Craft A SaaS Landing Page That Is 99% Better Than Anything You've Tested
I'm going to let you in on a secret.
Ready?
Here it is... less is more.
Fewer words.
Fewer distractions.
Simple designs.
But, Gene, how do I explain my complex features to the tens of potential customer segments?!
Checkmark bullets. Use checkmark bullets!
A 2021 industry benchmark report from Unbounce showed that landing pages with fewer words tended to convert the highest.
How few? Well, the best-converting pages had under 200 words!
What exactly does this mean? Does saying less means people must click through to find out more?
Maybe.
Does saying less means the copywriter responsible for that page found the most concise and clear way of presenting the important parts?
Maybe.
All I'm saying is - try it! You don't even need to ditch your current designs. Just create a separate page and use Google Optimize to do a split test on your URLs.
I guarantee you that the concise version of your landing page is 99% better than all the SaaS landing pages in existence.
Why do websites with fewer words work? Possible reasons:
- Less cognitive load. With less to read, and less to look at, the only thing left to do is go to the next step. Mission accomplished! With fewer elements on the page, Hick's Law (that states more options lead to harder decisions) kicks in.
- Clarity from concise and well thought-out words. When you re-rewrite one thing enough times, it becomes more clear.
- Fewer chances to be distracted by life. Think about when you browse around. How often are you in front of your computer for hours with plenty of time to browse? Ok... as a developer, probably often, but as an average person, probably not very.
When I talk to clients, one of the things I ask them is "what have you tried already, and what were the results?"
This question is meant to help me uncover potential opportunities, but also to see if they tested a short version of the landing page. If I notice that the've never tested a concise version, that's one of the first tests I recommend. It's fast, simple and easy to execute with a simple page split test.
A note of caution: Before cutting out all of your copy, consider your audience. Who is reading this page? What do they likely want to know? If there are bits of information that you feel are critical to decision making - perhaps try not cutting everything.
My tip: cut your copy in half as long as it conveys your message all the same. Step away for a day. Come back and try to re-write it even more concisely. It may take a few days to get it in tip-top shape!
Examples of short and simple SaaS landing pages without too many words:
Wix's landing page is as simple as it gets. With little to see or do, the only option is to try the product:
Word count: 106
I think it goes without saying, that if you were to try this, your product should have a free tier or a free trial. We can't expect people to pay up with minimal information if they are coming from a first time search.
Here is a page from Lili - a bank for freelancers:
Word count: 330
While there is nothing magical about the word count number, I mention it because it's a good indicator of the page's conciseness.
Let's look at another example from Active Campaign for "marketing automation".
Word count: 435 - this page is a bit longer because it has a FAQ section.
So there you have it. If you already have a landing page that is converting OK but not great, re-write all of the copy to be as concise as possible with quality formatting and readability. Split test this against your current page. This may be the best A/B test you will ever conduct without overthinking why the current page is underperforming.