The Good, the Bad and the Unique about Landing Pages, UX, and UI

The Good:

To add clarity to what could be an ambiguous phrase a “good” landing page is one that users are engaged by and driven to follow through with the call to action (CTA). Landing pages are one aspect were breaking the mold to succeed is not always necessary or recommended. In today’s culture there’s a way people have adapted to navigating webpages, to not overwhelm or confuse users landing pages should have 5 main sections:

1.       Headline: Much like how a paper must grab a reader’s attention and introduce the essays' structure so must a landing page. The headline is necessary in orienting the reader and reintroducing the campaign or even adding some brand information.

Creativity is not always key:  Data between a straightforward landing page headline and one with a creative (some may say confusing) headline “Why Aren’t You Sending These 15 Emails?” showed that the conversion rate was over double when users were presented with straightforward information to encourage them to sign up and download their product.

2.       Imagery: Visuals are a great way to maintain focus and help ensure that content is read, 80% of web users are more likely to enjoy reading and engaging with content containing visuals. It’s vital the images connect to the content and are there to enforce the intent of the page.

The Images must also be analyzed from a bigger picture view in how they impact the capacity of the page’s performance. Meaning how does the added media impact load time or overall technicalities. Long load time can deter users as every second is vital. In addition, how the image loads and looks on various platforms and devices, such as via the web or mobile phones should be considered.

3.       Lead-Capture Forms: This is how companies obtain target market data. It’s the concept of an exchange; the company values the consumer information and the individual values the content they now have access to. The location on the landing page should be in the view of users meaning scrolling is not needed to access it. If it were a newspaper, above the fold articles got the most eyes on them so this is the same concept.

Don’t be stingy: The lead-capture can be used multiple times throughout the course of the page. In addition, don’t be scared to show a progress bar to depict how long or how many steps are involved in the form. With no end in sight consumers can be discouraged and back out or give up before completion.

4.       Call to Action: Motivation behind landing page creation should be driven by this CTA, it can be thought of as the mission of the page. What action is the landing page and every aspect of its design attempting to coax the user to take. The CTA is inherently the written and clickable manifestation of this action. This is where creativity does have a chance to shine. A non-generic and personalized CTA is said to have a performance improvement of 202%. If the CTA take on the look and appearance of a button the click through rate increases another 28%.

Throwback to A/B Testing: This is a great method in determining what styles or wording results in the highest number of desired actions taking place. A/B Testing can be used to specifically test which wordings of the CTA perform the best or how the button design improves interaction. A color change or a drop shadow can be added to determine if it significantly impacts the gathered metrics.

5.       Copy and description: This copy can include customer testimonials which consumers can relate to and potentially see themselves in. Individuals are more likely to believe the words of someone who chose to purchase a product. Companies have a commitment to the brand which is something someone who is an outsider does not have, their attachment to the company is based on their own volition.

Landing Page VS a Homepage:

The main difference between the two is the purpose behind their creation, homepages act as central source for your company rather than including one call to action. A landing page can be thought of as a tool whereas the homepage is the website.

From a wide angle view a homepage can be focused on top of the funnel introduction to the brand and their overarching purpose, homepages have a range of audience traffic. Landing pages are not necessarily seen by less eyes but are strategically shown to those that are thought to be most susceptible to them. Access to this page is usually not searchable like a homepage would be but users gain access. This can be from interacting with a paid ad or via email. These are strategies to interact with specific target markets so a campaigns specialized content is appreciated by those it reaches.

Distraction Free Viewing

This is the hallmark of landing pages, rather than having multiple tabs and hyperlinks it has a set purpose to get users to follow through. The action is said to meet their needs and that the personal information needed is an equal trade off and beneficial to the user.

A look into UX and UI:

In the Ven Diagram of the two their overarching similarity would be their commitment to conforming to what users react to best. UX is focused on experiences while UI emphasizes the aesthetics of the page. User Experience design (UX) is focused on ensuring page interactions are meaningful.

Back to the 5 elements of a landing page good UX would ensure that the CTA button is placed in an easily accessible area and the copy and description appeals to consumer needs. The imagery element would be a part of User Interface design (UI) as it’s the visual element of the landing page. UI is also in the shape and look of the CTA button.

A Real-World View:

MyWestern

The myWestern website fulfills many aspects of good user design in that the main page has 5 clickable buttons of the primary resource's students use. These are intuitively placed at the top of the page and don’t need to be searched for.

A potential barrier would be that the other resources this page contains are not seen within two immediate scrolls, a user may come to the site scroll twice and decide that it does not have the necessary resources.

Spotify

Spotify does not have effective design as the placement of where to access followed accounts is not intuitively or obviously placed, nor is there a centralized location and organization of their "Made For You" playlists. The “Made for __” screen does not store past playlists they’ve created and the playlists there are not dated.

I also feel that the squiggle elemental design (UI) of their website is out of place especially for many users’ music tastes. For a playlist focused on old school rap a pink squiggle as the cover doesn’t seem intentional. It would be a unique marketing move if they were to allow users to choose from a series of preset design packs to best customize their app to match music tastes.

  Back to the Basket

Although being a store I love dearly, Back to the Basket struggles with the intuitive design of their website. They specialize in instore shopping experiences, but their hours and location are 4 or more scrolls down. This would be a UX change that should occur as the user experience on the site is not streamlined. Similarly, the links to the specific part of their site such as “sneakers” or “jerseys” are below the fold and overwhelmed by the images, this is a place where the UI and UX are not seamlessly integrated. There's too much of a focus on creating a set vibe to the site rather than ensuring its usability.

Finally, to call back to a point about not being overly creative with wording on landing pages, a similar sentiment can be held. Although this is a homepage the subscription button text is confusing and indirect. The phrasing “Missed that one-of-a-kind” does not tell users what they’re giving their email for and is overall just a not clearly defined statement.