5 of the best landing page designs I've seen (and why) - The Email Marketing Blog

• Updated on: 2017-06-20
• Read original article here

Let’s take length, for example. When it comes to landing page best practice, we know that both short and long forms perform well; it all depends on whether you want to generate a lot of (potentially) lower quality form submissions, or a smaller number of higher quality submissions.

Every page on your website needs to have a strategy, quantitative goals and a very specific business orientation to help your site to be found and to drive leads for your company.  Each of these pages needs to have a role in the prospect’s buyer journey. You want to have pages for people in the awareness stage, in the consideration stage and in the decision-making stage. This is where your landing pages come into play…

So, what is the difference between a landing page and a website? Landing pages are a form of a web page. They are usually intended for a very specific purpose such as a sign-up. The key difference is that they are simplified and have no distractions like websites do.

I’ve listed 5 examples of the companies I consider having nailed their landing page design and the reasons why. If you want to improve upon your landing page design and strategy, it’s helpful to know what makes a great one and I’ve scoured the internet to devise this shortlist.

I like Zendesk’s Free Trial landing page because it’s simple in both copy and design. The two things that really stand out on the page are the CTA buttons and the egg drawing at the top; I like the way it wiggles as though it’s about to crack open. The form itself is simple and only requires a work email address and a password to create an account.

This landing page is simply stunning and is a perfect example of just standing back and enjoying the simplicity and beauty. H.Bloom uses high-resolution photography and lots of white space, making it a pleasure to look at.

Beauty aside, the page has some great conversion elements; an ATF form, a clear and concise description of what will happen when you fill out the form, and a bright orange “submit” button.

Shopify’s trial landing page keeps it simple. The user-oriented headline is just a few words and the page relies on simple bullets, not paragraphs, to communicate the trial’s details and benefits. There are only a few fields you need to fill out before you get started; all of this makes it easier for you to get to the point – selling online with their tool.

To top it off, this landing page looks gorgeous on any device you’re using. Responsive design for the win!

I loved the high-end photography and simple layout of this Barbour landing page, which was part of a competition the brand ran during May 2017. They were not afraid of using white space and followed a very structured grid system. The logo took a prominent position of top centre, with the image and text sitting side by side. The instruction is clear and the form is short so not to detract the end user. And who wouldn’t want to be in with a chance of winning Barbour products?

Harley Davidson is one of the most evocative brands in the world and I’m proud that they’ve made my top 5. The combination of interactive imagery, dropdown answer fields and checkboxes make the landing page succinct and provides a slick UX, thus giving users more time to tinker with their Harley. What I love most about this landing page is the edgy black and white styling; it’s striking and totally on brand.

Get a copy of our free landing pages guide which is full of best practice tips and inspiration.