We all learned the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover” in kindergarten, but let’s get real. As an eCommerce brand, you’re judged all the time by your customers—and one wrong move can cost you a ton of sales.

Nearly 25% of online shoppers start their journey on a product page, but most of them (96% to be exact) aren’t ready to buy.

When you direct shoppers to your Plain Jane product pages, they’re way more likely to leave than shoppers who go to a landing page first.

After all, customers don’t really know anything about your brand at this point. You can’t expect them to pull the trigger based on a product page.

Even if your product pages are designed to sell, they just can’t replace a good eCommerce landing page.

The right landing page makes a great impression on shoppers, motivating people to engage with your brand and, eventually, make a purchase.

Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of what eCommerce landing pages actually are and 5 tips to help you build the most badass pages known to man.

What is an eCommerce landing page?

We throw around the phrase “landing page” like flapjacks these days.

How, exactly, is a landing page different from your home page? Or your product pages, for that matter?

There is a difference, guys.

Landing pages are specifically designed to persuade site visitors to act on your offer. Most importantly, each landing page is custom-tailored to a very specific audience, which (you guessed it) increases conversion rates even more.

Our favorite megalo-millionaire, Jeff Bezos, famously said,

“We have 6.2 million customers, so we should have 6.2 million storefronts.”

- Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon

Landing pages are the storefronts of the 21st century. You obviously can’t whip up one landing page for every customer, but you should still target very specific audience with your landing pages.

The numbers don’t lie, either: brands with 40+ landing pages generate 120% more leads than companies using 5 landing pages or fewer.

Instead of directing eCommerce visitors to your product pages or (shudder) your homepage, it’s time to route them to a landing page designed for a very specific purpose: convincing them to love your brand.

5 actionable eCommerce landing page strategies

So, you know you need personalized landing pages that are separate from your homepage and product pages.

That’s a good start.

But eCommerce brands need a strategy behind every landing page. Don’t invest hours of your time into a page that won’t convert site visitors.

Average conversion rates hover in the 2.8% range for eCommerce brands, but we’re willing to bet you can increase that rate with a few smart changes.

Follow these 7 strategies to increase the conversion rate on your eCommerce landing pages.

1 - Think beyond the product descriptions

A good landing page has way more than a header, product description, and contact form.

Can you say, “Boooooring”?

Long-form landing pages boost conversions by 220%.

Why? Because they give shoppers more information. After all, they’re shopping online: customers need a little more help trusting your brand.

Sprinkle in some persuasion-laden copy on your eCommerce landing page like:

• How it works / demos.
• Testimonials and reviews.
• Media mentions.

We love how The Farmer’s Dog does this on their eCommerce landing page. They feature news mentions, their differentiators, and in-depth product explanations to stand out.

2 - Share user-generated content (UGC)

User-generated content like:

• Reviews
• Influencer demos and unboxings
• Social media posts

… has a huge impact on your eCommerce landing page conversions.

It’s not unheard-of for UGC campaigns to boost eCommerce sales by as much as 50%.

Yowza!

68% of shoppers say UGC makes them feel more secure buying from an eCommerce brand. It takes a lot of the mystery and stress out of online shopping, which is a good thing.

There’s no doubt about it: customers want to see real people using and talking about your products. Share UGC to overhaul your eCommerce landing page performance.

But where do you find UGC, anyway?

Unless you feel like combing through thousands of Instagram tags and comments, go with a smart platform like Trend.

We partner you with experienced, vetted content creators who specialize in UGC. Get awesome product photos, reviews, and more to share on your landing pages (Oh, and everywhere else you live online, too).

Fabletics did a great job incorporating UGC into their landing page. Sure, the first image is Fabletics founder, Kate Hudson, but they also include various pieces of UGC featuring Fabletics clothes in action.

3 - Eliminate the navigation

Okay, this sounds like an extreme suggestion, but just hear us out.

Removing all navigation on your landing page can boost conversions by an incredible 100%.

That sounds like a scary and almost stupid suggestion, which would explain why just 16% of all landing pages actually remove navigation.

How in the world does this work? Don’t you want customers checking out your site?

No, you don’t, actually.

You want one-on-one time with the customer on your landing page. If you give customers an infinite number of things to do on a page, they’re going to leave.

And, since you want customers to act on your landing page (instead of, say, reading your company blog), giving them freedom of choice is a bad thing.

Basically, removing the navigation ensures eCommerce shoppers focus just on your offer, and not on all the pretty, shiny buttons that aren’t making you money.

Axis eliminated the navigation on their landing page and they’re better for it. The eCommerce landing page still has plenty of detail so customers don’t feel the need to leave the page for more information. The only option is to leave or “Order now,” and the binary choice is better for shoppers.

4 - Say the important stuff first

Your shoppers are so overloaded with information that you have a paltry 3 seconds to get their attention.

If anything—anything at all—is annoying or glitchy, they will leave immediately. They’ve got Instagram to scroll through, after all.

You have 3 seconds to:

• Make it clear who you are and what you do.
• Show why you’re valuable.
• Tell visitors what to do next.

Don’t make people dig for information. Put the important information above the fold.

That means that, as soon as the page loads, users on all screen sizes will see your content without scrolling.

And yes, this is important. Visitors will look at 73% of your above the fold content, but only 44% of your below the fold content.

We love our web design team to pieces, but don’t give them free rein here. If your header image is too big and forces users to scroll down, it leads to a 2% decrease in conversions.

HelloFresh is the master of above the fold content. This landing page says who they are (the logo), the benefit to the customer (”Cooking as easy as eating—get $60 off”), and the next steps (“Get Started”).

5 - Write a clear call to action

Speaking of next steps, make it painfully, obviously clear what you want shoppers to do next.

The call to action, or CTA, needs to be so specific and relevant that shoppers know exactly what will happen when they click the button.

A flimsy CTA like “Learn More” doesn’t say much. Are they going to see a product page if they click through? A video? A signup form?

Tighten up the language, and make sure it only focuses on one offer. 48% of all landing pages mix different offers together, which splits shopper focus.

Beachbody has the right idea. They place a “Get Started” CTA in multiple places on the page, never combining offers. It’s very clear what you should do next.

Conclusion

Done right, landing pages land you more business. A thoughtful, strategic eCommerce landing page is a critical part of your sales funnel that bridges the gap between advertising, content, and conversions.

Next time you’re building a landing page, make sure it hits these 5 best practices to boost conversion rates.

The downside is that it takes forever and a day to make content for your landing pages. Right?

Tap into an experienced content creator to save yourself the headaches. Sign up for Trend now to get matched with vetted, experienced creators to create landing page-friendly creative, fast. Check it out—it’s free to sign up!