This explains why, according to Daniel Burstein, Marketing Sherpa’s senior director of content and marketing, says, “The Marketing Sherpa Landing Page Manual is one of the most popular resources we’ve offered in 20 years of publishing.”
However, nutraceutical marketing reveals a big surprise—a surprise, really—with regard to landing pages.
There are none.
What are supplement companies doing instead?
IT’S LIKE THIS…
My friend Rich decided that he wanted to buy a particular supplement. He was looking for an elderberry product for his immune health.
The first ad that appeared on a Google search seemed to qualify. The ad headline included the words “elderberry” and “immunity.” So far so good.
However, when he clicked on the link in the ad, he ended up on the company’s home page.
Although it was an excellent home page, Rich didn’t immediately see what he was looking for or what the ad promised.
The result? He bailed out in less than 3 seconds and went looking elsewhere.
The same thing happened with all the other advertisements for elderberry supplements.
IT SHOULD BE SO…
The ad Rich clicked on should have sent him to a product page that offered what he was looking for.
And just what I was looking for.
No distractions. No other options. Just the product, accompanied by a call to action to buy it.
REALITY
That second scenario is a ‘should have been’. It doesn’t really exist.
This is what really happens.
A recent Google search on the term “elderberry” returned seven ads.
All of them linked to the company’s home page or a multi-product page.
None went to a landing page.
This is not unique to elderberry supplements.
The same result came from a search on “quercetin.” None of the nine ads led to a landing page. One of them led to a blog article that didn’t even mention quercetin.
The same goes for a search for “CBD for pets”. Six ads. No landing pages.
This is not a scientific survey with all kinds of statistical bells and whistles. It’s just a few quick searches on three of the most popular supplements. However, it reveals a clear pattern.
Nutraceutical ads do not link to landing pages. Instead, they often link to the company’s home page. Or they send a visitor to a product page that offers multiple options.
This observation cries out for explanations.
The main one I’ve seen is that marketing departments don’t have the time or resources to create landing pages.
Seriously, that’s the most common explanation I’ve come across.
Think about that for a moment. It’s the same as saying that marketing departments don’t have the time or resources for… well, marketing. At least not to market using the most powerful and indispensable tool on the Internet.
I do not buy it
In my opinion, a more likely explanation is a lack of understanding of what a landing page is and isn’t.
A home page is not a landing page. Neither is a multi-product page.
This confusion may explain why an exact match search for “what is a landing page” produces almost 7 million results. It’s like online marketing consultants feel the need to educate people on what a landing page is because so many marketers don’t understand the concept.
KISS
Keep it simple, silly!
Simply put, a landing page is where people “land” when they click on a banner ad, search engine result, or email link, or when they visit a special promotional URL they heard about on the web. television, radio or other offline media.
Its sole purpose is conversion. In fact, that should be the only option.
That is the point I had planned to make in this article. However, explaining how to increase landing page conversions by 100% requires actual landing pages.
Specifically, he had planned to explain research showing how removing all non-purchase clickable options, including the navigation bar at the top of the page, can more than double conversion rates. .
That’s just a trick. Similar conversion boosts are also based on other characteristics of a good landing page. Consistency with the ad. Image placement. Layout page. button format. And much more.
The conceptual design is simple. A landing page offers only one product and only one clickable option, i.e. the call to action.
Although the concept is simple, a well-designed single opt-in page is just the beginning of creating a good landing page.
In addition to its simple design, an effective landing page also depends on how persuasive the marketing copy is in influencing a visitor to take that one action step.
That is all. The right layout, coupled with persuasive copy, equals higher conversions.
THE CHAIN OF PERSUASION
In my experience as a copywriter, I have developed campaigns following a specific chain of persuasion. Each link in the chain has a function that leads to the final goal, that is, a conversion.
The ad headline is where the persuasion kicks in. Its function is to attract the viewer to click on it. This is why an effective headline is worth its weight in gold.
The visitor knows immediately that they are on the right track when the landing page title matches the ad title. Research shows that this headline-to-headline comparison happens in about 1/20 of a second.
That is the time the visitor has to decide whether to stay on the page for the few seconds it takes to read the first few lines.
Then the job of the text on the page and accompanying images is to persuade the reader to keep reading.
Persuasive copy from there leads all the way to the call to action.
A well thought out and persuasive CTA is the landing page’s last chance to convert a visitor into a buyer.
FUEL CONVERSIONS
Linking supplement ads to home pages or various product pages is like running a Lamborghini on used cooking oil from a fast food restaurant. It can be done, but not very well.
A more efficient campaign requires high performance fuel. That’s what a landing page is. It runs all cylinders of a campaign like nitro for an F1 racing car.
Creating one is conceptually very simple. Only three steps are needed.
PUT IT IN PLAY
Step 1. Design the page layout. If it’s going to be part of the company’s website, remove all clickable distractions, including the navigation bar. Provide only one option, the call to action.
Step 2. Create persuasive marketing copy. Start with a powerful headline that matches the promise of the ad linked to the landing page. It continues with images and textual material that hold the reader’s attention. In other words, it is much more than a product description.
Step 3. Try it out. Test it. And try it some more. Modify ad titles and compare your click-through rates. Review images and text to optimize time on page. Modify the text of the CTA and the ‘buy’ buttons. Keep texting A/X to improve control until conversions peak.
EMPOWER THE BEST TOOL
Doing a good job at any type of job depends on using the best tools. Supplement marketing is no different.
The best and least used marketing tool for nutraceuticals should be landing pages.
Putting them to work gives you an edge over the competition. Facing the challenge of Step 2 the right way is crucial.
Once you have the page layout right, its effectiveness depends on how well you convince the reader to take action.
This is where good marketing copy shines.
That’s where I come in. I specialize in writing persuasive copy for landing pages and other marketing media.
Since I’m also a research scientist, this includes meeting the growing demand for scientific credibility from savvy clients.
A good supplement landing page relates to both.