6 Landing Page Mistakes You Can Avoid to Ensure Conversions for Your Event
Landing pages are critical tools in a digital marketer’s toolbox. They have the single job of turning web visitors into leads or customers. If your event landing page is visually unappealing or the message in the ad and landing page need to match, you won’t see the results you want, even with a stunning ad campaign driving record traffic.
The cost of these pitfalls doesn’t just affect your marketing budget. They have an impact on event attendance and brand reputation. If visitors aren’t impressed by the event landing page, they won’t have high hopes for the event.
Ideally, there should be a strong correlation between traffic to your landing page and conversion rates.
This graph shows the average landing page conversion rate for events is 13.4%.
The user experience should be intuitive and seamless. If your conversion rates don’t match the average above, the following are the likely culprits.
- Unclear or Confusing Headlines
Headlines can make or break a landing page’s success. They are the first thing visitors see. Further still, they are the only thing most visitors read, with as many as 80% of people not reading past the headline. So, if you bury the user value proposition in the copy, you’re losing conversions.
It doesn’t matter if you’re targeting casual consumers, readers of news, or an industrial web design audience. Headlines must catch readers’ attention and entice them to stay on the page. The best way to do this is by turning the prospect’s goal or problem into a headline.
The two main characteristics of effective landing page headline formulas are clarity and relevance. Let’s look at them one by one:
Clarity: Headlines should be clear about what the landing page is about. Refrain from beating around the bush with clever phrases or jargon. Just keep it simple.
This landing page example keeps its headline precise and concise. Visitors know immediately that the landing page is for an email marketing virtual expo.
Relevance: Visitors come to your landing page from various sources – email marketing, social media, paid ads, or Google search. Whatever the traffic source, your headline must match the ad’s message. Otherwise, you’ll lose customers’ trust. For instance, the Facebook ad introducing the guest speakers shouldn’t drive traffic to the pricing page. That’s not why visitors clicked the marketing link.
Below is an example message match from the 2022 Inbound conference. Here’s the Tweet:
The landing page below matches the promise of the Twitter message, directing followers to information about passes and registration.
The color scheme also matches, assuring visitors have come to the correct page.
Apply clarity and relevance to your calls to action as well. Most landing pages have a conversion goal, and strong call-to-action buttons facilitate this process.
- Lengthy Forms
Lead capture forms generate leads by asking visitors for their contact data. Customer privacy and security are sensitive topics. Asking for unnecessary information can be a turn-off for many potential event attendees.
Lengthy forms are common landing page mistakes. Businesses can reduce friction by using fewer fields in contact forms.
For the Think in Color 2022 virtual summit, Thinkific asks registrants for their names and email addresses.
Shorter forms work most of the time, especially with free events. However, if you want more higher-qualified leads or are hosting a paid event, you will require more form fields.
How do you reduce the form friction while collecting the data you need? It’s simple. Use a multistep form.
Breaking up the lead capture form into two or three simple steps is less intimidating and leads to 87% higher conversion rates. Lead generation forms created using the breadcrumb technique drive conversions by requesting simple or non-threatening information first, then progressing to more sensitive data. Once the user commits to the first step, they’re more likely to complete the process.
ISACA’s registration process starts with a simple ask, i.e., how many tickets the visitor wants. The asks progressively get more challenging as visitors must enter their contact information (in the second step) and financial information at checkout.
- Lack of Social Proof
Social proof is valuable for building trust with audiences and increasing tickets. Testimonials from past virtual, in-person, or hybrid events endorse your programs’ quality and help potential customers envision similar experiences.
You can incorporate social proof in various ways: video testimonials, honest customer reviews, social media comments, and client logos.
Collision holds no punches when it comes to social proof. In addition to quotes from industry leaders and happy customers, it displays the logos of the major companies that attend its tech conferences.
It would help to place social proof on your event landing page strategically. For instance, testimonials from high-profile customers can be powerful trigger events on conversion pages, giving visitors added incentive to commit.
- Lack of Event Information to Convert
Your landing page should have all the information visitors need to convert. We’re not just talking about landing page mistakes like forgetting to include the event’s location. Prospective attendees want to know if the event is worth their time and money.
Your landing page should tell visitors what to expect by attending your event. For example, virtual attendees may expect an interactive session with keynote speakers. However, this year, questions from the Q&A are selected beforehand.
Tableau includes an event schedule with brief descriptions of each session for its upcoming conference. Doing this manages expectations and reduces disappointment.
If the headline’s function is to capture attention, the copy’s purpose is to deliver value. Creating compelling copy can be overwhelming. Use generative ai to help you write good copy for your landing page.
You need to insert the proper prompts, and it will generate your content accordingly.
- Lack of Visual Appeal
Adding visual elements improve landing conversion rates.
We’ve already seen that most people skim headlines and sub-headings. Images, graphs, and videos are a great way to supplement the content they don’t read. Moreover, engagement statistics show videos drive engagement by keeping visitors on your landing page longer.
But landing page design isn’t just about breaking text with images and videos. How you lay out your content determines if visitors stay or leave. A disorganized page arrangement disorients the reader, causing them to exit the website. For a better content layout, you can utilize online card sorting studies.They allow you to evaluate your content arrangement with target attendees and organize your pages for better intuitiveness and user retention.
Consequently, it would help if you had a visual hierarchy that guides visitors through your landing page content. It not only directs the customer’s eyes where you want them, but it also signals the order of importance.
First, the Affiliate Summit landing page is visually appealing with a clean, minimalist look. Second, it places essential information above the digital fold, ordering content in terms of importance. Visitors don’t have to scroll to find the dates, locations, or call-to-actions.
Below the digital fold, visitors can read about the benefits of attending the event in a structured, easy-to-digest format.
The page also makes it easy to skim through content by using contrasting colors that make the subheadings pop.
- Not Optimized for Mobile
More than half the world’s traffic comes from mobile users. So, your landing page experience must be optimized for mobile devices, especially if you have mobile ads. The easier it is to navigate, the more likely prospects will engage and convert.
Ensure your current landing page is mobile-friendly by removing pop-ups, enlarging text size, and removing larger files like irrelevant images and videos. Visual elements may drive conversions but can negatively impact page loading time. The bounce-back rate for mobile page load times increases 32% after only three seconds.
This event landing page is formatted to fit smartphones. It has a visual hierarchy with information visitors need to convert placed above the digital fold—title, date, location, and CTA button. Visual clutter is reduced by minimizing visual elements and focusing the message front and center.
Conclusion
A well-designed landing page does one thing—convert visitors to leads or customers. If your event landing page isn’t yielding as many signups or ticket sales compared to traffic, you’re probably making one or more of the landing page mistakes we’ve discussed. Let’s recap.
Ambiguous headlines confuse visitors about what the landing page is about. They must be clear and relevant. Long forms scare customers. So, to reduce the friction, either minimize the fields or use a multistep form. Real customer testimonials are beneficial tools for getting hesitant visitors to commit.
Your landing page copy must demonstrate the value prospects will get from your event. One way to do this is by sharing descriptions of event activities. Visual appeal is more than adding images. Landing page design also contributes to a good user experience. Half of the global web traffic comes from mobile devices. Therefore, mobile landing page optimization is a requirement.
Learning from these landing page mistakes will help you meet your conversion goals. Go ahead and create that high-converting landing page. Good luck!
With decades of experience in B2B web design, Ian Loew is Lform’s Owner, Creative Director, and Head of Business Development, which he founded in 2006. Ian has worked with a diverse range of clients, including small startups and large corporations. He takes great pride in truly understanding and translating what clients want into actionable results. Lform’s philosophy is rooted in the belief that working with clients is about creating partnerships, and their success leads to Lform’s gain. Ian’s lifelong passions include mountain biking and skiing, and he especially enjoys spending time with his family.
About the Author / Ana Almeida
