8 principles of great landing page design

My latest article on Search Engine Land is Compelling Landing Page Design Is Not Formulaic.

This is a topic that we at ion have been passionate about for many years. I call good design “the unsung hero of conversion optimization” because it usually receives less attention compared to other aspects of post-click marketing. Yet in our experience, it is as crucial to landing page performance as the offer, the flow, and the messaging. In truth, all four of these dimensions are intertwined.

However, because compelling design for landing pages is often underplayed, it presents a tremendous opportunity for you to gain a competitive advantage. Let others mechanically crank out the same plain, boring “recipes” — you can stand out by having your better designed landing pages reach through the screen and grab your audience’s attention and mindshare.

With that in mind, here are 8 principles of great landing page design that summarize the article’s key points:

1. Landing page design is more like architecture than art.
2. Great landing page design seamlessly blends functional and aesthetic principles.
3. The purpose of affective design is to connect with your audience at an emotional level, not just an analytic one.
4. Vision is our most powerful sense — leverage the picture superiority effect.
5. Invest more thought to your choice of images and the expressiveness they can convey.
6. Eye-tracking is not brain-tracking: don’t fixate on eye fixations at the expense of delivering a compelling experience.
7. Great marketers don’t have to be great designers — but readily bring in designers to contribute.
8. The fact that excellent design is not formulaic is a good thing, as it enables marketers to differentiate from the competition.

The article features quotes from Justin Talerico and Jakob Nielsen, two of my favorite web usability advocates. I particularly like Justin’s perspective on conversion-oriented aesthetics — what he calls actionable design:

Affective design and conversion optimization are not mutually exclusive. They’re symbiotically entwined. Design lets you communicate meaning and value in ways that mere words cannot.

Read the full article on Search Engine Land.