Learn More About Landing Page Builders
What are Landing Page Builders?
A landing page is a standalone web page designed to drive visitors to complete a specific call-to-action (CTA) or conversion such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading content. These pages are commonly used for lead generation in marketing promotions, advertisements, and sales funnels. Designing and launching a website or new web page is a daunting task for non-technical users, and some businesses may not have the resources to build unique landing pages for every marketing campaign. Instead, businesses use landing page builders to create, manage, and analyze custom web pages for marketing or sales efforts.
Landing page builders offer a simple drag-and-drop editor or what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG editor), as well as landing page templates, enabling users to create and publish beautiful web pages without the assistance of a web developer or IT team. Landing page creators allow marketers to control every aspect of a page, including design, colors, logos, multimedia, forms, text, HTML, and custom domains. It is common for landing page tools to integrate with other types of software, including CRM software, marketing automation platforms, and email marketing tools, to transfer lead data captured from web forms to a business’ marketing database.
What are the Common Features of Landing Page Builders?
Common features of landing page software include a drag-and-drop builder, a template library, advanced customization options, A/B testing, analytics, and marketing integrations.
Templates: Landing page builders come with dozens or even hundreds of customizable templates to choose from. This eases the design process considerably, especially for users who may not have much design experience. Templates are typically optimized for a specific use case, such as lead capture, e-commerce, email marketing, or pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements. Users will likely want to customize the template with their company’s brand colors or font styles to ensure a consistent brand experience.
Advanced customization: For users with more technical knowledge, landing page platforms offer advanced features for customization. This functionality enables users to edit a page’s existing code or add custom code, such as CSS or JavaScript. Advanced customization may also include search engine optimization (SEO) features such as hiding pages from search engines or updating meta descriptions.
Multimedia: A landing page wouldn’t be complete without images. Most software offers a built-in media library where users can upload their own images and add them to their pages. Other multimedia features may include integrations with stock photos websites and the ability to embed videos from video hosting software.
A/B testing: An important strategy for conversion rate optimization is A/B testing. Landing page creators typically offer built-in features for running A/B tests, which allows marketers to deploy two different versions of a page and determine which one performs best. After collecting the results of an A/B test, marketers better understand which features of a page lead to more conversions and tweak future pages accordingly. If a landing page tool doesn’t include A/B testing features, it may integrate with A/B testing software.
Digital analytics: Landing page builders provide analytics features that track page traffic, clicks, and conversions. Analytics tools give marketers real-time insight into how their campaigns are performing. Most landing page creators also integrate with popular digital analytics software so users are able to conduct further analysis.
Integrations: Integrations are essential for the success of a landing page. Some landing page builders integrate with web content management software to ensure that each page seamlessly replicates the design of a business’s main website. Maintaining a consistent design improves brand awareness and consumer trust; if a consumer clicks on an advertisement and lands on a page that doesn’t align with the company’s brand, they may feel confused or doubtful of the page’s authenticity.
Landing page tools also integrate with other marketing products such as email marketing software to transfer leads to email lists, digital advertising channels for running advertising campaigns on search engines and social media, as well as for analytics tools for measuring traffic, SEO, and conversions.
What are the Benefits of Landing Page Builders?
The use of landing page platforms can help reduce dependence on web developers, enhance lead generation strategies, increase conversion rates, and aid the growth strategy of any business.
Lead generation: One of the most common purposes of a landing page is to capture leads for a business. Landing pages for lead generation contain online forms that ask visitors to submit their name and contact information typically to access gated content, such as a webinar recording or whitepaper, or to sign up for an event or giveaway. The visitor’s data is then shared with the company’s CRM or marketing database, allowing sales and marketing teams to continue engaging the prospect, with the eventual goal of converting the prospect into a customer. To facilitate this process, most builders integrate with a company’s technology stack, including marketing automation platforms, email marketing software, and CRM software.
Improve conversion rates: Another popular use of landing page builders is for the creation of unique post-click web pages for advertising campaigns. When a consumer clicks on a digital advertisement on a search engine or social media site, they expect to be sent to a page with content that is relevant to the advertisement. For example, if a meal delivery brand is advertising a discount for first-time customers, users who click on the ad expect the link to bring them to a page with further information about the discount and a registration form to sign up for their first meal kit. If the advertisement brings them to the brand’s main website instead, the user may be distracted by navigation menus and fail to convert. By offering a streamlined, direct path to purchase landing pages help marketers improve conversion rates. Since promotions like this are usually temporary, landing page tools allow marketers to create a distinct page for each campaign.
Save time and resources: Landing page creators allow marketers to optimize and scale their lead generation campaigns without the assistance of web developers. These products enable marketers to create more web pages in a shorter amount of time, ultimately improving conversions and return on investment (ROI). Landing page software also frees up time and resources for development teams to focus on other projects that contribute to the company’s bottom line.
Who Uses Landing Page Builders?
Landing page builders can be used by anyone—beginners who would benefit most from drag-and-drop functionality, marketers already versed in how to create landing pages, and developers who code them from scratch. Small business owners benefit from platforms that offer preset, conversion-ready templates along with integrations with existing tools.
Marketing teams: Marketing pros use landing page software to create beautiful, high-converting web pages for digital advertising campaigns. Intuitive drag-and-drop features make it easy for non-technical users like marketers to create a plethora of different pages for each new ad campaign. Marketers may also wish to create distinct pages for different audiences—for example, ensuring the web page content aligns with the visitor’s geographic location or acquisition channel improves user experience and leads to higher conversions. Landing page creators help marketers create content that is highly personalized and relevant to each user, improving the chance that a prospect converts into a paying customer.
E-commerce managers: E-commerce businesses use landing page builders to create product pages. While e-commerce sites include built-in product pages, these pages still contain generic CTAs and navigation menus which may distract potential customers from a specific conversion goal. Landing page tools allow e-commerce businesses to create product-specific pages with engaging content and streamlined designs that are optimized for conversion. Additionally, updating an e-commerce site may require involvement from a web development team. Landing page software empowers e-commerce marketers to quickly create web pages for flash sales or holidays without involving developers.
What are the Alternatives to Landing Page Builders?
While landing page builders are the preferred choice for creating unique pages for marketing campaigns and sales funnels, some other types of software include many of the same features and can be used in its place.
Website builder software: Landing pages are an extension of an existing website. Website builder software allows non-technical users to create and publish websites. Like landing page platforms, these solutions offer a simple drag-and-drop interface with predesigned templates to easily create and maintain a website. A larger investment than landing page software, website builders offer more advanced capabilities including web hosting, e-commerce integrations, and blogging.
Marketing automation software: Marketing automation software acts as a company’s central marketing database and enables marketers to plan, automate, and measure marketing campaigns across multiple channels. This type of software includes features for building landing pages and forms for capturing prospect information. Once a prospect’s information is stored in the company’s database, marketers nurture those leads through targeted, personalized advertisements and marketing content.
Software Related to Landing Page Builders
Landing page creators can be used together with various other products in an organization’s marketing tech stack, including CRM software, email marketing platforms, and pop-up builders.
Email marketing software: Like marketing automation software, email marketing software enables businesses to send marketing messages to their audiences via email. Although email marketing tools don’t offer as many channels as marketing automation software, some products allow users to create landing pages that are used to acquire new subscribers.
Pop-up builder software: Pop-ups are another type of website tool for lead generation and conversion rate optimization. These on-site messages are used to alert website visitors to a new promotion or request a visitor’s email address in exchange for a discount. Pop-up builder software allows marketers to design and deploy on-site messages without the assistance of a developer. Some landing page builders include similar tools for creating pop-ups, overlays, and sticky bars.
Challenges with Landing Page Builders
While landing page software is designed with ease of use in mind, this focus on simplicity can create several challenges for marketers.
Responsive design: Something buyers should consider is the ability for the product to create responsive landing pages that are optimized for both desktop and mobile solutions. A web page that looks gorgeous on a desktop computer but looks squashed or stretched out on a mobile is off-putting for mobile users and may result in reduced conversion rates. Make sure to test out a trial or demo version of the product to see if the landing page designs respond to all device types, including mobile devices, tablets, and desktop computers.
Lack of customization: Landing pages are utilized by beginners, marketers familiar with the terrain, and experienced developers. That range in users means that products vary in their customization opportunities. Some products allow easy drag-and-drop functionality and some products are very restrictive in the kinds of edits they allow on preset templates. However, for the latter, those preset templates have already been optimized for best conversions, so those products are best for businesses and individuals who are building landing pages for the first time.
Which Companies Should Buy Landing Page Builders?
Landing page creators are used across all industries and in companies of all sizes, from startups to large enterprises. Both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) organizations can benefit from landing page software.
B2C companies: Businesses that sell to consumers primarily use landing pages to sell products. For example, imagine a marketer at an e-commerce brand decides to run a digital marketing campaign on social media to promote a limited-time sale on the brand’s best-selling product. The digital ad links to a page that the marketer has created featuring the product information, images, marketing copy, and a straightforward CTA. This type of post-click landing page allows marketers to tailor page content that aligns with specific digital marketing campaigns. B2C companies also use landing page software to capture leads—for example, a web page for a giveaway or event could be used to collect email addresses that can be added to the company’s email marketing list.
B2B companies: Businesses that sell products or services to other businesses primarily use landing page builders for lead generation. B2B organizations often market to different types of personas, and it’s not always possible for a business’ website to personalize content to so many audiences. With landing page creators, B2B marketers can more efficiently customize content to target specific audiences or keywords. These pages include lead capture forms that ask visitors to submit their contact information in exchange for some benefit, such as a free quote or access to gated content.
How to Buy Landing Page Builders
Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Landing Page Builders
Before researching potential products or sending out requests for information (RFI), buyers should create a list of features their business requires in a landing page builder. Common requirements can include integrations, A/B testing, custom domains, and responsive templates.
Compare Landing Page Builders Products
Create a long list
A long list of landing page creators should include any products that meet the core requirements of the business. At this point, buyers should decide if they’re looking for a standalone tool or if they are interested in purchasing or replacing a marketing platform that includes landing page builders.
Create a short list
Once the long list has been finalized, buyers should consider additional criteria to narrow down the list of landing page builders. For example, if consumer privacy is a concern, buyers can eliminate products that are not compliant with privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This is also a good time to decide how many web pages the business will need and approximately how much traffic they expect to receive since many subscription plans place restrictions on the number of pages and visitors.
Conduct demos
Once a short list of about three to five products has been finalized, buyers should begin reaching out to vendors to schedule demos of their landing page builders. Demos allow buyers to take a closer look at each platform’s features, integrations, and usability. This may also be the first opportunity to glimpse each vendor’s onboarding style and service levels.
Selection of Landing Page Builders
Choose a selection team
The organization should involve any relevant personas as early as possible in the selection process. With landing page creators, it will be necessary to consult both managers and individual contributors in the marketing department, as they will likely be the heaviest users of the platform. Sales teams should also be consulted if they will be using the product to create their own pages and sales funnels. The selection team should include a project manager role to coordinate efforts and ensure the process runs smoothly.
Negotiation
Before signing a contract, it is imperative to open up a conversation about pricing and contract length. While a few vendors may not budge on pricing, many will offer flexible pricing plans based on the length of the contract or billing period.
Final decision
In the days and months after signing the contract, buyers should monitor the company’s progress with the landing page builder solution. Is the product working as intended? Have employees fully adopted the product and its features? Will the product scale with the company’s growth? If the answer to any of these questions is “no,” the buyer should consider raising the concerns with the vendor. If they are unable to resolve these issues, it may be time to look for alternatives.
What Do Landing Page Builders Cost?
Landing page creators are sold exclusively on a software as a service (SaaS) subscription basis. When offered as a feature of a broader marketing platform, landing page tools are typically included in the overall cost of the platform subscription. However, some vendors may place a cap on the number of landing pages that can be created while others might offer unlimited pages. Buyers should read pricing information carefully to ensure the tools included in a product subscription will scale with the business.
When sold as a standalone product, landing page builders range in cost from $25 per month to $200 per month, but some vendors may charge more for custom enterprise plans. Subscriptions can be billed monthly, but most vendors will offer discounts for annual billing.
Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI for a product can be calculated by dividing the net benefit of the product by the initial cost of the investment. Positive ROI is achieved when the benefit of the landing page software exceeds the cost. However, landing page creators provide benefits that cannot always be measured in financial terms or sales numbers. When considering the tool’s ROI, marketers should weigh the value of generating new leads and building brand awareness. Landing page builders also save businesses time and resources on development, since the pages are created by marketing teams rather than developers.
