Best Practices For Increasing Conversion Rates

Landing Pages: Integrating Online and
OfflineNaehas Landing Page Optimization Report

Best Practices for Increasing Conversion Rates
Rab Govil
www.naehas.com 525 Middlefield Road | Suite 230 | Menlo Park | CA | 94025 1-877-2naehas
Landing Page Buzz
According to a recent Gartner Group Study, “…50% of

web sales are lost because visitors cannot easily find
products, content, or services they’re looking for on
websites.”
“As many as 50% [of visitors]…bail within 0-8

seconds after briefly glancing at the [landing]
page.”
The Google Quality Score is “…determined by your

keyword's clickthrough rate (CTR) on Google, and the
relevance of your ad text, keyword, and landing
page”
More Than 80% of Individuals Leave a
Landing Page Within 0-8 Seconds Due To Poor
Relevancy, Design, and Offer
Proportion of visitors
who leave within 0-8
seconds after briefly
glancing at the page
Proportion of visitors who

leave when the page does
not prove compelling
under closer examination
Visitors who are attempting to
convert but fail somehow, or who
would convert if there was an
alternate channel such as phone
Conversions
Top 5 Landing Page Mistakes
• Call to action in the outbound medium is not reflected in

the landing page
• Offer has no value or does not match the customer buying

stage
• Distracting Navigation options that lead the customer away

from the conversion goal
• Tedious and invasive forms.
• Landing page design is confusing or difficult to read.
Data Sources for This Report
Naehas, Inc. PODi

International consortium which produces the
Best Practices research on the best
application of digital printing on a world wide
basis
Software as a Service company based
in Silicon Valley (www.naehas.com) Total of over 300 projects in Best Practice
collection of case studies. The best practices
report has been requested over 40,000 times
Provide marketers a Landing Page in just one year
Application that allow them to create,
host and measure personalized landing Case studies available at www.podi.org
pages without any help from IT
MarketingSherpa
Conduct Case Study interviews with brand-
Customers range from Fortune 500 side marketing VPs and directors in both
companies (Canon, USPS, Charles business-to-business and consumer
Schwab, Merril Lynch) to small and marketing.
medium businesses.
Surveyed over 237,000 marketing,
advertising and PR professionals to date.
Data in the report based on the last 50 Produced one of the first definitive research
landing page campaigns report on landing pages called the landing
page handbook
Landing Page Optimization Rule
40%
Optimizing a landing page can significantly
Customization &
increase conversion rates
Personalization
2X
40%
Conversion Rate
Offer and Usability
20%
Creative
Average Optimized
Landing Page Landing Page
Optimized Landing Pages Should Be Customized
and Personalized For Each Target Segment, and
Should Focus on Converting The Customer
40%
Customized and
2X personalized landing pages
Navigation
Relevance
should feel as though they
were created especially for
&
each individual.
Conversion Rate
1. The headline should match the

call to action in the outbound
medium.
2. Personalized pages should greet

the individual by name and
contain information relevant to
the receiver.
3. Customized landing pages

should have relevant content for
each segment
Average Optimized
4. Be sure to segment the target
audience for each landing page
A Customized Landing Page Will Contain Content
That Matches That of the Lead Source and Is
Relevant to The Target Audience/Segment
The Netflix Ad & Landing

Page are a Good Example
of how to match the lead
source copy to that of the
landing page. This way, the
viewer feels as though they
are in the right place
because what they clicked
on is what they got.
Customized Landing Pages That Do Not Match
Their Lead Source Make the Viewer Feel As
Though They Are NOT In The Right Place
Non-relevant landing page
The landing page

mentions nothing about
“same online service”
or “same price”
Both Customized and Personalized Landing
Pages Should Have Easy to Remember URLs
Make sure the URL is easy to read and easy to type

Too many
http://www.zfda nonsensic Simple to
des.com/cgibin al words remember
/zfdat/site/prod and and read
uct/index.html? symbols www.zoffer.com
id=001597211&
zone=zbs
Why is this important

• Email: Significant numbers will cut and paste the link or type it in.
• Online ads: They might come back to it at a later time or send it to a
friend. Do not lose out on the viral part of the response.
• Direct Mail or other offline media: Since they will be typing it in, it has to
be easy to read and type in or you are going to be loosing many prospective
leads.
Personalized Landing Pages Have On
Average A 30% Better Conversion Rate
Personalized Landing Pages:
– Contain relevant information specific to each receiver
– Contain Unique URLs for each receiver
– Provide tracking at an individual level
– Provide the prospective lead with relevant offers that may better catch
and keep their attention.
EXAMPLE
To take advantage of this exclusive offer, visit

your personal website before Dec 15th:
www.acme.com/bill.foster
Directing Customers To Personalized
Landing Pages Significantly Increases
Response Rates
• Direct customers
to landing pages
using unique
personalized
URLs
Customize Your Outbound Media With
Targeted Messaging Specific To Your
Audience.
Retail/Quick Printer Commercial Printer Management
Commercial Printer Production In-Plant
Additionally, Match Your Targeted
Messaging On Your Outbound Media To
That On Your Landing Pages
CANON EXAMPLE
Personalized
landing pages
should greet
customer by
name
Make offers
relevant to each
segment in
order to improve
conversions
Relevance: Canon Example
For Canon, Optimizing Their Landing Pages
Resulted In A Significant Opportunity Pipeline
& Significantly More Leads
In Addition, Using Personalized Landing
Pages With Their Direct Mail Campaign,
Canon Saw A 93% Conversion Rate
Using Personalized Landing Pages With Their
Catalog Distribution, World’s Finest ®
Chocolates Saw a 150% Increase In Sales
Example
World’s Finest Chocolate
Personalized Landing
Page
• Displays customized
content
• Is personalized with
name and past order
information
• Offers product
recommendations and
product history
specific to each visitor
Statistical Results for WFC’s
5th Catalog Mailing
Audience Response Response AOV Control

Segment Size Rate Lift Lift AOV ILP AOV
B2B House
File 54K 1.68% 9.32% 12% $311 $348
Consumer
Prospects* 10K .28% 238% 140% $102 $302
Consumer
House File 40K 2.45% 8% 3% $89 $92
* Results for the consumer prospect are not statistically significant
Segment Your Audience To Increase Content
Relevancy on Both Customized and Personalized
Landing Pages
• Potential evolutionary path:

– Stage 1: One-size-fits-all
– Stage 2: 3-5 segments based on type of media source
– Stage 3: Add other relevance factors to the mix
• Repeat vs. new visitor
• Time of day, geography
• Key sites, keywords
• Other customer-specific information
• Ultimately, you are likely to find 2-3 relevance factors that
give you most of the lift from targeting
Segmentation
When Segmenting, Be Sure To Test The
Messaging In Order To Optimize Response Rates
Canon Segmentation
Out of 4 test segments, 2 proved to be most valuable
Retail/Quick Printer Commercial Printer Management
Commercial Printer Production In-Plant

Best Practices for Designing Customized
and Personalized Landing Pages
• The landing page headline should match the call to action

from the outbound medium
• Build the landing page specifically for each segment –

beware of over-segmenting your audience
• Use Personalized Landing Pages whenever you have data

files for your segment audience
• Use easy to remember URL’s. Personalize them when

possible.
Optimized Landing Pages Have Segment-Targeted
Offers and Simple Usability
40%
A compelling landing page
should have a target
audience-specific offer and
simple usability
2X
1. Make the offer relevant to the
ultimate goal or objective of
the landing page.
Conversion Rate
2. The landing page should

quickly explain how the offer
will benefit the customer.
Usability
Offer &
3. The call to action should be

clearly stated and easy to
accept
4. Forms should be simple and

pre-filled when applicable.
Average Optimized 5. Do not include distracting

Landing Page Landing Page navigation when possible.
There Are 4 Components That Make Up A
Successful Offer
The successful progression from entering a landing page to

completing the conversion action includes the following
components:
Offer
Forms
Navigation
Thank You
Page
Determine The Right Offer For The Right
Segment. Offers May Differ Between Segments
Thank
Offer Forms Navigation
You Page
Business to Business Offer Examples
Thank
You Page
Responsiveness Optimum
Offer Qualified(1-5)
(1-5) Offers
ROI calculators 3 5 15
Whitepapers/ Guides 3 4 12
Case studies 4 3 12
“Relevant” giveaways 4 3 12
Video clips or demo 4 3 12
Webinars 2 5 10
Live events 1 5 5
Free giveaways 5 1 5
Tradeshows 2 2 4
The Offer and Call To Action Should Be Specific To
The Segment Audience In Order To Increase
Likeliness of Conversion
Thank
You Page
• Make sure the value of the offer is clear AND specifically targeted to
your campaign’s target audience.
• Make offers bold and easy to take advantage of.
• If it is an interactive offer such as a value calculator, clearly state how

long it will take for them to interact with it or what they will get.
The offer
button clearly
states the value
of the offer
When providing personal

information, studies have shown
that the response rate it better if
symbols representing security are
present
Test Various Offers To Maximize
Conversions
Thank
You Page
Two separate offers

allow for better
testing of which one
is more effective
with the target
customer
Note that the only

way out of the
page is to either
leave it or click the
conversion button
The offer should be located both above and
below the fold if necessary
Thank
You Page
• Design the landing page using 800x600 resolution to

ensure that you capture 89-94% of internet users
Resolution Proportion of
Population Using
1024x768 54%
1280x1024 21%
800x600 14%
Unknown 5%
1152x864 3%
1600x1200 0%
640x480 0%
Rule of ThumbÆ Make sure all critical elements are visible without
scrolling by keeping them in the upper 300 pixels of the page
Best Practices For The Offer and Call To Action
To Increase Likeliness of Conversion
Thank
You Page
• Make sure the value of the offer is clear and easy to take
advantage of.
• Place the offer above the fold on the page. If it is a scrolling

page, repeat the offer again below the fold.
• If the landing page takes them to second page for

conversion, repeat the offer and the value of the offer again
on the second page.
Best Practices When Using Forms On
Landing Pages
Thank
You Page
• Use the minimum number of form fields possible.
• Forms should be used to collect new information only. If you already have
customer information either pre-fill the forms or only as for new
information.
• Provide Trust: Forms are scary. If you tell people exactly what you will do
with the information and what you will not do, your conversion rates will
improve. Make it clear using verbiage such as: "We will only use your
email address send you what you ask for.” or “We will never sell or share
your information with third parties without our permission. Privacy Policy"
• Pre-fill forms whenever possible.
Asking for too much information on forms
often scare potential customers away
Thank
You Page
Barix Clinics: Poorly

designed landing page
and conversion form.
• You can’t read the titles
on the brochures
• The form is extremely
detailed and very
intimidating
• The page lacks a clear
and direct call to action
• Where’s the submit
button???
Best Practices for Using Forms To Increase
Conversions
Thank
You Page
• Use check boxes or radio buttons as much as possible, but never
at the same time.
Check Box
Radio
• Pre-fill forms as much as possible using information from bought

lists or in-house databases.
• Use Red for the conversion button to improve your conversion

rate.
• Make sure information is saved as they go, so that if they

accidentally hit the back button they will not have to start from
scratch
Landing Pages Should Be Easy
Navigate and Understand
Thank
You Page
Simplifying a Landing Page’s Navigation & Usability

Will Increase The User’s Understanding of Your
Ultimate Goal
• Stay away from Flash landing pages. Flash cannot be indexed by search
engines and often takes too long to load.
• Do not include the navigation bars from your home website on your
landing page.
• Remove all distractions (navigation bars, additional offers/products,

multiple offer conversion buttons, extensive conversion forms, etc.) that
aren’t pertinent to the conversion goal.
• Make the conversion button as obvious as possible.
Poor Navigation Distracts Customers
From Your Intended Conversion
Activity
Thank
You Page
The landing page does NOT mention anything about 5

start resorts or low annual fees as stated in the ad!
They have
unnecessary and
distracting links
and navigation
bars.
Call to action
and conversion
offer is unclear
and does not
stand out
Use The Thank You Page To Provide
Additional Information Relevant To the
Customer
Thank
You Page
Use the ‘Thank You’ page to your advantage. This page

is being seen by prospects that have taken the time
to provide you some information or bought
something from you. They are in prime reading and
interacting mode at this time.
– Actions you could take on the Thank You page

• Promote another initiative such as a newsletter or webinar
• Ask for their feedback
• Send them to your home page if there are other interesting
programs or offers they can take advantage of.
• Further promote your product or other similar products that would
be useful to them.
• Direct them to your product website
Example
Anritsu’s Conversion Thank You Page
Thank
You Page
Provides
Product is the star and the additional
headline is revisited resources for Refocus visitor
information to the offer
Summary
Offer and Navigation
Thank You
Page
Eliminate all Thank you

•Pick the right Pre-fill forms
navigation pages are
offer to match for up to 30%
other than under-
the business increase in
what is leveraged
objective and conversions
the appropriate necessary and should
tradeoff to get the be used for
between quality customer to further
and volume take the promotion
required
•Make sure that action
the value of the
offer is clear
and easy to
avail
The Creative Aspects Of A Landing Page Are The Visual
Components That Help Guide Visitors To Conversion
20%
“Great landing page
design is about leading
the eye on a journey that
ends in conversion”
2X
-MarketingSherpa
Conversion Rate
1. Does the landing page design

take the eye to or away from
the conversion button?
2. Are there too many elements
on the page?
3. Do the colors and verbiage
guide the viewer to the
conversion button?
Creative
4. Does the landing page

provide the viewer with all the
Average Optimized information they need without
Landing Page Landing Page overwhelming them?
Creative
Use Images To Help Direct Viewers To Your Conversion Goal
• Make all images clickable. This

is a great opportunity to have it
pop up with additional technical
information that would
otherwise have made your
landing page too crowded.
• If you are using an image of a

paper, report or product for the
Place the “Hero” or offer, make sure you can read
product shot on the LEFT the text on the image.
hand side of the page You may want to create a
special extra-readable
thumbnail made with larger
than normal copy.
Use the area below your image
to your advantage. Extensive
studies have shown that the two • Photos of people, even
most-read content areas on imperfect non-studio shots,
space ads are headlines and have been proven to be more
product shot captions. Don’t effective and more trustworthy
waste this big opportunity! than clipart.
Creative
Keep Color Choices Consistent With Other Aspects Of Your
Campaign
Short and
specific form
Use a white field with white
background text boxes
for the text
including
your
headline and
registration
form.
Use colored
boxes or
screens to
draw the eye to
important
Keep the color scheme of the page consistent with campaign colors segments of
and the colors used from banner ads, direct mail pieces, and emails. text, such as a
The more your landing page resembles your creative – the thing that bullet list of
made them respond in the first place, the better your conversions features or
will be form field
Creative
Best Practices for Copywriting
Very Important
• HeadlineÆ Make sure the headline stands out (ie. large font,
bright color, etc.), appeals directly to your target audience, and
refers to the place where the visitor came from.
Order of Importance
• Call to ActionÆ Make the wording on the submit button

creative. It is one of the first and last things they will see, so use
the copy on the button to your advantage!
• Body Copy
– The copy font should be at least 12 points, flush left, and
never run longer than 52-60 characters across.
– Use bullet points as much as possible instead of paragraphs
– Highlight your key points, whether it’s by position, bold text,

white space, color, font, etc. However, be aware of
highlighting or bolding text. If those few words or
sentences are all an individual sees, will they have enough
information to want to convert?
– Use “you” and “your” instead of “we” and “our.”
Important
Creative
Simple and To The Point Copy Can Increase Understanding Of Your
Ultimate Conversion Goal
This is a concise and

compelling headline
with a big font size and
bright color.
Bullet points are much easier

to read and more often read
compared with paragraphs
It’s easy to pick out the

hotlinked text.
A Review
Focusing Attention To These 3 levels of Landing Page Design Will
Significantly Increase Conversion Rates
40%
Optimizing a landing page can significantly Relevance
increase conversion rates
2X
40%
Conversion Rate
Offer and Usability
20%
Creative
Average Optimized
Example
A Well Designed Consumer Landing Page
• This is a great example

for the following
reasons:
– Logo in upper left with
tagline below
– It clearly explains in
three steps the benefits
of choosing them
– The call to action area is

clear and concise
– The submit button is

creative (represents a
green traffic light) and
very obvious
– There are privacy

symbols and copy at the
bottom, which often
makes people feel more
comfortable about giving
information
– Hero shot is on the left

and has a caption below
Statistical Results of Free Offer Testing
• Free offers can include:

– white papers, Demos, Case Studies, Gift Cards
• With Personalized Direct Mail, conversion rates are often

higher than non-personalized mail.
Optimized with
Personalized
Media Non-optimized Optimized Landing Pages
Direct Mail 15.0% 25.0% 40.0%
Email to house lists 10.0% 15.0% 25.0%
Email to 3rd party lists 5.0% 7.5% 20.0%
Banner Ads 3.0% 5.0% NA
Search 4.0% 6.0% NA
Statistical Results of “Buy-Now” Offers
• Buy-Now offer examples include:

– discounts, free complimentary products etc.
Optimized with
Personalized
Media Non-optimized Optimized Landing Pages
Direct Mail 7.5% 12.0% 30.0%
Email to house lists 6.0% 7.5% 15.0%
Email to 3rd party lists 1.0% 1.5% 3.0%
Banner Ads 1.0% 1.8% NA
Search 1.5% 2.5% NA
• One caveat is that dependent on the industry, the numbers can

change drastically. For example, in the trade show conference
industry, the numbers are almost a magnitude smaller
Optimized with
Personalized
Non-optimized Optimized Landing Pages
Direct Mail 0.1% 0.2% 0.7%
Test and optimize to deliver the lift
Response Rate
500% lift
Right Time
400% lift
Right Message
300% lift
Right Individual
Segmentation 200% lift
20% lift
Static Personalized Highly Relevant
Designs to Test for Optimal Landing Page
Conversion Rates
• Test the landing page on different computers in order to see the

placement of the offer presentation
• Test different headlines
• Test Stand-Alone Images vs. Images with Captions
• Test hero shots on left and right side of page.
• Test shorter body copy vs. long copy.
• Perform field Analysis of what people are filling out
• Test single page landing pages vs. those with multiple pages
How Do I Get Started On Optimizing
My Landing Page?
1. Define in very precise terms what are the business objective of the landing page (
Lead Generation, Ecommerce, Event Registration etc.)
2. Define your measurement criteria and baseline measurement
3. Select whether you will do this internally or use an outside hosting/ technology
provider
4. Do your segmentation and really understand who are your trying to reach and sell.
5. For personalized landing pages, understand the data elements you have and can
leverage for personalization
6. Figure out your offer and key persuasive elements (Testimonials)
7. Do your template (wireframe) for your page. Think testing and reusability at this
time
8. Get your copy written and polished.
9. Create your landing pages and launch your campaign
10. Measure, Test and Iterate
Other Landing Page Examples
A Good Consumer Landing Page
• The value
proposition is
clearly explained at
the top of the page
with a strong call to
action with “Get
Your Insurance
Quote”.
• There are literally
zero traffic leaks.
• The only
information they are
requesting of the
user is a zip code.
• The call to action is
very clear with a
nice clickable green
button.
NCDM Events Marketing
NCDM, the National Center for

Database Marketing, is the premier
educational and exhibition event for
the database marketing industry.
Challenge
– The Key Goal was to drive registration to two NCDM shows
(2005 & 2006). Typically, brochures are sent either 1 or 2
times to each prospective attendee (very expensive).
Naehas Solution
– Create individualized and general landing pages
– Send out relevant postcards to lead prospective attendees to
the landing pages
– Measure all activity on the campaign dashboard - helps
determine where lowering costs won’t affect attendance and
profits.
Results
– The Relevant Postcard (Naehas) Paid Registration Efficiency
was 1.5X Attendee Brochure.
Relevant Postcards – by Job Function
• Multiple
message
segments
• First and last
chance
mailings
Individualized Landing Pages (ILPs)
Alumni Postcard - 2006
Non Alumni Postcard - 2006
Doing the Direct Mail Analysis - Apples to Apples
• Audience of recipients was broken into three buckets

– Relevant Postcard Recipients
Relevant
– Brochure Recipients Brochures
Postcards
– Combination Recipients
Email,
WOM, etc
• Methodology
– Three buckets/segments are a subset of all recipients and
registrants
– Email, Word of Mouth, Referrals – all other methods or
marketing are not part of the analysis
– Methodology for attribution to the direct mail
• Matching of First Name, Last Name, and Zip
Contacts receiving relevant postcards are 5 times more likely
to register and pay than those that receive just brochures
• Relevant postcards are 5X more effective in driving paid registrations

– .58% vs. .11%
– PRE = Paid Registrations / Audience
• Combined pulled well:

– The most responsive group received some combination of relevant
postcards and brochures - 3.78%

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Landing Pages: Integrating Online and

OfflineNaehas Landing Page Optimization Report

According to a recent Gartner Group Study, “…50% of

“As many as 50% [of visitors]…bail within 0-8

The Google Quality Score is “…determined by your

Proportion of visitors who

• Call to action in the outbound medium is not reflected in

• Offer has no value or does not match the customer buying

• Distracting Navigation options that lead the customer away

• Tedious and invasive forms.

• Landing page design is confusing or difficult to read.

Naehas, Inc. PODi

Offer and Usability

1. The headline should match the

2. Personalized pages should greet

3. Customized landing pages

The Netflix Ad & Landing

Non-relevant landing page

The landing page

Make sure the URL is easy to read and easy to type

Why is this important

Personalized Landing Pages:

– Contain relevant information specific to each receiver

– Contain Unique URLs for each receiver

– Provide tracking at an individual level

To take advantage of this exclusive offer, visit

Retail/Quick Printer Commercial Printer Management

Commercial Printer Production In-Plant

Audience Response Response AOV Control

• Potential evolutionary path:

Retail/Quick Printer Commercial Printer Management

Commercial Printer Production In-Plant

• The landing page headline should match the call to action

• Build the landing page specifically for each segment –

• Use Personalized Landing Pages whenever you have data

• Use easy to remember URL’s. Personalize them when

2. The landing page should

3. The call to action should be

4. Forms should be simple and

Average Optimized 5. Do not include distracting

The successful progression from entering a landing page to

Video clips or demo 4 3 12

• Make offers bold and easy to take advantage of.

• If it is an interactive offer such as a value calculator, clearly state how

When providing personal

Two separate offers

Note that the only

• Design the landing page using 800x600 resolution to

• Place the offer above the fold on the page. If it is a scrolling

• If the landing page takes them to second page for

• Use the minimum number of form fields possible.

• Pre-fill forms whenever possible.

Barix Clinics: Poorly

• Pre-fill forms as much as possible using information from bought

• Use Red for the conversion button to improve your conversion

• Make sure information is saved as they go, so that if they

Simplifying a Landing Page’s Navigation & Usability

• Remove all distractions (navigation bars, additional offers/products,

• Make the conversion button as obvious as possible.

The landing page does NOT mention anything about 5

Use the ‘Thank You’ page to your advantage. This page

– Actions you could take on the Thank You page

Eliminate all Thank you