Landing page review: content & conversion suggestions
Review of a landing page and suggestions on how to build a conversion gunnel for a data analytics and machine learning company
User segments
As per our discussion, user segments were:
1) large-to-middle corporates interested in enhancing their database reporting,
2) developers of web apps that need to test performance of the databases.
Job to be done: why clients hire you?
Now, arguably, those user segments need to be scrutinized further on. For the sake of simplicity I suggest isolating the core problem you purport to solve like this:
Big data
Scattered data
Raw data
Now, the ‘Big data’ problem is for enterprises that need predicting and advanced analytics to solve business problems, including customer behavior prediction, product recommendations, and fraud alerting, etc. Obviously, this user segment needs making better decisions from the large-scale databases they use. It means going for a comprehensive and easy to use tool scaled down to multiple audiences within the enterprise. They would value: performance, speed and cost.
Scattered data problem is for enterprises that have different databases for different business needs, for example, accounting, sales and marketing databases. What they actually need is analytics consolidation across various data sources. They would value: width of data sources covered, easiness-to-use and performance.
Raw data problem is obviously for developers that want to real-test the workload on the systems under development as well as their databases’ performance. What they need is a testing solution entailing easiness-to-use and zero-scripting. They would value: performance, cost and productivity.
Suggested Conversion Funnel
Now that we have envisaged the user segments, we may proceed to modeling the proper conversion funnels for them. Normally, each user segment needs a separate conversion funnel on a website, i.e. sequence of steps leading to a meaningful action (conversion).
Since neither of your subjects (problems) and user funnels are dominant, you would want to feature them all on the Main page. Those will be your Main landing page’s content blocks.
Importantly, each user segment needs a specific selling proposition that would directly address their needs. Therefore, a simplistic yet accurate view suggests: what you would want to say on your main page is what one can do with Cloud9charts:
Make better decisions from large-scale databases
Consolidate analytics across various sources
Real test the performance of databases under development
That’s all you need on the Main page, except for a ‘Free trial prompt’ in the bottom of the page. You can do your selling propositions by making a short video or through using 3 chunks of content.
Furthermore, you need separate landing pages for each user segment. Since your solution is too problem-specific, I suggest that you create a ‘Features’ page that will serve as a doorway page to separate user segment-centered landing pages. So then, Features page includes (per each user segment):
Expanded selling proposition
Related clients
Link to the nested ‘ultimate’ landing page
Now, each specific landing page will be a primary focus of your marketing & content making efforts. Arguably, a typical conversion funnel of your website may look this:
So, the ‘ultimate’ landing page’s content has to be convincing and full.
I suggest considering the following sections with the ‘ultimate’ landing page:
Overview (Before you buy)
Benefits
Q&A
Expert talk
User [success] stories / reviews
Learning center links
‘Free trial’ / Call link
Now, Overview would recite the user segment’s core problems, i.e. what does it actually do. The Benefits section is a succinct (bullet-point) statement of the key Points of Difference (PODs) your products bring.
Q&A is a section where you put the most common questions that a user can have – and give answers to them. Expert talk is a video (up to 1:30 min) of a person who’s in charge of a particular solution (product manager / developer). Since the service you deliver is too technical you would want to provide links to Docs / Library items describing tech details thereof.
Let’s take an example of Analytics Consolidation – a feature that I like the most. Here – above all said – you would want to list specific data sources that you cover for example - this is what you currently do on the Main page.
Arguably, each vendor product, like Salesforce, may need a separate page featuring tech details of the way you do consolidation, objects and metrics to analyze / display, etc. It’s necessary because a user would want to know the ‘How’ of your solution and whether or not it’s easy to operate at all.
Free trial / Sign up page has to be focused on the option a user will gain through it. Currently, this page’s content is underdeveloped (if exists at all). Likewise, Data Source pages, for example, feature the ‘dummy’ content, i.e. not directly relevant to the user intent. It actually diminishes the quality of your page and may result in poor user experience (including Sessions-related metrics), which impacts your site’s Google search positions.
Navigation
So, you would want to have a Main navigation covering:
Main – Features – Pricing- Docs- Blog + Free trial & Log in.
The footer navigation would also feature: user segment-centered landing pages, nested pages, like vendor pages (if any).
Analysis of your current content layout
Presently, your core selling proposition: ‘Reporting re-imagined’ is not quite up to the point. It does not convey all aspects of your product. Notably, the whole content is dominated by the ‘report’ term.
Reports vs. Analytics
Clearly, report is a more ‘technical’ word, and it does not equate analytics. Now, if analytics is perceived as a function of Customer Experience Management (CXM), reports are a function of analytics. Arguably, what you may want to sell to your customers is ‘Big-Data analytics’ or ‘Advanced analytics’. So, at this point I suggest re-stating your Main page content to use the following [primary] content terms: analytics platform, analytics consolidation, real-time analytics, advanced analytics, big-data analytics.
Conversion funnel AS-IS
Now your conversion funnel seems to be biased towards Data-source pages, for example, here. This is where a user can actually preview how your product operates.
So, first of all, it’s not relevant for all user segments. Secondly, in my opinion the instant reporting preview is very basic -- it may frustrate a user to see a stats reporting like that. Thirdly, it’s not yet fully established as a funnel – ok, what’s next? A user needs to know what you expect of him/her to do next… If it’s signing-up, then what options does it bring to him/her? If it’s something different, where does he/she shall proceed to?
Clearly, the funnel gets too fragmented when it comes to Data source page (Instant reporting). It would let too many users out since the Data source page 1) does not bring much added value, and 2) it’s not clear why to sign up here.
Main page content
The Main page’s content is not focused down to a user. In addition to that, it has totally different organization patterns, which makes it hard to read / understand as a whole. For example, MAKE DATA DRIVEN DECISIONS chunk uses a comparison pattern (they –vs. - us) plus contains a call to action. REPORTS IN A DAY chunk of text is a sales pitch: problem & allegedly easy solution. NOSQL, RELATIONAL, DATA WAREHOUSES, FILES, OTHER is a piece of technical writing ‘brushed up’ to sound like a selling text.
Key takeaways
Develop user segment-centered perspective
Create a conversion funnel for each user segment
Reflect your conversion funnel architecture in your Navigation (Main nav vs. Supplementary one)
Create a Main page content like its’ a selling proposition for each of your user segments
Re-state your selling proposition using more up-to-the-point terms
Organize your page’s content coherently and scale-it down to user (what they want to see)
Create the ‘ultimate’ landing page for each of your user segments
Establish more robust landing page’s structure featuring Q&A, Expert talk, Stories as well as Tech reading
Make a Free trial / sign up page focused on the options you will deliver
Suggestions for further research
Landing pages templates + examples of properly organized pages on the web
Content marketing strategy: Blog, LinkedIn, Twitter
On-site user behavior analytics set-up: Heap Analytics
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