Skip to content

Web & Digital Experience

Landing pages: keep the promise that sent them

Every visitor arrives because something promised them something: an ad for same-day repair, a postcard for a spring tune-up, an email about their plan. A landing page keeps that promise. It repeats the words that sent them, puts the proof where they decide and offers one thing to do. The homepage can't do that for everyone at once.
Discuss your campaignsSee three pages ↓
what sent themthe page they land onhomepageno word about heatpromise lostsearch adFurnace not heating?Same-day repair · Eastside/no-heat-eastsideNo heat? Same-day furnacerepair in EastsideBook same-day repairpostcardSpring AC tune-upBook a morning visit/spring-tune-upSpring AC tune-up:pick a morningPick a morningmember emailYour maintenance planrenews May 1/renewRenew your maintenanceplan before May 1Renew in one stepone visitor · one promise · one action

Three promises, three pages

Same business, same week, three visitors who need different pages.

/no-heat-eastside

Arrives from
a search ad: furnace not heating, same-day repair, Eastside
Headline
No heat? Same-day furnace repair in Eastside
Proof beside the ask
licensed and insured; today's open times
The one action
Book same-day repair, or call
Left out
the main menu, the blog, other services

Five rules for a page that keeps its promise

  1. 01

    One visitor

    Written for who's arriving

    A homeowner with no heat and a plan member renewing need different pages, even for the same company.

  2. 02

    The promise kept

    The first words repeat what sent them

    If the ad said same-day, the headline says same-day. A mismatch reads as a bait and switch.

  3. 03

    One action

    And one fallback

    Book, or call. Menus and side links are left out, because every exit is a visitor lost.

  4. 04

    Proof next to the ask

    Right where they decide

    The licence, today's open times, their last visit: whatever removes doubt at the button.

  5. 05

    Measured by source

    Each page, each source

    Visits and requests counted per page and per source, so a weak promise shows up.

Why not just the homepage

Sending everyone to the homepage

  1. 01The headline doesn't mention what the ad promised
  2. 02Six menus to choose from
  3. 03The visitor hunts for the booking form
  4. 04Requests arrive without knowing which ad sent them

The ad paid for a visit the page didn't use.

A landing page for each promise

  1. 01The headline repeats the ad's words
  2. 02One action, with a phone number as the fallback
  3. 03Proof beside the button
  4. 04Each request tagged with its page and source

Each source is judged on the work it brings in.

What a landing page hands off

In

Sources
ads, postcards, emails
The promise
what each one said
Proof
for this visitor
Landing page
one promise, one action

Out

Requests
tagged with page and source
Counts
per page, per source
Visitors
sent on, not lost

Worth building when you pay for the visit

Good fit

  • You run ads, mailers or emails with a specific offer.
  • Different visitors need different pages for the same service.
  • You want to know which source brings in work.

Not the right fit

  • You run no campaigns; your service pages do the work.
  • The offer changes weekly and nobody can keep pages in step.

Where this capability is used

Next to landing pages

Questions about landing pages

How many landing pages do we need?

One per promise worth paying for. Usually a handful: your main ads, your seasonal mailers, your member emails.

Should they be in the main menu?

Usually not. They're for visitors arriving from somewhere specific, and they're kept out of search results when they repeat a service page.

Can we make new ones ourselves?

Yes. They're built from parts you arrange, with the rules kept: one headline, one action, proof by the button.

How do we know one is working?

Each request carries its page and source, so sources are compared by the requests they bring, not just clicks.