A landing page is a standalone website page dedicated to a specific marketing campaign. It’s the page a visitor “lands” on when they click through the link of an ad or social post, or type in a custom campaign URL.  

The purpose of a landing page is to convert visitors into leads by offering persuasive, relevant information and providing a clear, easy way for them to take action (i.e. form submission, online application, email signup, appointment booking, product purchase, ebook download, etc.).  

When visitors click through a link from an ad or social post, they are doing so because they are interested in more information about whatever they read about in the ad/post. Everyone now knows that digital ads are targeted based on interests, preferences, and history, but this standard has raised expectations of what these ads direct to do in order to deserve a click through.

Remember: Every time a user clicks on a link, they are owed something of value for their time, interest, and effort.

If the link destination does not live up to the visitor’s expectations from what they gather from the ad, they may lose interest or even become frustrated when they are led to a dead end.

This means that, despite how much time, money, and effort is put into a digital advertising campaign, if the destination does not deliver what the ad implies then it could actually cause more harm than good to the campaign and the brand as a whole.

A well-done landing page tends to have the opposite effect. Here are three important aspects to consider to develop landing pages that will turn your visitors into fans.

1) Deliver what your ad promises—and more.

A campaign landing page may be your visitor’s first impression of your brand. Wouldn’t it be nice if they were pleased and even impressed? A landing page should feel like a valuable resource tailored to the exact need that came to mind when your visitor decided to click through the link.

Offer useful, relevant information so the visitor will feel satisfied their needs are being met. They should feel they discovered something valuable for themself, by themself. They should forget they even got to the page through an intrusive, targeted advertisement.

2) Build your page to fulfill a purpose.

Another advantage to landing pages is that the layout, hierarchy, design, and content can be customized for the specific purpose of the page—without the navigational distractions of a regular website experience.

Incorporate video, infographics, tools, or curated selection of relevant products to offer a much more thoughtful, engaging user experience than a generic web page could. Think of resources or tools relevant to what your visitor came for. A popular way to generate sales leads to offer a downloadable resource (like an e-book) in exchange for your visitor’s email address.

3) Measure everything and improve from what you learn.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of a landing page is the refined control of measurement. Campaign traffic and its referral sources are much easier to track to one specific page, and multiple events can be set up to track every behavior or action that takes place on the page—from button clicks and form submissions to scroll depth or time spent on the page.

Landing page metrics not only measure the success of a campaign by tracking conversions, but can also provide valuable insights for ways to improve and align the content of the page and the ads that lead visitors to it. If you aren’t getting the results you expected, there is no reason you can’t improve with such refined measurement in a controlled setting.

Even if a visitor doesn’t take action the first time they visit your landing page, a positive experience will leave a lasting impression for the next time they see your brand in an ad or in a store, or they may seek out your brand when they are in a better position to consider your offering or make a purchase.