landing page design

Landing pages have been top-of-mind for me lately at work. I have been working on a Search Engine Marketing campaign that is going to have a very specific target audience.

Landing pages should be a crucial component of any online media strategy and they become even more important with a niche SEM campaign using Googles search and contextual network. I want to make sure that the visitors that I acquire via my text advertisement have a seamless experience, landing on a page that is relevant and reflects the message in the advertisement that they just arrived from.

But above all, I want need the visitor to take a specific desired action.

So mulling over all these landing page thoughts has meant that I have been very aware of the various landing pages that I see online in NZ at the moment. I have been clicking away wildly on ads that I would normally ignore, all in the hope that I may pick up some good landing page ideas.

You would think that the likes of say..... Vodafone, with their massive budgets, would be doing some smart landing page work. They are pretty much fully e-commerce enabled, making their online strategy a prime target for a big landing page component.

I recently clicked on a social ad that vodafone are running on facebook (see the ad at left- click to enlarge).

When you think about it, a social ad on facebook targeting pre-pay subscribers and asking them to top-up online is not a bad idea.

Vodafone are likely to be buying this media on a Cost-per-Click basis (or one would hope so) and their new site gives subscribers the ability to pay for a top up online quite easily (I can attest to this).

To make matters even better for Vodafone, I actually need to top-up my prepay card. I am a prime target. I click the ad in anticipation of a super smart landing page experience. This is what I get (click to enlarge):

 

This landing page is wrong in so many ways. For Christ sake, you asked me if I wanted to top-up my prepay phone! I do, so I am clicking on your ad with the expectation of being able to top-up, but where on the page do I click to do just that?

That big red box that says, "Top up your pre-pay now and receive 20% extra" is not even clickable! Arrrrrrgggghhhh.......

There is actually a link to top up- its in the far right 1-of-3 cell at the bottom right of the screen. The link is too small and its in the worst place. There are like a bazillion links for me to choose from.

A screen with no main site navigation, A nice headline, small body copy, and one big fat red call to action to login and top-up is the answer in this situation.

Vodafone marketing- drop me a line and lets talk landing pages.

Comments

[Matt]

James...

Some good points here...
if the Vodafone landing page was arrived at via a specific ad (top up pre-pay account) then this is the only information that should be on this page (the center of the page with the 3 options..the box below this with "other ways to top up")...get rid of the left nav/top nav and any distractions .. any upsells or pathways to more services at Vodafone should be on the back end process of this transaction..

Every clickable item on this landing page (once all the extranious stuff is removed..) should be tracked for usability...and the strongest elements enhanced ..

[Steevo]

Hey James - just stumbled upon this post. It looks like they have used a generic page instead of a really task-focused page. If THIS is the page you looked at (http://www.vodafone.co.nz/plans/prepay/topping-up.jsp) - it looks like it has been subtly changed since your post. It would be interesting to see if the URL they use for Topups has changed. Got any other examples you've found since about landing pages (good and bad?)

[Taobao English]

* be happy together is good enough. I am not asking for things that I could never get.

[ClubPenguinCheats]

Landing pages should be a crucial component of any online media strategy and they become even more important with a niche SEM campaign using Googles search and contextual network.

[order cigarettes]

very good and detailed statistics. Can write in blog everyday? from this moment I will visit more often. Thanks for the info