13 Landing Page Conversion Rate Killers and
the Proven Way to Fix Them and Guarantee
More Sales, Signups, and Calls…
Increasing your conversion rate could mean the difference in $1000’s of sales. With the
hundreds of pages I’ve seen and fixed… these are the 13 biggest conversion killers I
see all the time. I’ve even taken the time to explain how you can fix each one and see
a nearly immediate increase in your conversion rate. In fact… I’d be willing to bet that
beginners that follow these 13 steps will outperform some seasoned marketers!
1. A Feature Heavy Headline That Sends Readers Scrambling
to the Back Button
What makes your headline stand out from anyone else’s on the internet? And don’t say
it’s because your product or company is called something different…
If your competitor mentions directly in their headline that they’ll help group X reach
result Y in Z time while all you mention is that you have X software/offer/program/etc.…
who do you think is going to bring in more customers? DING DING DING! Your
competitors will!
And they probably are as you’re reading this. Without a unique offer, you have
nothing over your competition.
But let’s fix that…
If you’re selling a similar solution to someone else what’s going to make them buy your
offer over a competitor’s? I’ll tell you what… a unique selling point.
So don’t waste your time with headlines that bore people off the page. Instead…
Come up with a USP that gets people to scroll down the page a little further. The
longer you keep someone on your page, the more likely they are to becoming a
customer. A good headline and hook are the best way to do that.
How do you create a USP? Well I could write a full course on that formula alone so…
I’ll save you the time and just direct you to an article that will help you Write a
Ferociously Unique Selling Proposition.
Include that either as your headline or as a subheading under your headline and
you’ll turn twice as many heads.
Another quick headline tip:
If you’re marketing to traffic that doesn’t know about your offer, don’t state what it is in
the title. If your traffic already knows about your offer then you can mention it right
away.
2. An “ABF” That Lacks Authority
Have you ever heard of the term “above the fold”? For those that have, congrats,
you’re a step ahead. For those that haven’t, it just means the section of your website
that is visible as soon as you load the page.
Whatever is visible on mobile and desktop without you having to scroll is above the
fold.
The reason you need to know this? It’s because it might be the most important section
on your whole landing page. This section could make or break your page (I’ve seen
it many times).
Here’s a great example of an above the fold section:
So I’m sure you’re wondering what the secret formula is for a highly engaging above
the fold section…
Here are some things you’ll want to include:
• USP
• social
proof
• trust, authority, and/or credibility
• a CTA
It can be hard to fit all of these things before the scroll but it is very possible.
See if you can point out all of the elements I mentioned above. They do a great job of
fitting everything inside a well-designed above the fold section.
3. Not Showing Off the Credibility You Earned
I know I mentioned trust, authority, and credibility in the last section but it deserves a
more detailed description because (chances are) you have none on your landing
page.
Without it your customers are left wondering:
Did they just start this company?
I wonder if X even works?
Why should I trust them?
And we don’t want that.
You’ve probably got a great offer and have tons of experience behind it. Show it off!
To make visitors feel better about any action they take on your page, you’ll need to
prove to them that you’re worthy of their time (and possibly money).
To do that you’ll need to show whatever proof you have of:
• notable
people using your product/service/etc.
• notable companies using it
• a number of people that have used it
• a number of people that rated it X/5
• time you’ve been helping people/working in this industry
• number of projects you’ve had
Some of these are situation specific but you get the idea.
Having this above the fold is a great way to show your experience in the field and build
some trust right off the bat. Other times it’s great in an “about us” section (which we’ll
get into later).
It’s also the exact reason why you see a lot of people put sections like these on their
page:
Having a dedicated section for this kind of proof is perfect. Without it you’re practically
chasing people away.
4. Failing to Mention the Benefits Your Process Grants
Out of everything I’m listing today… having your process laid out might be the one
thing you have 90% right on your page. But are you hitting all of the key points?
Is cold traffic able to repeat back to you exactly what the process is by the end of the
page?
Is the process easy to digest?
Does it only have a sentence or two for each step?
Does it sprinkle in some social proof for added gain?
Probably not.
So people skim it or even worse… scroll past it altogether. GASP!
How can you make it intriguing enough for people to actually get excited about a step
by-step process?
Fill it with benefits for them!
When you show them a big win that they’ll gain from each step, you’re incentivizing the
purchase that much more.
Here’s an example of a process step before editing:
“During the onboarding phase we’ll collect information that will better assist our
research. We try to complete this inside a 4-day window.”
BORING. “It’s onboarding of course it’s boring” you may be
saying… Well you’re not wrong but this can be spiced up:
“Lighting fast account setup leaves you with a clear picture of your ideal customer and
prepped and ready to increase your revenue within days of signing up!”
I might scroll to the very next “buy now” button and click it 5 times fast if I saw a first
step as energizing as that!
Suddenly onboarding is exciting and leaves your client better off. All I did was not
mention the exact mechanism behind “account setup” and instead added some
energy to it through visual language and benefits.
Do this for every step on your page and you’ll be that much closer to converting
another visitor.
5. Educating With Blocks of Text Instead of Images
An overall theme on your landing page should be to get information from you to the
visitor as seamlessly as possible. And more times than not… this doesn’t mean adding
more words to your page.
Too many landing pages have long blocks of text that aren’t broken up and don’t have
a flow to slide their readers through.
Offering too much information in big groupings can be overwhelming and lead readers
to leave the page without hesitation (why do you think there’s so much space, bolding,
subheadings, and bullet points throughout this document (here’s a thread I wrote on
that)).
To keep people on your page it needs to be readable, skim-able, and
exciting. One of the best ways to do this?
Adding icons with short descriptions below them.
It’s a great way to:
• show
benefits of your offer
• apply a visual element to the page and hold interest
• allow your reader to connect with the offer more
Unless you have a personal designer (or know a thing or two yourself) making your
own icons can be hard.. so don’t!
Use sites like lordicon.com and get cool icons for free! You can even embed them into
your pages so that they move as well (pretty cool I know). I have no affiliation with
them, I just use their icons on 80% of my pages :)
6. Social Proof That Doesn’t Handle Objections and Leaves
People Saying “That’s It?”
Now it’s time for some really groundbreaking stuff…
Amazing social proof has put some of my pages in the hall of fame for
conversions.
But poor social proof scares people away because they doubt your offer.
You should be putting your best case studies and results on your page. If you settle for
anything less, your visitors won’t fall in love with your solution and try to find something
else that will do X better for them in a faster time.
Your social proof should make you stand out from your competition. And if it doesn’t?
You’re just losing that many more sales.
I’m going to venture a guess and say that your social proof doesn’t check off all
of these boxes… and that’s okay because we’ll fix it.
Good social proof has:
• different
client profiles that resonate with different angles of your ideal clients
objection answering statements throughout
• quantitative and qualitative results emphasized
• different forms (written, video, and star ratings)
•
Even if your current page doesn’t have social proof this juicy… that’s okay! Because
we’ll get you some.
Here are some questions to ask past clients/customers for social proof:
• the
specific results they got (looking for numbers here)
• the pains they solved by taking your offer
• the life they live now because of it
• what they liked most about your offer
• would they do it again?
The easiest way to get responses is to incentivize it. Give them a free 1-on-1 call,
$100 off this month’s payment, or even something like a special bonus.
Videos are great to get but most people won’t be up to recording them.
If you do get a video make sure you put a quote from the video under the actual video
on the page and bold sections that you want to stand out.
Same thing with your written testimonials. Bold certain sentences and words that
someone skimming the page could catch quickly.
Here are two good examples:
The more quantitative and qualitative results you can provide the better. People
love seeing numbers and how this offer could benefit them further.
Apply these fixes to your social proof and you’ll be pushing people on more calls in no
time.
7. An “About Us” Section That Spans Half the Page
Now this is something that you probably have on your page and might not even need.
Most companies have a separate page solely for their “about us” section.
Whether or not you have this section comes down to one thing…
Are you selling to warm or cold traffic?
If you’re selling to warm traffic then you probably don’t need any kind of introduction
because your audience already knows you.
It’s good to insert little things throughout the page that paints you as an authority figure,
but you most certainly don’t need two paragraphs detailing your life story on every
page you make for warm traffic.
Cold traffic on the other hand is a little different…
These people are most likely meeting you for the first time while others have maybe
seen you once or twice. Either way, they don’t know much about you.
Forming a connection with them is a great way to build up trust.
This is where you would give a little bit of background about yourself while also
keeping the lens on the visitors of the page.
Here’s a great example of one:
Now you understand Jonny’s beginnings while also learning more about what he does
now for thousands of students.
Don’t overthink this.
Short and sweet is the best way to go. Sprinkle in some credibility and you’ll be set.
8. Playing Hide & Seek With Your CTAs
DON'T MAKE YOUR CTA FIT YOUR COLOR SCHEME! Sorry for yelling...
Too many people make landing pages with a button that matches the overall design of
the page just because it looks nice (I used to do this as well… sigh).
It may look pretty but your conversions take a hit because of it.
It happens a lot more than you think too…
Here's an example I just found on Google:
That blue button blends in WAY too much!
A CTA is a call to action... not a hide in the design and hope they take
action. When your CTAs don’t stand out you’re missing out on easy sales.
So what can you do?
I've been seeing more and more that the Amazon color is the best way to go just
because people are so used to seeing it (so that's a good place to start).
Imagine how much more that "sign up" button would stand out if it were orange. Red
and green are great alternatives too.
You'll find something that works with the color scheme you have. Most times it's about
going to the exact opposite side on the color wheel.
Really making your CTA stand out can boost conversion rates a lot more than you
think.
Changing from a green to a yellowish-orange CTA for a client has seen an
increase in the first month!
Every CTA should stand out on your page, not just a few. Your CTAs should all look
similar as well. Otherwise people get confused (make your page easy enough to use
that a 5th grader would cruise right through it).
Make the change now and witness the conversion increase yourself!
9. Missing the One Section That Answers All Your Reader’s
Questions
This one might seem a little weird to you but I’ll shine a light on what you’re missing out
on.
I’m going to guess that you probably don’t have a FAQ section on your page. And for
those that do… it isn’t an accordion-style FAQ.
The accordion-style FAQ is an objection handling MACHINE.
And without it… you’ll have customers on the fence leaving your page because they
aren’t sure about X, Y, and Z.
By adding it to your page you get to answer any question and objection they might
throw your way.
And the accordion style is a must… you’ll see why.
Here’s a great example of one:
There are a few basic questions and objections to answer in this section:
•I
don’t have time
• does it work?
• how much does it cost?
• what all is included when I purchase?
• is there a money-back guarantee?
• what’s different from competitors?
These are a good place to start (you can search up more online) but the best place
you can learn about what questions your visitors might have is by doing one of
two things (or both):
1. Selecting a few members of your target market to review your current page and
ask them to write down 5 questions they have about your offer.
2. Survey current customers and ask them what questions they had before they
bought your offer.
Both are great ways to figure out the exact questions your audience is asking and even
some insight on how the answer should be framed as well.
Now that you have the questions down… what is this accordion style I speak so highly
of?
Like the picture above, it saves space on the page but allows you to show pictures,
videos, and even a paragraph of text just to answer one question.
Having your answers in a “drop-down” format allows you to go in-depth and answer
every last thought your visitors have.
You can make an accordion FAQ by using one of these three methods:
1. Your page builder might have the ability to do this already. I know apps like
Gempages allow you to do this but other builders I’ve worked with have not. I’m
sure there are more too I just haven’t come across them. Do a quick Google
search for your builder to figure it out.
2. Custom code it yourself. This is above my abilities but if you or someone you
know can do this, props to you.
3. Use Elfsight (affiliate link). Elfsight allows you to add all sorts of widgets and
additions on your landing pages. I use it for FAQ dropdowns on most of my
pages and things like the review and image sliders to make my pages more
functional. It’s free up to a certain limit but it’s pretty cheap beyond that too.
You don’t have to use an accordion-style FAQ as I do but I promise it’ll only
help. Getting an FAQ up to begin with is a good first step.
10. Not Reducing Risk for Your Readers Beforehand
Here’s the #1 objection I get from people when I tell them they need some kind of
guarantee on their page.
“But I’ll get a ton of refunds if I add in a guarantee!”
If your landing page is good you won’t :)
Not putting a guarantee on your page has you missing out on more sales every
day. By adding a guarantee, it shows that you’re willing to take the risk for
your customer.
People are a little skeptical of everything they see online. So products and services
that don’t have some type of guarantee are a no-no for them.
Yes you’ll get some people that ask for refunds (it’s always going to happen) but if you
display your offer well on your page and add a guarantee in, then people should know
what they’re getting and not refund as much.
So how do you go about adding a guarantee?
There’s a ton of resources online about this so I’ll leave you to do some research. Alex
Hormozi has a great section on this in $100m Offers that you can check out to learn
more.
I also wrote a thread on some basic ideas that you can copy:
https://twitter.com/LoftedLearning/status/1559882437026529282
At the end of the day, it reduces risk for people visiting your page and drives more
sales than you get refunds. So why wouldn’t you try it out?
11. Ending the Page Without a Conclusion
You probably have this element in your page but don’t have it configured correctly…
In school when your teacher told you to write a 5-paragraph essay that last paragraph
always summarized the main points you talked about in your essay.
And it’s the exact paragraph you should have on your landing page.
If I had to take a wild guess… this is what the last CTA on your page looks
like:
that’s a better example of what it could be!
And
The problem with it is that we know people skim through pages. In fact… Studies
show that users will likely only read the equivalent of 20% of the page.
Making the CTA at the bottom of your page look like the one above is a waste in that
case.
The people that scrolled to the bottom:
• don’t
know your offer
• how much it costs
• how long it’s available for
And even if they do… they just have a basic understanding of it.
“So what the heck do I write here then?” Well I’m glad you asked!
The best thing you can do in this section to raise your
conversions:
• list
out what all they’ll be getting when they signup/purchase
• restate the main offer and the benefits the customer will experience • tell them
to click the button below to move forward (make sure this is action specific,
you want to command them to take the next step)
• add in your CTA for them to click
Doing this summarizes your offer and people that read the whole page and those that
scroll to learn the same things.
Here’s a good example of that:
It even adds in a level of urgency because there are only a certain number of spots
available.
Landing page tip of the day:
If you can find a way to add urgency and/or scarcity to your page, DO IT! You’ll
increase conversions within seconds.
That’s all for this section though. Once again it doesn’t have to be anything too crazy.
The example above is simple and to the point. It captures people that didn’t read
through the page and directs them towards the CTA. That should be your goal as
well.
12. An Offer That’s Easy to Pass Up On
I don’t want to beat a dead horse here but… this is one of the most important parts
of any landing page.
Without an amazing offer you don’t stand out. You don’t get sales. And you don’t make
lots of doll-hairs.
Offers are what set you apart from your competition and other solutions in the
marketplace. Your offer should stand out when in comparison.
The best way to pad your offer with value bursting at the seams… by adding more
value. Yup it’s that simple.
With courses, offer checklists, worksheets, a community, and whatever else you can
think of giving to them that wouldn’t be extra work for you.
With programs you can do the same as above but offer #x 1-on-1 calls and any other
freebies that you can give them.
Maybe you’re just selling the idea of a 15-minute strategy call which no one is taking
you up on. Your next move should be to tell them that it won’t be a sales call (you can
schedule another call after the first to actually sell to them) and that if they don’t learn
anything of value you’ll slap yourself in the face live on video. It’s unique, uses light
humor, and will probably get more people on the phone with you.
The key here is to add on things that won’t be too much extra work for yourself
or team.
These bonuses usually tend to be in the form of digital products because they are easy
to duplicate and hand out.
For one of my offers I give 10 free bonus guides to anyone that works with me.
These bonus guides are full of the answers to any and all problems they might come
across while trying to grow a social media, find their ideal customer, promote on social
media, create content, structure their offers, and so much more.
I’m giving them hundreds of dollars’ worth of value because I took a week to do the
research and combine my own expertise into a couple thousand words for them to
read through and apply to their business.
And maybe you should do the same!
If you haven’t already thought of one… that would be a great place to start.
Whatever you add on should be adding value. “I could sell this guide for $47 but you’re
getting it for free when you sign up.” Giving them offers like this will only
incentivize them further to buy and just require a little upfront work from you.
Between my advice and Hormozi’s book ($100m Offers) you can’t go wrong!
13. Page Speed That Makes Your Reader’s Think Their Wifi
Went Out
Speaking of site speed…
Yours probably isn’t too fast is it?
No worries… that’s why you’re here ;)
In a recent study it was found that “…for every second the site loads faster, the
conversion rate improves by 17%. Thus, slow-loading websites are more and more
likely to increase bounces, each of which jeopardizes your conversion rate.”
Now that doesn’t mean that your conversion rate is going to magically shoot up 17%
when you shave a second off your site. Your real takeaway should be that it’s a BIG
deal.
Let’s speed your page up so you don’t have to worry about it…
I personally run all of my pages through https://gtmetrix.com/. Try putting your site in
there and see what you get back out.
I always aim for getting an ‘A’ but depending on your website builder… you can only
get so high. For example…
ClickFunnels is notorious for having really slow pages. While WordPress pages tend to
be a little faster. The pages I’ve been making recently for a client have been some of
my fastest ever. I used Gempages for this one:
At the end of the day… do what you can and see how high you can get your number. If
I can get a page above an 85% I’m a happy camper.
If you’re on the lower end of site speed there are a couple of things you can do…
The easiest things to bump your score are:
• shrinking
image sizes using tinypng.com
• you
can also turn images into SVG files or Webp files through simple converters
online
• reduce animations on open
• enable lazy loading (most site builders either already do this or give you an
option to turn it on, Google your builder and find out)
That should help out your page a good bit. Make those fixes and then check it in
https://gtmetrix.com/ again.
If you still have a low score (below 80) look at the suggestions GT Metrix gives you.
Below the scores, they have the reasons your site loads so slowly. Try and fix the
biggest changes first and work your way down.
I know this step was mentioned last but it is vital for your site to succeed. Don’t skip it!
Honorable Mentions
Here are a couple of smaller mistakes that people also make and hurt conversions all
the time. They just weren’t big enough to get their own section.
1. Off-page navigation
Your goal once you get someone on your landing page is to make them take action.
They shouldn’t be able to check out your social media, fill out a contact form, or see
what blogs you have posted. Big no-no. They’ll find these things if they really want
them. For the time being… they clicked on a page to solve a problem and you have the
solution. Do everything you can to keep them ON the page… not take them away from
it.
2. Multiple offers
The best landing pages have one offer and one offer only. That offer can be split up
into different tiers and payments but it’s still the same offer solving the same problem
(just at different scales). Landing pages with more than one offer see huge drops in
conversions! For example… let’s say you have a couple of courses on stock trading.
Chances are people who buy one could also buy the other… but you shouldn’t mention
the other one on this page. Instead… create separate landing pages for both. And if
you really want to try something fancy… once they buy one, give them an order form
bump to get the other one 30-80% off (now you’ll see some real sales). TLDR: Keep
your offers separate!
3. Features over benefits
Another theme you want to hold throughout your page is selling the benefits rather
than the features. Take a look at your landing page right now and count how many
times you mention what you do (features). Now count how many times you mention
how that helps the customer (benefits). You should have more benefits than features
every single time.
The easiest way to transform features into benefits is by reading one of your features
out loud and then saying, “so what?” as if you’re imitating a customer. Then respond to
“them”. “How does that feature affect me, so what?” You can draw benefits out of your
features with this method.
Example:
Feature: We make your site speed faster on all your landing pages by shrinking image
files and activating lazy loading.
Benefit: Increased site speed allows for a flawless user experience while also
increasing your conversion rates!
Remember… you want to sell the future you’re providing. Not the features you’re doing
it with.
4. An Unclear Offer
This one can be a little tricky. It’s not always that the offer itself is unclear… it’s just that
the messaging continues to change. You should have a couple of benefits for your
offer but one primary benefit. Make sure this one sentence “elevator pitch” is stated 2-3
times throughout your page. The two best spots for it are above the fold and at the end
of the page in your final CTA. You want people to take action because they resonate
with that specific benefit and end goal.
This mini guide is a great example. I told you that I was going to cover a bunch of
different mistakes that you were making on your landing page. My primary benefit was
to increase your conversion rate. The secondary benefits would be increased sales,
more customers, and leaving you a little happier. And I think I did just that ;)
One last tip…
Always over-deliver and you’ll have happy customers for life. That’s why I gave you 17
mistakes instead of just the 13 I promised. You’ll have to see what’s lurking in my other
offers :)
Closing Thoughts
Apply any of these changes and see a change in your conversion rate.
Apply all these changes and transform your conversion rate.
DM me on Twitter or reply to one of my emails with some results you’ve
gotten and I’ll feature you.
Because I’m always looking for another challenge I want to share
something…
If you need a landing page or sales funnel made, audited, or fixed up for
your product or service, email me here: sales@loganstorti.com
If you know of anybody that might need one and refer them to me I’ll give
you 15% of that project just for hooking me up.
And if you need more help…
I have a landing page course that I don’t mention much on Twitter (I only
want dedicated people getting it that I know will apply its knowledge). So if
you want to check it out you can click here.
As always…
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoganStorti
And keep grinding!
-Logan Storti