Everyone knows that custom landing pages are a must for converting paid traffic at scale, but…
What types of landing pages are actually worth testing?
In this post, I will go through the 5 different landing page types that I’ve seen work for paid ads with examples for each.
Let’s get to it!
Why testing landing pages are worth the investment
For starters, let’s do a quick math exercise to showcase how beneficial a 15% conversion rate lift can be.
Don’t worry, e-commerce math is pretty simple:
Website visitors x conversion rate = purchases
Purchases x average order value = sales ($)
These are the primary levers that we have at our disposable to improve growth rates.
And, conversion rate is a big one.
If we assume all input metrics are equal (visitors and ad spend), then the hypothetical 15% improvement in conversion rate would increase purchases by (drum roll please)... 15%!
And, that also would lead to a 13% reduction in CAC. Nice.
You can see how a few conversion rate wins can compound quickly into improved ad efficiencies and growth rates for your brand:
Okay, that’s enough math, but I hope it helps illustrate the point that landing page testing is worth the investment if you are methodical in your approach.
Let’s first discuss the primary goal for building custom landing pages and then dig into the 5 landing page types that are worth testing.
The primary goal for building custom landing pages
The primary goal for building custom landing pages is to improve conversion rates on paid traffic.
This is pretty obvious, but I am suprised to see how few marketers actually focus on landing pages as a lever to improving ad efficiencies.
The main problem with paid traffic is that the website visitors from platforms like Meta are usually unaware of what your core product is and how it can benefit them.
That is what we are trying to solve for.
A good custom landing page is able to gets first time website visitors to clearly understand who you are, what you are selling and how your product benefits them.
Nik Sharma dropped his landing page cookbook guide and in it he explains that every landing page should address these 5 questions:
What is your product
Why does it exist
How does it benefit my life
Why is it the best option for this product
How soon can I get it if I order now
Get his full cookbook guide here.
The primary goal for custom landing pages is to address these 5 questions throughout the landing page.
This will ultimately help educate new buyers, reduce bounce rates, and improve conversion rates.
Alright, lets get to the 5 page types!
Trojan horse landing pages
The first landing page type we have are called trojan horse pages.
Trojan horse pages look like a homepage to a new website visitor, but they are built for direct response sales.
They are simple and custom built landing pages that are tailored to convert paid traffic.
They usually contain a few key elements:
Simplified top navigation
This helps keep website visitors in the core funnel vs clicking off into dead end pages
Bold, clear hero section
Big, bold headline about your brand
Clear call-to-action (CTA)
Customer reviews for social proof
Clear product image for what is being offered
Why section that explains to customers why they should try your product
Brag bar that highlights third-party reviews
Shop section that goes into the product details
How it works section
Comparison chart to easily compare your products against the alternatives
The team at Sharma Brands put together the best landing page guide that I have found for building trojan horse pages that you can find here.
Here is an example from their guide for how the hero section should look for trojan horse pages (click the link here to review the full guide):
The Sharma Brands team also built this page for Poo-Pourri that you can reference as a live example of a trojan horse page.
The goal for a trojan horse page is to guide paid traffic down the conversion funnel using a simplified page structure, clear product education, and enticing CTA’s.
These pages (like all of the other landing page types) should also help answer the 5 key questions from Nik’s cookbook above.
Trojan horse pages tend to work best for Meta prospecting campaigns and non-brand Google search campaigns.
This is usually where the largest percentage of DTC ad budgets go, which makes testing a page like a trojan horse worth the investment.
Listicle landing pages
The next page type are called listicles.
Listicles are similar to the trojan horse pages in that they are simplified versions of your evergreen pages, but they include a bulleted section for why you should try the product.
You will usually see these show up in landing page copy as “5 reasons why..” sections.
IE: “5 reasons why [insert product] is the best [insert category]”
One of my favorite brands who uses the 5 reasons why section a lot is Jones Road Beauty.
And, here is another example of a listicle developed by the Sharma brands team for the soda brand, Perfy:
The goal for listicle pages is to quickly educate new website visitors on the main reasons why they should choose your product over the alternatives.
Listicle pages tend to work well for upper funnel traffic sources like TikTok and YouTube ads.
It's helpful to keep in mind what the platform to landing page experience is like.
For example, people on TikTok are scrolling quickly, which makes a short listicle page a natural transition from their scrolling experience on the app.
People searching for solutions on Google Search are more in research mode. This is where a longer form trojan horse landing page might be a better option.
You can test listicles as their own standalone page or weave them in as a sub-section to your longer form trojan horse pages.
Test both formats and see what works!
Advertorial landing pages
Advertorial landing pages are pages that combine editorial style content with an ad placement.
These are great for running paid ads to from a third party Facebook or Instagram handle.
This is similar to whitelisting ads where you run ads from an influencers handle, but instead of sending traffic directly to your own website, you first send it to a third-party content site.
It’s kind of like if Buzzfeed ran ads from their Instagram handle to a custom Buzzfeed article that is built specifically to promote your product. It then links out to your website from the article.
I usually see higher click-through-rates (CTR’s) on advertorial ads and whitelisting ads because they don’t look like a typical branded ad.
We run paid ads at Eight Sleep from a third-party account to this advertorial page for reference.
Here’s another example from Solawave that combines an advertorial with a listicle.
As an aside, running ads from a third-party account is a great place to test more edgy style content (read: not on brand) where the brand risk is lower.
Advertorials work well for Facebook prospecting campaigns.
Quiz funnels
Quiz funnels are landing pages that include a quiz.
They usually combine a trojan horse or listicle style landing page with a quiz.
Quizzes are great for building rich email lists that you can later run personalized email sequences to.
Big, engaged email lists help balance out the unknown fluctuations from paid ads, which makes the use of quizzes another high leverage tactic.
We used a breed match quiz when I worked at PuppySpot and I was surprised how many entries we got.
This Jones Road Beauty page is another good example of a listicle page combined with a quiz.
Quiz funnels are great for upper funnel campaigns like TikTok, YouTube, and Meta campaigns.
It's worth reiterating - Quiz funnels generate a lot of emails and a big, engaged email list is a gold mine for DTC brands.
Social proof
The last page type is called a social proof page.
Social proof pages leverage user-generated-content (UGC) to show that there are customers who have tried and loved your product.
This helps builds trust with new buyers who may be on the fence about who you are and what you sell.
The best social proof pages use pre vs post results to highlight how well a product works.
Here’s an example of a social proof page from Solawave.
Summary
As a recap, the 5 landing pages that are actually worth testing are:
I hope this post helps spark some landing page ideas for you to test on your end.
Cheers!
Sources: