Whenever we start a new landing page makeover project we like to start-out by seeing what else is out there.
In this new section we’ll run through high-traffic landing page design practices examples that we like, and highlight the good and bad.
Please use the comment area below to post some critiques and questions.
To see our comments, just rollover the images.
Lending Club
Prosper Lending
That’s all the best landing page inspiration for this post!
We realize it’s a lot harder to create than to critique, all the pages above clearly have a lot of thought and energy put behind them.
We will, however, put our money where our mouth is – click here to contact us today and learn how we can drastically increase your website conversion rate for no money up front, and backed by our $10,000 guarantee!
Very informative post! I will use this information for my own website, especially the use of narrow page, bold buttons, contact number and most importantly the inclusion of SOCIAL MEDIA links which is extremely important in todays society. Thanks!
So few people understand the importance of landing pages, and making sure they are optimized properly. I’ve gone to sites before that I was very interested in, but they made it so difficult to find relevant information – even how to join, sometimes – that I just wound up leaving and going somewhere else. The prettiest website is useless if it doesn’t do what it needs to do. So, good job.
Some of the things on there are easy to implement on a website. What about some of those tough ones you have on there? Like a CNN verification of a business, or for the smaller businesses that don’t like to put their phone number out there? I’d like to learn about the press and trust symbols more.
Great information… my company is huge into social media presence and capitalizing on the basically free exposure it can give you. It’s hard to imagine that today so many companies forget to add that information to their website! I also like the comment about the fonts being too similar to the ads – I think we are guilty of that as well. After taking a look here we will likely re-vamp to include more press and third party endorsement logos as well.
This post is full of information I can use. For instance, knowing that people over the age of 45 prefer 14 point font, and that younger audiences prefer 12 point. I had always assuming bigger is better, and would attract more attention.
Also, having the social media links will be a huge bonus to my site.
On the Lending Club example, it really surprised me that there would be a difference in preference of font size between age groups. I never would have thought of that possibility. Thanks for the insight!
Hello! You provided great examples of good and bad landing pages. Anyway, if I can contribute a bit.. From my experience, a perfect landing page should also have these key features: clear and concise headlines, impeccable grammar and images and/or video & choosing the right color that relate to website’s content. And as you said, social media links are a MUST.
While most of these items are really easy to do most of them are seldom done. I know in the past I have not done several of your recommendations. Being a site developer myself I will definitely take into consideration some of the suggestions you have made. I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Thank you.
I actually never thought about changing the font per the demographic that you are trying to target. That is a great point about the smaller font for the younger crowd and larger font for the older. Also just thinking about font design to make sure it stands out from ads on the page. Do you have a list of guidelines for font selection? Thanks!
I like a lot of the points you hit! I never really considered the flashiness of a “Call to action” button. Although, I don’t really think social media links are as important as suggested. This is a great and informative post.
Hey there, guys! I wanted to thank you for the post. I knew about keeping the page narrow for easy reading and stuff like that, but I hadn’t even considered formatting for my audience. for example, the 12pt vs 14pt font comment was very helpful, as I was trying to make a kinda trendy layout myself, and had the font much bigger than what younger people, or even older people, like! lol
Hello, I found this blog post to be full of useful information. One thing I found very interesting was the good and bad landing pages. I never knew that you should have trust symbols and that 45+ like size 14 point and younger people like 12 point. Thank you for these great tips, I’ll be sure to try it on my website.
I agree with the point about the call to action buttons on the Proper Lending example not being prominent enough. At first glance, they may look OK — after all, they are big and orange, right? — but the weakness is really obvious when you compare them to the better designed call to action buttons on the Lending Club example. This is one of those subtle but important aspects of landing page design that many people don’t really know how to judge. I think of it as a Goldilocks moment: you don’t want the buttons to be too big, and you don’t want them to be too small. You want them to be just right, and you need expert advice to help you find that sweet spot.
This is a wakeup call for me. I never considered how font size preference would vary by demographic. We also haven’t added social media to our site because we were a little concerned it would look less professional, but obviously we should reconsider this decision. Additionally, I never knew to avoid all CAPS, but when considering overall readability this is an excellent point.
Such fantastic tips! I’m glad I stumbled upon this. I really like the rollover formatting as well. I’m trying to think of an application for that on my own website, as it makes the experience feel all the more interactive.
Pretty cool. I found it helpful for a website I’m currently working on. I’m going to try the larger buttons and larger text, as you recommended. Thank you for the information, I will be sure to return for more pointers.
I agree with Nanette and others. You can’t go beyond the landing page on some websites because they are so confusing. Style is nothing without functionality.
I also thought that the “Loan listings” section on the Prosper Lending site looked like an advertisement, and this is pretty important information that people will potentially ignore altogether because we’ve all become accustomed to filtering out ads.
Wow, I never realized how much thought *should* go into a landing page, but this is all very eye-opening! I think it’s really interesting that you’ve even done your research on bullet points and know what size optimizes them. Even the “call to action” button message makes sense, but I would probably overlook that too.
Thanks for the useful tips and helpful post!
This article was very informative. I found it interesting that both Prosper Lending and Lending Club did not have adequate contact information. I find that I trust companies more if they post direct phone contact information on their website. As you pointed out on the Prosper Lending website, a live chat option definitely instills trust in the viewer and indicates that the company is transparent in its dealings and is eager to assist customers.
It is interesting that you mentioned social media links, as I have noticed lately that almost every major company website I have visited has a “Like on Facebook” link. I find this is most effective when the company also offers an incentive (sample, coupon code, etc.) for liking the company on Facebook.
I found it interesting that adults over 40 prefer fonts over 14 point, and younger people prefer 12 point. Website developers could use this information to draw certain people belonging to particular demographics to specific parts of their websites. For instance, they may want to post Facebook links, which usually appeal to younger user, in a 12 point or smaller font in order to draw the attention of younger viewers.
All in all, a very interesting article!
This is a pretty interesting article. I’ve never even thought about using narrower page lengths! I’ve typically been more concerned with using wider pages to cram more information in, but I find this ti be true. Looking at the narrower page is actually much more appealing, since it feels much less overwhelming. I’m also bad about not using social media links to bring a more human side to my sites.
I also love the point about making “call to action” buttons stand out a lot. I feel that in some of my sites visitors aren’t navigating the way I would expect, and this could definitely be why. I will be putting many of these points on a checklist to follow before releasing any site! Thanks!
For those of us that have never set up a blog, it is very helpful to learn that for the older generation they prefer a font size of over 14 and that a 12 point font size or smaller is more geared for younger viewers. The importance of having different fonts for information than for links is also a great hint. Keeping the size of the page smaller to hold soemone’s attention is also great information, not to mention it is easier to view on some of the smaller screens that are available on phones. Again, thank you for some great information!
Thanks for the interesting post. I was particularly intrigued by the suggestion to put the links and text in different fonts. I have not done that before, but I can see why it might be more successful to do so.
I had no idea so much thought should go into the Landing Page! Looking around to get my own web site together, this is so much help to me. I like the point of narrowing down to people with short attention span. I don’t want people to over look my web page. Thank you so much.
This was a very interesting article. I’m thinking of designing a website soon and will put these tips into practices. I never realized before how much font size plays into what age group will find a site appealing.
This is a very useful posting. I was unaware of of “page makeovers” like this and think that you have done a pretty magnificent thing. Some people don’t notice some of the errors they make when detailing a page and it is very helpful to get a second parties advice. I will definitely use these ideas in my upcoming web page creation. Nice Work.