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One glance and you can feel whether a landing page works. What is behind a landing page that converts this well? A formula. Follow these seven steps in order and your results climb.
Place your unique benefit at the top, in the header. Your visitor decides quickly whether to stay, so if you lose them here, they drop off. Most visitors read your headline, a much smaller share reads the rest. So your headline decides everything. Keep it short and concrete, a statement of six to eight words that grabs attention straight away. Skip the vague, rhetorical question, because that is where you lose people.
Right after your headline, visuals draw the eye, whether that is a product photo, a portrait, a video or a tour. Rely purely on text and your conversions will disappoint. The higher the quality of your visuals, the stronger your page performs.
Name your features, but put the emphasis on the benefits. People buy the outcome, the solution to their problem, such as saving time or money. So talk to your ideal customer and find out what really keeps them up at night. Then show how you solve it, concretely, "this saves you five hours", instead of a laundry list of supposed advantages.
Too often, CTAs are scattered across the page. For most pages, one clear call to action works better. You first guide someone past your headline, your visuals, your benefits and your answer to every objection. Only then do you ask for action. It is about completions rather than as many clicks as possible towards your form. Better a few fewer clicks that do convert than a stream that drops off halfway.
Show reviews, testimonials or a review badge. They show your value at a glance. Reviews reflect the truth, whether they give five stars or two. And it is exactly that honesty that builds trust. They also help visitors judge whether your offer suits them.
A money-back guarantee, a trial period or next-day delivery removes the barrier. That way your visitor feels safe taking that final step. If something does go wrong, resolve it calmly and think along with the customer, because that very attitude still wins over the doubters.
Skip storytelling and you leave conversions on the table. People love drama, think of Goede Tijden Slechte Tijden, the Dutch soap opera that has been running for decades. Take your visitor along on a story, from high point to low point and back. That is how you move them. Storytelling has worked since ancient times, regardless of any channel or algorithm update. Use it on every landing page.
Since I wrote this, you no longer have to guess what works. An AI writes five variants of your headline in seconds, suggests a sharper call to action and points out weak spots in your copy. Where you used to test for weeks, you can now see in an afternoon which direction delivers the most.
And pay attention to where your visitors come from. More and more often, someone lands on your page via an AI answer or a Google AI Overview, with a very specific question in mind. Answer that question right at the top, clearly and without fuss, and you convert that visitor just as well as someone who comes in via an ad.
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About the author
Dominic Pietersz
Your dedicated point of contact
Dominic helps SMEs grow through Google and other channels. With his international experience, he turns challenges into concrete growth.
Follow Dominic on LinkedInInspiration · At a glance I could feel whether a client page worked and I wanted to know why. That search turned into these seven steps for high conversion.
