Ads are the flashy billboards that grab attention, but landing pages are the welcoming showrooms that convert clicks into customers. While many advertisers pour their energy into crafting compelling ad campaigns, the post-click experience on the landing page – the very place where sales are made and leads are generated – often gets overlooked.

This neglect can be costly. To win new business and retain hard-earned revenue, you need to expand your focus to encompass what happens after someone clicks on your ad.

In this blog article, we’ll delve into the often-underrated world of the post-click experience and provide actionable insights to help you craft winning landing pages that convert such as:

  • Optimizing the Post-Conversion Experience (Lead Gen & E-commerce)
  • Why the Post-Click Experience Matters
  • Best Practices for Building and Refining Landing Pages

The Philosophy Behind Effective Landing Pages

Here at 42Works, we’ve been crafting landing pages for e-commerce clients since before they became commonplace. This experience, combined with our expertise in lead-gen campaigns, has allowed us to develop a core philosophy that underpins successful landing pages across both disciplines. Here’s what we’ve learned:

Responsive Design Across Devices

In today’s mobile-first world, ensuring your landing pages render flawlessly across devices, particularly smartphones (which accounted for 78% of B2C e-commerce traffic and 66% of orders in Q4 2023), is paramount.

Elements should load quickly within their designated spaces, buttons should be easy to press and spaced for accurate tapping, and the overall design and layout should feel intuitive for the mobile user. Prioritize presenting key information, including your call to action (CTA), above the fold. Keep navigation simple – a logo linking back to your website is sufficient.

Prioritize Testing and Iteration

A handful of key elements form the foundation of a strong landing page. Here’s where we focus our efforts when building, testing, or optimizing landing pages:

  • Clear and Concise Copywriting: Prioritize clarity over cleverness. Use plain language to communicate your value proposition and target audience, ensuring alignment with your ad copy and keyword intent.
  • Social Proof: Build trust with visitors by showcasing customer reviews, links to review sites, or media/industry accreditations prominently above the fold.
  • Compelling Offer, Form, and CTA: Make forms prominent, easy to fill out, and require only the necessary information. For call-based conversions, a crystal-clear CTA with proper tracking is essential.

You can (and should) incorporate content below the fold to provide visitors with the opportunity to learn more about your business, its offerings, and the benefits of your solutions as they scroll. Intersperse CTAs strategically throughout these sections. According to research by Unbounce, pages with content and CTAs below the fold experienced a 37% increase in conversions compared to those without.

While incremental gains may be achieved by testing elements lower on the page, limited budgets or constraints may necessitate focusing on:

  • Highlighting New Pain Points: Refine your messaging to address emerging customer pain points.
  • Exploring Visual Styles:  Test different images or visual styles to gauge their effectiveness.
  • Social Proof with Value:  Utilize social proof that emphasizes immediate value propositions.
  • Crafting Compelling Offers: Experiment with new offers or frame existing ones in different ways.
  • Confidence-Building CTAs:Craft CTAs that instill confidence and encourage action in the reader.

Remember, mastering your landing page’s first fold is a recipe for generating revenue. However, many neglect its full potential. Understanding visual storytelling, you-driven writing, and cognitive conversion triggers can propel your landing pages to new heights.

Adopting the Right Mindset for Copy and Design Harmony

When the text and visual elements of your landing page sync harmoniously, it typically reflects positively on campaign performance. According to a study by Unbounce, companies with cohesive branding across their marketing channels enjoyed an average revenue increase of 23%.

Clicking on an appealing ad, being greeted with an exciting visual page, finding the desired product, and reading an offer that resonates – it becomes difficult for a genuine buyer to walk away. However, if prioritizing one skill over the other, prioritize copywriting.

Research shows that 90% of analyzed landing pages with outstanding copy converted well despite the simple design, while pages with stunning visuals but lackluster messaging rarely satisfied performance goals. Just don’t neglect design, especially mobile responsiveness, as 57% of internet traffic now comes from mobile devices.

Delivering on the Ad’s Promise

Ensure the landing page content aligns with the ad’s promise – “What you see is what you get.” If advertising pest control services, the landing page should focus on that, not tangential offerings like termite damage repair. This disconnect amplifies in paid search, where ads target users actively searching for specific services or related terms.

From a customer’s perspective, few experiences are more frustrating than an appealing ad that ultimately leads to:

  • Out-of-stock items
  • Higher costs than advertised
  • Inauthentic or misrepresented offerings
  • Excessive fulfillment delays
  • Content completely misaligned with the advertised offering

Maintaining consistency and delivering precisely what the ad promises is crucial to providing a seamless, satisfying user experience that fosters trust and conversions.

First Click, First Impression: Post-Conversion Expectations

Once a visitor converts from an ad to your landing page, avoid bombarding them with intrusive popups and offers that disrupt the experience, despite being a paid funnel. How you handle the immediate post-conversion moment sets the tone for customer perception and can strongly correlate with lifetime value. While some businesses opt for simple confirmation messages or neglect this step entirely, you can stand out with a crafted experience:

Basic Experience:

  • Purchase completed
  • Simple popup confirming order
  • SMS update when order is shipped

Rich, Branded Experience:

  • Purchase completed, redirected to brand values page (e.g., sustainability commitment)
  • Email with confirmation, order details, and thank you message
  • SMS updates as order is dispatched, shipped, out for delivery, etc.

According to Forrester, brands providing an optimal post-purchase experience see a 17% increase in repeat customers and 85% of customers express willingness to provide further personal data for better experiences.

Enhancing the Post-Conversion Experience for Lead Generation

Lead-generation advertisers often face challenges in paid media, as a “conversion” in the ad account still requires nurturing and closing by sales or growth teams. However, this also presents more touchpoints and time to earn prospects’ trust and confidence.

Aligning Sales and Marketing Teams

The collaboration between marketing and sales determines how well prospects feel taken care of, significantly impacting conversion rates. Misalignment signs include:

  • Marketing using the same messaging for all leads from all campaigns
  • Sales taking days or weeks to follow up with new leads
  • Lack of agreement on defining marketing-qualified or sales-qualified leads

Research by Marketo shows that organizations with good sales and marketing alignment achieve 20% annual revenue growth rates, compared to a 4% decline in laggard companies.

Many business owners invest heavily in paid media but struggle to convert leads effectively. As an agency, you can position yourself as a true growth partner by influencing the post-conversion process.

Addressing Customer Objections Proactively

Anticipating and proactively addressing prospects’ objections is crucial. This can involve:

  • Landscaping services → addressing concerns about chemical effects
  • Enterprise software → highlighting data security and onboarding processes
  • Electricians → showcasing availability and experience levels

Advertising can help overcome these objections through targeted landing pages. Research by Unbounce found that addressing objections increased conversions by 80%.

Utilizing Marketing Automation

Marketing automation and CRM tools can be game-changers for lead qualification and engagement:

  • Understanding qualified buyers vs. explorers
  • Setting up automated nurture email sequences
  • Sending lead value by pipeline stage back to ad platforms

As an agency, educating clients on leveraging these tools to actively improve lead quality can be invaluable. Many businesses still rely on leads landing in their inbox or phones, unaware of ways to influence quality.

Proactively Addressing Customer Objections Understanding and addressing leads’ potential objections proactively is crucial in lead generation. Equipping the sales team to tackle these concerns can significantly impact conversions. Common examples include:

  • Landscaping services → addressing the effects of chemicals on lawns and soil
  • Enterprise software → highlighting data security and seamless onboarding
  • Electricians → showcasing availability and experience levels

Overcoming objections benefits both marketing and sales teams. By generating a higher proportion of qualified leads already aware that their needs and concerns are addressed, sales can focus on closing at a higher rate.

Statistics showcase the impact:

  • Organizations with aligned sales and marketing teams achieve 20% higher annual revenue growth (Marketo)
  • Addressing objections increases conversions by 80% (Unbounce)
  • Companies using marketing automation see 451% more qualified leads (HubSpot)

Respecting the Sales Cycle

Lead generation micro-conversions like form submissions often signal someone asking for help rather than urgent purchase intent. Respecting the sales cycle is crucial:

Example: Downloading a guide on building a home theater setup

  • Poor Experience: Never hearing back or an aggressive single sales pitch
  • Ideal Experience: A thoughtful email series educating on setup types, manufacturers, booking an expert consultation when ready

Research by Forrester reveals that 77% of buyers don’t make a purchase on their first brand interaction. Providing helpful info and support, without pressure, builds trust and consideration.

When the buyer is truly ready, you’re top-of-mind for the sale. Sales typically happen when the buyer’s timing aligns, not due to a hard sell.

Pro Tip:Focus on Results!

Want clicks that convert? Let 42Works build your high-converting landing pages. We’ll turn website visitors into paying customers! Contact Us.

Enhancing E-commerce Post-Click Experiences

For e-commerce brands, priorities are generating revenue and expanding audiences. Post-click experiences significantly influence these goals:

Gamifying the Shopping Journey

  • Create-your-own boxes/bundles
  • Interactive engagement drivers
  • Polls, quizzes, games

Personalizing and investing time in these experiences positively impacts conversions. Klarna’s research found gamification increased checkout rates by 35%.

Proactive Stock Communications

For temporarily out-of-stock items with successful ads, display countdown banners for restocks instead of pausing ads. Collect emails to notify when available again.

For non-bestsellers without restocking ETAs, pause ads to maintain the experience.

Leveraging the First Order

After the first order, request feedback via NPS/surveys to gauge if:

  • The product met expectations
  • Shipping partners delivered
  • Packaging needs improvement

This feedback loop cements goodwill without pushing for more sales yet. Consider free gift inserts for an added positive touchpoint.

Leveraging Email Marketing to Drive Lifetime Value

For direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce brands, email marketing is a potent channel for cementing customer lifetime value (LTV). With lower profit margins on initial orders, subsequent purchases for larger volumes or premium products are key revenue drivers:

  • Subscriptions
  • Product bundles and packages
  • Gifting and seasonal offerings

Email enables delivering personalized follow-up offers tailored to each customer’s preferences and shopping behavior. According to Omnisend, personalized email campaigns generate a 29% higher email open rate and 41% more revenue compared to non-personalized emails.

Moreover, as campaigns drive more engagement, businesses accumulate richer customer data. This, in turn, allows for even more precise customization, creating a virtuous cycle.

Timing Post-Purchase Offers Thoughtfully

One crucial pitfall e-commerce brands must avoid is appearing overly eager or “greedy” with promotional offers immediately after the first purchase. Tactics like offering discounts right after checkout often backfire as:

  • Customers haven’t fully experienced the product/service
  • It comes across as presumptuous about their satisfaction levels
  • It breeds skepticism around potential hidden costs or strings attached

Psychologically, such practices can make customers feel exploited rather than valued, reducing LTV. Studies by Retention Science found that ill-timed promotions decreased customer retention rates by up to 25%.

The key is to space out offers respectfully, allowing ample time for customers to fully experience their initial purchase satisfaction before introducing upsell paths. Combining this with value-added content and resources further nurtures trust and loyalty.

By thoughtfully leveraging email’s personalization capabilities while exercising patience with post-purchase promotions, DTC e-commerce brands can optimize for maximizing LTV across the entire customer journey.

Want to unlock the full potential of your lead-gen campaigns? 42Works can help!

Want to unlock the full potential of your lead-gen campaigns? 42Works can help! Our team of experts specializes in crafting seamless post-conversion experiences that nurture leads and drive sales. We offer a range of services including:

  • Lead nurturing strategy & automation: Develop personalized email campaigns and workflows to keep leads engaged.
  • Landing page optimization: Ensure your post-click experience aligns perfectly with your ad messaging.
  • Marketing automation setup & integration: Implement powerful tools to streamline lead management and communication.

Contact us today to discuss your unique needs and discover how we can turn your website visitors into lifelong customers.

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42Works

42Works

about the author
Anmol Rajdev, Founder & CEO of 42works, leads a team of 80+ experts in web and mobile development. Anmol is a technical architect powerhouse with 500+ successful projects under his belt, spanning industries from finance to fitness.
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