Landing Pages & Conversion

What Oreos and Toothpaste Taught Me About Landing Pages

Grocery stores benefit from filling shelves with choices. Landing pages have a different job: helping visitors find what they came for and take the next step.

I went to the grocery store earlier this week to get a package of Oreos. Just plain, old-fashioned Oreos. The kind I ate when I was a kid.

Sounds simple enough.

I walked down the cookie aisle, and what do I see? What seems like ten different varieties of Oreos. Regular, Double Stuf, Mega Stuf, Golden Oreos, special Halloween Oreos, and who knows what else.

I’m a purist. I just wanted the original Oreo. That’s what I like.

Then I figured I’d probably better brush my teeth after eating all those Oreos so my teeth wouldn’t rot.

Off to the toothpaste aisle.

I wanted plain old Crest paste, the same kind I used as a kid.

Wouldn’t you know it? Same problem.

There must be 25 different kinds of Crest toothpaste now. Whitening, sensitivity, tartar control, advanced this, complete that. It took me several minutes just to find what I wanted.

Why This Works in a Grocery Store

Now, I understand why companies do this.

They want to fill as much shelf space as possible with their own products. The more space Crest occupies in the toothpaste aisle, the more likely shoppers are to notice Crest.

The same goes for Oreos. More varieties mean more opportunities to appeal to different customers.

And that’s how retail works. Stores are perfectly happy when customers discover something new and add it to their shopping carts.

There are even people who enjoy wandering through store aisles just to see what’s available. Something I’ve never quite understood.

But here’s the thing.

What works well in a grocery store doesn’t necessarily work on a landing page.

A Landing Page Has a Different Job

When someone arrives at your landing page, they’re probably coming from an advertisement, a specific Google search, or a link in an email.

They’re usually looking for something specific.

They’re not necessarily there to browse everything your company offers. They have a question, a problem, or a particular service they’re interested in.

And people are busy.

They want to find what they’re looking for, get the information they need, and move on to the next step.

If they’re overwhelmed with unrelated choices, they may simply hit the back button and try the next website.

After all, leaving a website is a lot easier than leaving a grocery store and driving to another one.

A grocery store wants you to explore. A landing page should help you move forward.

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A Landing Page Isn’t Your Homepage

I should clarify something here.

I’m talking about a dedicated landing page, not necessarily your website’s homepage.

Your homepage serves a broader purpose. It should help visitors learn about your business and navigate to the different products and services you offer.

A landing page is different.

It’s designed around a particular offer, service, or action. Its job is to help turn an interested visitor into a lead or customer.

That means it should address the specific reason someone arrived there, rather than presenting every product and service your business offers.

Don’t Make Visitors Hunt for What They Want

Think back to my Oreo and toothpaste adventure.

I already knew exactly what I wanted. The problem wasn’t deciding what to buy. It was finding it among all the other choices.

Your landing page shouldn’t create that same frustration.

Visitors should quickly understand what you’re offering and what they need to do next.

Give them a clear call to action (CTA). That’s simply the action you want someone to take, whether it’s scheduling an appointment, requesting a quote, making a purchase, or filling out a form.

Make that action easy to find.

Explain your offer, answer the questions visitors are likely to have, and give them an obvious way to proceed.

Don’t make them hunt around for the right button.

Remember, they’re on your landing page for a reason. Don’t make them work harder to take the next step.

Relevance converts. Too many choices hurt.

Just Because You Can Add Something Doesn’t Mean You Should

Landing pages can become cluttered for several reasons.

One of the most common is that the web developer or business owner wants to show everything the company can do on every page.

The thinking is understandable. If we show visitors all our services, maybe they’ll find something else they’re interested in.

But that’s not necessarily what the visitor wants.

Someone who clicks an advertisement for drain cleaning probably doesn’t need to see everything else the plumbing company offers. They’re not looking for water heater installation, bathroom remodeling, or a new sump pump.

They have a clogged drain, and they want someone to fix it.

Make it easy for them to take that next step.

The job of the landing page is to help them decide whether your offer is right for them and guide them toward the next step.

I prefer a more minimalist approach.

Just because something can go on a landing page doesn’t mean it should.

Simplicity Doesn’t Mean Less Information

Now, I don’t want anyone to misunderstand what I’m saying.

A simple landing page doesn’t necessarily mean a short landing page.

There’s nothing wrong with including testimonials, pricing information, product benefits, service descriptions, or frequently asked questions.

In fact, those things can be extremely helpful.

The important thing is that the information supports the purpose of the page.

If a testimonial helps establish trust, it belongs there.

If pricing information helps someone decide whether your service is right for them, include it.

If an FAQ answers a question that might otherwise prevent someone from moving forward, that’s useful too.

You can even have multiple buttons throughout the page, as long as they’re guiding visitors toward the same primary action.

We don’t necessarily want less information. We want fewer distractions.

Every element should help visitors understand the offer, feel confident about their decision, or take the next step.

Three Questions to Ask About Your Landing Page

Take a look at one of your landing pages and ask yourself three simple questions:

Is it immediately obvious what this page is offering?
Is there one clear action I want visitors to take?
Is anything on the page distracting visitors from taking that action?

Try looking at your landing page from the visitor’s point of view rather than the business owner’s point of view.

You already know everything your business offers. Your visitors don’t.

And they shouldn’t have to figure it all out just to accomplish one thing.

Remember the Toothpaste Aisle

Crest and Nabisco have perfectly good reasons for filling store shelves with their products. That strategy makes sense in retail.

But your landing page shouldn’t follow the same strategy.

Every element on the page should have a purpose. It should explain the offer, answer a question, establish trust, or help visitors take action.

The next time you’re designing a landing page, remember the toothpaste aisle.

Your visitors shouldn’t have to search through 25 choices to find the one thing they came looking for.

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