Landing pages are critical for inbound marketing efforts. They are the gate for new prospects and leads to convert, whether it’s downloading content, signing up for a trial, or requesting a quote. Their main objective is conversion, and they can work better for you when designed with intent. A purposeful approach to do this is conversion-centered design.

Conversion-centered design has seven pillars, and we’re going to introduce you to these and why they matter.

Design Impacts Conversion

Deep analysis and research confirm that design — including layout, graphics, imagery, colors, and font — plays a significant role in converting prospects. The message and offer and their relevance to a user may be the dominant influence. But you cannot neglect design.

To master the design of landing pages, consider the following seven principles of conversion-centered design.

Attention

The beginning of every great conversion-centered design begins with the principle of attention. Unfortunately, the human attention span keeps rapidly declining. Users may only scan a page for five seconds. How will you get their attention?

First, you need to eliminate distractions, like navigation, social media icons, or anything not driving a conversion. Second, you need to keep it simple. Buyers are just getting to know you, so you want to be clear in your content and design.

One essential tip is to balance the attention ratio, which is the action a user takes on a page compared to the desired action. You want it to be 1:1. If you aren’t sure about what could be a distraction, do an A/B test.

Context

Context in conversion-centered design considers how users land on your page and its relevance to them. There are many ways someone can end up on a page — Google Ads, organic SEO, social media, and more. Each situation is unique, and you have to be cognizant of creating alignment from source to page.

To optimize this, ask yourself if users have enough information to convert. If there is a misalignment here, it will impact your conversion rate.

Clarity

The bottom line with clarity is, are your offers and message clear? Don’t look at your page as an expert; try to remove the bias and knowledge you have. What do you want audiences to know and do on the page?

You can convey this through design with a hierarchy of information using headers, subheaders, bullets, and other text effects. Get the language and design right for the audience to avoid dreaded confusion!

Congruence

Congruence means agreement. It focuses on ensuring that elements in the design align with your goal (i.e., download an e-book, request a quote, etc.)

This is tricky because it looks at every piece under a microscope and asks if it supports the goal. To master congruence, you need consistency. Your design and content should be in harmony, working seamlessly together to define a clear path.

Credibility

Users need proof that your brand is trustworthy. Just saying so yourself isn’t good enough. Thus, you need to add some elements to demonstrate this. What you use will be different based on your goal but could include:

• Testimonials (names and companies are most impactful)
• Reviews from a third-party site
• Awards, recognitions, and association memberships

Closing

Next is closing the deal. Thinking about how to present your design and message should lead to the click. You’ll want to ease anxiety and set expectations. Removing hesitation is the name of the game, and your design will dictate this. Be sure to remove “stop” words, which trigger any negative feeling.

Continuance

The last principle is what happens after the conversion. Think about the next steps or adding value with a Thank You page. Additionally, you’ll want to consider email marketing nurture campaigns meaningful to where the buyer is on their journey and maintaining alignment.

Conversion-Centered Design: Seven Principles, One Great Design

Are your landing pages hitting the mark? If not, then it’s time to reimagine them. We can help. We are practitioners of conversion-centered design and have the expertise you need to increase conversion. Get in touch to learn more.