Landing Page (Landingpage, Target Page) explained

A landing page is a page that the user arrives at after clicking on an advertising medium and where they are meant to trigger a specific action (buying a product, signing up for a newsletter, etc.).

This advertising medium can be, for example, an advertising banner, a Meta Ads ad or a search engine result. Landing pages are designed to “pick up” the user directly; if they have clicked on a prize draw, for example, they are taken straight there; if an online shop is advertised, they reach the online shop via the landing page.

Landing pages are target-group-oriented pages that lead the user with clear call-to-actions (CTA = call to action) to a specific action. They contain buttons (“To the shop now” or “Subscribe to the newsletter”), or forms, for example (for entering a prize draw). They are designed to suit the target group and adapted to the user’s needs. Landing pages contain exclusively information that is relevant to the visitor and matches the reason for their visit.

Function and Goals of the Landing Page

A landing page is usually not integrated into the website’s main navigation and is therefore only accessible via the respective advertising medium – technically, however, it belongs to your own website. It serves to capture the target group’s attention through appropriate advertising measures and to bring them to your own website in order to achieve a reaction there (conversion = e.g. prize draw entry, newsletter subscriptions, acquiring online shop customers).

Furthermore, its goal is to increase the company’s recognition value or to increase trust (the credibility of a company). A landing page can pursue one or several goals. It should not, however, be overloaded, as it is considered a compact measure for achieving one or more goals.

As a rule, users decide within a few seconds whether the landing page convinces them. If the page is too complicated, too overloaded, or not suited to the target group, the user leaves the page again without performing any of the desired actions.

How Users Reach a Landing Page

Users reach a landing page primarily through appropriate advertising measures. These can be ads on social media, paid and organic search engine results, or banner advertising. Analog measures are also possible: for example, flyers, or locally placed or target-group-oriented advertising in magazines, for instance. Here it is important to reach the target group directly.

Prior research into their needs is essential. If the user is to be encouraged to shop online, strong images and text help. If knowledge is to be sold in the form of e-books or newsletters, good teasers that build trust are beneficial. For prize draws, mentioning the prizes increases the willingness to visit the landing page.

These points must be taken into account both when creating the landing page and when creating the advertising measures. On social networks and with paid search engine ads, it is possible to define the target group relatively precisely. However, this requires a certain amount of know-how and intensive target group research.

Important Elements of a Landing Page

There is no such thing as the optimal landing page – the structure depends on the product, target group, and goal. The individual design depends, besides the factors mentioned, also on the objective. Some elements, however, should be found on (almost) every landing page.

Awards – Awards, certificates (e.g. Trusted Shops), seals, and other elements are meant to build trust in the user and increase credibility. Here you should pay attention both to the quality of the awards and to their quantity. A landing page overloaded with seals is just as off-putting to users as one that contains only fabricated or irrelevant certificates.
Call-to-Action – The CTA, i.e. the call to action, is meant to move the user to an action that corresponds to the goal of the landing page. They should, for example, enter a prize draw, visit the online shop, or subscribe to the newsletter. Depending on the target group, the CTA can be a link, a button, or a graphic. As the central element of the landing page, the call-to-action should be present but not too intrusive and placed in focus.
Introduction – The introduction explains to the user as concisely as possible what it is about and how they benefit from the product/service. It should address them as clearly as possible, make them curious, and move them to follow the call-to-action.
Headline/Subheadline – Users decide within a few seconds whether they stay on a website or leave it again. An appealing headline and subheadline are meant to arouse curiosity, convince, and at the same time improve the chance that users stay on the page longer.
Logo – The company logo serves recognition and should be placed in the upper, visible area of the landing page. According to a study, the best position for the logo is top left.
Testimonials – Customer opinions and reviews are important reasons for deciding for or against a service/product. Credible and genuine customer opinions create trust in users (“social proof”).
Unique selling point and Value proposition – The unique selling point (Unique Selling Proposition, USP) convinces the user to buy here instead of from the competition. The same applies to the value proposition (Unique Value Proposition, UVP).

Optimizing the Landing Page

Since users decide quickly whether they stay, a landing page should be optimally designed. Even small adjustments often bring significant improvements.

Address the target group: Text, graphics, and design should suit the target group. With a broad target group, several landing pages on the same topic can each address a different target group.
Message: The advertising message and the content of the landing page must match – users should find exactly what the ad promises.
Avoid mistakes: Poor wording and grammatical errors harm trust. If in doubt, professional copywriters are worthwhile.
Find the middle ground: A page without information goes down just as badly as an overloaded one – what matters is the essentials.
Coloring: With good traffic but a low conversion rate, the coloring can be the cause. A look into color theory and some experimentation are worthwhile.

The most effective optimization lever is systematic A/B testing: two variants of a page (e.g. different headlines, CTA texts, or colors) are tested against each other and the one with the higher conversion rate is adopted. Tools such as Unbounce, Instapage, or VWO make this possible without deep programming knowledge. Note: Google Optimize, formerly a widely used free testing tool, was discontinued in September 2023.

Since over 80 percent of traffic occurs on mobile, a landing page must be responsive and just as convincing on a smartphone as on the desktop – legible text, reachable buttons, and a visible CTA without zooming. Loading time is equally decisive: long loading times increase the bounce rate and are at the same time an SEO factor (Core Web Vitals). Compressing images, avoiding unnecessary scripts, and regularly checking the loading time (e.g. with PageSpeed Insights) is therefore part of the mandatory optimization.

Quellen

Landing Page (Landingpage, Target Page) – Definition & Explanation

Function and Goals of the Landing Page

How Users Reach a Landing Page

Important Elements of a Landing Page

Optimizing the Landing Page

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