Target your audience and convert better when you use the right page types
You may have heard the terms ‘landing page’ and ‘squeeze page’. If you have and you are still confused as to what they are and what they do, then you aren’t alone. Just like any other industry, we in internet and content marketing have our own language. Sometimes we assume that clients understand all the technical jargon.
In this article, you’ll learn why you need to employ both landing pages and squeeze pages in a successful internet marketing campaign.
What is a landing page?
Let’s start with defining a landing page, which could be any page on your website. Most businesses make the mistake of believing that their website’s home page is the entry point to their website. This isn’t true. Visitors could find you by an almost infinite number of search terms, links from other websites, referrals, internet marketing campaigns, etc. They could enter your website anywhere.
One of the key goals of internet marketing should be to decide where visitors enter your website. Internet marketers will therefore set up specific target pages. These are what we normally refer to as landing pages.
As an example, consider a tent rental company. They may have many different types of tent available. If they run an AdWords campaign to promote wedding tent rentals, they will want to direct people to a page specific to tents for wedding receptions. They don’t want potential customers to be taken to a general page (for example, the home page) and then have to hunt for relevant information from there. Click on those two links, and you’ll notice that the latter targeted landing page also has a call to action – in this case, offering to send tips and advice about tents for wedding receptions, in exchange for an email address.
So, when an internet marketer discusses landing pages, he or she is talking about a page that is:
- More highly targeted to a specific audience
- Focused on a single service or product
- Clear about the action you want the visitor to take (e.g. subscribe, leave a comment, download an eBook, and so on)
So, what about squeeze pages?
OK, just to confuse matters a little, a squeeze page is also a landing page. Because it is a page that visitors first land on. However, its content is tighter than the landing page I’ve described above.
A squeeze page is usually much shorter than a landing page, often with just a few bullet-pointed highlights. It is highly focused on a single product or service, and usually won’t have any navigation bars or other links to tempt the visitor away. He or she can either take the action you want them to take, or shut the squeeze page.
So, why use landing pages and squeeze pages?
You are a business. You want your website to achieve several objectives. These include to:
- Attract visitors
- Add valuable contacts to your email list (for onward promotion and marketing)
- Convert website visitors into customers
Landing pages and squeeze pages hit all three objectives, but not all are equal.
What results should you expect from landing and squeeze pages?
According to various studies, conversion rates vary from industry to industry. Only about 22% of businesses are satisfied with their conversion rates. This is especially true when those businesses learn about their benchmarks. Here’s an idea of the conversion rates you should expect from your landing pages and squeeze pages (sources: Wordstream, eConsultancy and Unbounce):
- The average conversion rate is around 2.35%
- The top 25% convert at 5.31%
- The top 10% convert at more than 11%
- The best landing page and squeeze page strategies have conversion rates of 3 to 5 times the average
This means that if your business uses landing pages and squeeze pages effectively, you could be converting between 10 and 20 from every 100 visitors.
Strategize for quality and quantity
One final point about landing pages and squeeze pages, is that you shouldn’t make quantity of conversions your only objective. Instead, produce optimized content that will focus on quality of conversions as well as quantity. This should help you drive conversions through the top 10% barrier, and lead to a higher-quality customer base that will drive your business success in the future.
What have your landing page conversion rates been in the past? Let us know in the comments.
Need help to take your online presence and internet marketing strategies to the next level? Get in touch: