eROI NYC Interactive Agency

Last week I was invited to speak at Scholastic publishing in Soho. As i mentioned on twitter I kept a look out for one Mr. Potter but saw neither he nor Clifford roaming the halls. I was asked to speak for 20 minutes about optimizing landing pages. Wow. So many things to say so little time. I racked my brain trying to figure out a way to provide value to these people while still trying to come up with something new and relevant. What makes this a difficult topic is that Landing pages, and the things that make them successful, just like everything else on the internet change all the time depending on so many things.  How can I be educational to the education people? I set out on the usual research of sites and blogs that anyone else would…google, marketing sites, etc…I needed more. I needed something new. The more I read and discovered the more I realized that there is no answer. There were sites offering “Top 10 Landing Page Secrets” and the usual “Your Guide to Landing Pages”. No smoking gun thing that makes a landing page “optimized”.  For as many products as there are in the world there could be equal number of landing pages that work. There has to be a framework in which we can talk about all landing pages across all verticals. Then I considered this…..a constantly changing system never has answers….it is all theory. At the heart of it…optimizing a landing page is nothing but a guess. Thus was born Landing Page Theory. (Only pronounced properly with your tongue in your cheek…)

The 5 rules of Landing Page Theory

1. Landing Page Equilibrium (L) = The point at which a landing page achieves balance and is thus optimized against other systems
2. The right combination of variables (V) and constants (C) will equal (L) V +C = L
3. L can only be proven through testing various combinations of (V) and (C) using the scientific method
4. All choices should be made in consideration for the user
5. All if this is only theory: there are no rules if you convert

What is a CONSTANT?

1. A clear and concise goal
2. Your audience
3. Your entry points

What is a VARIABLE?

1. Clear call to action
2. Appropriate forms
3. Consistent imagery
4. Solid brand message
5. Good user experience
6. Copy in “F” shape pattern
7. Stickiness: Do I want to click out?
8. Testimonial
9. Product shot
10. There are a ton more…

After explaining my new Theory I took a look at some case studies to provide some concrete examples. I identified the constants and then we worked as a group to identify the variable and decide if they indeed equaled L. The below is a Pin Code campaign we did with Breitling Watches. What are some of the variables?

Do you have any landing page examples that we could examine in this context? A special thank you to Stephanie Miller and the DMC for including me in the panel.