When you’re establishing your web presence there are all sorts of pages you’ll need—homepage, about page, landing pages, sales pages… the list goes on. But one of the most important pages you should create is a lead capture page.
More often than not, this page will be the first interaction potential customers have with your brand. They’re also critical for getting prospects into your sales funnel.
So what are lead capture pages and why are they critical to your success? Keep reading for all the details about this important page type, along with five examples to inspire you when you’re building your own.
A lead capture page does exactly what its name implies—capture leads. They’re designed to collect the contact information (usually email addresses) of interested parties, allowing you to send them information about your brand, products, and promotions.
Of course, people aren’t just going to hand over their email addresses for no good reason. This is why most lead capture pages include a free gift or offer, known as a lead magnet. In order to receive the gift, the user has to submit their email address.
It’s a win-win situation. Visitors receive a free item that provides value or helps them solve a problem, while you receive their email so you can contact them in the future and hopefully turn them into paying customers.
Why do you need lead capture pages?
You might be wondering why you should bother collecting email addresses. Why not just ask for the sale?
The thing is, most people aren’t ready to buy from you right away. You might have a great website and say all the right things, but you’re still a stranger to them. They won’t buy from you until they trust you.
If you try to make the sale before they’ve gotten to know you and your brand, they’ll most likely turn you down. But if you offer them a free gift in exchange for their email address, they’re much more likely to go for it.
From there, you can build a relationship with them and establish trust. Once they’re familiar with your brand and your products, you can approach them with an offer. At this point, they have a connection with you and all the information they need to make an informed decision, so you’ll find your conversion rate will be much higher.
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What should you include on your lead capture page?
An effective lead capture page includes a number of elements that help promote conversions, including:
An enticing headline
As with any landing page, a strong headline is crucial for drawing the reader in and keeping them on the page.
A good headline should be:
Ultra specific: Zero in on the exact problem or issue the reader is facing.
Benefit-rich: Make it clear how your lead magnet will benefit the reader.
Straightforward: Avoid metaphors and clever analogies. Make your language clear so there are no misunderstandings.
Bold: Don’t exaggerate but do make bold claims (as long as you can back them up).
Emotional: Use your headline to elicit an emotional response (happiness, excitement, frustration, etc.)
If you create a headline that follows all these rules you’ll have no problem convincing visitors to read the rest of your copy and submit their contact information.
Powerful imagery
Words aren’t the only element that generates conversions—images are just as important. You’ll need an eye-catching image in your hero section, and a few other images throughout the page, to effectively make your pitch.
Here are some tips to consider when choosing your images:
Show the benefits of your lead magnet through your images to really hammer home what’s in it for users.
Studies show that people are attracted to smiling faces, so images with lots of happy people are great for conversions.
Avoid cheesy stock photos and try to use your own original photos as much as possible.
Also, don’t be afraid to include pictures of yourself! This helps visitors get to know you.
Benefits instead of features
When describing your lead magnet, don’t just list the features. Instead, think about the benefit each of those features provides the reader and talk about those instead.
For example, let’s say you’re offering people a free ebook about email marketing. A feature of that book might be “five tips to help you write better subject lines.” However, if we focus on the benefits it reads like this: “Boost your sales with my five best subject line tips.”
See the difference? The first example talks about writing better subject lines, but the second example highlights the benefit of writing better subject lines, making it much more enticing.
Social proof
We’ve talked a bit about building trust with your audience. An excellent way to do this is to include testimonials on your lead capture page.
You can talk all you want about how great your brand is—but internet users are savvy. They know you’re trying to sell them something and aren’t going to talk negatively about it.
In addition to testimonials, you can also use social likes and logos from past clients to establish social proof.
CTA Button
A strong call to action (CTA) is key to generating conversions. This is where your CTA button comes in. It needs to urge visitors to take action and entice them to click so they can submit their information.
First, the text within your button should be unique to your offer and provide clear instructions on what you want them to do. For example, if your lead magnet is a free ebook your CTA could be “Get My Free Ebook.”
Secondly, your CTA button should be a contrasting color. If your page is predominantly blue, you could use a yellow button. If it’s black, you could use a red button, etc. Make sure your button stands out and draws the eye of the reader.
Finally, depending on the length of your page, you might want to include multiple CTA buttons. This way, there’s always a button close by when visitors are ready to take the next step.
Lead capture form
In order to capture leads you’ll need a lead capture form. This is where users will enter and submit their information in order to receive your lead magnet.
There are two types of lead capture forms to consider:
An on-page (or one-step) form that lives on your lead capture page and doesn’t require users to click to view it.
Or a two-step form that pops up when visitors click your CTA button.
There are pros and cons to each variant. On-page forms require fewer steps and simplify the process for users. However, these forms can distract from your message and make it clear right from the start that you plan to collect their email address.
Two-step opt-ins result in a page that looks cleaner. They also benefit from the psychological effect known as commitment and consistency. Once a user has taken the first step and clicked your CTA button they’re more likely to follow through and fill out the form. However, pop-up forms do require more steps which some argue can reduce conversions.
Based on our tests, both options produce similar results. If you’re unsure, try both to see which one works best for your page.
How to build a lead capture page
Knowing what to include on your lead capture page is great, but how do you actually build one?
Ten or fifteen years ago, you’d have to hire an expensive developer to create it for you. Or you could code it from scratch if you had the time, knowledge, and skills to do so. Luckily, landing page builders like Leadpages have simplified the process, even for complete beginners.
To start, browse the template gallery to find the right look for your brand and offer (don’t worry if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for—every template is 100% customizable). Click “Lead Capture” under the “Page Type” dropdown to find templates specifically designed for capturing leads.
Once you have your template, use the Drag & Drop Builder to make it your own. You can change the color scheme, add and remove sections, upload images, edit text, and more.
After you’ve finished editing your page, publish it within your Leadpages account, log into your WordPress site, and log in to the plugin using your Leadpages credentials. From there, select the lead capture page you created in Leadpages and choose the type of page you’re publishing. You have the option to publish it as a landing page, homepage, welcome gate, or 404 page (in most cases you’ll want to publish it as a landing page).
Once you’ve completed those steps, click “Publish” to publish your lead capture page to your WordPress site.
Tips to help you capture more leads
We’ve gone over the basics of how to create a lead capture page. But how do you ensure your page generates as many leads as possible? Here are a few more tips and strategies to maximize your results.
Create a lead magnet your audience will love
The number of leads you generate from your page will be largely dependent on how enticing your lead magnet is. If it’s something your audience wants or needs they’ll happily hand over their information. However, if it’s not something they’re interested in they’ll likely click away.
So, the first step to building a successful lead capture page is coming up with an offer your audience can’t refuse.
To start, answer the following questions:
What is the primary problem your audience is struggling with?
Can you provide a simple solution to solve or partially solve this problem?
What format will work best for your lead magnet (ebook, checklist, video, webinar, etc.)?
Do you have any existing content that can be repurposed into a lead magnet?
Your answers to these questions should give you the foundation you need to create an awesome lead magnet. If you’re looking for even more help with your lead magnet, check out our blog “12 Ways to Create a High-Value Lead Magnet.”
Keep your lead capture form short
To increase the chances people will submit their information, you need to make the process as easy as possible. This means keeping your form to the bare minimum.
Sure, it would be helpful to know their age, gender, location, etc. But in most cases, it’s not necessary and will only dissuade potential leads from completing your form. Few people have the time or patience to submit that much information. Plus, too many personal questions will make them feel uneasy.
Instead, just ask for their email and maybe their name if you feel that will be beneficial.
Establish your traffic sources
Your lead capture page might be perfectly optimized for conversions, but if no one sees it it’s not going to be of much use to you.
There are four ways to drive traffic to your page:
Organic search: Because lead capture pages are generally short and light on content it’s unlikely you’ll receive a lot of organic search traffic directly to the page. However, you can redirect organic traffic from other pages (homepage, product pages, blogs, etc.) with links, pop-ups, and alert bars.
Paid search: If you want people to find your page through search, your best bet is pay-per-click (PPC) ads. This will ensure you appear for your desired keywords and should boost your page traffic.
Organic social: Have a large social presence? Sharing your lead magnet/lead capture page with your audience is an effective (and free) way to drive traffic.
Paid social: If you don’t have a large following, or you just want to get your page in front of more people, paid social ads are a great choice. Facebook allows for very specific targeting (age, gender, interests, etc.), so use this to ensure you’re targeting the right people.
Experiment with one or more traffic sources to see which ones produce the best results.
Refine your lead capture page with A/B tests
Your work isn’t over after your lead capture page is launched. In order to get the most out of your page you should perform some A/B tests to ensure every element is fully optimized.
A/B tests (also known as split tests) allow you to test two different variations of your page. For example, you could create pages with two different headlines, hero images, or CTA buttons to see what performs best.
It’s recommended to only test one element at a time. Otherwise, you won't know which changes are causing an increase or decrease in conversions.
Follow up with your leads
Once you have someone’s email address it’s time to get work and start turning them into a customer. To do this, you’ll have to build a relationship with them.
You’re a busy entrepreneur, so it’s not realistic for you to send individual emails to all your leads. But what you can do is set up automated email sequences that are triggered as soon as someone is added to your email list.
The first few emails in your sequence should focus more on educating leads about your brand and providing them with valuable information. Then, later on in your sequence, and after you’ve earned their trust, you can start suggesting products to them and promoting offers.
Lead capture page examples
Before you build your own lead capture page, have a look at what other entrepreneurs are doing with theirs. Here are a few examples.
Mattia pretty much checks all the boxes with this page. He has a clear and effective headline, a strong call to action, and a clean design. He also provides proof of his past accomplishments which helps build trust with visitors.
Questions often make great headlines, and Teri uses this technique perfectly. This page provides two options. You can either sign up for her webinar (which requires you to submit your email address) or enroll now in her trading program.
Your audience might have different goals depending on the time of year. This is why using seasonal offers like the Holiday Planner above can be a good way to increase conversions.
The bold colors of this Leadpages template really catch your eye. The green CTA button contrasts nicely with the blue background, making it really stand out.
Here’s another Leadpages template to consider. The use of bullets makes it easy to sum up the benefits quickly without getting too wordy.
Ready to build your own lead capture page?
Creating a lead capture page doesn’t have to be difficult. With Leadpages, you can launch your first page in a matter of minutes, even if you don’t have any coding or web design experience.
