Let's talk about your landing page.

Your landing page exists to drive action.💥

It's an online salesperson, but that doesn't mean it has to be sleazy. In fact, it definitely shouldn't be sleazy because, honestly, do you ever buy from someone who comes off that way?

I bet not. 😝

We buy things from people we like 👋

If all other things (like perceived value) are equal, we buy from people we know, like, and trust.

To boost how much customers like and trust you, focus on them!

Do these things to make your landing pages more likable...

1. Use a lot of "you" language 🎯

Remember that guy from our networking edition? He's the one everyone forgot about because he only talked about himself. Don't be that guy on your landing page. 👎

Focus on your customer and how you meet their needs. Customers aren't coming to your landing page to learn about you, exactly. They're coming to learn about you in relation to themselves.

Can you solve their problem?
Do you offer any benefit they should care about getting?
Do you have any relevance to their lives?

Be an engaging and helpful human – not a self-absorbed know-it-all! 😁

A big, beautiful, helpful heap of "you" language on Help Scout's homepage. 😍

👉 Tip: Already have a landing page? Use command + F and search for all the "we" and "I" words in your text. Some of those are fine, but how many can you replace? (Remember, focus on them.)

2. Learn your customer's language 🗣

This doesn't mean you adopt your customer's voice. It means you fit customer vocabulary into the way you're comfortable speaking – into your voice. 📝

On their landing page about landing pages (#meta), Mailchimp speaks in their signature voice. They also add in words a marketer or business owner might use.

To learn your customer's language, figure out where they're speaking. Brainstorm where potential customers might be talking to each other or voicing their opinions. This is a little tricky when you don’t have any (or many) customers, but it’s not impossible.

Maybe they're:

Talking about their problems on Facebook or Twitter
Hanging out at local meetups or regional events
Joining a specific Slack
Commenting on Hacker News, reddit postings, or in other forums

👉Tip: Pay close attention to how they describe their frustrations, what they want, and why they want it. Then, use similar vocabulary to speak to them.

3. Meet customers where they are 💫

Imagine a hiker walks into a national park and finds a park ranger. The hiker asks,

"I'm looking for a good hike today. Any suggestions?"

The ranger isn't going to say, "Did you know hiking can be a great form of exercise?"

No. He'll walk them over to a map and point out a few trails. ⛰

Likewise, on your landing pages, you want to meet customers where they are. Let's take the same hiker and pretend we have a trail-map app for her. She could be in one of five stages on her journey toward us:

Completely Unaware: She doesn't know she has a problem.
Problem-Aware: She's had wet maps and been lost in the woods countless times. She doesn't know what could solve this, but she knows it's a problem.
Solution-Aware: She knows a digital map is the solution to getting lost. She's unsure if anyone provides that.
Product-Aware: She knows your app provides one form of digital maps but is considering some other options as well.
Most Aware: She's sold on your trails app and just needs download instructions.

If you know where customers are in their decision, you can empathize and guide them toward your business. 🗺

Justin is probably speaking to product-aware or solution-aware customers here. Folks know their problem and possible solutions. Now, Justin needs to sell them on his solution. Notice how he speaks their language, too!

Since you’ll encounter customers in different stages, you’ll want to craft a few different landing pages. Start with pain-aware and work your way up. Send customers to a page based on what you know about them. Or, test them all and see which one gains the most traction!

"Good content is clear, useful, and friendly. It helps you work toward your goals and speaks directly to your readers."- Nicole Fenton, author of Nicely Said