First impressions matter. In fact, research shows that it takes as little as 0.05 seconds for your audience to form an impression about your website. That means your landing page is absolutely crucial to build awareness of your not for profit organization.
That first impression, of course, matters for much more than just awareness. In fact, it can be the deciding factor in building brand loyalty. If your landing page immediately connects with your visitors, they’re tempted to keep reading. That’s the start of a potentially productive long-term relationship with potential customers.
Brand loyalty is built over time. Your audience will begin to care about you after they’ve learned more about your goals, mission, and values. At the same time, it all comes back to your landing page and that all-important first impression. Implementing these 9 tips will help these pages build brand loyalty.
1) Focus on the visuals
The milliseconds it takes to form a first impression means that your visuals have to be absolutely on point. The layout and visuals your audience glimpses even as the page loads can make a difference between starting to read and simply leaving your website. The right design, with visuals to match your core mission and selling points, draws visitors in and bridges the gap to the content that keeps them engaged.
2) Prioritize your contact info
In today’s digital environment, businesses live and sustain on the personal contact with their audience. Whether it’s a potential customer just looking for new information or a current customer who has a question, that doesn’t stop at the website. That’s why your contact information should be front and center, visible to visitors as soon as the page loads. That should include a phone number, as well as advanced options like an online form or a live chat.
3) Look to engage your visitor’s senses
Successful organizations know that the best way to win your audience’s trust is through their senses. Simply reading your content and looking at some pictures might not be enough to get there. Instead, look to engage your visitor’s senses through multimedia, from voice to video. That might mean a video introducing your business, or an obvious link to a podcast where they can dive deep into your industry and discover your thought leadership.
4) Get to your audience’s emotions
Engaging your visitor’s senses is a great way to accomplish another core tenet of brand loyalty: getting emotional. According to one recent study, companies that make an emotional connection attract customers with a 306% higher lifetime value. When you sell convenience goods, that might not be easy. At the same time, it pays to dig deeper. Embracing the emotional side of your raison d’etre allows you to tap into deeper feelings that connect you more deeply with your audience.
5) Personalize the landing page
Modern internet users love and expect customization. More than 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product or service from a brand that offers a personalized experience. The more specific your landing page, the better; consider adjusting content or even building separate landing pages based on your visitor’s location, demographics, and more. Custom content, feeding in specific copy based on these factors, is a great approach to achieving that personalization.
6) Build a natural flow of content
Don’t rely on your visitors to find their way through to the content that matters most to them. Instead, guide them in the right direction. The best landing pages are those who work as a consistent whole, from a powerful introduction to a convincing follow-up and a natural conclusion that leads to conversion. They also don’t exist in isolation; ideally, they offer natural transitions to other pages within your website that include more helpful, streamlined information.
7) Start building a case for brand loyalty
The fact that your landing page can build towards brand loyalty should also inform your content. From the start, it pays to tell your audience exactly why they need to keep engaging with you. That might mean something as simple as mentioning your loyalty program, but you can also go more in-depth. For instance, think about building a case for supporting your long-term goals, events exclusively for constituents or donors, and other subtle keys that loyalty comes with potentially significant rewards.
8) Start introducing the community
Peer pressure is real in any kind of marketing. Once your audience sees their peers engaging with you and benefiting from that relationship, they’ll want to do the same. That’s what makes reviews and testimonials so vital on your landing page. They build trust and credibility, assuring new visitors that what they’re looking into will be great for them. That initial sense of trust will pay off long after the first impression, and is a great indicator for long-term brand loyalty.
9) Emphasize consistency from the beginning
Consistency is a core requirement for brand loyalty in any industry. If your visuals or copy stops being consistent, you risk cognitive dissonance that causes your audience to turn away from you. And of course, that consistency starts early. Your landing page should offer the same ‘look and feel’ as any other marketing channel, ranging from printed materials to a social media page. Similarly, the promises it makes should be fulfilled at later touch points to accomplish lasting loyalty.
Are you ready to optimize your landing page experience?
It’s not easy to do everything. And yet, a well-built landing page has the ability to do exactly that. It can raise awareness and capture your audience’s attention, fulfilling its role as a core brand touch point. From there, it can also offer the perfect start on the journey towards loyalty for your business. When you do it right, the benefits of this type of landing page can become a core driver in gaining your audience’s trust and involvement.
Getting there is not easy. Even for a single landing page, you need a strategy that considers your exact audience, their needs and pain points, and the factors that convince them to investigate your organization further. The above nine tips can help you get started on that strategy.
