One page, one job
A visitor arrives with one question, is this for me?, and about eight seconds of patience. The page's job is to answer that, then make the next step obvious. A page also trying to recruit, announce a funding round, and link to a blog is doing four jobs and failing the first.
The order that matches how people decide
- Headline, what it is, for whomPlain and specific. "Draft client-ready itineraries in minutes, and keep your own edits" beats anything clever.
- Subhead, one sentence of clarificationWho it's for, or what it replaces. Not a second headline.
- Primary action, visible without scrollingOne button. The label says what happens next, not "Get started".
- Proof, show the thingA real screenshot beats an illustration. Visitors want to see the product before they trust a description of it.
- Three benefits, as what changes for themThree real ones, not five reaching ones.
- Objections, answered plainlyPrice, effort to switch, what happens to their data. Ignoring these doesn't remove them.
- The same action again, at the endFor the person who read everything. Same label as the first one.
Writing the headline
The headline is most of the page. Its job is comprehension, not persuasion, a visitor who doesn't understand what the product is cannot be persuaded by anything below it.
| Headline | Problem |
|---|---|
| "Work smarter, not harder" | True of everything ever sold |
| "The future of logistics" | Names a category, not a product |
| "Powerful, seamless automation" | Adjectives describing the software's quality, not its behaviour |
| "Meet Atlas 2.0" | Assumes the reader knew about 1.0 |
| "Find local businesses and draft the outreach in one pass" | None, it says what happens |
Five things that quietly cost conversions
- A slow page, the visitor leaves before reading a word, and this is measurable in a minute
- No screenshot, people don't buy software they haven't seen
- A form with more fields than it needs; every extra field loses people
- Hidden pricing, "contact us" reads as expensive, and many visitors won't ask
- A navigation bar full of exits at the top of a page with one job
None of these are copywriting problems, which is why they survive rewrites. They're worth checking before spending a week on the wording.
Testing it without traffic
- The five-second testShow it for five seconds and ask what the product does and who it's for. If they can't say, the headline is the problem.
- Watch someone read it out loudWhere they slow down or re-read is where the sentence is unclear.
- Ask what would stop them signing upTheir answer belongs on the page as an objection you address.
- Check it on a phone, on a real connectionMost visitors are on a phone. Most pages are designed on a large monitor over fast internet.
Common mistakes
- A clever headline that doesn't say what the product does
- No screenshot of the actual product
- Two competing primary buttons
- Hiding pricing and losing everyone who won't ask
- Writing for people who already know what the product is
Key takeaways
- One page, one visitor, one action
- Headline for comprehension first; persuasion is what the rest of the page does
- Show the product, screenshots outperform illustrations of the idea
- Speed, screenshots, form length, and pricing clarity move numbers before wording does
Try it yourself
Show your landing page to someone for five seconds, hide it, and ask what the product does and who it's for. If either answer is wrong, rewrite the headline before touching anything else on the page.
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Pass the quiz below to unlock this.