At Facebook, I work hand-in-hand with companies every day to help them build mobile advertising strategies and mobile-optimized shopping experiences that streamline the path to purchase—from discovery to conversion. One opportunity has emerged as a common, high-impact area that nearly all businesses can improve: ad campaign landing pages.
A landing page acts as the influential bridge between the ad content that grabbed the consumer’s attention and the path to purchase on your website or app. If your post-click experience isn’t seamless, however, landing pages can instead become barriers to action.
Far too often a brand’s ad and linked website destination don’t align. And even if there is consistency in content, the destination page may not be optimized to generate product consideration or move prospective customers towards the purchase process.
A common mistake that advertisers make is linking an ad for a specific product or offer to the brand’s homepage—or worse, to a page lacking any relevant content at all. This approach places the responsibility on the consumer to attempt to find the relevant product or promotion information—often resulting in immediate abandonment.
The solution? Create a bridge between the ad and landing page.
Think of a landing page like the next page in a storybook; it should seamlessly pick up where the preceding ad content left off.
The landing pages must fulfill an inherent promise made to the consumer to discover, learn more and (if ready) take action on the ad that inspired them. When that promise isn’t fulfilled, the value previously created by the advertisement can be lost.
When building your next digital marketing campaign, creating a continuous flow from mobile ad to landing page could improve ad performance. To combat ad-to-landing page misalignment, consider the tips below.
1. Create continuity between the ad and landing page
Assign an individual or team familiar with the campaign objectives the responsibility of creating ad destination links. They should confirm the accuracy of each URL before the campaign is launched.
Verify that all creative and copy used in each ad, including imagery, products, messages, and promotions, aligns with the content seen above the fold on the mobile landing page. Often, this means brands must create multiple versions of their ad campaign landing pages to achieve this desired alignment.
2. Optimize content for mobile screens
Lead with an attention-grabbing headline and concisely convey your unique value proposition to inspire prospective customers to build interest in your product or service. Using large, compelling images to convey main messages can help keep words to a minimum.
Remember, the mobile screen is mighty but small—the information shared should be concise and in an easy-to-read large font. The layout should be clear and simple, leveraging plenty of white space between each idea to effortlessly guide the eye to what’s important. Generally, a landing page is intended to promote a product or service with a single goal in mind.
3. Use call-to-action buttons that inspire progression
The CTA buttons on the landing page should help move prospective customers down the path to purchase. An effective CTA button consists of three components—a thumb-friendly design, an attention-grabbing visual and a short, compelling message.
Building for the thumb means creating CTA buttons that span the screen and are always within reach of consumer action. Test making CTAs sticky to ensure immediate access when consideration becomes intention-to-purchase. Design CTAs to stand out by using contrasting button colors and large font.
Finally, use short, inspiring button copy that helps progress the consumer to next step in the path to purchase.
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Frederic Golen leads mobile growth initiatives that help Facebook’s community of advertisers thrive in a mobile-first world. His team is responsible for mobile consumer insights, shopping experience optimization, business transformation, and marketing strategy development.
