ZoomInfo Technologies : 4 Tips For Effective Landing Page Design

What aspect of ZI's platform is the most underutilized and why do you think that's the case?

Picture just a blank white web page with a form to fill out, and basic text that reads 'Fill out form for [insert offer here].'

Sounds pretty boring, right? Technically speaking, that could count as a landing page. But with no real design to it, it's unlikely to actually result in many conversions.

The actual design of your landing page - that is, the content, text, layout, etc - contributes to how effective it is at fulfilling its purpose: converting visitors into eventual customers.

What Is A Landing Page?

In the world of digital marketing, a landing page is a standalone web page created with the primary purpose of converting visitors. They are usually designed for any marketing or advertising campaign, and unlike other web pages, have a single focus or goal, aka your call-to-action (CTA).

This laser focus is the reason landing pages are usually the best option for increasing the conversion rates of your marketing efforts. Yet simply having a landing page isn't enough to seal the deal on a conversion.

You need good design.

Why Is Landing Page Design Important?

The goal of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads. And without a good layout and design, it simply can't achieve that.

Think about some of the web pages you've encountered. You can tell pretty quickly whether something looks credible or not.

Without a clear, visually engaging page layout, your landing page is rendered useless.

An effective landing page provides a host of benefits for your marketing efforts and overall ROI. Below are just a few:

• Increased Lead Generation: Certainlanding pages are essentially trades. You get valuable prospect information, and your visitor gets a useful, relevant piece of content. But if your landing page layout is unclear, that trade is far less likely to happen.
• Better Promotion Of New Products/Services: Landing pages dedicated to showcasing new features can shine a light on the value they could add to your customers' organizations.
• Increased Credibility And Brand Awareness: When a landing page is clear, concise, and visually engaging, it sends the message that this company put time and resources into the creation of it, and therefore is more credible, and can keep up their end of the trade. Landing pages are also a good place to showcase your brand's personality which can help solidify brand awareness.
• Increased Asset Downloads: Good landing page design can help direct more site traffic to your gated content. Using CTA buttons and internal links, you can guide visitors to asset landing pages which helps to increase downloads and hopefully, conversions.

Tips For Effective Landing Page Design

There is no one right way to construct an effective landing page. Every company has different brand style guidelines that they can incorporate into their web page. That being said, there are a few core features that you should include in your design to ensure it's having the right effect.

1. Concise Content

Landing pages are not the place for a lot of fluff. Rather, the message should be clear and to-the-point, specifically highlighting your unique value proposition (UVP). Excessive information and documents that are too text-heavy can easily overwhelm and deter potential customers from staying on the page.

When it comes to must-have content on your landing page, make sure you include the following:

• Header: The first text your visitor will see, your header should communicate the largest benefit your offer provides to their business.
• Subheader: Your subheader can further elaborate on the offer you mention in the header or mention a specific value prop to further draw in your visitor.
• Benefits/Value Props: Many landing pages list the key benefits of their offers in a bulleted format, which makes it clear and scannable.
• CTAs: Every landing page should have multiple clickable CTA buttons that encourage visitors to make a purchase, sign up for a free trial, request a demo, download a piece of content, etc. CTA buttons work well at the top and bottom of a page, so users don't have to scroll all the way up or down to find it.
• Form: Your lead generation form should be short and sweet, requesting only the essential information. While the more data you can gather the better, when it comes to landing page design, less is more. Lengthy forms can deter users for fear of imposing forms of communication.

2. Simple Yet Engaging Layout

When it comes to your layout, remind yourself that the goal is to present information as non-intrusively as possible in order to keep visitors focused on the offer. Clean and clear design is the best way to go with landing pages in order to not distract visitors with a bunch of moving parts.

Thinking about how your landing page is going to be displayed is also crucial to the overall design. You should always be checking the layout of your page at various resolutions in order to ensure that even those with older monitors can see your heading and CTA without having to scroll. On the other end of the spectrum, you should also ensure that your page displays appropriately on mobile devices.

Take one of ZoomInfo's landing pages; the text on the left is scannable, with the main benefits bulleted, and the form to fill out on the right.

3. Use Imagery Wisely

Photos and graphics can either make or break a landing page design. At its best, it adds value to your CTA. But at its worst, it can distract and detract from your message.

Effectively placing graphics and images (allowing text to still be the star of the show) enables people to process and interpret meaning from what they see and drive them to fill out a form.

4. Establish Credibility Through Design

Many landing pages include trust signals that show visitors that your offer, as well as your overall brand, are reliable and trustworthy. Most sites choose to showcase social proof by listing current customers, press mentions, usage statistics, or testimonials.

These are typically included at the bottom of the page, below the fold, so as not to detract from the core message and offer.

Don't Underestimate The Power Of Good Design

While it might be enticing to just slap a form on a blank webpage and call it a day, spending more time on an intentional landing page design will be worth the extra time. Visual design exists for a reason - people want to be able to recognize a brand, and experience some kind of emotional reaction to it (even in the B2B world).

The other great thing about playing around with landing page design is that you can use it as a way to conduct A/B testing, to see what layout resonates most with your visitors.

Your offer might be great, but if you can't display it in a way that makes someone want to convert, they won't.