What are the different types of pages you can find on a shopping website? The answer may be trickier than you would expect. You have the home page, naturally. You have your product pages, as well as the category pages that organize them. There are checkout pages, which guide customers into placing orders. There are also more informative sections like the About page, the Contact Us page, blog posts, terms and conditions, and more.
There’s one more type that savvy eCommerce store owners can use to their advantage: the landing page. If you’re asking “What is a landing page?” then you’ve come to the right place. In this in-depth guide, we’ll describe the function of landing pages and the many benefits they can provide. We’ll even show you the best landing page builders out there, so you can start on the right foot and watch your conversions multiply.
What is a Landing Page?
If you want to be technical (or pedantic), any page can be a landing page. The key is that people reach it by clicking a link within an advertisement, an email, or a social media post (to give three examples). In other words, it’s a page where people land. That seems straightforward enough, right?
A true landing page, however, is distinct from the rest of the website. The layout of the typical web page features links to various other areas of the site, facilitating navigation. Landing pages are often separate from the rest of the website. They do not encourage exploration because it would distract from their purpose.
The sole purpose of a landing page is to guide visitors toward taking a specific desired action. This call-to-action (CTA) might be to buy a certain product, sign up for a newsletter, start a free trial, and so forth. Any elements on the page, from text to images to videos, are there to persuade them.
Types of Landing Pages
With a little creativity and cunning, any page on your website can be an opportunity to earn some conversions. Here are a few examples of landing pages that you might find useful:
Lead Capture Pages: Convincing people to provide contact
information can be difficult when the form is just one of many elements and links on a webpage. Lead capture pages sift all these distractions and put the form in the spotlight. Not everyone will bite, but your email list may still see substantial gains.
Splash Pages: In comic books, splash pages are full-page illustrations designed for maximal impact. In website design, splash pages are similarly flashy. They often welcome visitors with a minimal message and a large background photo, along with a link to the main page. They may also ask for age verification, offer content warnings, and provide language options.
Thank You Pages: The quest for conversions doesn’t need to end when a visitor successfully places an order. In fact, you can use the confirmation page to provoke further action and get more conversions. For example, if someone makes a purchase, your site could show other products bought by customers who ordered that same product.
Squeeze Pages: Squeeze pages are similar to lead capture pages, but they strive to be more persuasive. In exchange for the customer’s email address or other information, they offer rewards: discount codes, special access, or simply the thrill of a newsletter subscription. You could make dedicated pages for these offers, but they can also appear as pop-ups on your site.
404 Pages: Even when a customer makes a mistake, you can turn their defeat into a victory (for both them and your business). Don’t just write, “This page doesn’t exist.” The most common approach is to tack on a link to the homepage, where your guest can try again. You could also include a search bar, a connection to the sitemap, and even links to popular products.
How Can Landing Pages Boost Sales?
eCommerce statistics bear out the benefits of using landing pages. In fact, studies from HubSpot seem to show that the law of diminishing returns does not apply to landing pages. According to their research, online stores with over 40 such pages make significantly more conversions than those with five or fewer. “Significantly more” here means “12 times more.” In other words, more opportunities for conversions lead to, well, more conversions.
A 2018 report from Omnisend claims that despite being the least-used of several sign-up form methods, landing pages boast the most conversions of them all. The study measured a conversion rate of 23%, more than double that of the runner-up. That’s a sizable sales boost, no matter how you look at it. With their implied relatively minimal use, taking advantage of them may also give you a real edge over competitors.
Integrating Your Landing Pages with Your Online Store
Creating a landing page is one thing, but making it part of your website is another. Fortunately, online store owners can easily connect the landing page builders they use to the eCommerce software that powers their site. All they need is Zapier, a platform that enables connections between apps.
Zapier integrations are available between Shift4Shop and all ten of the aforementioned best landing page builders. Once you “zap” them together, you can build as many as you want without worry. The Zapier page for ClickFunnels and Shift4Shop integrations gives several examples of “triggers” and “actions” that you can set up.
landing page
Using a Landing Page Builder with Your eCommerce Shop
Before we proceed to the best landing page builders, we should address a question that’s probably on your mind: what can you do with them? Perhaps the best thing about landing pages is that they are highly versatile. There are many potential uses for them, and here are just a few to get you started:
Direct form submissions to create new orders. The typical e-shopping process takes customers from a product page to the shopping cart page, then through a lengthy process for placing an order. If you’re promoting specific products, you could create a landing page where people can just give their information and buy the product immediately. Think of it as an all-in-one checkout process.
Set a new failed purchase to add an email to a list. Cart abandonment is a common plague, with about three in every four shopping carts going unfulfilled. If a customer fills out their email address before they leave, though, you have an opportunity to win them back. Your site could automatically email them a link to a landing page where they can finish their order in a snap.
Allow a new customer to trigger the creation of a contact profile. A golden opportunity arises when your website receives an order containing unfamiliar contact information. You could set up the Thank You page at the end of the checkout process to include a new user account form. It’ll encourage one-time buyers to become loyal customers.
Content Marketing Tools for eCommerce
Prolific Cloud makes it simple to add a blog to your online store with our included blog module, which works similarly to popular blogging platforms like WordPress. Having your blog and online store together on the same website ensures quick navigation for customers and helps you get the full SEO benefit of your content.
Your website’s other pages are also a crucial part of your content marketing. Product pages should always include keywords for SEO as well as complete information that helps customers make their purchase decisions. With Prolific Cloud’s powerful product page functionality, you have plenty of space to present all relevant information in an organized manner, along with pictures and video as well.