Landing Pages
A landing page is a web page that is developed for a specific campaign. The purpose of the page is primarily to capture the lead. The page should be designed with that single focus.
Landing pages are actually comprised of two pages – the initial opt-in page (with an opt-in form) and a thank you page where visitors are taken after they fill out the form.
Opt-In Page
The opt-in page is usually short – a benefit-focused headline, an image (usually of a downloadable report) and opt-in form. Some opt-in pages have longer text and may even provide a short video. This is recommended when the call to action requires a higher commitment on the part of the visitor.
Thank You Page
For the most part, a thank you page simply says thank you for filling out the form and then briefly describes the next step (check your email to download your free guide). If you are offering a free download, you can put the download right on the thank you page so the visitor doesn’t have to check the email.
A different strategy is to use the thank you page as a sales page to promote the next step in the sales process.
For example, the visitor comes to you landing page and fills out the form to download a free ebook. When they get to the thank you page, the visitor is presented with a long-form message that promotes the value of an appointment or demonstration – and then offers a second call to actidon to schedule that appointment or demonstration.
This is effective because the visitor has already taken some action and is still engaged when they get your next sales pitch.
PURLS
PURLS stand for personalized URLs. These are landing pages that are pre-populated with the prospect’s name and address before he or she arrives at the landing page. This is accomplished by giving each prospect a unique URL with the initial contact -via direct mail or email.
PURLS offer advantages over traditional generic landing pages because the prospect doesn’t have to fill in as much information. PURLS also have that curiosity factor in that the prospect may link to the PURL just to see what it’s all about. PURL landing pages are able to collect the name/address not only from those who respond but also from those who visit but leave without responding.
The most effective PURLS are those that can go beyond personalizing name and address – and that can deliver uniquely relevant information to each prospect. For example, the landing page could switch out photos depending on the age, gender or interests of the responding prospect.
The downside to PURLS is cost – which is not insignificant and needs to be factored into the overall campaign cost.
An Integrated Approach
We typically develop a landing page as part of an overall direct mail, email or online campaign. We want to give prospects many different ways to respond – and the landing page represents one avenue of choice.
Each campaign gets its own landing page. If we are segmenting parts of the campaign (for tracking and testing), we would create separate landing pages for each segment.
For clients who are using many landing pages, we might recommend developing a landing page template so that updates can be made on the fly.
For lead capture, we recommend an automated process so that email addresses can be verified and downloads can be accessed without any human interaction.