Content marketing is red-hot…
…but after creating brand awareness, driving traffic and proving your industry authority, how can you use content to convert prospects into leads and paying customers?
Our regular readers will already have shed-loads of content strategies to hook and engage return readers…
…now it’s time to make them pay.
In this article we’re going to look at content tactics that guarantee to increase conversion rates on your landing and buying pages.
These tactical additions might not sound like rocket science (trust me, they really aren’t!) but the effects they can have on your marketing ROI are crazy.
If you feel like your landing pages are missing something, your buying pages are converting poorly or you’re just about to build out a new campaign, use one (or multiple) ideas from this guide to content that converts….
Contents
Landing Page Content Tactics
Product Tours
The lead is in the evaluation stage and they’re thinking hard about purchasing, so why not give them a tour of the product?
If you’re selling a physical product, let them take it for a test drive, or physically show them how it works…
…if you’re selling a service, or software product, a product tour becomes an interactive journey around your product.
This normally means a shared screen back-office view of your product. A great tool that allows you to record your screen (and audio) is a Google Chrome Extension called Loom. Using this tool, you can also record yourself in the corner of your screen and if that wasn’t enough…it’s FREE!
Product tours should (almost) always be presented in video format. This gives you the opportunity to convince potential buyers who are on the fence, keep them on the buying page longer (because videos take longer to consume!) and build trust.
You should aim to demonstrate the everyday function of your product, its ease of use and the bonus features that your prospect might not have considered.
Stuck for ideas? Check out this product tour video from Coda:
Customer Stories
What better way to convince a potential customer about the quality of your product, than with a relatable story from a person with similar pain points?
Well-placed customer stories can come in either long-form format, where they tell an extended story, or cut into short quotes, with just the juiciest and most relatable snippets shown to prospects.
Customer stories work so well because they build trust, develop your lead’s desire and prove the effectiveness of your brand…
…but, most importantly, they create social proof.
Social proof shows your potential customers that your business is popular, proven and trustworthy. It’s a crucial element that can have massive effects on your landing and buying pages, so make sure you’re using as much of it as possible!
But, if you’re going to use customer stories, make sure your examples are from customers with different backgrounds, desires and problems…
…this will drastically improve your conversion chances.
Think about the problems that your product/service solves and try to get customer stories that relate to all of them.
If you’re unsure of how to find customer stories or haven’t ever received feedback from a customer (other than reviews), it’s up to you to ask!
Email all your existing customers. If nobody responds, create an incentive. A small cut in your profit margins (for your existing customers) is well worth it in exchange for content that can boost your buying page conversion rate.
Product Features Spec Sheet
What are the key selling points of your product/service? Can you quantify and compare them?
Making a product features specification sheet is easy, simply pull out the USP’s of your product/service and list them.
If you want to ramp up the power of this converting content strategy, compare your product’s strengths with that of a rival, or one of your other products…
…but, make sure your product comes off the winner in every featured element.
If you’d like to upsell prospects to a premium product, make a product features spec sheet on your buying page, with the premium product highlighted and coming out on top for every quantified feature.
As well as numbers, you can also use ‘ticks’ to highlight features that your product has, that others don’t.
Here’s a familiar looking example:
Free Trials
Ever heard the saying, ‘a great product sells itself’?
A free-trial is the proof.
If your product really is everything it’s cracked up to be, you’ll convert like crazy with this type of buying page content.
A free trial harnesses the power of FREE, creating a no-risk mentality and increasing the number of users testing its best features.
Businesses that sell memberships, subscriptions or software will benefit the most from this type of content. Many of the people that take the free-trial will instantly convert into paying customers, because they’ve had time to test-drive the product.
If your product has tons of personalisation features, offer it on a free-trial. This gives your prospect enough time to adapt it to their needs, increasing desire when the free period is over.
ClickFunnels is a perfect example of customisable software. Their product is so good, that the 14 Day free trial conversion stats are mind-boggling:
Reviews
What looks like a customer story, sounds like a customer story, walks like a customer story…
…but isn’t a customer story?
A review!
This might sound ridiculously obvious (literally anybody could think of it), but I still see countless buying pages that don’t have a reviews feature!
The best way to explain how important reviews are to buying pages, is to look at your own purchasing behaviour online. How often do you scan the page for reviews?
Prospects who are on the fence will immediately look for reviews, so it’s your job to make sure they are present, available and easy to locate.
Reviews also work really well when they are imported from an outside source. I’d advise looking for a relevant review site in your industry and adding their widget to your site.
These widgets act as proof that the stories are honest and independent, building greater trust in your business.
Need an example? Check out TripAdvisor’s widget:
Tactical Content/Product Tips
The tactical part of this content isn’t for you…
…it’s for your customers.
That’s right, it’s tips, tricks and instructions for getting the best out of your product/service.
This type of content really helps push people over the line because it allows the prospect to see tons of cool features that they would have never known about, many of which will solve more of their pain points/problems.
It also lets prospects in on expert advice that could be invaluable to their efforts.
If there are features to your product that not enough people know about, it’s your job to market them!
ManyChat are just one company who’ve used this technique to powerful effect.
Their instructional videos are FREE and offered before purchase, allowing a prospect to watch hours of educational videos before making a buying a decision:
Conclusion
Your buying pages will require plenty of tweaking, testing and effort to get right…
…but when they’re perfect, you can model the same winning formula for all your offers.
The tactics that will work for you, depend on your product, offer and most importantly, your target market. Really think about what they’d like to see before making a purchase decision.
When you’ve tested, proven and optimised your strategy, you can shift the bulk of your efforts to driving new audiences to your landing pages.
