Key takeaways:
· Less is more – when faced with information overload, prospects tend to switch off
· Make action easy – prospects are far more likely to take action if you make doing so quick and painless
· Social proof is power – including reviews or client quotes will immediately make your value proposition more plausible
When it comes to capturing prospects’ attention, estate agents definitely underperform. It’s not that we’re incapable; it’s just that the average estate and lettings website is simply not designed to generate leads.
Instead, they’re designed for browsing, perusing. But more agencies are coming to understand that a properly constructed landing page is a massive competitive advantage, helping turn casual website visitors into active, actionable leads.
So what actually is a landing page? And how can you ensure yours is as effective as possible? Well, that’s exactly what this article is going to show you.
What is a landing page?
Simply put, a landing page is the page you ‘land’ on after clicking a marketing link; that could be an ad on Google or a Call To Action in your marketing emails.
However, that doesn’t mean any old page you create ads for qualifies as a landing page; landing pages are specifically designed to convert website visitors into leads. In fact, a whole industry has emerged around them, from creating persuasive content to researching exactly what elements work best.
What does a good landing page look like?
By their very nature, landing pages are often wildly different. However, the goal is almost always the same: to capture the visitor’s attention and move them to action. This is challenging because the average website visitor has an attention span of around 7.5 seconds, meaning you have almost no time to persuade them.
Instead of presenting a rational argument then, great landing pages adapt to the mind of the visitor to maximise their immediacy and impact.
Here are a five key factors that are almost universal amongst high-converting landing pages:
1. Clear, direct headlines
Perhaps the biggest problem with most estate and lettings websites is the cluttered content. There are simply too many messages and images vying for attention, and the visitor ends up overwhelmed.
A good landing page should therefore be stripped right back to the essentials, and this means sacrificing all of your detailed copy for a simple, clear message that immediately lets the visitor know what you offer and why they should care.
This doesn’t have to be anything fancy; clarity is the key here. Try to break down what you offer into a single, clear headline that can be read in a blink.
2. Call to actions
Landing pages are designed to convert, and that means you need to know exactly what action you want the visitor to take. This might be signing up to a newsletter, or creating an account with your agency.
The key is to make your Call To Action (CTA) bold and immediate, just like the headline. The visitor should know right away what action you want them to take, and their attention should be directed to where they can do it.
3. Easy-to-fill forms
Simply calling your visitor to action isn’t enough; you need to make the action quick and easy to do. Too often landing pages face the prospect with a long, laborious form to fill in, or require them to think hard about the information they’re entering.
Many agencies want to squeeze extra data out of their prospects to make later marketing efforts easier to segment, but when they do this they sacrifice conversions. By simplifying your forms, you will immediately start to see more leds pile up.
4. Great, simple imagery
Imagery is an important means of tapping into the emotions of your prospects, but too often estate agents don’t make the most of this. You really only need a single, stunning image to create the right atmosphere and make prospects feel excited by your site.
You should ideally use professional photographs of one of your most impressive looking properties, but if that’s not possible, focus on using vibrant, eye-catching colours which make your page feel more compelling and subtly alter the visitor’s mood.
5. Social proof
Visitors are not going to take you on faith; you need to give them tangible evidence that your agency is trustworthy and effective. There are a number of ways to do this, from listing your awards to noting how long you’ve been operating.
The most powerful way of creating trust, however, is making use of your existing clients. Whether it’s a short quote from a particularly enthusiastic client or simply aggregated reviews, visitors will always trust the word of other clients and customers more than your own claims about yourself.
Conclusion | The magic is in the mix
It’s important to remember that none of these elements alone will generate leads. Instead, it is the way they combine to create an immediately compelling, persuasive and easy to navigate landing page.
For many, creating their own landing pages is a major hurdle, especially with the time constraints and pressures that come with running an agency. This is exactly why at Active Agent we create conversion-optimised landing pages for all of our clients – to help them save time, capture more leads and start building up that sales funnel faster.
If that sounds good to you, click here to book your free demo today.