The primary objective of a pre-launch page, often referred to as a landing page, is to capture individuals’ email addresses.
Consider it in this manner: in the past, salespeople used to visit homes and knock on doors to sell their products. In the contemporary era, email has become your new virtual address, and your inbox serves as the modern equivalent of a knock on the door.
Landing pages play a pivotal role in the process of acquiring email addresses. This is where you construct a clear, well-designed landing page design that offers people the opportunity to voluntarily subscribe.
Obtaining individuals’ email addresses is not a simple task, which is why when someone registers on your landing page, there is a higher likelihood that they will be inclined to support your campaign.
What Is A Landing Page?
A landing page is a specialized type of website designed with the deliberate intention of converting site visitors into potential leads. Its primary function is to capture email addresses.
In the realm of crowdfunding, landing pages play a crucial role in the meticulous preparation required for a successful First Day launch of Kickstarter.
As you may already be aware, achieving Day One success is paramount in the crowdfunding world, as it sets the tone and momentum for the entire campaign.
The landing page acts as the bridge between the initial advertising efforts that pique people’s interest and the subsequent email marketing initiatives that cultivate the audience in preparation for our pre-order phase.
The Process To Build Landing Page
Creating an exceptional landing page involves a specific step-by-step process:
- Planning: Initiate the process well in advance, preferably months before the launch date. Conduct thorough research and establish the product’s positioning.
- Construction: Develop a compelling landing page that effectively communicates the product’s details and enables the collection of email addresses from interested individuals.
- Launch: Introduce the landing page to the global audience.
- Promotion: Drive traffic to the landing page through diverse promotional methods across various channels. Continuously test and evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, repeating what yields positive results.
How To Create A Landing Page?
1. Perform Landing Page Marketing Research
Through diligent research, you’ll uncover valuable insights about your competitors and the current market landscape for your product. This research will provide you with essential information, including common imagery associated with products in your category.
For instance, if every competitor in the magic products’ industry prominently features magic hats in their product images, it would be wise to include them in your product offerings.
By studying various websites and examples, you’ll gain insights that can guide your decisions regarding color schemes and web page aesthetics—a critical aspect of your strategy.
For example, in the tarot industry, you’ll observe that many tarot websites use colors like purple blue and black, which often symbolize magic and astrology. Colors like red, which may evoke associations with blood and disaster, are rarely used in web or logo design within this field.
When conducting market research, it’s important to consider the conventions and essential elements specific to your product category.
2. Comprehend Your Target Audience
Understanding your audience is undeniably one of the critical prerequisites on this checklist before hastily creating a landing page.
The insights gleaned from your diligent market research should have already furnished you with a preliminary understanding of the type of individuals who might be inclined toward your product.
However, it’s imperative to delve deeper into this understanding, extracting details regarding their likes, dislikes, preferences, and even their tone and voice. The ultimate goal is to uncover the very essence of their identity and fashion a detailed persona.
This meticulously crafted persona serves as the linchpin for your web-related decisions. Armed with this profound insight, you can make pivotal choices that resonate with and engage your target audience effectively, ensuring the success of your landing page and overall marketing strategy.
3. Position Your Product
Product positioning determines the perception the world will have of your product. Varying approaches to product positioning can imprint different images of the product in consumers’ minds, making it memorable in unique ways.
However, it’s worth noting that on Kickstarter, there is a scarcity of categories that precisely match card projects.
Consequently, many experienced creators often categorize their projects under broader labels like “Playing Cards” or “Tabletop Games” when seeking classification.
4. Capture Images And Record Videos Of The Product
Pictures and videos play a crucial role in showcasing the product effectively. While using low-quality images taken with your iPhone is an option, it doesn’t truly represent the product’s full potential.
Consider making an investment in professional studio photography and videography to present the product in its finest form. Lifestyle shots that demonstrate its practicality and versatility should also be included.
This approach allows potential customers to visualize how they can incorporate the product into their daily lives and fully understand its utility.
5. Establish The Hero Section
As the first thing people see when they visit your website, the hero section is the area that appears immediately on the screen below your logo and menu.
Research shows that 80% of visitors to a landing page never scroll beyond the hero section. This underscores the importance of placing the most crucial information in the hero section of your landing page.
The hero section should be straightforward and attention-grabbing, conveying precisely what visitors can expect. You have approximately 3 seconds, or perhaps even less, to captivate their interest, making clarity essential.
This section should incorporate a clear product image, the brand name, product name, positioning statement, an email capture segment, a concise reason for visitors to share their email, and a compelling call-to-action.
Typically, marketers utilize special discount offers as an incentive for users to provide their email addresses, such as “sign up now for a chance to receive a discount when we launch.”
This approach benefits both the campaigner, who gains more early pre-orders, and the backers, who receive an exclusive product offer.
By crafting an effective hero section, you’ve already achieved half of your goal. Below is an excellent example of a hero section that is clear and includes all the necessary components, without unnecessary embellishments.
6. Highlight The Features And Benefits
Another crucial aspect of a landing page entails highlighting the actual features and core benefits of your product. Through ongoing conversations during the product development phase, you should ideally have insights into which features matter most to your target audience.
For instance, if you’re promoting a trading card game, consider questions like:
What is the game’s theme? What innovative elements does it introduce? What materials are used for the cards? Are they waterproof? Are there any unique collectible cards? Is the product environmentally sustainable?
Ensure that these key features are prominently presented on your landing page, providing a concise snapshot for visitors to quickly grasp.
7. Key Website Metrics to Prioritize
Like any other endeavor, measuring metrics is crucial for assessing the performance of a landing page. Various metrics to consider include:
- Engagement: Bounce Rate and Duration
- Audience: Demographics, Interests, and Device Usage
- Content: Most Visited Pages, Landing/Exit Pages, and specific sections within a page
- Traffic Source: Organic and Paid Traffic
- Conversion: E-commerce Conversion Rate, Order Value, Attribution, Funnel Progression
There are many more metrics to explore, but the primary focus for most landing pages is the conversion rate. This metric indicates how many visitors to the landing page actually submit their email addresses.
Conversion Rate (CR%) = Number of Email Submissions / Total Number of Landing Page Visitors
In general, the higher the conversion rate, the better. For a crowdfunding campaign targeting a very specific audience, aiming for a 30% conversion rate is a reasonable goal.
If your conversion rate falls below this benchmark, consider further optimization through A/B testing various elements on your landing page to enhance its effectiveness.
