Imagine your landing page is a person

So, you plan to introduce your new product to the world? And you want to win many loyal customers?

Imagine walking down the street and introducing your product to people as your landing page would do. Would you listen if it wasn’t clear from the start what’s in there for you? How would you feel if someone asked you after each sentence if you want to buy something? Would you stay at all if the conversation is bad?

When designing landing pages, it helps to imagine a successful conversation.

So in order to know how to design a great landing page you basically need to know how to have successful conversations and build powerful relationships.

Let’s see what some of the best conversation and relationship building experts say.

Here are three general findings from “How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less” by Nicholas Boothman:

• Display an open body language
  Exposing your heart and body, signals that you are not only willing to communicate, but enthusiastic about it.
• Have a useful attitude
  Be open and focus on what you want out of the conversation instead of staying passive.
• Be consistent in your communication
  Being consistent and honest in what you’re saying, demonstrates your integrity and makes you a reliable person.

And here are a bunch of useful rules from “Power Relationships” by Andrew Sobel and Jerold Panas:

• Focus on quality over quantity
  Make sure not to have as much relations as possible but more on having fewer but very good relations.
• Give people your confidence and unwavering belief
  Taking your customers for a fool can poison your relationship right at the beginning.
• Acts of kindness and selflessness often create the most powerful bonds
  Being generous in the first place might come back around.
• To earn trust, you also have to give it
  Without trust, relationships are doomed to fail.
• You don’t need to have all the right answers, it can often look better to have the right questions
  All of your competitors will gave more or less the same answers but showing real interest will make the difference.
• Keep people curious and intrigued but don’t forget to be enthusiastic and vulnerable too from time to time
  Give your potential customers the information they need, rather than telling them everything you know.
• People tend to trust someone they already know
  It’s easier to get to know someone if you are introduced by a shared friend, someone who knows both you and the other person.

But how can you transfer these best practices to your landing page?

Here are 10 useful takeaways with examples from around the web:

1. Display an open body language
Be as accessible as possible and don’t hide anything. Show face, show your contact details, show your company, show that you would love to get in touch.

ConversionLab features an image of the smiling Founder on top of their page which makes them quite accessible

2. Have a useful attitude
Make sure to communicate your value proposition at first glance and with as less words as possible and make sure to have a great engaging Call-To-Action at the beginning and end of your landing page. Specify in very clear words what your potential customer should do.

Shopify manages to convey in a few words what is offered and what action the user should take

3. Be consistent in your communication
Be authentic and keep looking like you always look. Use the same words for the same things and be honest.

Morning Brews newsletter is a good example for great consistent communication

4. Focus on quality over quantity
If you address everyone, your products standpoint will be weakened. Better find a niche and make it clear to whom your product is aimed and let people know.

MixMax narrows their target group down to six potential user groups

5. Give people your confidence and unwavering belief
Taking your customers for a fool can poison your relationship right at the beginning. Be informative and human, don’t speak marketing blah.

Todoist tells their authentic story which creates even more trust

6. Acts of kindness and selflessness often create the most powerful bonds
Offer additional content to your topic so that your visitors benefit, even if they don’t go with your offer. They might suggest you to someone else.

Wistia produces content to inspire marketers and creators who use their product

7. To earn trust, you also have to give it
Offering subscriptions that are terminable on demand or can be tried for free demonstrates trust in your new customers and proves confidence in your own product.

Fibery makes it very bold and simple

8. You don’t need to have all the right answers, it can often look better to have the right questions
Ask questions that the user can relate to and will make him think instead of just presenting answers to their assumed problems. And do surveys to find out how you can bring the most benefit to your user.

Pachyderm is interested in the specific situation of its customers and demonstrates their expertise in various areas in which they operate

9. Keep people curious and intrigued but don’t forget to be enthusiastic and vulnerable too from time to time
Only pick the best 3 to 5 features and explain them shortly. If more information is needed or you have a lot of features to explain, use subpages to go more into detail. Showing features that you don’t have yet but that you plan to do in the future makes you vulnerable, but shows your enthusiasm.

Infermedica convey their features in a short and and striking manner, which makes it very easy to digest

10. People tend to trust someone they already know or are similar to
Having customers like Airbnb, Nasa or Ebay naturally brings you the highest possible credibility. If you just start your business, give out your product for free and make your first testers your testimonials.

Atlassians testimonial section features companys we all know and trust

Extra hint: Be human, rather than mechanical

Basecamp’s support page impresses with humanity

When practicing good conversation in your landing page and following the rules of a successful relationship building, you are about to win a very loyal customer base.