How to Create High-Converting Landing Pages for Ad Campaigns

Episode Description

If you want to learn how to create high-converting landing pages for your ad campaigns, then you don’t want to miss this video.

In this fireside chat, Frederick Vallaeys, Co-founder & CEO of Optmyzr, talks to Rishabh Bhandari - Founder & CEO of Content Beta.

Rishabh shares some great tips that can help advertisers create high-converting landing pages for their ad campaigns.

Resources

• Check out Content Beta: https://www.contentbeta.com/
• Check out The Product Marketing Show: https://open.spotify.com/show/

Episode Takeaways

1. Role and Services of Content Beta:

• Specializes in creative and brand design for software companies.
• Focuses on content for product releases and branding without needing in-house hires.

2. Starting During COVID:

• Transitioned from a software training company to focusing on content creation for SMB software.
• Identified a gap in high-quality content production for SMBs.

3. Importance of Landing Pages:

• Different strategies for lead generation and SaaS product engagement.
• Emphasizes the need for unique selling propositions and high-quality visual content.

4. Iterative Process and Testing:

• Landing page optimization as an ongoing process.
• Importance of A/B testing with incremental changes to isolate effective elements.

5. Generative AI in Landing Pages:

• Utilizes AI for testing variations in copy and tone.
• Advises caution with AI to maintain brand integrity and accuracy.

Episode Transcript

Frederick Vallaeys: Hey, I’m Fred Vallaeys, CEO and co founder of Optmyzr. Today I got the great pleasure of being joined by Rish Bhandari from Content Beta. Rish, thanks for joining our show.

Rishabh Bhandari: Pretty much. I’m excited. Thank you for having me.

Frederick Vallaeys: Yeah. It’s great to have you on. So where are you calling in from today? Tell folks where you are.

Rishabh Bhandari: I’m in Mumbai one of the largest most popular city in the earth

Frederick Vallaeys: nice and so what do you what do you do at content beta?

Rishabh Bhandari: So we are a extension of anybody’s marketing team on the side of creatives brand design. So most we work with marketing teams at software companies to help them create content around product release campaigns branding And help them scale content without hiring anybody in house

Frederick Vallaeys: Great.And when why did you start this company?

Rishabh Bhandari: So we started during COVID. So so before COVID, we used to run training company and YouTube channel around software training products. And we taught Tableau, we taught Alteryx and KNIME, and then we thought, Hey, there’s a lot of stuff. Space and SMB software where they may want to up their game in terms of product content.

And they’re not like Microsoft of the world who could have like unlimited product content around their around their suite. So that’s how we started. We started as more as a enablement kind of content where we taught How to use your software product and slowly product marketers and marketers.

They came up with your request and now I think 80 percent of our work is around marketing and probably 20 percent around success

Frederick Vallaeys: Yeah, and that’s interesting. I mean we see a little bit the same so we do a lot of education but there’s like one Fundamental truth, which is that humans are i’m gonna call them lazy They’re often lazy, but but but I think the reality is we nobody has enough time in their day, right?

So even if you teach them How to do something like they’re always going to be like, Oh, well, can you actually just help me do it? Like I understand how, but I just don’t have the time or I’d rather be spending my time on something else. So that’s where content beta then comes in. And you help people with their marketing.

So that’s great. So But one of the things that you focus on most is landing pages, right? That’s like one of the many things you do. So tell us a bit about Some of these essential design formats and elements that you say any good landing page should have

Rishabh Bhandari: So I would think of landing page in two ways, right?

Sometimes it is meant for lead gen So you have somebody coming in from an ad and now you’ve got to capture that person, right? And I mean it has to be worthwhile for that person to leave his Contact details. The second type of landing page is more for SaaS, where it’s more product led. So basically sign up, like if you’re a ClickUp or a Notion, you just go on the page, sign up, fill in your login details, and you get started.

I think the way I treat both of them are a bit different. In the second variant, I may want to show more of the product because, because you have to convince your prospecting visitor or potential customer that, Hey, this product is the best fit for me. But I, but I mean, normally I see around 80, 90 percent of landing pages are more towards lead gen.

And probably I’ll focus more time on that. In, in our, in our view, I mean, more, most landing pages are different, right? I mean, I don’t see there’s a formula. There are a couple of I mean, four or five elements, which I think should repeat. But I strongly feel that, Hey, don’t copy somebody’s landing page, right?

Copy some of their styles or probably how they show the product. If you’re looking at your competitor, but don’t, don’t like. Copy like a template or a style because it’s an iterative process. It’s not, it’s not like, hey, this is what I’ve done. It’s, I mean, this is it, right? It’s an iterative process that keeps on changing just like how copywriting on the website does and maybe how, how ad copies are you, it’s an iterative process.

So in our head, there are five major elements, right? So first is your unique selling proposition. You got to communicate within the first fold. So normally we recommend three or four folds But in the first fold you got to explain two two things. One is your unique selling proposition is basically how you are different And better than your competitors, right?

Because if you are on, on, if you are, have a sponsored, if this landing page is sponsored, somebody else is also sponsoring that same space. So the first element is unique select proposition. The second element, which I would focus on as a hero image or the video, right? So you in this world of TikTok and YouTube shots, I mean, You have probably 20 seconds, 30 seconds of somebody’s attention.

So how do you make the most out of it? I mean, I’ve seen some people using stock images to communicate emotion or something. I would stay away from that. The cost, they’re prospecting customer. I mean, if, if you have a real product, show your real product, don’t try to show the emotion behind how will you benefit from that real product?

Unless you are way too quirky like metadata. But, but what I would do is probably show if I’m a SaaS company, I would show a lot of product screenshots and probably that use case, which I’m trying to say in my ad copy. So that’s the other element. You might even want to put like a short demo video or even a GIF, which communicates that same thing.

I mean, in fewer words then probably I would go on extending the benefit or features. And then the most important social proof, right? I mean, All, all of us are human beings and none of us love being sold to so I mean the social proof is the best form of marketing. And, and that messaging becomes more relatable.

So I would, I would encourage people to use real quotes, get real photos of your customers, I mean, just putting four or five logos is probably level one, but in your customer’s head, you’ve got to reach the level five. I mean, there shouldn’t be the element of doubt that, Hey, are these guys legit?

Right. So that shouldn’t be the element of doubt. These days I’ve seen a lot of people using real voice of the customer. So you basically put customer interviews or video testimonials on the landing page, probably in the second or third fold. And the last I would say is Like your features or, I mean, yeah, I think I missed lead gen form, but yeah.

Frederick Vallaeys: That’s the obvious one, right? I mean, we have to have

Rishabh Bhandari: a way to get information. Yeah. Yeah. And the lead gen form is quite tricky. I mean, I mean, we have tried longer form lead gen form where we have like lots of questions, sometimes shorter, and honestly we haven’t cracked. What’s the right one? But, but I guess, I mean, you’ve got to iterate.

I mean, I think different audience prefer different, I mean, have different time, I mean, attention span, right? If you’re using, attacking, like, VPs or, like, above the line kind of audience, I would do, like, two or three questions. If you’re doing, like, bottom of the funnel sorry, below the line kind of audience, like, marketing manager, things like that.

Or probably entry level talent, you might have a long form. Some people are very, I mean, they use Legion in a very good way. They don’t say that, Hey, give us a lead and we’ll give you like 10 calls. Hey, give us a lead and we’ll give you an ebook or a report for an exchange. And then there’s another cool way people use to capture leads.

**Frederick Vallaeys:**Yeah, so these are the broad four or five elements which we normally take care of. And so I think, and then those are five great points I will put those in the show notes for people to look at. But, so in terms of a giveaway and incentivizing the person to fill out the form, I think when it comes to something like B2B or SaaS, it makes sense, right?

I mean, so we have a lot of research, you have a lot of research, so you can put that in an ebook and give something of high value. In exchange for a little bit more of the contact details. But what’s your take on more of a B2C. So maybe somebody looking to get their house painted or solar panels installed.

Right. Is that something, what is the thing of value that you could give? And if there’s not really that much of value that you can give in exchange for that info, my take would be just ask for the minimum amount of information necessary for you to be able to take the next step, right? So I’d rather have their email so I can reach out rather than also ask for the phone number and the address and have like a 50 percent drop off on the form.

But really all I needed to do that next step was know where to email them.

Rishabh Bhandari: Totally. I mean, I’ve seen, I’ve seen one more route, which is very useful as a login using, I mean apply using Facebook or whatever it’s in Twitter, but mostly Facebook at Instagram. And of course you’ve got to. Show some value that, Hey, why, why we are asking for like the clock and using another channel because it reduces that friction.

Right. And it reduces the the, in the information gap, which there might be in the form, they might add a wrong entry or wrong detail or probably incorrect. If you if you’d like sign in using Instagram or Facebook, probably that. That could be taken care of, but I think B2C is pretty tricky. I mean, A, well, first of all, you’re spending like a lot of money to land on that person’s phone or on their devices.

So you’re paying a lot of costs and B you’ve got to make sure that they enter the right details. So I think That’s a tricky space which I think is a challenge for all marketers.

Frederick Vallaeys: And so all of these things can be tricky, right? But you’ve alluded many times already to like, it’s iterative, you have to test it.

So what kind of testing are we talking about here? Is this A, B testing? And what kind of methodologies do you recommend people take?

Rishabh Bhandari: So I think there are lots of new tools like Google Optimize and Optmyzr and like even VWO. I mean, these are more enterprise kind of products where you could have a and B version of, or probably A, A, B, C version.

One thing which, I mean, which we have learned in a hard way is don’t make A, B, A, and C like a lot different, right? You don’t change like all elements together. Otherwise, you’re clueless, right? What will work. So what, what then we mastered is he just take change one of the element, right? If you’re changing the copy, let’s just change the copy.

Just change the hero. So you can quickly label that. Hey, this thing is working and this thing is not working. And there is no stoppage that you only can create three versions. You can create 30 versions, but just label them that. Hey, this is that one change which you have made. Right. Because if you, if you, and then you give sufficient time, normally I mean, it depends upon what kind of traffic do you see, but.

We normally keep something for at least 20 to 30 days to see which version is giving impact.

Frederick Vallaeys: Yeah, that makes sense. And then so we have a tool in Optmyzr There’s not for a landing page testing specifically, but it’s for doing experiments within google And one of the challenges that we certainly see is that You’ll set up an experiment, but it’s very hard to give it a name that makes sense.

So that sure you’re running the experiment now, but six months down the line, when maybe a new person joins the marketing team and they say, Hey, could we test this thing? And, and nobody can figure out like historically, what have we tested? What were the results? Because the naming convention was bad. And then also issues like you said, around how long should you run the experiment?

And then also issues like you said, around how long should you run the experiment? Okay. If you have a ton, a ton of data, I mean, maybe you could do it in seven days, right? But the bridal to it in four days, because now you’re going to have some weekend days and weekdays. And like, is that going to be the thing that changes the results?

And then the the, the other issue that we see is with landing pages, right? So you’re driving traffic to these landing pages. In our case, it’s often through search marketing and buying keywords on Google. But like, These people coming to these landing pages, they may be different. They may have come in from different keywords, different campaigns, different regions, different times of day.

And then the question becomes, was it really the hero image that was different? Was that the thing that caused the conversion rate to change or was it actually something about the underlying traffic? So the more that you can keep it up apples to apples in terms of the comparison. It’s certainly good.

And so that’s why you have tools out there that help at least do as much of an apples to apples comparison. But I think even then you still have to take everything with a little bit of a grain of salt and like put your human thinking hat on and not just let the machines make all the decisions for you.

Rishabh Bhandari: Yeah, go ahead. I mean, I mean, I think mobile are making this things worse, right? I mean, there’s AP testing because, because with mobile, then you have. Another mirror for each of the landing page that, Hey, this has to be mobile friendly. Right. And I mean, for B2C, I think it’s more relevant because B2C audience, whenever they’re doing the research, they’re mostly on their mobile phones.

They’re never on their desktops or laptops, if I would say, but enterprise, I mean, if you’re targeting B2B audience, I mean, I’ve seen more desktop or laptop kind of sessions as compared to mobile. But I think that that that makes mobile makes this entire A B testing a bit more messy, but I think that’s a part of the game.

Frederick Vallaeys: And I mean, mobile, like you said, it’s what most people use. So certainly that’s also a design consideration, right? Is make sure you use a software or a vendor who makes a mobile friendly design. Well, what does that look like nowadays? Like what technologies are you guys deploying for people to make sure it works on mobile and desktop?

Rishabh Bhandari: I think we use things like. Unbounds. Right? Which is very easy. A Miller Light where which are tools which are meant for landing pages. So no more old, old style dress or HTML, or I would say one flow. Mm-Hmm. Others not old, but I mean, these landing pages, the, these tools are actually meant for that.

And I, and, and they’re really. Quick to make changes and you don’t need like a developer developer to make even small changes. So I think these kind of tools are really good in mobile. One critical thing which people miss is don’t use a lot of images, right? Because probably you could do depending upon what you’re trying to offer.

But if you show, I mean, images take some time to load and be you, you may not see a lot of it in the downsize version on your mobile, right? So that’s one more thing. The copy on your landing page could do most of the talking. I mean, aesthetically, yeah, you can make the page look better in terms of more like matching to consistent branding, but don’t put a lot of images, right?

If you’re doing that, because that makes the page slower and it doesn’t add value to the experience.

Frederick Vallaeys: That makes sense. So final question is sort of the the elephant that’s sitting in everybody’s room these days But generative ai How is that impacting things right when it comes to you said don’t use stock images but you could generate images that are not real but generative ai Landing page text you can use generative ai To custom craft a message based on what you know about that customer who came into the page, right?

As soon as you have their name, you know, what keyword they came in on, you know, what they’re searching for. IP address can translate into a city. You can use that to craft like a really specific sales message to them. What do you think about generative AI in the. Space of landing pages. Like how have you used it and how do you think it’s going to change things?

Rishabh Bhandari: I think two ways, one is for AB testing, right? So if I have a version and I want to say, Hey, let me try something else. Or probably I’ll go to, I’ll go to chat, GPT and say, Hey, can you reframe this? This copy in a more. Like a bold way. Right. And probably in a more quirky way. Right. So that’s one style, right?

You could do AB testing with your audience in terms of copy. In terms of graphic for sure mid journey, but I think it depends upon the product again, right? I’m against using something which is abstract on pages. I would strongly recommend doing something which is if you’re a product for short, don’t show anything else apart from your product.

If you’re a service, probably you could show a bit, but I would. I would normally depend on my social profile family services, right? Because that, that builds trust, not, not like a stock image or something. The other use which we love for using generative AI is copy the tone, right? So let’s say I like intercom’s landing page.

What I’ll do is I’ll copy entire text on that landing page and go to chat GPT. Hey, study the tone of this text, right? And it there’s a big prompt about, What’s the what’s the tone and what’s the language and what’s the style? I don’t need to know all that. Then what I’ll do is I’ll take my My whatever copy I had returned and say, can you turn this into that tone which you just learned and it exactly does that, right?

So I think for quick prototyping GPT is really, really, really useful. Of course, it’s not that GPT will throw out and you can copy and paste. You will still need an expert’s eye to make sure that things are in order. But I think it reduces your time to ship something, right? If you’re going to take like four hours, it might take 10 minutes or 15 minutes to do something like that.

Frederick Vallaeys: Yeah, I totally agree. It’s a, it’s a fantastic assistant that can speed up your work. But the human is still very critical, especially because as we see, Generative AI can sort of like hallucinate and make things up. So you don’t just want to let it loose and say something and then potentially harm your brand by saying something that it really shouldn’t have.

But yeah, fascinating how you use GPT and a great tips on the five key things that go on the landing page. I love those and all your insight. So Rish Bhandari, thank you so much for sharing with my audience, how to make better landing pages. If people want to find you, contentbeta. com is your company.

Thank you. How else can people get in touch with you?

Rishabh Bhandari: I think best is LinkedIn. I’m pretty active on LinkedIn. Just reach out to me, even if you, I mean, even if you need like help or suggestion about how can you improve creatives or how, what can you do better to do it faster in house? I could help you.

Frederick Vallaeys: Great. Hey, well, thank you for coming on our show and thanks for sharing with everyone. Thanks everyone for watching.