Simple Fact: Navigation Links Kill Your Landing Page Conversions
Original article written by Fahad Muhammad in Conversion Optimization
According to Marketing Sherpa, 68% of B2B businesses use a post-click landing page platform to get leads. Sounds like a promising stat doesn’t it?
Well, not really when you compare it to this one:
“44% of clicks for B2B companies are directed to a homepage, not a post-click landing page.”
These principles remain the same whether you’re using a B2B content marketing tactic or for your B2B or B2C company.
Where things differ is the decision process and promotion channels that can be successful in customer acquisition and conversions. And we’ll look at these differences shortly.
That’s right! This means when you click a PPC ad, a link in an email or a retargeting ad 44% of the times you go to a homepage posing as a post-click landing page instead of a real post-click landing page.
Most marketers are still unable to grasp the one thing that makes a post-click landing page a truly dedicated page and not just any other page on your website — a post-click landing page always has one goal.
What’s the difference between a homepage and post-click landing page?
post-click landing pages are standalone pages that a visitor arrives at after clicking an ad or a search result. This is the definition most marketers know and agree with, however, it’s only one-half of the full definition.
Post-click landing pages focus on promoting a single offer — this is the other half of the definition overlooked by most marketers.
It’s quite simple — your homepage is created to represent your brand and all the services that come under the umbrella of this brand. So, it makes sense to promote multiple offers on your homepage, which is why having navigation links on your homepage is encouraged.
Your post-click landing page, on the other hand, is created not to represent the entirety of services you offer, it is a dedicated page that’s not connected to your website’s URL but is created to promote single offers independently. Navigation links on this page are not allowed.
Sure, you can promote your free trial on your homepage, along with an upcoming webinar and all the features your product or service provides because people coming to your website are looking for every bit of information they can find on you.
This is not the case with post-click landing pages.
A visitor that comes to a post-click landing page comes with a specific purpose in mind. Maybe he wants to register for your webinar or sign-up for the free trial. A busy homepage with lots of navigation links is only going to distract the visitor from getting what they want and derail them from accomplishing the conversion goal.
An optimized dedicated page, however, will give them the necessary information required to make the decision and complete the conversion goal.
1. Navigation links are a distraction, and lower post-click landing page conversion rate
Yes, your post-click landing page is a single page. It can be a long page (like in the case of a long form sales page), but it’s still one page. This is why there’s no need for navigation links because there are no other pages to explore on this single page.
When you put navigation links on a standalone page, you connect it to other pages on your website which distract visitors from the offer at hand, ultimately, lower post-click landing page conversion rate.
2. Navigation links cost you money
Getting your PPC ad clicked by prospects costs you money. The amount you’re charged is known as CPC (cost-per-click) or PPC (pay-per-click) and refers to the amount you pay when a visitor clicks your ad.
Keywords have different monetary values — with CPC ranging from a few pennies to over $300.
When you include a navigation menu on what was supposed to be a dedicated page, and connect that page to your PPC ads, you give people a reason to not convert on the page (essentially costing yourself money for no reason). This is because even though your visitor clicks your ad and costs you money, his chances of converting on a homepage are slim due to all the distracting exit links.
What’s the moral of this story?
Only 16% of all post-click landing pages are free of navigation bars. That’s pretty scary when you consider all the negatives that come with navigation links. Your post-click landing page is a dedicated place for only one offer — your job as a savvy marketer is to allow the page to stay that way.
You’re not doing yourself any favors by including navigation links on your pages. At Instapage, we believe every promotion deserves its own page.
Always connect all your ads to personalized post-click landing pages to lower your cost per customer acquisition.
