3 Types of Landing Page Handshakes

Handshakes can say a lot about someone.

People with confident, strong handshakes are viewed as trustworthy and engaging.  Wimpy, sweaty handshakes represent nervousness or mediocrity. And then there is the blow off: when someone puts out their hand, invites a handshake, and just as they’re about to shake hands, they lift their hand up quickly and say “syke!” or “booya!”.

Well, landing pages are a lot like handshakes.

Your ad is the invitation to shake hands — the open hand. Your landing page is the connection. The actual handshake. The “how do you do?”. The segue into a deeper conversation — or purchase.

Are your landing pages wimpy, strong, or do they blow off potential customers? Here are three basic types of landing page handshakes.

The sweaty palm (the deep link)
Sending your traffic to a deep link is easy, but it’s also wussy, like a sweaty palm. Sure, there’s no work involved — you just take the most relevant page on your site and send your paid traffic there. But when you entice a user to click on your ad with a specific message, and send them to an informational deep link that doesn’t clearly match the message of your ad, you disappoint the user and they lose confidence in you. Like when you meet someone with a sweaty, wimpy handshake.

The blow off (the home page)
Sending your paid traffic to your home page is the ultimate in disrespect. Let’s say you’re a shoe retailer offering free shipping and 20% off a purchase. Your paid search ad mentions this, puts its hand out with the offer, but links directly to your home page — no mention of the coupon code to be found. SYKE! This is a complete blow off. You dangled the offer right in front user, only to disappoint them with no mention of the offer on your home page. Don’t stick out your hand unless you can deliver the goods.

The confident (the message matched experience)
Ah yes, the confident landing page. This handshake is well-designed and on-target. It’s slick and adapts easily to different people or segments. A confident landing page is message-matched, features high-quality design & delivers great brand. This is the type of landing page that you’d want to bring home to mom. And the type of landing page that delivers great brand and converts visitors.

Remember, first impressions count. Don’t blow off your potential customers with a wimpy landing page. Put your hand out and deliver a great handshake.