Landing pages

The first test of your customer discovery process

Context

• Your pitch identifies a big pain or unmet need, offers a brilliant solution, explains how it’s different, why you should do it, and a call to action
• The customer persona sharpens the needs and goals of the person who will most likely be attracted to your pitch
• The value proposition canvas matches pains and potential gains with pain relievers and gain enablers to create a unique value proposition that maps back onto the big pain
• The MVP (landing page) lets you quickly and cheaply test reactions to your unique value proposition
• This lean startup cycle makes your pitch BETTER

Bottom Line Up Front on Your MVP Deliverable

Your landing page should look a lot like the one on the next slide. It should have a:

• Title or Name of the product or company
• Tagline
• Testimonial
• Bullet list of benefits of your offering
• Call to action (e.g., sign up box)

Assemble these items in a web page or PPT file

Testimonial

TAGLINE

Call to action

Bullets of benefits

Name

What are landing pages?

• Any web page that a visitor can arrive at or “land” on. In the early stages of customer development it’s also a minimum viable product or minimum features set
• In marketing and advertising, it’s more common to refer to a landing page as being “a standalone web page that’s distinct from your main website that has been designed for a single focused objective” (there’s no direct link to your primary website)
• The landing page limits the options available to your visitors by guiding them toward your intended conversion goal (1. click-through or 2. lead generation)

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http://unbounce.com/landing-page-articles/what-is-a-landing-page/

Click-through and lead generation

• Click Through Landing Pages have the goal of persuading the visitor to click through to another page. Typically used in ecommerce funnels, they can be used to describe a product or offer in sufficient detail so as to “warm up” a visitor to the point where they are closer to making a purchasing decision.
• Lead gen pages are used to capture user data, such as a name and email address. The sole purpose of the page is to collect information that will allow you to market to and connect with the prospect at a subsequent time. As such, a lead capture page will contain a form along with a description of what you’ll get in return for submitting your personal data (e.g., a white paper, symposium registration, eBook, contest entry, free trial…)

Click-through example

Lead gen example

or just an experiment to test a hypothesis: PaloAltoDelivery.com

founder’s own cell

Links to PDFs of menus

Used a Square account to collect payments

How do we measure landing page performance?

• We want to convert visitors into customers so we use conversion rate (# desired behaviors/visitor)
• Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a discipline that focuses on the testing of landing pages, aiming to find the optimal design and messaging mixture that produces higher conversion rates.
• The CRO process uses research (user feedback and data analysis) to produce an "experiment hypothesis" - which is used in A/B testing to increase your conversion rate.

http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/

Meanwhile, recall that customer discovery begins with the business model hypothesis

• Market size
• Large number of potential active users or customers
• Clear future-user growth in market with rapid & predictable growth
• Opportunity to attract active customers or users
• Value proposition
• Product or service vision
• Features and benefits
• Minimum viable product (MVP)
• Landing pages help us to quickly and cheaply test these hypotheses

Customer discovery process

Phase I

State hypotheses

Draw business model canvas

Phase II

Test the problem

Phase III

Test the solution

Phase IV

Verify or pivot

Customer validation

Customer discovery

And settle on what you think is your unique value proposition

Start with a value proposition canvas

And settle on what you think is your unique value proposition

Unique value proposition

Your unique selling proposition needs to stand out on your landing page if you want to convert visitors

http://unbounce.com/landing-pages/unique-value-proposition-fix-it-on-your-landing-page/

ALSO: YOU HAVE LESS THAN 10 SECONDS

 Definition: a clear statement that describes the benefit of what you are offering, how you solve needs and what distinguishes you from the competition.

What makes a great value proposition?

• Quickly and clearly convey the value of what you are offering.
• Explain how your service/product is different from that of your competitors.
• State benefits as well as features.
• Address the key needs and pain points of your target audience and underline how your offering is the solution.
• Avoid superlatives such as “the best” or “world-class,” as well as any jargon or acronyms.
• Use layman’s terms to convey your offering to even the most uninitiated audience.
• Use customer-centric language rather than company-centric language. Steer clear of using the words “we,” “our” or “I.”

http://unbounce.com/landing-pages/unique-value-proposition-fix-it-on-your-landing-page/

Make your VP prominent on your page

• Have a short but powerful headline that helps summarize a key aspect of your UVP (in less than 10 words).
• Have a supporting sub-headline or short paragraph to help explain or clarify your UVP.
• Have a short bulleted list of the benefits/advantages of using your product/service, with supporting visual imagery (for example, icons, badges, or a hero shot).
• (Ideally) Show all of the elements above the page fold (the area that visitors can see initially without having to scroll).
• End with a call to action (CTA)! You want your visitor to take action so you can measure behaviors!
• And carry the conversation forward after they click through

http://unbounce.com/landing-pages/unique-value-proposition-fix-it-on-your-landing-page/

The “six-point punch” approach to calls to action above the fold

• A powerful and descriptive headline: The type that stops you in your tracks when you see it in a newspaper dispenser on the street.
• A complimentary supporting sub header: This is designed to to give you both the ability to keep your headline short and sweet, and to provide the extra information that would make your headline a bloated mess if it was included.
• The hero shot: This is your best photo/video that showcases your offering. The best style of hero shot is something that shows your product/service being used in context. For instance, for a foldaway step ladder, you could show a series of photos of it being used to reach a high shelf, followed by it being neatly stowed away in a tight space.
• Benefit statements: These should succinctly describe the core benefits of your product or service and the pain your offering solves for prospects.
• A call-to-action that describes exactly what you’ll get: This should be really closely tied to the title to reinforce your page’s purpose.
• Confidence/trust indicators: This is where you backup your claims with a testimonial, customer logos press mention logos.

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Source: TheLandingPageCourse.com, accessed April 8, 2015

Your landing page will look a lot like this generic template here --->

Test your personas

Creating these modalities helps you understand and cater to the desires and motivations of your users. Each modality can be paired with various landing page attributes that they’re naturally drawn to

http://unbounce.com/a-b-testing/10-testing-ideas-call-to-action-conference-2014/

Test your personas

• Explore each persona! For example,
• Spontaneous personas are fast, unstructured, emotion-based decision makers (think Jack Sparrow). As compulsive buyers, they respond well to guarantees because they allow them to quench their thirst and get a refund later if it doesn’t work out.
• On the other hand, methodical personas are structured, logic-based decision makers (think Sherlock Holmes). They like to know about the methodologies you use: the specifics of your product or service. Because they’re so detail-oriented, they’re most likely going to read your entire page – so place methodology details below the fold (where the other modalities aren’t likely to snoop).

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http://unbounce.com/a-b-testing/10-testing-ideas-call-to-action-conference-2014/

Fast

Slow

Logical

Emotional

Fast

Slow

Fast

Slow

Logical

Emotional

Fast

Slow

Compare to...

Fast

Slow

Logical

Emotional

Fast

Slow

Compare to...

Testimonial

TAGLINE

Call to action

Bullets of benefits

Which persona?

Creating these modalities helps you understand and cater to the desires and motivations of your users. Each modality can be paired with various landing page attributes that they’re naturally drawn to

http://unbounce.com/a-b-testing/10-testing-ideas-call-to-action-conference-2014/

OK, how about a “why persona?”

• You might not know with certainty which type of message will appeal to your presumed persona target (are they humanistic, methodical, spontaneous, competitive?)
• Using one persona lets you test if you have a match between your unique value proposition and your initial customer (e.g., Manpacks test of three in first bullet)
• Using multiple personas lets you A/B test to see which persona group responds most enthusiastically to your unique value proposition
• Which one seems to have been most successful for Manpacks? (Site visitors vote with their clicks and wallets; see also Manpacks on Crunchbase)

Some brutally-honest landing page critiques

Source: Unbounce.com

• it doesn’t actually communicate a single thing about the offering.
• People scan because they are impatient.
• These headlines are the critical callouts of the benefit of doing business with you, so I’d consider giving this page a major overhaul.
• Tell a story in your scannable headlines and you’ll be much better off.

Buzzword alert: “AMPLIFY YOUR MARKETING,” “WHAT YOU GET,” “RELEVANT UP-TO-DATE CONTENT,” “ENGAGING NARRATED VIDEO,” “COST EFFECTIVE,” “TAS EXCLUSIVE BRANDS ADD-ONS,” “GET STARTED,” “AVAILABILITY IS LIMITED,” “SUCCESS MADE SIMPLE” and finally, “SUBMIT.”

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Buzzwords make you look inexperienced, noob!��BTW this is probably a scam

• Is it PokerCoach or PokerSnowie? I can’t tell? Brand overload
• Why are the benefits bullets so far down the page? Bring those bullets up top so I will actually read them and maybe cut the benefits down to three bullets.
• “20% off” what?

• The tagline is vague. “Eat, drink, and your planning is done.” Who is that addressing? Planning for what? My wedding? I don’t get it. How can my planning be done?
• What is a Weddingful party? I’d describe the event and why a vendor should attend in one sentence exactly.
• Unclear headline! Who wants to meet engaged couples? (and then mingle with them). How about “couplemingle.” If this is a service for wedding vendors make it more obvious!

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Landing page service providers

• Launchrock.com (free)
• Unbounce.com (30-day trial)
• Instapage (free)
• WordPress.org (requires you to have a paid account with KickoffLabs)
• Pagewiz.com (free signup, no credit cards)
• Optimizely.com (uses a landing page to sign you up for free account)

Landing page service providers

• Whatever service you choose it:
• Should not require any coding
• Should allow you to work fast – minutes not hours, days not weeks
• Should provide simple links to social media service
• Should provide insightful analytics
• Should simplify A/B testing

Team assignments

• Use the customer discovery process in slide 6 to determine your unique value proposition
• Create at least one landing page with a short but powerful headline, a supporting sub-headline or short paragraph, a short bulleted list of the benefits/advantages, and a compelling call to action (examples)
• Construct a short thank-you note telling click-throughs what to expect next
• Insert a google analytics code into the page to track behaviors
• Share your landing page by email and on as many social media outlets as possible (Launchrock defaults to FB and TWTR)

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Extra Materials

The Smart Marketer’s Landing Page Conversion Course: an 11-part course with step-by-step instructional videos so you can follow along, creating your own landing pages as you go.