What’s a good landing page conversion rate?

Your landing page exists to get visitors to take a specific action, whether it’s signing up for an email newsletter, requesting more information, or purchasing a product.

Once your landing page is up, and you’re driving traffic to it on social media and in ads, you might notice that you’re getting a lot of traffic but few people are taking the action you want them to. Is your page a failure? What’s a good landing page conversion rate, anyway?

The short answer is that it depends on your industry. Some industries, like vocational studies and job training, average a 6.1 percent conversion rate, while others, like higher education, only hit 2.6 percent. A good conversion rate is anything above average for your industry, not the average rate across the board.

How you define “conversion” will affect your conversion rate. For example, asking a site visitor to sign up for updates about a product that’s going to be released soon is much less of a commitment than asking the visitor to buy a $500 product.

How to get a good landing page conversion rate

Don’t change your landing page, and certainly don’t scrap it to build a new one, before calculating your current conversion rate. Simply divide the number of visitors who converted by the total number of visitors, then multiply by 100.

It’s a rare landing page that converts at an above-average rate without a few rounds of optimizing and testing different versions of the page. Here are a few ways you can get a better conversion rate from your landing page.

Be sure the value of your offer is clear

Visitors need to know right away what’s in it for them if they take the action you want. Focus your landing page copy on the problem that will be solved when the visitor clicks through to your offer. They need to be certain the value they’re getting is worth giving up their email address or their hard-earned cash.

This extends to your call-to-action button. “Buy It” is a jarring reminder that your visitors will have to part with their money, and “Submit” could mean almost anything to them. To get your visitor to download an e-book, for example, use copy like “Get Instant Access” so they know what to expect after clicking.

Reduce the appearance of risk

Your visitors will not take any action until they are comfortable doing it. Leveraging the testimonials of satisfied customers is the best way to assure visitors it’s safe to respond to your call to action. Surveys find that 91 percent of consumers are more likely to use a business after seeing positive reviews.

People naturally want assurance they’re going to get value. Seeing that someone else benefited from taking the same action can convince them to convert.

Adding a badge that certifies your platform is safe, virus-free, and will protect payment information is important. People want to be certain they won’t be exposed to anything malicious if they accept your offer.

Make the offer feel rare and urgent

Why do people line up the night before to get the latest iPhone or concert tickets? Because FOMO (fear of missing out) is human nature. Make your landing page offer seem rare and valuable. Emphasize that it will only last for a limited time.

For example, you could limit your e-book to the first 500 people who ask or keep the offer open for a limited time. Use keywords like “now,” “instant,” and “limited time” to drive that sense of urgency.

Keep your page simple

Don’t clutter your landing page with every detail of your offer. That simply distracts your visitors. Keep your page focused on the action you want your visitors to take. Focus the copy, images, and every other element on that action.

Optimize your forms

The goal of most landing pages is to get contact information from visitors. You’ll need a form for that, but carefully consider what you’re asking for. Unless you’re targeting a business client, you likely don’t need much more than their email address and first name so you can send them personalized emails. These tips can help you optimize your landing pages and achieve an above-average conversion rate for your landing pages.