A landing page is the heart and soul of your Shopify store. It's often the first place your new customers will land and explore more about your products and services.
There is no denying that a well-designed and optimized Shopify landing page has the potential to turn your prospects into paying customers.
Because the landing page is such an essential part of your conversion strategy, it is unavoidable for ecommerce store owners to build a page that converts.
But sadly, the process isn’t as straightforward as it may sound.
In fact, only 22% of online businesses are happy with their landing page conversion rate.
Fret not! We have created this comprehensive landing page optimization guide to help you get this critical step right.
What Is Shopify Landing Page Optimization?
Simply put, landing page optimization is the process of improving every element on your landing page to grow sales and conversions.
What differentiates landing page optimization from usual website improvement is it is data-backed and more targeted.
The good thing about this process is you can assess everything before your page even goes live.
It is also critical to understand that you can't build a 100% optimized Shopify landing page from day one. It is an ongoing process and requires you to tweak things on the go as you analyze results.
Landing Page VS Homepage
In a marketing dictionary, landing page and homepage are two different terms. They have entirely different objectives, and hence, you can't optimize them both following the same set of strategies.
The purpose of the homepage is to direct visitors to other pages of your website. On the other hand, a landing page contains everything a potential customer might need to proceed with their purchase.
It usually takes not more than 0.05 seconds for a visitor to build an opinion about your landing page. So, it is crucial to communicate maximum value to your buyers before they leave your website.
What Is A Good Conversion Rate For Landing Pages?
Not all businesses are created alike. What we call a good conversion rate for one industry might just be an average figure for the other. Many things impact your average landing page conversion rate.
Improvement is the true measure of success here. For example, you're doing pretty good if your conversion rate for May was 1.2%, and you managed to stretch it up to 1.5% in June.
There's a strong connection between web traffic and conversion rate. Sometimes you get tons of traffic from search engines, but you don't see improvement in your conversion ratio.
What does that indicate?
That means there is something wrong with either your landing page optimization or your offer.
Figuring out the root cause of the problem will help you create a better landing page optimization strategy.
The following section covers all those costly Shopify landing page mistakes that sabotage your business reputation and eventually conversions.
Landing Page Optimization Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Conversion Rate
A killer Shopify landing page combines different design elements and functional features to turn traffic into cash.
Here are some common landing page mistakes you should avoid at any cost to drive conversions.
Slow Website Speed
Did you know web traffic analysis takes into account your bounce rate to determine your conversion rate? Your bounce rate increases when people leave your site without taking your desired action.
Now, what makes those visitors leave your site without completing a transaction? Well, there are many factors - a slow landing page speed being one of them.
Modern customers hate waiting. And why should they? They know what you're selling is already available in dozens of other online stores.
So, the very first thing you should do to reduce your bounce rate is to make efforts to improve your page speed. When visitors spend more time on your website, the odds of converting them will automatically increase.
Distracting Images
Sure, images and visuals are powerful. They inspire people to engage with your brand and convert.
But having irrelevant images on your landing pages will only create a distraction.
Instead of displaying images and visuals of random things and objects, you can use photos of people to convince and motivate visitors to trust your offers.
Choice Overload
What differentiates a landing page from other pages on your website? It serves a single purpose. Make sure you don't give users a choice as it may overwhelm them and even result in your prospects leaving your site without purchasing anything.
Poor Headlines
As discussed above, every single element on your landing page contributes to the conversion process. Headlines act as a hook that captures your visitor's interest and persuades them to stay on the page to explore more.
Invest your time in creating interesting headlines that instantly grab customers' interest. Create benefit-focused headlines that clearly highlight your goal and target your prospects directly.
No Reviews
Customer reviews act as social proof that encourages potential customers to trust your brand. They're also an integral part of your landing page optimization strategy.
Ask customers to provide you with text-based or video testimonials highlighting their experience with your brand. Display those reviews on your landing pages to help other visitors make up their minds and convert.
Weak CTAs
The ecommerce conversion funnel comprises different stages. As you lead your buyers down the funnel, you can encourage them to move forward through action-driven CTAs.
While it may sound like a no-brainer at first, creating perfect CTAs can be challenging at times. From crafting a winning CTA copy to choosing the right colors and placement, every element of your CTA should be on point.
Not Optimized For Mobile
No matter how attractive your Shopify landing page is, you can't expect conversions if it is not optimized for your mobile users.
Especially if your target audience is Gen Z and millennials, a poor mobile experience can adversely impact your conversions.
Complex Language
Your customers are ordinary people just like you. Do not overwhelm them by writing content full of jargon and complex language.
Instead of focusing on technical details (you should specify them, though), you must highlight the benefits of your featured products.
Generic Content
Landing pages target a single goal. Trying to include everything in your landing page copy will make your content sound more generic.
Create a targeted landing page copy with captivating headlines and clear CTAs that capture your audience's attention and encourage them to stay with your brand down the funnel.
Top 10 Tips To Optimize Your Shopify Landing Page
Now that you know what a landing page is and what mistakes you should avoid for perfect landing page optimization, it's time to talk about some proven tips to optimize your landing page for maximum conversions.
1. Identify Your Ideal Customers And Their Desires
Let's begin with the basics. Identifying your ideal customers and their unique needs is the first step to creating a Shopify landing page optimization strategy.
Who is your ideal customer?
Are they teenagers looking for some funky and trendy clothing for themselves? Are they middle-aged women looking to invest in a skincare range to preserve their beauty? Are they retired individuals looking to invest in a hearing aid?
Try to put yourself in your customer's shoes to determine their unique needs.
On which specific platform do they spend most of their time?
Try to figure out the social media platforms your ideal customers prefer to spend their time on. Are they avid Facebook or Instagram users or professionals who prefer spending most of their time on LinkedIn?
2. Write A Benefit-Driven Headline
As mentioned above, the first thing your visitors will see on your landing page is your headline. Generally, the headline is all about product features. But such headlines do not tell buyers what your product has in store for them.
Instead of creating feature-oriented headlines, try to come up with ideas that help your target customers identify the true benefits of your products.
According to research, a benefit-driven headline can increase your conversion rate by up to 4.3%.
3. Identify Your Value Proposition And Craft Relevant Content
Unless you have a product from Mars, it is unlikely to differentiate your brand based on your products only.
Competition in an online selling space is aggressive. The only thing that can set your business apart from others is your unique value proposition.
Offer a product that is a blend of great quality and offers value for money (something your ideal customers won't get from any of your competitors) to your buyers.
And the best place to flaunt your offers is your landing page.
Create highly relevant, concise, and value-driven content based on your USP that attracts your audience's interest.
4. Adapt Content-First Design
When you download and install any Shopify theme, the first thing you'll see is 'Lorem Ipsum', which is placeholder content that needs to be filled by the content provided by the brand.
Most of the time, the ready-made content you want to fill in place of the placeholder content never fits the design.
That is where content-first design steps in.
Obviously, it is more adaptable and looks great when you upload it in any of your chosen themes.
5. Include Customer Reviews/Testimonials
Adding customer reviews/testimonials to your Shopify landing page can do wonders for your brand. Almost all big dropshipping giants, including Amazon and Alibaba, are implementing this technique to gain the trust of their potential customers.
Ask your current buyers to drop genuine feedback about your products, shipping, and customer service, and you can display them as part of your landing page content optimization strategy.
Some brands also embed a video showcasing the experience of their previous customers. So you can also do the same to build trust.
6. Use Clear CTAs
Converting your desires into meaningful CTA buttons can help you nudge your prospects in the right direction.
For example, if you want your visitors to join your email list or download an ebook, you can place an appropriate CTA button to steer them in the right way.
Get creative with your CTA copy instead of using those same outdated and vague terms like Buy, Send, and Download.
Also, use contrasting colors for your CTA buttons so that they pop out and attract your customer's attention.
7. Wow Your Visitors With An Impressive Landing Page Design
While it may be tempting to add many elements to your landing page design to make it look more appealing, simplicity and clarity always outdo everything.
Use a simple page layout with clearly defined sections for each of your offers. Sprinkle CTAs creatively throughout your page. Remember, when it comes to Shopify landing page design, less is always more.
8. Get Rid Of Blockers To Conversion
We have already discussed one barrier to conversion in the preceding section. Yes, you guessed that right. We're talking about page load speed.
Simplify your checkout process so that your buyers can complete the checkout process without any difficulty.
Also, make sure to provide all the necessary information to your customers that they might need to proceed with the transaction.
9. Optimize For Multiple Devices
Your landing page should look the same on every device, be it a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. For this, you have to optimize your landing page for multiple devices.
Get in touch with your website designer, and they will guide you on how to get this right.
10. Automate With Chatbots
Excellent customer support can skyrocket your sales and conversions in no time.
How about incorporating this feature into your Shopify landing page optimization strategy to improve conversions?
Automate your landing page by embedding a chatbot that is always there for your customer's assistance.
Ricky Hayes
Trisha Ballesteros