Crafting A Narrative On Your Landing Pages

Crafting a strong narrative on your landing page is extremely important. If you can get visitors to picture themselves using your product in such a way that their lives are improved (get things done easier, faster, better, looking better, feeling better, etc.), you will win the conversion. 

In a post for ClickZ, Jack Aaronson wrote:

A Website is like a book. An author usually doesn’t say, ‘Read the chapters in any order you want.’ Likewise, when  you create a Website that doesn’t provide the user any guidance on the pages that should be viewed you risk screwing up your narrative.

While a Website may be intended to be read one way,  it’s often “read” in many different ways because of the full navigation necessary to help organic visitors find what they’re looking for.  On the flip side, moving campaign traffic down the right road is as easy as 1-2-3 when using conversion paths. 

So how do you create a narrative using landing pages? By doing what you always do: thinking about your user’s needs, “and designing that page around the user’s needs. After understanding the basic types of people entering your site, you must take these needs-based pages and stich them together in a way that tells the appropriate story for that user” says Aaronson. 

Use segmentation on your landing page to tell a story

Campaign-specific conversion paths are the best way to tell the right story to the right person. Based on which ad campaign drove the click, you can make a well educated guess about what specifically that person is looking for.

In many cases, a great way to start out is with quick segmentation. For example, one way the hotel chain, Howard Johnson, segments road trip visitors is by who they will be traveling with: pet, children or friends.

 

Based on the first step a visitor takes here, they are lead down a road that crafts the right story for their needs. For instance, visitors traveling with pets are treated to a story that resonates with them, “traveling with your pet can be a challenge” however, the Howard Johnson “Wags to Whiskers program makes traveling with your furry friend all the fun it should be.” The image also helps the visitor to envision how happy they might feel if they book their stay with Howard Johnson. 

Clicking on one of the other two possible paths will also lead to a specific narrative that helps the visitor envision their happy stay with Howard Johnson. For instance, the traveling with kids path leads to information about family friendly breakfast items that are a part of their complimentary Rise & Dine program. 

Help visitors read your landing page narrative correctly

A story must be told in the right order to have maximum impact on the reader in terms of being understood, but also in being easily remembered and being engaging. Your landing page is no different. Tell a story on your landing pages to help visitors picture themselves happily using your solution. Use conversion paths to ensure they read the story in the right order. 

Click here to see more examples of segmentation on landing pages and check out our high-converting Citrix case study that very successfully demonstrates how segmentation can be used to increase conversions quickly.

Do your landing pages tell a story? Leave a comment below and tell us how you’re using narrative to increase conversions.