If you don’t already know what a squeeze page is, you’re about to discover a powerful way to build your email list and increase engagement on your website. A squeeze page is a type of landing page designed to harvest, or squeeze out, email addresses from visitors. After you have acquired a visitor’s email address, you can reengage that lead with your newsletter, savings promotions, and more.
I imagine you’ve already seen and interacted with squeeze pages, whether you knew it or not. For example, have you ever visited a web page and then seen a box magically appear over the content with blank fields requesting your email and humorous button copy? That’s a squeeze page, but many small business owners who lack digital marketing experience or who simply don’t know the in’s and out’s of web design, make mistakes that cause their squeeze page to underperform.
Today we’re going to take a look at the best practices and tips to make a squeeze page that works.
A Single Goal, A Single Action
The goal of your squeeze page should be one thing and one thing alone: to acquire the visitor’s email address. The only action you want that user to take on your squeeze page is to enter their email address, and all of the other elements on your squeeze page should reflect that goal. Don’t try to also get a user to make a purchase – there is a time and place for sales pitches, and this isn’t it.
If you ask your visitors to do too many things on the squeeze page, they’ll become confused and opt-out. You want as few distractions as possible. For these reasons, only include one call to action for a more effective squeeze page.
Minimalistic Copy
In addition to only having only one call to action, you also want copy that’s minimalistic. Remember, the visitor already clicked on your content and wants to digest it. The squeeze page gets in their way, and visitors who want to get side-tracked and read a huge wall of text are few and far between. With regards to the length of your copy, remember, less is more.
Furthermore, you want your text to be large and easily readable. Tiny text that’s hard to read isn’t effective as moderate to large-sized text because it forces the visitor down a path that isn’t the one of least resistance. I usually resize text in my browser with the ctrl + key combination, but only if I am especially interested in the content.
Also, refrain from using any crazy fonts, especially those in cursive. Crazy fonts and cursive characters make your message harder to read. The general rule of thumb is that the easier your message is to read, the more effective it will be.
No More Than Two Buttons
Preferably, I would prefer a landing page with only one button over one with two. And you should never have two buttons: one for submitting the email address and one that closes the squeeze page. Why? Again, because less is more. Your squeeze page should be highly focused and refined, and shouldn’t include buttons for other types of actions, links to other pages, or other distractions.
Don’t Be Annoying
Squeeze pages are really a type of pop-up box, though not nearly as atrocious as pop-up ads. Nevertheless, as I’m sure you know, pop-ups are annoying. I know it can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking you’ll achieve a higher success rate by presenting your squeeze page multiple times while the visitor is on your site – and some websites do take that approach.
But I would advise against it. If you put your squeeze page on a timer or make it pop up every time the visitor clicks their mouse, you run the risk of irritating them. And the more irritated a visitor is, the more likely they are to bounce.
Include a High-Quality Image or Short Video
Visitors absolutely love visual content, so give your visitors some eye candy. Either include a short video that lasts five minutes or less or a high-quality image. Video content is easier for most people to digest than written content, and thus more engaging. Not only do videos help increase the number of time users stay on your pages, but videos can also increase conversions.
If you don’t have a video and don’t know how to make one, an image will suffice. If you don’t have an image, you have a couple of options. First off, I imagine you could find an appropriate and high-quality image in a Creative Commons repository like Unsplash. Alternatively, you could take photos of your own (if you have a decent camera and moderate photography experience) or hire a professional photographer.
Incorporate Social Proof
Visitors to a website typically trust each other more than they trust a business. If you’ve wow’ed your customers to the point they have nothing but positive things to say about your business, capture that positivity in a testimonial and let the world know. If you can, be as specific as possible and quantify how much you helped.
For instance, let’s pretend you run a health and fitness website, and your newsletter is packed with the latest tips and trends regarding weight loss. In your customer testimonial, make sure the satisfied testifier quantifies exactly how much weight your program helped them lose.
Final Thoughts
Digital marketing is paramount to the success of any small business, but failing to know how to go about building and running a digital marketing campaign equates to lost revenue. If you want to start from the very beginning and build SEO skills for yourself, I encourage you to download my SEO checklist to make sure you’ve got your ducks in a row.
If you are in the window treatment industry and don’t have the time, motivation, or energy to build a whole new skill set from scratch, I encourage you to reach out right now for the help of qualified digital marketing professionals for window treatment and outdoor awning companies. Launching a strong and competent marketing campaign will help to fuel growth and increase profits.