How to build a landing page that converts visitors into buyers

Let’s say a friend tells you about this stylish brand of shoes made of banana fibres, but for the life of her she can’t remember the  brand name. 

“Something to do with ‘Bananas’... just google it”. If the brand has done its SEO right, their name should pop up when you google ‘Banana shoe brand in India’.

The landing page that opens up when you click through is your first point of contact with this brand. Everything you read and see over the next few seconds will play a pivotal role in shaping your perception of this brand. It will also determine if you will become a paying customer or just another visitor who clicks away.

This is how 90% of customers discover a brand these days.  

If you are selling something then you need to have a website. If you want to make money selling it your website needs to have a landing page that converts visitors to paying customers. 

Landing page - the first page your visitor sees, and if you get it right, not the only one

Every website you have ever visited has one of these. Some call it the home page; others call it the landing page.

It doesn't matter what you label it; the job is the same.

CONVINCE AND CONVERT

An effective homepage will convince the casual visitor to spend more time on your site. It will have enough relevant information to make the user feel that your product or service is 'The Solution' to 'The Problem' that torments them.

Once they are convinced, the next step is to nudge them to click the buy or read more button. This action should take them on a journey that ends with them converting from website visitors to paying customers and a Kaching! sound in your shopping cart tracker.

Your home page can be broken down
into 5 essential parts

#1
The hero banner with a hero message

This is the first thing your user will see on the first page. The most crucial element here is the headline or hero message. It should tell the user in no uncertain terms why your product is the solution they are looking for.

Don't give in to the temptation to get cute. A catchy slogan that sounds great but means nothing will not work.

Answer the user's "What's in it for me?" question in your brand's tone of voice.

Here are three great examples

There is no doubt about what content on demand does. They explicitly state exactly what the visitor will get from their services.  Remove stress and help the customer focus on things that are more important to them. Exactly what every potential customer wants to hear.

A good example of using the headline and subhead to land the entire value proposition in one frame. Why should a product company be interested in Enterpret? The two lines on the hero banner answers the question succinctly.

A great example of brevity. A three-word headline that tells you exactly what the product does. The clever use of favicons in the subhead ticks all boxes.

What about the hero image?

This is your opportunity to build credibility and brand image. Depending on your product, you can choose to showcase aspirational lifestyle images, show people using your products, or just have well-lit, beautifully art-directed product shots. 

Don't skimp and publish a pixelated screenshot or a badly lit photo taken on your phone. Potential customers notice these things subconsciously and bracket you in the "If they have cut costs here, where else have they cut costs?" category. 

This is not the kind of first impression you want to make.

#2
The products or service section

If your visitor has scrolled till here, you are talking to someone interested in what you have to sell.

The goal of this section is to move them from "I am kind of interested" to "I want to buy this." Or at the very least, get them to think," I want to buy this, but I have a couple of more questions." To achieve this goal, organise relevant and valuable information about your product in a way that is easy to understand and easy to read.  

One way to do this is to use headlines that highlight your product's benefit. You can also use headlines that explain how your product solves a pain point that the potential customer is struggling with. 

Use a couple of lines of body copy to explain the benefits further. 

If you offer many products or services, think of your homepage as the display window of your entire store. Showcase the products that are your most valuable offering or the most popular among your existing customers. Even if what is on display is not what the user is looking for, the visitor will want to walk in and see what else is there. 

End the product section with a prominent call to action button that nudges the user to take the next step. If you have a complicated product or service, add a second button that offers the user the choice to read up more. 

The read more or know more button should send the user to your product page. This page should showcase all the information your user needs about your product. 

Think of the visitor who clicks this button as the kind of person who reads every single review and blog post out there before they buy anything. Any piece of information you can give will be hoovered up and added to the pros side of their pros and cons list. Adding verified reviews, opinions, and information from other websites and blogs will multiply your chances of making a sale.

It is always a good idea to allow the visitor to filter the products by their needs on this page. This ensures that they are not overwhelmed by choice. 

#3
The home page testimonials and reviews section

Positive customer reviews are the best way to assure potential customers that your product is the real deal. However, when you are a startup, chances are you won't have real reviews to share. Instead of using Chat GPT or some other AI tool to generate a few reviews, see if you can get someone relevant and credible to test your product and give a review. 

As soon as you get actual reviews, share them on your website. Genuine reviews shot by real consumers inside real homes will get you more new customers than anything you can say about your product.

#4
Content and buttons that nudge your users into action

Clear 'Call to Actions' or CTAs are the best way to convert a casual browser into a buyer.

Your CTA message should tell the visitor exactly what they can expect when they do what you are asking them to do.

Here are two CTA button messages

Which button are you more likely to click? 

Aim to give your website visitors logical and clear action points throughout the home page using buttons or CTA banners.

If a section on the homepage talks about the technical reasons why your product is better than the rest, the CTA should give the website visitor the option to research more about the science behind your product. If the section deals with the quality of the ingredients, then give them the option to understand more about the ingredients and why they are important. 

#5
Finally, add anything that sparks curiosity and strengthens your message

If you have spoken to enough potential customers and done a fair amount of user testing, you will know what your users are looking for. Use that knowledge to create a section on your homepage that answers their questions, builds your credibility, or does both. 

For instance, if your service helps people buy insurance, you can add an ideal premium calculator on your home page.

Or, if you are an ed-tech company offering multiple courses, you can add a short quiz to help users choose the perfect course. 

If you know your user well enough, the possibilities are endless. 

Conclusion:
Your website is the most powerful tool in your marketing toolkit

Your potential customers are flooded with useful and useless information from the moment they think a product or service may be useful to them. From the first Google search result or ChatGPT query until they make that first purchase, multiple sources spew "knowledge" at them. 

Your goal is to be memorable enough to be among the consideration-set when your potential customer decides it is time to buy. The homepage of your website is the most powerful tool in your marketing and sales kit to do that. If you plan and execute your website content strategy correctly, you can give in-depth information about your service and yourself, test out messages and offers, reward repeat customers, learn more about your users, and accomplish a lot more.