Transcription
[Music] Welcome back to another episode of the Collective Clicks podcast. Today, I'm joined by Garrett Craigan from our paid media team, and we're going to talk all about landing pages. We'll cover five common mistakes and how to fix them, followed by four strategies for exceptional results. This episode has a ton of value, especially towards the end, so enjoy! Let us know what you'd like us to cover in future episodes.
How are you doing today, Garrett?
Doing good. How are you doing?
Awesome! Excited for this topic.
For everyone's information, we're talking about landing pages. This is part of our series—probably a seven or eight-part series—on the pillars of PPC. Today's topic is landing pages, one of the biggest problem areas I see when auditing accounts. People often aren't getting the PPC success they want.
Today we have Garrett, our research and development lead, product lead manager… most people in the company call him a superhero!
Yeah!
So we'll discuss five common mistakes seen in audits and their fixes. Then, we'll cover four things to do that even your competitors aren't, moving from "getting on par" to "accelerating ahead." Let's get started!
Number one: Page speed. Still a huge issue. Want to elaborate, Garrett?
Yeah, people are impatient and expect quick load times, especially on mobile. Businesses consistently fail to keep their pages lean and quick, hugely impacting performance.
Absolutely. Desktop pages usually are okay; it's mobile that's getting destroyed. Why do you think that is?
It's harder to optimize for mobile. People design on desktop, optimize for that, and forget most traffic is mobile. The processing power difference between phones and desktops means mobile requires much more refinement to perform well.
That totally makes sense. It's interesting; I think people would pay more attention if there was a better metric. This is pay-per-click advertising—for each click, many times people bail before the page loads. You've paid for the click, but they didn't see anything. I built a metric for a client, "cost per non-bounced visitor," estimating cost based on bounce rate and overall cost. A poorly performing page has a high bounce rate.
To define bounce rate: it's when a visitor spends under a second on the page. I think it's under one session, right? I forget the exact metric.
Bounce rate is a common misconception. Some clients judge pages too harshly based on it. If you're driving traffic to a single-action landing page, bounce rate is the inverse of conversion; they either bounce or convert. On a main website, a 50-60% bounce rate is common; people click around. An 80% bounce rate on a landing page means a 20% conversion—that might be better than a 10-12% conversion rate on the main website.
Correct. There are ways to measure time on site, but it’s harder on landing pages. Ten seconds on site might mean ten seconds waiting for the page to load after the header.
It's sad to pay for that traffic. Poor load speed affects cost per click; if people wait and reclick, you're charged twice, even though it's the same user. It also affects quality score. Google has a mysterious landing page experience score, using behavioral metrics; time on site before bouncing back is probably a factor. If people immediately click back, Google sees a poor experience, and you pay more.
Yeah, annoying. A lot of people don't realize everyone pays the same cost per click; Google favors better user experiences. So, number one: page speed. What can people do? Why is it so common?
Usually, it's image size. Reduce image size or remove unnecessary videos; they take up a lot of space and load slowly.
Absolutely. We've seen issues with form software, like embedded CRM forms (Podio, Salesforce) slowing things down. For page speed improvement, use Google PageSpeed Insights; it breaks down issues. Specialized developers know the ins and outs of optimization. Lazy loading is another technique: load important elements first, then slower elements.
Correct. Load everything above the fold, then load the video later, especially if it's further down the page.
Huge! What's a good page load speed target?
PageSpeed Insights gives a score out of 100. On mobile, 80 is a good target; on desktop, over 95 is doable.
The caution is some obsess over page speed to the point their page lacks content.
Correct. The fastest page would be simple HTML, but that's not helpful! Analytics and tracking codes negatively impact page speed, but they're necessary, so it's a balancing act.
Totally. So that was number one. Number two: mobile optimization. A lot of people build on desktop and adapt for mobile, which is inefficient. Mobile-first design is crucial; about 75-80% of our traffic is mobile.
Yeah, a lot of our traffic is mobile. A best practice is having important elements visible above the fold. On mobile, this is different from desktop. The form should be higher up on mobile; it might not be if you designed on desktop.
The simple test: if you can't see the form and submit button on your phone without scrolling, it's a problem.
Yep.
Number three: the form above the fold, for both desktop and mobile. I'm surprised how often it's at the bottom.
Yeah, you'd be surprised. People assume users will read the whole page; most just submit the form. Have a good call to action, but additional content below helps convince those who need more.
Yep.
Should you have a phone number, a form, or both?
Both! People have different preferences. Some don't like phones, others want to talk to a human. Maximize responses by offering both.
Absolutely. The worst is having only a form. We track phone calls versus form submissions; phone calls are higher quality. A motivated seller sees a form and a phone number; they choose the phone to get an immediate answer.
They want an answer now, more urgency. Plus, you only need to answer the phone to make contact. With forms, there's a chance you won't reach them.
Answer your phone! That's a problem for some of our clients. Having only a phone number leads to fewer leads; you miss those willing to submit a form.
Right. Form length: any comments?
We get greedy; we ask for more than needed. Ask only for what's necessary. Longer forms have lower completion rates. Research shows this. Consider the user experience. It's easier to ask for more information than to only ask for what's truly needed. There are tradeoffs. Multi-step forms are an optimal solution.
How do they work? We ask for essential information first (address and phone number); that gets sent to the client. Then, on a different page, we ask for "nice-to-know" information (timeline, condition, offer details).
How many complete the whole thing?
Our first step is 15-20%; on average, 17.5%. A good conversion rate depends on traffic quality and device. Mobile and desktop vary.
Some markets have conversion rates in the 30s or 40s; others are lower. We used to have a two-step form; now it's a seven-step form, one question at a time with a progress bar. This increased completion rates.
Huge! Anything after getting the lead is less important—get the lead first. Getting their information immediately buys us time to call before they find someone else.
Exactly. Keep them busy! They're on your website. We sometimes hope step two conversion is lower; we want them talking to someone before finishing the form. Sometimes, it's just to keep them busy.
Okay. That covers best practices. Anything else standard?
Ensure the headline speaks to the benefits and the visitor's emotions. Vague or irrelevant headlines hurt performance. Answer their big question immediately; let them know they're in the right place.
That’s a great point. We haven’t talked about copywriting—that could be seven podcast episodes! But there's a good heuristic: what you do, who you are, and why you're different.
Absolutely. Above the fold, people should understand what you do, why they should trust you, and who you are.
All right. Let's talk about exceeding the competition! This is the exciting stuff—the stuff we work on because we've been doing this for years!
The first is personalization via UTM. Want to talk about that?
UTMs are pieces of text appended to a link, tracking the user's source (campaign, ad group, keyword). The landing page changes information based on this data. If a user came from a "buy my house fast" ad group, the copy focuses on speed. This avoids creating 15 pages for 15 searches; one page changes dynamically.
Fantastic! It's like direct mail—foreclosure and probate lists. You used to send the same card; now, you tailor it. How often have you clicked something and gone back because the page wasn't what you expected?
Congruency between ad and landing page is hugely overlooked. We tested using the exact same words versus similar words; using the exact same words had a significant lift in conversions. Even people with low cognitive resources know it's relevant.
Absolutely. When someone searches on Google and clicks your ad, you know they're interested in the search term and found your ad more interesting than others. Your landing page should reflect both!
I'm super bullish on that. Dynamic headlines are complicated to split test, but we have some great tests going on.
Another important thing is conversion rate optimization (CRO). It’s popular in enterprise companies and e-commerce, but not in real estate investing. What pieces of CRO are important? Why isn't it discussed more?
People underestimate small details—button color, text, section order, images, wording, messaging. CRO focuses on A/B testing these elements to see their contribution to performance. We run these tests across clients, gathering data in one or two days; one investor would take weeks or months.
I calculated that it would take our average client 9-12 months to do a split test. You have to decide if the test is worth it and if your approach is right; otherwise, you're wasting time.
That speaks to the value of aggregation. CRO isn't popular because of the volume. I've never seen anyone take a test to statistical significance; it's always just a feeling. Getting data on lead quality is tricky. Page content affects lead quality.
A common CRO mistake is optimizing for conversions, not lead quality. For example, "Get a cash offer with a click" converts better than something more conservative, but the leads aren't as qualified. People expect an offer to pop up. Or "best offer guaranteed" vs. "speed of offer" or "fair offer"; the latter might get fewer leads but stronger ones. Marketers often miss the volume vs. quality tradeoff.
Absolutely. Anytime you write creative, it has two purposes: convert and qualify. Measure the qualified conversion rate—how many *right* people finish, not just how many finish.
The same happens in ads—clicks vs. quality leads. You have to be careful what you optimize towards. I've seen agencies prioritize conversions over qualification. There's friction between marketing and sales because they care about different metrics. We measure marketers based on sales.
All right. Next: address and phone verification. Lead quality has two aspects: the right person and the right information. What can be done to improve lead quality through the form?
We use Google Maps API for address validation; it autofills and formats the address correctly. We use a script to validate phone numbers—length, format, and if it's active. This avoids fake numbers and bots.
Address validation is pretty popular; clients care about it. Phone number validation is common, but not to the level we do. How do we go beyond basic checks?
Our form integrates with a service (DataSoap) that matches the number with a list of active numbers. If it doesn't match, it gives an error message.
Lastly, lead sculpting. We recently saw a 27% increase in lead quality by changing one thing on the landing page.
Lead sculpting qualifies leads for us, so clients don't have to. We dictate what form submissions count as conversions in ad platforms; it doesn't learn that any submission is good; only specific answers. By routing users to the right questions and answers, we improve quality.
For example, we ask early on if the property is listed. Our clients prefer unlisted properties, so we don't count listed properties as leads in Google. This improves page performance.
To understand the power of this, you need to grasp conversion tracking and how Google works. We've covered this in previous podcast episodes, discussing the game of PPC and how it's about giving the algorithm more, better quality data. This falls into that "better quality data" category. What I love is that we don't rely on client feedback. We track things all the way to closed deals, but that relies on people providing information. Forms give Google immediate, quality feedback regardless of operational issues. That's super neat, and something people overlook.
This is one of those things in PPC not visible to someone using the platform. The user experience is unchanged. However, it changes how we measure things. Many don't realize how much measurement impacts results. With ad platforms, what you measure and report dictates future results. That's powerful. It's not just about better cost-per-lead numbers; it's about giving Google immediate feedback so it can improve. This is like leadership—bad metrics lead to poor results. Google does what you tell it. People blame Google for bad leads, but the problem is they told Google it was a good lead. Google only knows what you tell it, so it keeps doing more of what you label as "good." We don't want to give it a "high five" for bad leads. That's the "trash Google high five."
In my opinion, for 2023, 2024 and beyond, companies succeeding in PPC will be those giving Google high-quality, high-volume data. This is a good step in that direction.
Regarding landing pages, a winning Google campaign requires much more than keywords, ad copy, and account settings. A poorly performing page is a deal-breaker. Conversely, an effective page makes a huge impact, touching every user. A slight improvement has a massive effect because everyone lands there. It's a bottleneck; everyone goes through your page. We constantly tell clients this. People don't realize how impactful small improvements are. Increasing a landing page conversion rate from 10% to 10.2% can cover our fees for an average client due to increased revenue from 2% more leads. You leverage this across ad spend. The math shows it's worth investing in page improvements, even seemingly large sums.
I agree. Landing pages offer tremendous leverage. Small changes create big improvements, leading to even bigger outcomes. That extra revenue could increase scalability, allowing for higher cost-per-lead and potentially 10x ad spend. A landing page change could turn a $500,000 business into a $5 million one.
That's it for this podcast episode. We'll cover more PPC topics in the future. Stay tuned! Thank you for joining us. [Music] [Music] Thanks