What are landing pages, and why are they important for asset manager marketing? How do they differ from home pages? In this article, we’ll answer those questions and help you understand how financial services firms use landing pages to get leads. We’ll also provide tips to help you optimize your landing pages.

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a stand-alone website page. It is developed to convert visitors into leads. Landing pages are a critical asset for asset manager marketing.

The landing page is where your prospects “land” when they react positively to a compelling offer you’ve placed on social media, in a newsletter, via email, or on your website.

A landing page is integral to converting strangers into clients. The idea is that prospects will gladly provide their contact information—typically name and business email at minimum—in exchange for your super compelling offer. That offer must help solve a pain point or timely issue, and can be in the form of a complimentary assessment, white paper, video, or conversation request.

Why Asset Managers Need Landing Pages

Here are key reasons why asset managers need landing pages to achieve marketing success:

• Generate Leads. The first reason is obvious: great landing pages can build your internal email contact list of interested investors. Landing pages can be created for specific one-time campaigns, to promote a new product or service, or a timeless product or service that should remain relevant over a long period of time. Of course, leads received must be integrated into your CRM system so you can continually engage with potential investors.
• Boosts SEO. Landing pages with persuasive content and effective design can help boost search engine optimization results. In other words, a landing page, because it’s indexed by Google and other search engines, may increase the opportunity for you to show highly in search rankings—and drive traffic to your website via organic search. Moreover, more landing pages mean greater SEO. Always a good thing.
• Provides Data. Landing pages also help asset managers and wealth managers gain insights into investor behavior—and the success, or lack, of a particular marketing campaign. Success metrics include page views, time on page, form completion, conversion rate, and number of new leads. Analytics can also help managers test different headlines, text, and layouts to see which may lead to a higher lead conversion rate.

What Do Great Asset Manager Landing Pages Look Like?

Great landing pages share common best practices. Key elements of lead-converting landing pages include:

• Clear Headline. A compelling headline must immediately communicate the value of your offer. And have a sense of urgency. For example, the headline “Does Your Website Sink or Swim? Get a Complementary Audit Now” is likely more effective than “Test Your Website.” Your headline must also align with the content that brought visitors to your landing page. Great subheads matter, too, since they provide more top-line information about your offer.
• Clean Design. Landing pages must be uncluttered, easy to navigate, and include relevant images and charts. Bullet points and call outs may be nice touches. Landing pages should also align with your brand, design, colors, fonts, and tone of voice. Plus, the design should be optimized for different desktop and mobile devices and screen sizes.
• Persuasive Text. Your words must be concise, clear, and benefits-focused. Investors want to know: “What’s in it for me?”
• Compelling Call-to-Action. A nicely motivational call-to-action button tells visitors what you want them to do. Examples: “Sign Up Today,” “Download Now”, and “Read More.” However, don’t use “Submit”. Few like to submit. The CTA button must visually stand out as well.
• Lead Capture Form. The lead capture form is a crucial element of your landing page. It’s where visitors give their email, name, and possibly more in exchange for your offer. Shorter forms asking for less information may result in more leads, and longer forms will result in fewer, but higher-quality leads.
• Minimal Navigation. When a prospect “lands,” you don’t want them going anywhere else without filling out the lead capture form. This means landing pages should not have navigation links to elsewhere. Make them distraction-free.
• Social Proof. You’ll also want to quickly build trust with new visitors. Consider including case studies, historical results, awards won, and testimonials where appropriate.

The governing authorities also require you to add a privacy disclosure and a legal permissions on your landing page when you collect visitor contact information. This typically means including consent language and a checkbox, and a link to your privacy policy and service terms.

A Landing Page is Not a Home Page

A landing page is not a home page. Unlike a website, which should encourage exploration, a landing page should do one thing— get people to fill out a form.

Here are more ways they are different.

A Final Checklist: Stick the Landing Page  

In aviation, gymnastics, and landing pages, it’s important to stick the landing. You’ve got only a few seconds to show what the offer is, why you’re offering it, and why it’s valuable.

Here’s your pre-flight checklist:

• Is the headline attention-getting and urgent?
• Is the text clear, concise, and say how people benefit?
• Is the design free of distraction?
• Are images relevant, compelling, and on-brand?
• Did you add social proof?

Now go stick the landing page.

Schedule a complimentary strategy session to discuss how you could improve your landing pages and overall website experience. 

Frank Serebrin is the Content Marketing Director for Sondhelm Partners. He leads strategic and creative content and marketing services for our asset management and wealth management clients.