Don’t make this mistake! How your landing page headline may be driving customers away.

As part of our 5 day series on landing page conversion tips I’d like to go into your landing page headlines specifically.  Headlines are (or should be) the first thing the user sees when they arrive at your landing page. Too many times I’ve seen poorly written headlines that give no solution, benefit, or reason to why the user should read on, let alone fill out a contact form.  Moreover, some headlines I’ve seen just reiterate the problem the user is having. For example, “Need higher sales?” or “Want more conversions”? Well of course we do. These kinds of headlines don’t provide a solution to the user, therefore, you’re risking abandonment from the user.

By simply stating the reason why the user arrived at your site could drive your customers away. But if you have a headline that provides a solution to your users problem, the answer to their question, that we feel is the key to obtaining more clients.

A solution/benefit driven headline provides an answer to your user’s problem. If they’re experiencing low sales, make your headline the solution to their low sales. Example:  “Sky rocket your sales with our advanced shopping cart feature.”

One thing I learned in my first job was that internet marketing doesn’t always have to be pretty or super creative to get sales. If your current marketing program has gotten you sales in the past, stick with it.

Creating a benefit driven headline will ensure to the user they are in the right place. When you’re writing your benefit/solution driven head ask yourself these questions:

1. Does my headline reinstate the users potential problem? If the answer is yes, then re-write your headline to provide a solution to a users problem instead.
2. Does my headline give a brief definition of what my services are offering? If the answer is no, the re-write your headline that does give a brief definition of what services you’re offering.
3. Is my headline somewhat positive? If no, please re-write your headline and make it positive to give the customer a positive feel after viewing your landing page.

Remember to keep your headlines positive, and include a solution, answer or benefit in them. This will help the user connect to what you’re offering and how it can help them; which hopefully will lead to more sales!

do some of that social network stuff.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Landing Pages / Increasing Conversion Rates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.