Engagement tips and tricks for better landing pages
Marketing-inspired techniques for a powerful product presentation.
It was a sunny day. The little street was busy as usual. An old blind man was sitting in the corner begging for money. He had a tin cup and a sign saying “Blind — Please help”, but people were passing by completely unmoved.
Today a young lady stopped, but she didn’t give him any money. She just took a thick marker pen from her pocket, grabbed his cardboard sign, turned it back-to-front and rewrote the sign, then went on her way.
A few moments later, a clinking noise woke the old man up who was now almost sleeping. He was surprised as more coins kept coming. Soon, the cup was overflowing! Curious, the man, asked a stranger to read him what the new sign said. The stranger seemed confused but went ahead and read “It’s a beautiful day. You can see it. I cannot. Some change could help”.
A cheesy story you might think. But what makes those words so powerful? How can a simple change of words generate so many interactions? Why is this message so effective, and how could we use this information to influence behaviour?
I believe, it is about the relevance of the statement “It’s a beautiful day”, the words which connect this statement with the audience “You can see it”, and moves them “I cannot”. It’s about the clear and suggestive message “Some change could help”. It is crafted carefully and strategically as an emotional and actionable message.
The marketing sector is goal oriented and full of engagement tricks to learn from and use in our designs. So, let’s have a look at some that could help us build better product landing pages.
1. Be clear of who you are addressing
“You can’t be everything to everyone but you can be something to someone.” — Drew Davis, Brandscaping
Defining your audience is the most important step into effective communication. Your tone of voice, the words you use, how direct or indirect you are, how much information you provide, how you package and present this information all depends on your audience. Don’t assume that people think and act as you do, try to learn as much as you can about them and what they care about.
“Speak to your audience in their language about what’s in their heart.” — Jonathan Lister
2. Communicate value
“Content is anything that adds value to the reader”s life.” — Avinash Kaushik, Google
People need to be reminded of what they are missing or wishing. Make your content be all about them and what they want, put them in the shoes you want them to wear and take them for a walk. Present the facts while connecting them to their daily lives and needs. Be specific and honest about your product and the problem(s) you are going to solve for them.
“Don’t worry about trying to impress people… Just focus on how you can add value to their lives.” — Hal Elrod
3. Be minimal
“Minimalism is not a lack of something, it’s simply the best amount of something.” — Nicholas Burroughs
Being straightforward is one of the most important attributes when trying to communicate ideas, features, or solutions. Everyone is busy these days while bombarded with huge amounts of online information. There is no time for complicated and long descriptions. There is no tolerance in cluttered and hard to read pages. Minimalism wins both in verbal communication and visual design.
“ Less is more. Keeping it simple takes time and effort.” — Jeff Bullas
4. Make them care
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.” — Simon Sinek.
Why should anyone care of what you have to offer? To answer that, you will first have to discover and define your purpose and vision. Then you will have to be able to communicate them. You want to inspire people to adopt, embrace and advocate your product. You have to show them how much you care so they can care. A way to do this is connecting your vision with their values, making them feel like they belong. They are an important part of your world.
5. Support their decision
“People want to believe that they are making decisions rationally but in reality, they make them emotionally first. Then they defend those decisions with logic.” — Tom Hopkins, sales trainer.
Targeting people’s emotion is the best way to start a conversation, spark interest and connect with them, but this is not enough to make them act. People will look to justify their emotional decisions with logical arguments and this is when the benefits and value of the offering have to shine. Remember to present the facts, make them visible, beautiful, easy to read, and most importantly connect them with your vision.
6. Show them
“Don’t tell me, show me,” ‘Big Willie’ Robinson
Talking about an idea, feature, or solution to a problem is not enough. A picture is worth 1000 words and a video much more. Try to organise your information into digestible chunks and illustrate or animate them. Show a step by step process of how other people do it and what they say about it. People naturally mimic others, just make sure that those others have the same goals and share the same beliefs/values with your target audience.
“When people feel insecure about something, they look around for validation. Show them that other people trust you.” — Francisco Rosales
7. Be relevant and actionable
Knowing your audience, addressing its needs, discovering your vision and communicating your value is very important, but playing in an empty stadium won’t get people to cheer for you. You have to know where, when and how to get their attention. If you sell ice cream, sell it somewhere hot, during midday. Don’t just state what you offer, tell a story — “It’s a hot day, try our cooling and refreshing ice cream”.
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” — Seth Godin
Connect your offering with the environment, choose the right time and place while focusing on peoples’ needs. Be descriptive and suggestive but mostly be yourself. You don’t have to use sophisticated language, or over the top graphics, just focus on creating “wow” and “aha” moments, as much as new, and actionable connections in people’s minds.
“Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go.” — Seth Godin
Conclusion
Having a valuable and easy to use product is not enough for people to actually, use it. Being able to communicate your value and connect people with your product is very important.
Your goal is to craft engaging pages that make people act. You have to be direct, minimal and specific; remind them what they need, show them why they care and support their decision with facts.
Thanks for reading!
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