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How Do Your Landing Pages Measure Up? Part 1 – Page Length

Long vs. short landing pages – which one works better?

Many factors of a landing page impact whether a visitor converts, it’s not all down to how long or how short your page is. That being said, the overall length of a landing page will either make or break a sale. It all depends on the volume of content necessary for the task in hand. Sometimes it’s better to keep things short and sweet, and other times it pays to give a little more.

The advantages of long landing pages

Long landing pages are better for generating trust and credibility. They generally look as though more time and effort (and money) has been put into its development, and therefore represents a more reliable company/brand than a landing page with less content.

It’s important to establish trust in any market, but online transactions especially are highly anonymous in nature. If you can show that your company is trustworthy and professional then you’re more likely to generate leads and sales.

Image: Example of a lengthy landing page (source. Bains & Ernst)

Bains & Ernst, a debt management company, use a long landing page to establish trust, using multiple testimonials and examples of social proof which would otherwise be condensed on a shorter landing page.

Likewise, sales pitches are more detailed and go into greater depth about value, and make full use of supporting elements such as video, bullet-points and images/diagrams to motivate action. With more content (either essential or ancillary) on show, users won’t have to source it for themselves elsewhere should they require it.

Image: In-depth value points

Another advantage of long landing pages is that they tend to generate higher quality leads. The user who takes the time to read through all your copy will probably be more interested in purchasing your product or services in the long run.

This disadvantages of long landing pages

The main problem with long landing pages is just that; they are long. The idea behind a landing page is to give users precisely what they’re looking for and tell them how to get it as quickly and succinctly as possible. And even though you can do this with a long landing page, you can do it more effectively with a shorter one. The barriers to conversion are greater and more confusing at first-sight, and so the number of leads and sales generated will inevitably be fewer.

When to use long landing pages

The general rule of thumb is ‘The bigger the ask, the longer your landing pages need to be’. If your product is premium and you’re looking for promising customers, with the goal of forging profitable long-lasting relationships, then you using long landing pages is the key.

The advantages of short landing pages

Short landing pages are better at communicating a message in a clear and concise way. This is because short landing pages feature less information, and the information that is on show is typically boiled down to it’s essence.

This is important because it makes the process of conversion much easier for the user to understand and undertake. People don’t always want to read through lots of copy, they simply want to be told what your product it is and how to obtain it.

Image: example of a short landing page (source. Wowcher)

Wowcher uses short landing pages in order to get people to sign up to their discount savings platform. The copy is terse and clear, the imagery tight, and focus is squarely placed on the call-to-action. This makes conversion much simpler for users to perform.

Another advantage to short landing pages are the fewer number of actions that need to be taken before converting. Longer landing pages require the user to scroll in order to locate specific info, for example, whilst videos and other elements may need to clicked.

Image: Single call-to-action

Furthermore, short landing pages appear less frantic to the eye. There are fewer distractions and the pathway to conversion has fewer obstacles, resulting in higher volumes of leads generated.

The disadvantages of short landing pages

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage to short landing pages is that leads generated, whilst of a larger volume, will be of lower quality. Seeing as though it’s much easier for people to go through with the conversion process, there will be a majority of less interested leads when it comes to transforming them into paying customers.

When to use short landing pages

If you’re looking to increase brand awareness and cultivate followers, using short landing pages is the key to achieving your goal.

Landing pages that have been implemented with call-tracking needn’t be long either. If you’re objective is to get people to phone you, then you needn’t bother with huge amounts of content.

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