Value comes in many forms; it can mean competitive prices, quality guarantees or even something as simple as good ratings from third parties such as ‘Trust Pilot’. A good value proposition effectively communicates to customers why they should choose to use you instead of a competitor, and if you aren’t communicating this point quickly and clearly, there’s a very good chance you could be losing a large portion of your potential conversions.
To begin to understand exactly what you should be saying to your customers, start by asking yourself that very question.
“Why should prospects choose me instead of my competition?”
If you already have a good answer to this question, then you’re half way there, but that is unlikely. You must be able to offer something others cannot, whether that is certifications from authorities in your industry, unbeatable low prices or testimonials from “97/100 satisfied customers”. If you excel in one aspect of value, you can make a claim. This claim is to be the best or to have something others do not, and that is precisely what will make you appear to be leagues above your competition.
Communicating Value
Once you have an answer to this question in mind, you must now start moving towards ways to effectively express your value. There are three main things to consider when looking to express value more effectively on your landing page:
Congruence
This is an abstract term that means a similarity between objects; when applied to landing page optimization, and more specifically our communication of value, it means each feature on our landing page should either state, or support our message. For example, our headline and sub header would state the value, a free delivery guarantee or secure checkout would support it.
Continuity
Continuity in value is vital. If at any point during the conversion process (starting from the first step in your traffic channels such as search engine results pages or advertisement banners) your proposed value seems flawed, or fails to state the same value, many prospects will become confused, lose faith and interest, or simply abandon the conversion.
Every step must express your value and reassure the prospect they are still on the right path to achieving the value that has caught their eye.
Credibility
Your offer or service must seem credible; if you are making fantastic claims about your prices then back them up with a testimonial from a real customer. Anything that is hard to believe or seems untrustworthy is unlikely to catch the interest of anyone, let alone earn a sale or conversion, so be entirely sure your page is credible and trustworthy.
Security badges, secure checkouts, testimonials and third party reviews are all great ways of instantly adding credibility to a page and reassuring the prospect that your website is safe to use.
Communicating value effectively is the first thing you should be looking to do on your landing page; be sure to review each aspect for congruence, continuity and credibility.
About the Author
Brown is a conversion rate optimization consultant at Web Vitality, and regularly shares his tips, ideas and findings on the ‘WebVit’ blog! Find Dan on Twitter @DanTravisBrown if you have any questions or queries.