SaaS Landing Page Analysis – Improve Signups/Lead-Generation

The goal of your SaaS landing page is this:

To convert a visitor into a User... turn that visitor into a lead.

And optimizing landing pages improves the conversion rate - think CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). 

Instead of interrupting, work on attracting

— Dharmesh Shah, CTO & Co-Founder, HubSpot

But before you can optimize, you have to analyze. And this is why landing page analysis is a must for demand-gen marketers.

So this post will cover three landing page analysis techniques to steer your lead-gen efforts in the right direction.

Let’s dive in.

Three Ways to Analyze Landing Pages

There are 3 tangible SaaS landing page features that apply across the board. And when you’re done measuring, you can start optimizing landing pages with these checks in mind.

Optimizing Page Code

Optimized page code helps increase lead generation in the following ways:

• It improves search engine visibility. Both from an organic and paid perspective.
• It checks your URL destination.
• It also checks to see if your tracking visitors to your landing page.

Let’s dive into the specifics:

Page Title

The page title is a meta element capturing the essence of your landing page. You don’t see it directly on the landing page, but you do see it here:

But even more importantly…

Here:

Your page title makes up the headline of your organic search result. So when analyzing landing pages from an acquisition POV, this one’s a biggie.

To optimize, make sure your title is accurate, contains your target keyword, and is less than 60 characters long.

Description

Your page description is similar to the page title.

How?

Well, you won’t see it on the page. But once again, here’s where you will see it…

Your page description is used as your organic result description.

Do you notice anything about the description?

For one, we mention the keyword. Once is enough, but here we see it a few times.

And there’s something else…

… Notice how Google truncates the result? Keep these tips in mind:

Keep meta descriptions brief, concise, and engaging. Capture the essence of your page in 140-160 characters.

Think of meta descriptions as a quick sell on why customers should visit your page and not others.

– Dmitri Tymos, Digital Marketing Strategist, LearnZilla

Canonical URL

A canonical URL is a preferred URL. When a user clicks a URL for our landing page with a unique slug, it will direct back to this preferred URL.

Complicated? A little bit. But here’s a diagram to help demystify…

This is good practice from an SEO perspective because it prevents from duplicate content across multiple URLs.

It’s also useful for tracking visitor data. Because traffic coming in from different URL sources complicates metrics. Using a canonical URL will keep your data organized.

Visitor Tracking

Visitor tracking is important for any web page, but it’s essential in landing pages.

Especially if you’re paying for traffic to visit. It shows you which channels visitor enter from, and from there how they are engaging. Because optimizing landing pages is about generating leads. So you have to measure their activity using visitor tracking.

Slug Optimization

A slug is an exact address for a page on your site. Each of your landing pages should have a unique slug.

You’ll see it here:

To boost SEO, mention your target keyword in the landing page slug. And keep your URL simple. This clearly lays out site structure for your landing pages when search engines are crawling.

With landing page analysis tips for page code in the books, let’s move on to messaging.

Landing Page Messaging

Page messaging is how you communicate with your visitors. And because every landing page is unique, it’s tough to analyze landing pages for communication.

But there are areas we can focus on; common page messaging traits that every landing page should include.

So with that in mind, let’s dive into these traits.

Branding

Infusing personal brand into your landing page messaging conveys value.

Here’s where you can mention your own brand throughout your landing page copy, and express your values.

Business Drivers

Business drivers showcase performance gains. AKA the benefits to the end user that lie just beyond the landing page.

This is a pivotal landing page analysis check. Because landing page copy should emphasize benefits over specific features.

Here’s an example from ProductPlan:

Let’s break down these benefits.

• Build roadmaps in minutes = Get things done faster
• Communicate your plan visually = Get your ideas across easier
• Standardize your road map process = Organize your work better
• Make better product decisions = Add more business-value

These are benefits. And benefits help get the job done for your visitors.

Now we know how to include business-drivers. So let’s move onto a key landing page component…

Call-To-Action

The call-to-action directs visitors to the next step. Which is the keystone of your landing page.

A call-to-action usually comes in a button format, but we’re talking page messaging here. So what I want to focus on is CTA phrasing throughout your page. This is what drives visitors to follow through on the desired action.

Here’s an example from our downloads:

Above you can see I highlighted CTA language (which is obviously to download). But whereas the orange highlight is the actual CTA button, the yellow highlights show phrasing I use to encourage the download.

So using your landing page analysis to check CTA messaging throughout your copy.

Testimonials

Testimonials are quotes from current customers using your products or solutions. They persuade new landing page visitors to take action. Think of testimonials as a vote of confidence.

And in landing page analysis, a testimonial is a key check off the docket.

So what does a landing page containing a testimonial look like? Have a look at how Active Collab does it:

This particular landing page has not one, but four testimonials. With each one mentioning the value add from downloading the guide.

Video

Including video on your landing page is a nice touch that can boost visitor engagement.

And here’s a technique you can use to knock off two landing page analysis checks with one stone…

… Use a testimonial video on your landing page. And because you have the video, you can grab a strong quote from there, and place it on your landing page as well.

So, you have your landing page analysis checks for code optimization and messaging. Now let’s finish off with the prize at stake for landing pages – lead generation.

Landing Page Signup/Lead Capture

Signup/Lead capture checks aim at making sure your landing pages are doing their job. But what is that job exactly?

Here it is:

To turn visitors into prospects, and after understanding the value of your offer, turning prospects into customers.

So:

These landing page analysis checks are going to focus on how optimized that route is. Let’s dive in.

User Form

A user form is where you capture visitor information - this in it's simplest form typically includes an email address. Whatever minimal information you need to signup a user in a meaningful manner.

And during your landing page analysis, you want to check if user forms are present and well-arranged.

This is a simple landing page audit check – either you have your user form, or you don’t.

But now let’s focus on the fun part, optimizing your user forms…

Minimal Input

You have a user form to capture signup/lead information.

But there’s an important idea to keep in mind here when optimizing the process.

Which is:

Make your user forms easy to complete.

Because this is where you’re asking visitors to provide you with something. So a simple form is going to boost your conversion process.

Have a look at how we do it here at Pagezii.

For our downloads, all we ask is for a business email. Nothing more, nothing less. And this is why we’ve been able to generate high conversions rates with our download landing pages.

Optimized Button

You CTA button is the end goal of your landing page. This is where landing page visitors turn into real prospects.

And to make sure you’re optimizing buttons here’s what you can analyze.

• Visibility: Your landing page CTA shouldn’t be hard to spot. Use an eye grabbing accent color from your brand guide to make the CTA stand out on the page.
• CTA Text: A simple CTA text is all you need. If your landing page contains an industry report, your CTA is should be “Download Report”

Drive up Signups and Capture Leads with Landing Page Analysis

Landing page analysis is a means to an end. And while landing pages differ across industries, there are universal measurements you can apply to increase lead generation for landing pages.

And in this post, we’ve covered only a few landing page analysis focus areas. Want to know the others? Then reach out to us for a SaaS CRO audit.