10 Secrets of a High-Converting Landing Page

Your website may be getting clicks and new visitors, but landing pages are different in one very important way: focus. A landing page has only one call to action and is there to focus visitors on conversion – whether you want parents to sign up for your newsletter, an open house, a campus tour, or something else on your marketing hit list. 

Creating a landing page that drives conversions can be challenging when your prospective families are already bombarded with information, ads, and links they need to divide their attention for. A good landing page can do wonders for your prospective families – helping them learn about your school quickly, getting them to complete a form and get in touch with you. This can lead your team to follow up with them and continue to build that relationship. 

Here are 10 useful tips to keep in mind when creating or updating a landing page for your school’s next marketing campaign. 

1. Capture their attention first

Use a strong headline and compelling image at the top to provide the hook that will help to keep them scrolling, reading and hopefully converting. 

Learn More: 4 Ways to Improve Your Website’s Conversion Rate

2. Create a consistent experience 

Your landing page should match your campaign look & feel and messaging – and your audience should recognize instantly that they are in the right place. It should also tie back to your school’s website and other branded content out there in the world. 

3. Customize your content 

Know who the landing page is for, and write it straight to them. Create variants if you have multiple audiences (for example, you might need a landing page for each level of your school - preschool parents have different questions than upper school parents). 

4. Focus your CTA 

Pick one desired action (for example: request information, sign up for an event, book a tour, download a viewbook, or connect with your admissions team) and make that the call to action for your entire landing page. Try to eliminate or minimize links to other pages and places – this way, you’ll keep their focus on the valuable action you most want them to take.

Learn More: 8 Ways to Fill Seats at Your Next Open House

5. Don’t over-ask 

Create a form that captures all the most important information that will allow your team to follow-up in a thoughtful and personalized way – but know that asking for everything right up front can be a turn-off to some people and might result in fewer conversions. Lower the bar as far as you can and plan to capture additional details a little further down the funnel. 

6. Automate your responses 

After you get your form submission, make sure to create a thank-you message on screen – then automate a quick response via email or text. You can add a personal connection later. Right now, speed is of the essence, and you want these prospective families to get what they need as soon as possible. Ensure that the first follow-up delivers on your promises (confirming a date, linking to the resource they’ve requested, etc.) and gets your relationship started on the right foot.  

7. Keep the robots happy 

Don’t forget about digital and website fundamentals like SEO page titles and content considerations, meta descriptions, a strong URL, and footer content. 

8. Optimize for mobile devices

Busy parents are online on their mobile devices more often than a computer – and this stat only continues to grow, especially with millennial audiences (which most new parents are these days). Make sure that both your page and your form are easy to navigate and look great over all digital platforms.

9. Test your page 

We love a good A/B test. If you’re not sure about what will work best, many landing page platforms offer the ability to easily run tests on variants – including creative, messaging, CTAs, and more. Even a high-converting landing page can improve its performance and it’s great practice to plan A/B tests as a regular part of your marketing strategy.

10. Keep it updated 

Once a link is out there in the world, it can live indefinitely – so don’t neglect it. This is especially important after key admissions events and deadlines. Set a reminder to go back in and update information after your open house or after admissions have closed for the year, but retain a way for parents to contact you if they are interested in learning more.

Your landing page should be one of the hardest-working pieces of your digital marketing puzzle. It (literally) pays to keep it top of mind and performing well for your school.

At Metric Marketing, we develop measurable and practical strategies to help private and independent schools like yours to make the most of your marketing efforts. We'd love to discuss your private school's marketing requirements with you. Contact us today to speak with our marketing professionals or use the form below to sign up and receive more marketing tips in your inbox.