How to Build Effective B2B Landing Pages
How to Build Effective B2B Landing Pages
Landing pages are very useful tools for B2B marketers because they allow you to create highly-targeted lead generation campaigns that are also highly effective. According to Hubspot, landing pages have a 23% conversion rate - meaning 23% of users who came to the page submitted their contact information in exchange for the offer! Here are the key elements of successful landing pages that generate quality leads for your business.
So...what's a landing page?
A landing page is a page on your website designed to convert visitors (i.e. get them to perform a specific action). Typical actions include downloading content (such as a whitepaper), registering for a webinar or product demo, or requesting a free trial. The whitepaper, webinar, trial, etc. is called the "offer" - it's something of value you're offering the visitor in exchange for their contact information. Landing pages are different from other pages on your website because they focus on one specific offer and request one specific action from the visitor in order to claim the offer.
Landing pages are a critical part of your content marketing strategy, each one tied to a specific piece of content, providing the lead capture function of your marketing campaign for that content.
Essential Element #1: The Offer
At the heart of an effective landing page (and an effective content marketing strategy, for that matter) is your offer. As previously stated, an offer is something of value your prospects can't get elsewhere. Whitepapers, e-books, checklists, proprietary calculators or other tools, webinars, and free trials are all examples of offers B2B companies use to generate leads through landing pages. When determining what to offer visitors, be honest with yourself about how valuable the content really is. Is it readily available elsewhere for free (meaning no contact info is required)? Not a good offer. Is it something your target audience will be willing to give up their contact information for? If the answer is no, keep looking.
Essential Element #2: Clear and Concise Headline and Copy
B2B products and services and their benefits are often complex to explain – but a landing page is not the place to do it. That’s what the rest of your website is for! Instead, the headline and body copy of your landing page should contain a clear and concise description of the offer, not your products or company. Example headlines:
Whitepaper: The 10 Biggest Mistakes Companies Make Implementing XYZ
Free Trial: Try SoftwareABC for 2 Weeks - Free
In the body copy, describe the offer in a few sentences or bullet points, calling out the most valuable information or functions the user will receive.
"In our new whitepaper, you'll learn how companies implementing XYZ spend up to 40% more than they have to - and how to avoid these mistakes."
"Try our premium analytics software for 14 days and find out where your biggest productivity losses are occurring."
Also critical is ensuring the headline and body copy reflect the same information on the ad, email, etc. used to drive traffic to the page. Potential clients who click on your ad or email do so because they want whatever it is you’re promising – don’t disappoint them! If your ad says “Learn the top 10 ways to reduce your supply chain costs”, be sure your landing page says the same thing, and that the offer does the same. The goal here is leads, not clicks to the page, so don’t promise something to get them to click only to disappoint them when they get there.
Essential Element #3: A Short and Simple Contact Form
You're offering something valuable, and you want something in return. That something is the visitor's contact information - a lead! But be careful: when designing your contact form, only ask for information you must have, not everything you and your sales team want to know. The general rule of thumb is that the less info you ask for, the more likely someone is to fill out the form, and that's the goal, after all.
Start with just an email address and build from there – First and Last name and Company name are almost universally next on the priority list, but after that, it will depend on your business and the offer - here's where the rule of thumb isn't always correct. There's a great article about the effectiveness of different lengths and types of contact forms here, but in sum, you may actually improve conversions with more questions if those questions are essential to the offer.
For example, if you're offering a free trial of your analytics software, it would make sense to know the type of business your prospect is in so you can tailor their account access and follow-up communications to their needs, increasing the value of the offer and therefore the likelihood they'll stay on after the trial ends.
With that being said, don't use landing page contact forms to conduct surveys as to the size of your prospect's company, how much they plan to spend on your type of solutions this year, etc. Unless information is essential to your delivery of a valuable offer to the prospect, leave it off. The same goes for mandatory fields – only require your prospect to complete those fields that are absolutely essential. If you get too nosey and require your prospect to disclose more than they're comfortable with, you've lost a lead.
Landing pages are an effective tool in every B2B marketer's arsenal, and by following these essential tips, you can support your content marketing strategy and increase lead generation. For help designing your content marketing or lead generation strategy, drop us a line.