Today, the path to point-of-purchase for most consumers begins not at one of your branches, but on the internet. In fact, 80% of consumers visit at least one bank or credit union’s website prior to opening a new checking account.*

Effective landing pages have the ability to turn these website visitors into actual, known leads. Optimizing your landing pages for conversion and including compelling reinforcement messages is critical to any successful marketing strategy.

What is a landing page?

Instead of sending consumers to your homepage, you can use marketing campaigns that drive them to a specific landing page. By driving consumers to a landing page rather than your regular homepage, you’ll be able to track where they came from and have the opportunity to learn more about them. When a visitor clicks on a button on your site or in an email, they should be taken to one of your landing pages. This step is crucial in the conversion process.

Once they hit your landing page, the visitor will typically fill out a form giving you their contact info in exchange for your offer (an e-book, a white paper, a free consultation, etc.). Once they give you their personal information, they’re a known lead and you can start building your relationship.

Your landing page checklist

Landing page content should be easy to digest and guide visitors to a specific action you want them to take. A consumer should be able to glance at your page and instantly understand what your offer and why they should want it. The below elements should be included for the most effective page possible:

1. A concise headline: Quickly tell visitors how they will benefit from your offer. How are you solving a common pain point they have? For SEO purposes, include what the offer is as well. Example: Download our free e-book: How to get more from your checking account
2. A defined offer: People need to know what they are getting in exchange for giving away their information. Write a short description of what’s included in your offer and how consumers will benefit from it.
3. A form: You need this in order to capture visitor information. Include fields for the first name, last name, email, and phone number. You can also have a drop-down menu that asks how a user found your institution or what they are looking for from you.
4. A call-to-action button: Tell visitors exactly what you want them to do once they fill out your form, like “Download now!” Make your button big and bright so they can’t miss it.
5. Remove unnecessary links: You want your offer to be front and center. To achieve this, remove your navigation menu or any other links on the page. You can always add them back on the “Thank You” page (the page your visitors are directed to after filling out the landing page form).
6. A compelling image: This helps visually communicate the value of the offer faster than text.
7. Social media sharing icons: These allow users to share your offer with their social network. (About 91% of Millennials report that they trust their friends for product and service recommendations.**)

If you need help building an effective website with optimized landing pages, our FIRSTBranch team is here. We’ve built more than 430 active sites and have refined our designs to offer a simple, responsive user experience that is proven to generate more online account openings than the competition. Learn more and request a demo at thisisfirstbranch.com.

*AOL & Oliver Wyman, “Making the Switch: Checking Account Path to Purchase,” June 2014

**SocialChorus. “Millennials as Advocates Survey.” Survey. July 2013