He’s deep, he’s Greek and his beard is on fleek. Who’re we speaking about, people? Aristotle — duh. And he’s the unique gangster of touchdown web page optimization (sorry, Oli Gardner!).
Philosophy buffs are all too acquainted with Aristotle. However what about entrepreneurs? Certain, he’s, like, actually useless, however Aristotle and his teachings are nonetheless related for entrepreneurs in the present day. As a result of amidst all his contributions to subjects akin to physics, biology and poetry, Aristotle was additionally a person of persuasion.
An extended, lengthy, long-long time in the past (4th-century BC, to be extra particular), Aristotle penned a two-part treatise referred to as Rhetoric, through which he detailed the three modes of persuasion: ethos, logos and pathos:
- Ethos pertains to conveying credibility
- Logos to explaining your argument by means of logic and
- Pathos to evoking emotion.
Aristotle believed that successfully leveraging all three modes of persuasion was the important thing to, nicely, persuading. In advertising and marketing campaigns, you may leverage his methods to create high-converting touchdown pages.
So how do you apply these high-level persuasion methods to your touchdown pages, thus getting you extra certified leads? It’s fairly easy really, and I’ll present you ways.
Ethos: Make them belief you
Ethos comes from the Greek word for “ethical character, nature, disposition, behavior, customized.” Aristotle explains ethos when it comes to persuasion methods:
The orator persuades by ethical character when his speech is delivered in such a fashion as to render him worthy of confidence.
Though Aristotle insists that, “…this confidence have to be as a result of speech itself, to not any preconceived thought of the speaker’s character,” in in the present day’s world of Google, Fb, LinkedIn, and — dare I say — Snapchat, it’s inconceivable to not take into account the particular person’s (or model’s) fame.
When discussing touchdown web page optimization, we are able to relate ethos to credibility and trust. With out it, who’s going to fill out your lead gen type?
Listed here are some methods for reinforcing the ethos of your touchdown pages.
Social proof
A TechValidate survey of B2B advertising and marketing and gross sales professionals revealed that 94% of respondents discovered customer-sourced content material as both very efficient or extraordinarily efficient in convincing prospects of their value proposition,” illustrating the significance of together with your buyer’s voice in your advertising and marketing methods.
You may inject social proof into your touchdown pages utilizing case research or testimonials, both in written or video format. Beware, although: not all testimonials are created equal, so do your homework earlier than hitting publish.
SSL
For these unaware of what SSL is (don’t fear, I’d be if it wasn’t related to my job), it’s the industry standard for web page security and encryption. It’s indicated with a bit inexperienced padlock within the nook of your browser deal with bar and the HTTPS within the URL.
In accordance with a latest report from GlobalSign, 77% of people are concerned about their personal data being intercepted or misused online. That’s an enormous piece of your buyer pie, so that you need to do all the pieces attainable to ease that anxiety.
Enter SSL; it’s a easy approach to enhance your touchdown web page guests’ belief (a key element in establishing ethos). And for Unbounce clients on Pro99 plans and higher, customized domains include SSL robotically included. Handy? I believe so.
Logos: Woo them with logic
The second leg of the persuasion technique trifecta is logos, which depends on details, figures, quotes and stats to enchantment to logic and purpose.
Aristotle stresses the significance of creating reality (or obvious reality) to be able to successfully persuade. Fortuitously, it’s simple to enchantment to logos in your touchdown pages—lemme present you ways.
Repetition breeds familiarity
In accordance with Joanna Wiebe, persuasive copywriting maven of Copy Hackers, the more you hear a message, the more likely you are to believe it’s true; it’s known as the Phantasm of Reality Impact.
In a 2013 Microconf presentation, Wiebe referred to a different repetition technique referred to as the 3D strategy, whereby you repeat a unique variation of the identical message thrice in sequence.
Apple does a terrific job of implementing each of those methods of their Apple Watch landing page seen under.
Assume the Apple Watch may be gentle? And product of aluminum? Yeah, me, too.
Did we point out it’s made with Ion-X glass? Sounds legit.
Options (however don’t overlook advantages)
Features are “factual assertion[s] a couple of services or products” — mainly all its bells and whistles. You’ll typically see options highlighted when searching for a brand new cellphone: as much as 26 hours of battery time, 64GB inside reminiscence, wi-fi charging… the record goes on. On this case, options are necessary as a result of they let you simply evaluate merchandise to make sure you find yourself with the one which ticks off essentially the most desires in your record.
However normally, touchdown pages have to transcend simply options, since most individuals typically don’t reply to solely a laundry record of specs. As an alternative, we advocate specializing in the advantages your services or products will provide, and the way it will make your prospect’s life higher/simpler/happier.
Los Angeles-based meal supply service Kooshi does a terrific job of highlighting options and advantages. The options? Natural meals, delivered to your house or workplace on a regular basis. The advantages? You skip the mess, purchasing and meals prep. Rely me in!
In brief, options and advantages are a hybrid of the logos and pathos methods, and are particularly efficient on touchdown pages when offered collectively.
Nevertheless, presenting details is simply as necessary as interesting to feelings, which brings us to our subsequent persuasion technique…
Pathos: Hit them within the feels
The ultimate mode of persuasion is pathos, which is the enchantment to feelings. In different phrases: hitting your prospects proper within the feels!
Right here’s what our good pal Aristotle says about pathos:
The orator persuades by the use of his hearers, when they’re roused to emotion by his speech; for the judgements we ship aren’t the identical after we are influenced by pleasure or sorrow, love or hate.
There are a number of methods in which you’ll pump up the pathos in your touchdown web page to spice up these conversions. Listed here are a number of key ones to bear in mind:
Design
Have you ever ever landed on an organization’s webpage and had such a visceral response you couldn’t hit the again button quick sufficient? Yeah, me, too — and instantly my notion of the corporate is sullied. On the opposite facet of the spectrum, I’ve landed on such superbly designed pages that I might cry.
Visuals can evoke robust feelings, and it occurs rapidly.
In a 2012 study by the Missouri College of Science and Expertise, researchers discovered that it takes lower than two-tenths of a second to type a primary impression. That’s much less time that it takes me to chow down a slice of spicy pepperoni pizza (which takes about three-tenths, in the event you’re questioning).
Google additionally discovered that pages with low visible complexity (having fewer parts on the web page) are perceived as extremely interesting. And though the examine doesn’t point out whether or not this impacts conversions, it’s no secret that simplicity is vital when designing high-converting touchdown pages.
Web site builder Wix does a terrific job of lowering visible complexity in favor of enchantment. Discover the one name to motion and the nice use of whitespace.
The ethical of the story? Make a terrific first impression, and solely include the bare minimum you need on your landing page to convert — appears easy, proper?
Shortage and urgency
You realize whenever you and your pals order an appy to share, after which when it comes it’s, like, pathetically small and also you hastily understand how ravenous you might be? That’s scarcity. And I don’t find out about you, however I act rash once I’m confronted with it. (That’s my piece of agedashi tofu!)
Shortage is a extremely highly effective state that may illicit robust feelings. It faucets into our survival instincts, and it drives us to take motion — which is the first objective of a touchdown web page.
And whereas I don’t advocate completely freaking out your potential clients, you can leverage shortage to your profit to construct high-converting touchdown pages. Vintage-inspired online clothing company Modcloth does a great job of this:
I swear, I nearly purchased it.
Urgency is one other emotional set off you should utilize to spice up conversions. Order now and get it by Christmas! Don’t miss out! Solely 4 days left! You get the image.
Empathy
Few qualities are as necessary as empathy when attempting to get your guests to transform. Understanding what your clients’ ache factors are and displaying them how one can assist shouldn’t be solely sensible, it’s mandatory. Individuals can inform whenever you’re simply attempting to promote them one thing. However whenever you’re attempting to assist them, their notion shifts.
For instance, under is a touchdown web page from Sitter, an app for locating and reserving babysitters. Sitter acknowledges that hiring a stranger for childcare will be disturbing — and scary — for a father or mother. Sitter alleviates that worry by permitting dad and mom to “construct a non-public community of the dad and mom you understand and the sitters you all belief.” Sitter reveals guests that now discovering a sitter is simple — and having fun with your time whereas the children are at residence is simple, too.
Sitter makes use of empathy to enchantment to busy dad and mom on the lookout for dependable babysitters.
Should you aren’t precisely certain what your clients’ ache factors are, put your self of their footwear and attempt to think about what points they may be dealing with. Ask present clients what their expertise was like. Faucet into your social media pool by asking through Twitter or Fb. It’s not laborious, simply get on the client’s stage and provides them what they want.
Wrap it up, like a toga
Check out your touchdown pages and ask your self:
Am I successfully leveraging ethos, logos and pathos or most conversions? Does my viewers belief me? Do they imagine me?
And maybe most significantly, did I make them really feel like they want my services or products?
As a result of though we are able to’t all develop a beard as epic as Aristotle, we are able to actually affect like him utilizing the three modes of persuasion. And in the event you’re nonetheless considering, “It’s all Greek to me!” I hear wine helps get the artistic juices flowing.
