Rakesh Soni
Marketers, are you still wondering whether adding social tools to your landing page will increase your conversion rates? With more than half of all new users abandoning your site once they’re asked to register, you may want to think about it, and fast.
A great landing page is crucial for any marketing strategy. This is where your target users “land” first after they’ve been redirected from your email, social or advertising campaign. And now that your leads are landing you don’t want them to take off.
If you have previously searched for landing page optimization tips I am sure you have seen many basic suggestions such as:
1. Have a Strong Headline
A well-written headline is crucial and your leads may not read past this point if they don’t know the who, what, when, where, how and, most importantly, why this is important to them. This goes with basically anything online. You have to attract them, end of story.
2. Write Killer Content
Think the four C’s: clean, clear, concise, cohesive. You only have a few seconds to grab your users’ attention. Make the page easy to read and skim. Plain English is a must as is ample white space, short paragraphs, bullet points and no distracting images or icons.
3. Have a Clear Call to Action
People respond to deadlines, so incorporating a sense urgency into the CTA is key here. It will both cut the users’ decision-making time and nudge them into taking action sooner.
4. Use Strong Value Propositions
Don’t bury the message your customer will find most important. Give your users a crystal clear reason why they should use the product/service and why going with you is the right choice for them.
5. Always Include a Lead Form
The most critical element of any landing page is the lead form. This is where your leads submit their contact information so you can send them offers and work on building a relationship with them.
But these are all things you’ve seen or heard before and I’m not writing this to just rehash the same old tips you’re already familiar with. I’m writing to tell you how to bring your optimization to the next level with a few great social tools. Not only will they increase conversion but they’ll stop your potential business from walking away.
If you want basic tips on boosting landing page conversion rates, check out this article. Now if you’d like to go beyond the basics and learn what’s next, read on!
Five Easy, Cost-Effective Social Tools to Increase Landing Page Conversion
1. Add Social Login
Instead of asking your leads to fill out another form, ask them to register for your product, service, or webinar with just one simple click. Allow them to sign in through a social platform of their choice by utilizing social login. This is one of the most effective social tools out there when it comes to conversion and produces amazing results with the growing problem of password fatigue.
Here’s how it would look on your landing page. While your users still have the option to fill out a registration form, they can also just click the Facebook tab. In one click they’re registered. It’s really that simple. If you’re not convinced, read more about the conversion benefits of social login or check out a comprehensive SlideShare on social login.
2. Social Sharing Widgets
Sharing is caring. With more than 22 billion shares viewed daily on the web, social sharing should not be overlooked when it comes to landing pages. People are passionate about what they like and what they don’t like. Content sharing through social sharing is one of the easiest ways to increase referral traffic to your landing page.
Not only are social sharing widgets inexpensive, but also they’re incredibly effective. This small social tool gives your users the power to share what they want with who they want. When a friend, family member or colleague shares something on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, it is seen as more credible and as a personal recommendation. Take a look at the Movember example above or learn more about the psychology behind this here.
3. Social Proof
Show me the proof! When a new user hits your landing page, show them quickly what others are saying about your product or service and why they chose you. While there are many ways to incorporate social proof on your page, here are four of the most effective:
1. Embedded Facebook and Twitter posts
Not only does this put a real face to the name, but it’s also interactive. So long static content!
2. Customer Testimonials
Show an example of how your product or service helped your user. Customers stating the results that they have seen and their positive experience with your product will encourage others to buy!
3. Link to Case Studies and White Papers
Create a great image with a short intro for users to read more. Case studies provide users with a wealth of well-researched content in a digestible format.
4. Social Count
If hundreds of people like this page, there must be some real value, right?
According to Pamela Vaughan, “people will conform to the actions of others under the assumption that those actions are reflective of the correct behavior. In other words, it’s the mentality that, if other people are doing it, and I trust those people, that’s validation that I should also be doing it.”
Adding buttons such as number of followers, likes, subscribers and shares may boost credibility and increase the chance that users will proceed past the login page.
4. Social Invite
Social invite is really nothing more than good old-fashioned word-of-mouth advertising in the shiny new world of social tools.
Similar to social sharing widgets as mentioned above, a Friend Invite feature allows your visitors to invite selected people through their social networks to check out your product or try out one of your services. This is done in a private, customized message giving it a more personal touch than sharing generic content on public feeds.
Friend invite is a particularly great tool for users who may not want to broadcast their recommendations publicly or who prefer to customize their messages before they send out a recommendation.
The best part? Word-of-mouth recommendations are free! This means your customers are spreading the word about your business on their own time. Voila: instant brand ambassadors.
5. Follow Bar
All users have a preferred social channel for learning about products and services. Twitter is great for sifting through lots of content, while Facebook and Instagram are more image heavy and allow users to flip through content quickly. Everyone has their preference.
Because the landing page can only hold so much information, adding widgets that showcase your company’s social media offerings (known as the follow bar) gives your visitors more opportunity to connect with your business and interact via the channel of their choice.
The follow bar is just one of many social tools that allow you to connect with your visitors on social. Even if users leave your landing page without logging into their social account, there’s a good chance they may check you out on social before making a purchase decision. Having a follow bar makes it that much easier for them to do so.
To Conclude
Landing pages can be the easiest way of generating solid quality leads. But if more than half of your visitors are leaving because of cumbersome registration fields, then all your work creating a reader-friendly landing page has been wasted. Make it easy for your visitors to recognize your value proposition by using embedded posts, social share widgets, a follow bar, and any of the other social tools covered above. If you haven’t revisited the elements of your landing pages in a while, I highly recommend doing so and adding some social tools to help you with your conversion boosting efforts.
Has social helped drive a higher ROI on your landing pages? If yes, which social tools are your favourite? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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