pages, it can cost you valuable conversions, time and money.

Take a moment to examine a few examples of landing pages with high conversion rates to see if you can tell what makes them so successful.

Afterward, come on back to see how you can use these examples to make your high-converting landing pages.

Powerful Landing Pages

Though there are a lot of well-designed landing pages out there, not all of them do a good job of converting visitors to paying customers. The following landing pages, however, hit the mark:

Shopify

If you work in eCommerce, then you’ve heard of Shopify. They do a great job assembling landing pages, and it’s mostly because they don’t overcomplicate them or clutter their landing with tons of information. Take, for example, their Instagram feature landing page. What I love about how this is put together is that they include multiple images of what selling your product on Instagram could look like, which shows instead of tells, how the feature can elevate your brand and make your products more appealing to your audience.

They also list the benefits of the feature very plainly, eliminating any confusion and zeroing in on three very specific selling points.

Intercom

Intercom is a customizable messaging platform that helps you generate leads, encourage engagement and provide quick support to your customers. Their landing pages are unique in that they’re bolder and very colorful. This particular landing page has a compelling headline. It draws you in and almost immediately makes you want to download this sales guide.

When you scroll down, they list exactly what the guide will offer, along with key sales stats to drive home the importance of accessing this guide and what it can do for your sales performance.

This landing page is less simple, but even though it offers up a lot of information, it does so in a way that is easily digestible and doesn’t overwhelm the visitor. It breaks things up well and uses color in a way that is very pleasing and lends itself to the overall readability of the page.

Airbnb

From the beginning, Airbnb has been all about helping its users create experiences. That’s why its host landing page is so engaging. Front and center are clips from experiences, showing people taking certain classes, crafting and interacting in culturally related activities.

It shows the excitement that comes along with being host, making it super appealing. The page continues to list various categories of activities you can host, tools Airbnb offers its hosts, and a simple step-by-step process for getting started. This particular landing page does a great job of leading potential hosts down a path of consideration, by first engaging them with visuals, then providing points focused on the perks and benefits, then ending with action steps. 

Lyft

Signing up to become a Lyft driver is super easy and simple, due to the Drive with Lyft landing page. They do a great job of using space, creating a clean and well-balanced page that makes enrollment quick.

Marketo

A great guide or whitepaper landing page is one that provides information on what the resource you’re considering downloading will cover, especially if it’s a term or concept that isn’t totally common knowledge yet. Take Marketo’s landing page for their guide to account-based marketing. While account-based marketing is definitely a term every marketing should be familiar with, Marketo still provides more than enough information on what account-based marketing is, why the market is making a shift towards that kind of approach, and hence why as marketers you should be considering it as well.

Their form on the right also asks for a decent amount of information, which may seem like overkill to some, however asking for that kind of information allows Marketo to know their customers better and therefore send them more personalized content catered towards their needs.

Learning from Their Success

Obviously, the examples above are pretty varied in both content, theme and industry. In addition, some highlighted are for particular guides or whitepapers, while others are for a service, which makes for different formats and form fields. So, before simply emulating the pros, make sure you’re clear on your own objectives, style preference and needs so that you’re creating pages that actually benefit your company.

Before you build your landing page, here are some key tips that can be used for any type of landing page, in any industry:

  • Create a Powerful Headline: Somewhere above the fold, you’re going to have a headline. Your visitors are looking for it, and you want it to catch the eye and drive home your core message in just a few words.
  • Use Eye-Catching Imagery: Even the sparser examples of landing pages have some form of imagery on them. Not only do the images draw attention where you intend visitors to look, but they complement both the headline and the overall site message.
  •  Choose Colors Wisely: Just like with your imagery, the colors you use will go a long way toward boosting the success of your landing pages. The colors should go well together, highlighting the important parts of the page without causing excessive garishness or eye-bleed.
  • Avoid Ambiguity: Never leave your visitors wondering what you’re selling on the landing page. Make sure that you get the point across without sending them looking for more information.
  • Remember Branding: Branding is important, whether it comes in the form of a company logo or other brand identification. Be proud of your branding and make sure it’s obvious without stealing the show.

Go back and analyze those landing pages again with these tips in mind. See if you can tell how they make use of these various points, and why different sites tend to focus on particular aspects to the benefit of their brand.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember here is that landing pages can evolve over time. As web traffic trends and the natural growth of a business change a company’s needs, updates to landing pages can keep visitors coming.

Once you master how to create high-converting landing pages, you’ll find that long-lasting success comes from keeping them current and fresh.