By Danny | 12/1/2014 | General

How to Build a Stunning Squeeze Page That Converts Like a Champ

How to Build a Stunning Squeeze Page That Converts Like a Champ

One of the most important marketing proverbs of all-time goes a little something like this, “The money is in the list.” Who exactly said this phrase or when is unclear.. (lots of conflicting research online).. but regardless, what this means is that if you’re not collecting emails, you’re not doing your job. Which brings me to the topic of discussion: building a list by making killer squeeze pages.

The term “squeeze page” is actually an umbrella term that includes any page that has a goal of getting the visitor’s most coveted form of internet love: their email address.

Generally speaking there are two types of squeeze pages. The first is any type of popup that asks for your information (you likely see this on about 50% of the blogs you visit these days). And the second is a splash page, where you have a separate and entire page dedicated to the offer.

Like most other forms of marketing, creating high converting squeeze pages in an art, and involves a lot of trial and error. But there are some best practices that you can apply to splash pages and opt-in popups that, if done correctly, can help you increase your conversion rates. Below are 7 of these tips that will aid you in your quest to build your list.

1. Match the Offer with the Medium

Marketers today most commonly use squeeze pages to collect emails and subsequently distribute pieces of content like eBooks, White Papers, Email courses, Webinars and podcasts.

A great point brought up in a KISSmetrics article is that you should always match what you’re offering with the method by which you’re offering it. So if you’re asking for someone’s email address, it should be because you’re sending them a sweet piece of content via email because that’s the quickest & easiest method for them to receive it.

Think about it. If you’re telling readers they can only watch your instructional video on “How to Do [Insert Task]” after they’ve given you their email, this simply won’t sit well. It’s outside of today’s online norm. They can normally go to any old site and stream a video instantly – so what makes your video so special, and why, having very little other information about it, should they feel inclined to give you their email?

If, on the other hand, you’re offering an email course in exchange for their email, that seems like the best way to be receiving that piece of content anyway, so the visitor won’t think twice about the reasons behind your email collection.

2. Reduce Form Fields, and Make Them Match the Medium Too

People still experience a great deal of discomfort when putting their information online. You can reduce this discomfort by making the form they’re filling out quick and painless. If the visitor feels that something you’re asking for isn’t necessary, you’ll either get fake information or nothing at all.

If you’re asking for a phone number..wait, why are you asking for a phone number? Let’s say your squeeze page is for converting highly-interested leads to customers through product walk-throughs. Then maybe, just maybe, a phone number could be justified (because you need to get on the phone with them to do the walk-through). But if not, collecting phone numbers if usually viewed as being intrusive and untrustworthy. The general rule is to ask for bare minimum that’s required. Check out this list for a more in-depth breakdown of how specific form fields are perceived by visitors.

Speaking from personal experience, I can think of numerous opt-in pages I’ve left blank due to the fact that they required my phone number. I despise giving out my phone number.

For some inspiration, here’s one of Brian Dean’s squeeze pages below. He’s got two CTAs above the fold, and both are only asking for one thing: my email.

backlinko squeeze page

3. Give Away Stuff That’s Digestible – Not an Encyclopedia

As a wise man by the name of Mark Twain once said, “If I had more time I would have written you a shorter letter.” It’s always easier to convey your thoughts and conclusions when given more space and time, but that doesn’t mean those thoughts and conclusions are easier to consume.

Who in their right mind would watch anything online marketing-related that exceeds 30 minutes in length. If the purpose of your squeeze page is to give away an hour long instructional video or a 95-page eBook on “Getting Funded,” think about how you can restructure those pieces of content into shorter chunks.

Keep your stuff short & sweet. People are time-crunched as it is, so show them how easy your information is to absorb and use (infographics are great for this, because they provide readers with an easy and informative medium of information that they can both absorb and retain). If you’ve got an hour long video to distribute, consider breaking it down into 15 minute segments and distributing them over time.

If you’re getting stuck on how to condense your content into shorter chunks, take a look at how Seth Godin goes about his email marketing and blogging.. this guy is a genius in short-print tactics.

seth godin email marketing campaigns

 

4. Make Use of Cookies

If your primary goal in the creation of squeeze pages is to collect email addresses, your secondary goal should be not to annoy anyone while doing so.

The easiest way to accomplish these two goals is to add a cookie to your page so that visitors only see the opt-in popup or splash page once every 24 hours, or 3 days, or month, or whatever your preference may be. It’s important to walk the fine-line between being persistent but not a pest.

5. Always Make the “Exit” Accessible

Whether you’re using a pop-up window or a splash page, always make it super easy for the visitor to leave the offer and return to what they were doing on your website.

For popups, this can be easily implemented by simply having an “X” in a corner, like this:

conversion lab opt-in form

Most popup plugins will have this feature included in their templates.

If you’re set on creating a splash page, this is a critical factor. Lets say a user landed on your website via an organic search, but they’re then directed to a splash page before they can read the article they were searching for. Chances are, Google came up with about 10,000,000 other results that they could’ve chosen – so expect that they will return to the search pages if not immediately satisfied.

By virtue of implementing a splash page you’re already creating a barrier between your visitors and your content. And while it’s a valuable barrier (if you make the page itself useful.. more on that below) you should strive to not cement the barrier any further by hiding the “Continue to Site” button (or not having one at all). If it’s not intuitive to move from the splash page to the desired piece of content, a user’s first instinct will be to press the “Back” button and return to the SERPs.

Here’s a splash page by D Bnonn Tennant, complete with the “No thanks” CTA button.

information highway man splash page

As you can see, it’s less of a standout call-to-action than the action-oriented signup button that says “GET YOUR TWEAKS.” But nonetheless, it’s clear.

6. Bear in Mind Some Simple SEO

Squeeze receive some discrimination by Google because of their inherent amounts of shallow content. From an SEO perspective this makes sense because there are very little keywords, rich media, and audience interest in the page itself – so Google views it as insignificant spam.

You can counteract this by injecting some more content into your squeeze pages, a practice that has become considerably more popular in the last 2-3 years.

Here are a few splash page SEO hints:

  1. Above the fold you should include the benefits of signing up, pictures/videos, and the sign up form. Make it so your content above the fold is simple, organized, and action-oriented.
  2. Below the fold you should include a more in-depth, keyword-rich explanation of your product, so visitors can read more about it, and crawlers can better get a sense of what the page is about.
  3. Recently, marketers have started to add a blog feed to the bottom of their squeeze pages, which serves to engage visitors and please the web crawlers by providing more in-depth content.

7. Include Social Proofs

No matter what you’re doing in your website, whether it’s designing the homepage, landing pages, popups, or splash pages, it’s always useful to incorporate some social proofs. This shows visitors that you’re popular, present, and trustworthy.

For opt-in pages, people love seeing these three things:

  1. Testimonials
  2. Real-time activity on Twitter
  3. People on Facebook who’ve also signed up (friends, friends of friends, like-minded users)

There’s always comfort in knowing that like-minded business people have found value in things that you’re interested in.

Brian Dean incorporates some simple social proofing by choosing an industry name that most are familiar with, Neil Patel, and placing a testimonial right next to the CTA button.

brian dean social proof on squeeze page

Tips for Creating a Squeeze Page

Creating a squeeze page is relatively easy. Using the correct tools, you can have an operational splash page/optin plugin that’s collecting emails within a matter of 40 minutes. But before you begin, it’s important to identify the goals you’re trying to achieve with your campaign, and how much money (if any) you’re willing to invest in achieving those goals.

If you’re looking to get more email signups to your blog, you can probably get away with using a free opt-in tool. If you’re looking to distribute an eBook you’ve painstakingly created over the last two months, it might be worthwhile to run a targeted ad campaign and create a customized squeeze page to sell the benefits of that eBook.

Either way, you have several options when it comes to squeeze page creators and opt-in plugins. Below I’ve listed 3 I’ve had personal experience with.

  1. WordPress Landing Pages by Inbound Now
    • This is a free plugin that allows you to easily create splash pages to convert passive website visitors into email subscribers. You can can either use your own WordPress template for the page’s design, or you can choose from pre-made templates that this plugin offers. It’s a very simple interface that allows you to run A/B tests on the splash pages you create.
  2. Optin Monster
    • Use this plugin to easily create opt-in popups. Basic plans start at $49 one-time fee, but if you’re looking for a more diverse set of opt-in options, I’d suggest spending the extra $50 and getting the “Plus” version. It offers integrations with all the major email service providers (e.g. MailChimp, AWeber, etc), and their support is very responsive and helpful.
  3. Wisepops
    • If you’re just starting out and are not expecting hundreds of signups overnight, Wisepops offers an easy (and free) solution to make some simple opt-in popups with time triggered. It’s not a plugin but rather a script that you place in your website’s backend (e.g. if you’re using WordPress CMS, you’d want to place it in your footer), and therefore all of the data that’s collected and any maintenance or updates that need to be performed are done on the Wisepops website itself. If you upgrade to a premium account, you’ll get a ton more features including email integrations and popup customizations.

Building high converting squeeze pages takes time and practice. You need to know what resonates with your audience; what types of words, pictures, colors and designs capture their attention and engage their curiosity. The 7 strategies I listed above are some relatively easy-wins, if you’ve got some others that have worked for you then give me a shout.

By Danny | 12/1/2014 | General

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