Data is paramount for businesses of all types and sizes. This is because data helps you improve your business by understanding your target audience, researching the market, improving processes within your business, and so much more. Data can have many uses, but one of the most obvious is marketing.
If you collect high-quality data and then perform an accurate analysis of it, you will be able to apply it to your marketing strategy to improve it. Moreover, it’s not just about improving your entire strategy – it can also help you improve separate elements like landing pages. Hence, here’s how to collect the right data to write a killer landing page.
What Makes A Good Landing Page?
First and foremost, it’s crucial to understand what makes a good landing page before you start collecting data and attempting to use it in some way. While it’s easy to remember such things as proper grammar and spelling, formatting, and so on, there are certain elements of a landing page that you might accidentally forget about. Here is a list of the most important details any good landing page must have:
- Headline (and Subheadings): The headline on your landing page is the first thing your audience will see, so it needs to be a killer one. In addition to it, you can use subheadings throughout your landing page to further format your text and break it up visually.
- Unique Selling Point: Your unique selling point is by far the most important element of your landing page because it helps your page achieve its main goal and sell your product or service.
- Product/Service Benefits: Then there’s your product or service itself. It’s a good idea to focus on its benefits above all else. Otherwise, you might end up making your text too sales-y which will only turn away potential customers.
- Supporting Visuals: Visuals need to be integrated throughout your landing page to illustrate and support your points. These can be photographs, pictures, infographics, illustrations, GIFs, videos, animations, and more.
- Customer Testimonials: Another element you should include is social proof which usually comes in the form of customer testimonials or other user-generated content. Social proof is further meant to persuade your potential customers to make a purchase.
- Conclusion and CTA: At the end of your landing page, there should be a concluding paragraph or statement. After it, you should place your CTA (but it’s a good idea to use your call to action throughout the page as well).
In terms of general tips, there are some landing page techniques you should stick to. Write like a human being to connect with your audience. Break up your page into sections with shorter paragraphs, lists, quotes, subheadings, and visuals. Repeat your CTA throughout the landing page, but don’t make it seem too on-the-nose. Use simple language, avoid jargon, incorporate keywords, and never use red flag phrases and words.
Good Landing Page Examples
Constance Brett, an expert from the best online writing services site, explains, “The better you understand the structure and organization of landing pages, the better pages you can create. Likewise, understanding how to craft good copy for your landing pages will enable you to seek out the most appropriate data for writing such copy. Data is just one of the tools you can use to make your landing pages stand out – but it’s a tool you should use correctly.”
The first example to pay attention to is Khan Academy’s homepage which is simultaneously used as a landing page. Their page targets three different types of visitors: learners, teachers, and parents (who want their kids to learn). The page is dedicated to what Khan Academy is and how it can be useful to site visitors:
Another interesting landing page example is Shopify’s free trial page. There is no unnecessary information – everything is simple and to the point. Moreover, potential customers don’t need to go through too many steps to start using Shopify – they should only enter their email address. The easier it is to buy your product or service, the more people will be likely to go through the buying process and make the purchase at the end:
When it comes to personalization, Airbnb’s home page is by far one of the best examples of how to do it correctly. Once you get to the page, you will see an estimation of how much you can earn renting out your place on Airbnb based on your location. You can even customize the estimation by entering the type of place you want to rent out and how many guests the place can hold:
One more landing page example to pay attention to is Lyft’s signup page for drivers. Like Airbnb, Lyft estimates your potential earnings for you based on your city, but the first thing you see is the signup itself. You just need to provide your phone number and select whether you do or don’t own a car. On the same page, you can also find out more about Lyft itself, read up on its insurance policy, and check the FAQ:
Which Data Do You Need for Landing Pages?
So, now that you know how landing pages work and how you can make your page stand out, you need to take note of the kind of data you will need to collect and analyze to create your landing pages. Depending on the data you want to collect, you will need to use appropriate tools for the collection, processing, storage, and analysis of this data.
For example, for data collection, you can use a tool like JotURL which can measure site visits among other things. JotURL can understand the device used by the visitor (mobile or desktop) and the language of the search engine used. Such data is extremely valuable for creating effective landing pages. If you know that your visitors are using mobile devices, you’ll want to create mobile landing pages rather than desktop ones.
JotURL can also help you improve your link strategy. The tool can act as a link tracker and can help you manage branded links. As a result, you will have more data about which of your marketing channels generate the most value. This, in turn, will help you save time when planning your next marketing campaign, save money with any kind of marketing you do, and increase the number of leads you get for the same amount of effort you put in.
While JotURL and other similar tools can help you collect data about your digital marketing, there are other methods of data collection you might want to look into. At the most basic level, data can be divided into two types: primary and secondary. Primary data is raw data (like page visits) while secondary data is the one that has been collected and tested before you (like reports on marketing experiments).
Both types of data can be very useful for you. You can collect primary data yourself while analyzing secondary data sources. For example, measuring site visits, running customer surveys and interviews, and performing your own marketing experiments would translate into working with primary data sources. On the other hand, studying existing experiments and observations, consulting published literary sources in your field, and reading relevant documents and records would mean working with secondary data sources.
Which Tools Should You Use for Data Collection?
As mentioned earlier, your data collection tools will depend on the type of data you want to collect. Stephen Forrest, an expert from a popular reviews of companies sites, explains it this way, “There’s primary and then there’s secondary data. However, there’s also quantitative and qualitative data. You can’t treat all of it the same way. The best way to approach it is to start from your data collection method.”
In other words, depending on your data collection method, you will want to use:
- Digital Data: Anything from your site visits to your email open rate can be measured by relevant digital tools. For example, if you are running a Google Ads campaign, Google Ads will already collect all the data for you and provide you with it. In some cases, you will need to seek out additional tools (e.g. JotURL for link management).
- Surveys: These can usually be conducted via email or mail with the use of a questionnaire. You can also do them in-person if the questionnaire is short (e.g. by hiring representatives to ask customers in public spaces). If you are conducting a survey by sending it out via email, you will need an additional tool like Google Forms to create the questionnaire and collect data easily.
- Interviews: These can be done face-to-face, in focus groups, via email, video call (via Skype or Zoom, for instance), or phone call. In other words, there are plenty of ways to go about conducting interviews. Moreover, your interviews can be structured (formal), semi-structured, or unstructured (informal). You will most likely also need a questionnaire, but that will depend on the structure of your interview.
- Experiments and Observations: For both experiments and observations, data collection can be done in different ways and usually involves observing or testing a connection between two variables. Alternatively, you can analyze the behavior of your participants in a natural or controlled environment.
- Documents and Records: Analyzing documents and records can be done both with your own data (e.g. customer reviews) and with data from other sources that could be relevant to you. Anything from databases to email logs to staff reports can serve as data in this case.
- Published Literary Sources: Consulting published literary sources in your industry can also be a good way to find out more about the market and your competitors. From trade journals to government reports to textbooks, there are many sources of secondary data you can consult to come to your own conclusions and then apply your findings to your own strategy.
How Should You Work with Data?
All of the data collection methods listed above will give you more insight into your target audience and their behavior which will help you create landing pages specifically tailored to guide their actions. In other words, by understanding your customers, you will better understand what they will do in a particular situation and how you can use that to your benefit.
For example, you may want to start with collecting digital data from the marketing channels you are already working with. Look at the average session duration on your website and check which links get the most clicks. Use mouse tracking to see which elements on your website get the most attention. Then, use that data to design your landing page or even go further and use it to inform another method of data collection you use.
For instance, the next data collection method you can use is a survey. Create a questionnaire asking your customers about their experience using your website. What caught their attention first? Was the navigation easy to understand? Did they find what they were looking for? What needs improvement? Once you have this data, you can improve your website and craft your landing page according to your findings.
Moreover, you can take it even further by using yet another method of data collection – experiments. Create multiple improved versions of your website (and/or multiple versions of your landing page). Then, choose a focus group to work with and test these versions with them. Depending on the results, you will be able to make a more informed decision and choose the version that had the best performance with your focus group.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, data collection is one of the fundamental processes for your marketing which is why you should pay close attention to it. And once you have your data, you can analyze it and apply your findings in practice.
Your landing pages will become more detailed and precise as well as more personalized and effective. Use the tips in this article to help you get started and begin collecting high-quality data to use in your landing page strategy.
By Frank Hamilton
