A well-done (and well-maintained) ecommerce landing page can make your brand millions, even billions, of dollars over time. But don’t expect to whip these kinds of pages up in a day or two with a landing page builder and whatever copy you come up with off the top of your head. Those hardly become cash cows.
What more does it take to develop high-converting ecommerce landing pages that are among your most reliable sources for customer acquisition? Let us fill you in.
High-converting ecommerce landing pages are research-based
What’s the first step to success when building or optimizing landing pages? Do your research. That’s the most important advice we could ever give you.
Brands are often disappointed to find that it’s not enough to implement general best practices or even to emulate CRO tactics other brands have used successfully. Ultimately, your landing page strategy must be right for your brand and target customers. There’s no way around it—without thorough research, driving conversions is an uphill battle.
So where should you start with conversion research?
Analyze quantitative data: Determine what your ecommerce site or specific landing pages do well and what elements are hurting performance. To do this, scrutinize your analytics and use heatmaps, scrollmaps, and other quantitative data to get the full picture.
Gather qualitative insights: Instead of jumping straight into brainstorming A/B testing ideas as many do, dig into why certain elements of your landing pages do or don’t work. Through usability tests, polls, surveys, and interviews, put yourself in site visitors’ shoes and learn about their wants, needs, and concerns.
Develop a roadmap: With a deep understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of your landing pages and of your ideal customers, it’s time to strategize. How can you meet the needs of the people you’re trying to attract? What concerns should you address or what questions should you answer to make it easier for them to become customers? The research done to this point helps answer those questions and build a solid foundation for conversion optimization.
We’ve seen this process, which we call the Testing Trifecta, serve many brands well. Laura Geller’s conversions increased by an average of 43% after the discovery that the brand’s landing pages needed to be tailored for an older customer avatar. And DIFF Eyewear saw a 55% increase thanks to new landing pages tailored to the brand’s mobile visitors.
Your research can achieve similar if not better results if you base your landing page optimization strategy on quantitative and qualitative research.
How to build a high-converting landing page like a pro
Now, when thinking about the larger process of building an effective landing page, what are the steps?
1. Define the goal and target audience
Starting a conversion rate optimization project with no conversion goal is like starting a trip with no destination. You may end up where you want to be eventually, or you could end up lost. Either way, you’ll waste time and resources.
So, before anything else, clarify what you want to achieve (e.g., reducing cart abandonment rate, increasing add-to-cart rate, boosting conversion rate). What metric would you like to improve, by how much, and by when?
Having this objective in mind from the start will help you decide on the best route to get there later. For example, if reducing cart abandonment is the goal, your research in the next stage will focus on identifying the top reasons people abandon your landing page and making adjustments accordingly. That could include tweaking language in the copy or adding trust-builders like testimonials to the page.
Or if you want to sell more of a certain product, you’ll know you need to eliminate page elements that distract from it, such as mentions of other loosely-related products. And you’ll be reminded to cover all of the top selling points, answer the most frequently asked questions, and proactively address any objections that could come up.
2. Conduct thorough market research
There are several ways to gather intel about the customer avatar your landing page will be tailored for:
Website polls to learn about site visitors’ opinions, wants, needs, and preferences
Usability testing to identify issues with and opportunities to improve the functionality of a page
Customer interviews to learn about the conversion triggers, motivations, pain points, and behaviors of your ideal customers
Session recordings to identify points of interest for potential customers or things that might be adding friction to the user experience
Chat support analysis to identify user experience issues, FAQs, information that’s unclear, and so on
From there, you can put the insights you gather to use.
3. Craft laser-targeted copy
When wordsmithing landing page copy, there are some key things to remember.
Choose headlines wisely. Headlines can be straightforward, clever, or even a little mysterious. But two things they should never be are unclear or uninteresting. Your headlines and subheadings should give a good indication of what the copy to follow is about or, at least, make people want to stick around to find out.
Focus on outcomes. Ever heard the saying “features over benefits?” It’s a good point—it’s important to explain why the features of your product or service should interest potential buyers. But we’ll reframe this advice and say you should focus on outcomes. What does enjoying the benefits you point to look and feel like? Describe it in vivid detail.
Write for a specific use case. Unlike product pages, which may touch on different use cases, it’s usually best to dial landing pages into one. If there are several for what you offer, pick the one that will be most relevant to the customer persona your landing page targets and stick with it.
Use trust builders every chance you get. User-generated content (UGC) can increase conversions by up to 100.6%, according to research by Power Reviews, so add customer testimonials, brand-related social media content, and other forms of UGC to your landing pages. Also, use influencer content, awards, certifications, and mentions in the media to build trust.
Promote one high-value, clear call-to-action (CTA). Pick the top action you want people to take after visiting your landing page, and stick to promoting that. Don’t water down the persuasiveness of your copy by trying to point visitors in several different directions. (You may also want to cut down on links that direct visitors away from your landing page.)
Consider traffic sources. Users of social media platforms, such as TikTok and Instagram, like to engage with shorter content. They may not convert if you direct them from there to a long, informational landing page. A different landing page type, like a fun quiz, may be better. In contrast, paid traffic from a Google Ad for a commercial intent keyword may convert well on an informative hero landing page, so always consider where you’ll be driving traffic from.
And one final reminder: The secret sauce of landing page copy is customization. Each visitor should feel like the copy was written just for them based on their needs, desires, where they’re at in the buyer’s journey, and so on. Doing and applying voice-of-customer research is essential.
4. Take care of landing page UX, design, and development
At this point, you can create or redesign your landing page—either with a landing page builder or with the help of a design agency. Either way, this should be done with your research, usability best practices, and behavioral design principles in mind.
Some brands and agencies get this backward, starting with the landing page design and then writing copy to fit within it. Why do it the other way around? In many cases, the copy is doing most of the persuading, so the design should complement it, not dictate it.
What to remember when creating and optimizing landing pages
With that process in mind, here’s a quick overview of some things to remember.
Get information hierarchy right
Depending on the customer persona your landing page is tailored for, some selling points will be more persuasive than others. What’s a huge plus for one potential customer may not matter to someone else. Or a potential objection that’s common for this persona may be no big deal to another. How can you know what pains, desires, questions, or objections to address to hook visitors’ attention and then get them to convert?
Deep customer research is integral for determining what key points to focus on and in what order. As is figuring out how best to present that info visually speaking. Many, if not most, skim pages rather than reading word for word, beginning to end. Your key points need to be able to be seen and understood at a glance. It’s part of the reason why many CRO experts advise structuring pages with common scanning patterns in mind.
Use visuals to your advantage
Photos, graphics, videos, and other visuals are multi-purpose. They can do all of the following and more:
Complement written explanations to get important points across
Spark an emotional desire to own your product or enjoy the benefits of your service
Help people feel more comfortable with making a purchase since they can see what they’ll be getting or the people behind the brand
Visuals can work hand-in-hand with your copy to drive conversions today and bring people back to your online store tomorrow. The right branded image can be memorable and increase the chances that people will think of you when they’re ready to buy in the future, or a friend or family member says they’re looking for what you offer.
Never stop testing
Landing page optimization is not a one-and-done process. There are always tweaks that can improve your conversion rates. It’s just up to you to keep testing to figure out what they are, and that could include either or both of the following:
A/B testing of a single different element on two versions of a page
Multivariate testing to find the highest-converting combinations of page elements, including copy, buttons, product images, and so on
Similarly, over time, there will always be a need to update your landing page copy, design, and overall user experience. There will be changes within your target market, within your industry, and possibly even changes to your offers or brand messaging. All of those should inform your landing pages as they evolve.
But, if they do, does that mean guaranteed success? Our founder and CEO, Raphael Paulin-Daigle, gave this insight: “Even if a landing page is built following all the ‘best practices’ and customer data available, the first version of a landing page is still a hypothesis. There's no guarantee that it'll immediately outperform other pages you may have been optimizing since the very beginning of the business.
“Every landing page is a test, and while landing pages can end up being a backbone for profitable customer acquisition, no one can get to get holes-in-one every time. Iterating and testing is part of the game, and some of the most successful landing pages were the result of multiple rounds of testing.”
Just remember not to lose sight of metrics in favor of brainstorming big ideas for your next test. After every optimization and before you move on to the next one, analyze the impact on performance. Did your bounce rate and session duration increase or decrease? How was your add-to-cart rate affected? What about cart abandonment? What about conversions?
Learn from 4 of the best ecommerce landing page examples
We’ve talked a lot about what to do if you want a landing page that converts—and you do, of course. So let’s see some examples of ecommerce landing pages that walk the talk, courtesy of SplitBase’s own DTC Swipe Files.
Women’s health brand De Lune does many things right on its landing page for the product Cramp Aid. One, it leads with a fear-based headline, which can be good for grabbing attention when done right. Two, the headline uses red—often associated with danger—to catch the eye immediately and emphasize the danger of painkillers.
Subsequent text in this section and the next directly challenges the idea that painkillers are the only remedy for period pain; i.e., it states De Lune’s brand point of view while also making people wonder what the better alternative is.
After laying out the problem and De Lune’s stance, it introduces Cramp Aid as the solution. There’s a clear visual with instructions on when to use it and a short and sweet list of reasons it’s a healthier, better solution than painkillers. Not to mention two callouts of a special discount to encourage people to buy right away.
There’s also social proof throughout the page—star ratings, logos of big brands that love the product, and a ton of glowing customer reviews from verified buyers.
By educating first, promoting second, and using trust-builders throughout, DeLune positions its products as reliable and worth the money.
Health and wellness brand Sandland has a great mobile landing page that could provide some inspiration for your own landing pages. There’s fairly little copy but, from the first headline on, what’s there is centered on what Sandland’s products do and their benefits (it “improves circadian rhythms naturally,” “improves nightly sleep,” helps users “rediscover restfulness,” and so on).
The copy also emphasizes that the products are “all-natural” and “restore your body’s natural sleep patterns” to appeal to people who agree that natural remedies are more healthful.
There are also plenty of trust-builders on the page, including a positive comment from BuzzFeed, sleep improvement stats and a mini case study from Oura Ring users, customer testimonials, and doctor bios.
Lastly, we love that the page features two closely-related products—one for getting to sleep fast and one for staying asleep. No matter what each visitor's challenge is, the page can convert them.
Personal care brand Harry’s provides another example of a well-done ecommerce landing page. Although the page is fairly short, it does a good job of promoting a product trial. The headline “Join the 10 million+ who’ve tried Harry’s” instantly makes the brand reputable and can even inspire fear of missing out in folks who haven’t tried it yet.
Very early on, the copy also states the brand’s stance that people “have been overpaying for overdesigned razors” for too long. The rest of the copy and visuals drive those points home in a couple of ways: The simple but high-quality product images and concise copy set the brand apart from others that offer “overdesigned razors,” and the price comparison section and graphic set it apart from brands with expensive razors. With both points made and proven, the final call-to-action can do its job of getting people to sign up for a trial.
Next is a landing page we built based on insights from the conversion research process we walked through earlier. There are many things it does well starting with the clear, descriptive, and enticing headline.
Attractive, high-quality product photos are displayed throughout. And bolding, icons, and other page elements draw attention to key ingredients, features, and benefits of the products. Plus, the “choose your scent” filter makes it easier for visitors to find the product that will be best for them.
This page also uses a ton of social proof. Notice the mention of “over 15,000 5-star reviews” in the hero section, the bestseller reviews in the product sections, the video testimonials, and the written customer reviews toward the bottom of the page.
Just before those reviews is a special offer—a sampler that allows people to try five fragrances if they’re having trouble choosing one. Not only does this reduce hesitation to convert immediately but the discount code for a future purchase increases the chances that there will be a future purchase.
Your next landing page may be the best-converting one yet
You’ve seen examples of great desktop and mobile landing pages and learned the process, do’s, and don’ts of creating your own. That includes the importance of investing heavily in conversion and audience research and using them as the foundation for your copy and design.
If you and your team follow what you’ve learned here, you can get a higher return on investment from your ecommerce landing pages than you’re currently seeing. That ROI can be even higher if you bring on a trusted partner like SplitBase that specializes in landing page optimization.
Book a call with us, and we'll walk you through a personalized discovery session to discuss how we can help you make more money from your landing pages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes an ecommerce landing page different from a product page?
A product page lives in your store's navigation and serves multiple visitor types, from browsers to repeat buyers. A landing page is built for one audience, one offer, and one goal. It strips away distractions like site-wide nav and cross-links so that every element on the page pushes toward a single conversion action, whether that's an add-to-cart, a quiz completion, or an email signup.
Because the traffic source is usually paid, the stakes per visit are higher. Every dollar you spend driving someone to that page is wasted if the page doesn't speak directly to the audience and intent behind that click.
How do I know if my landing page needs a redesign or just optimization?
Start with your data. If the page converts but underperforms benchmarks for your traffic source and price point, optimization (testing headlines, restructuring the copy hierarchy, adding social proof) is usually the faster path to results. If the page has fundamental issues, like messaging that doesn't match your ad creative, a layout that buries your CTA below the fold, or copy that was written without any customer research, you're better off rebuilding from the ground up.
A good rule of thumb: if more than two or three core elements need changing, a redesign informed by fresh research will get you to a better outcome faster than patching things one at a time.
How long should an ecommerce landing page be?
There's no universal answer, because it depends on your traffic source, your price point, and where the visitor is in the buying journey. A $15 impulse purchase driven by a TikTok ad can convert on a short, visual page. A $200 supplement bundle coming from a Google search ad for a comparison keyword usually needs more copy, more proof, and more structured objection handling.
The guiding principle is: your page should be exactly long enough to answer every question and overcome every objection your target customer has before they're ready to buy, and not a line longer.
What's the most common mistake brands make with landing pages?
Skipping the research. Most underperforming landing pages aren't badly designed or poorly written. They're built on assumptions about what the customer cares about instead of actual data.
When you run customer interviews, analyze session recordings, and dig into your site analytics before writing a single headline, you build pages that speak to real objections, real desires, and real language your audience uses. Without that foundation, even a beautiful page with polished copy is just an expensive guess.
How do I choose the right CTA for my landing page?
Pick the one action that aligns with both your business goal and where the visitor is in their buying journey. If the visitor is problem-aware and clicking through from an educational ad, "Shop Now" is premature. Something like "Find Your Match" or "Take the Quiz" might fit better because it moves them one step closer without asking for the sale too early.
The key is: one CTA per page, repeated where it makes sense, and worded in a way that feels like the natural next step for someone who just read everything above it.
Should I use the same landing page for all traffic sources?
No, and this is one of the biggest missed opportunities we see. Visitors coming from a Google search ad with purchase intent are in a completely different mindset than visitors tapping through from an Instagram Story. The search visitor may want detailed specs, comparisons, and reviews. The social visitor may want a quick, visual, emotionally driven experience.
Tailoring your landing page to the traffic source, or at minimum creating variations for your highest-volume channels, will almost always outperform sending everyone to the same page.
How important is social proof on ecommerce landing pages?
It's one of the highest-impact elements you can add, but the type and placement matter. A generic "4.8 stars" badge does less work than a specific customer quote that names the exact benefit or concern the rest of the page is built around. Video testimonials tend to outperform text reviews, and placing proof near your CTA tends to outperform burying it in a reviews carousel at the bottom of the page.
The goal is to use social proof as evidence that reinforces the specific claims your copy is making, not just as a trust badge that sits off to the side.
How often should I update or test my landing pages?
Continuously. A landing page that converted well six months ago may not convert well today because your audience has shifted, competitors have changed their positioning, or the ad creative driving traffic has evolved. At minimum, you should be running A/B tests on your highest-traffic landing pages at all times and revisiting your customer research quarterly.
As Raphael Paulin-Daigle puts it, "Every landing page is a test." Even the best-performing pages are hypotheses that can be improved with fresh data and iteration.
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