Crafting a High-Converting Referral Landing Page: Best Practices

Landing page conversion is the cornerstone of many marketing initiatives, like a referral marketing program. So in order to optimize your efforts, how do you design a high-converting referral landing page?

Presenting Your Referral Landing Page with Clear Value Propositions

In general, landing pages should be targeted to the specific audience you are driving to the page. For example, let's say you're running sponsored content on a publisher site. The landing page you are driving website visitors to should be tailored to these readers. That might include the logo of the media platform or mention of the sponsored content piece. 

Sounds easy enough, what's the challenge?

Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. In fact, it only happens about half of the time. To be more specific, only 48% of marketers build a new landing page for each marketing campaign.

But data shows that optimized landing pages are worth the effort. Instead of having a handful of generic landing pages that are used for all campaigns, marketers that customize the page content and experience for their specific target audience have better conversion rates. Research shows that brands with over 40 landing pages generated a whopping 12x more leads than those with only 1-5 landing pages.

More so, marketers can use the information gleaned from landing page optimization efforts to make better decisions across all marketing campaigns. For example, a CTA that performs well on a landing page can also be used in email marketing workflows. Or landing page copy that converts well can be used for messaging across marketing channels. It's no surprise that 7 in 10 marketers using conversion rate optimization look to results to inform other marketing initiatives.

Now this sounds great, but what if you don't have the time to run a few hundred A/B tests or the bandwidth to write a handful of versions for every landing page launched?

Don't fret, we're here to help!

A Referral Program Template for Success

Ideally, a landing page for your referral program should include a few key components. Industry standards such as a call-to-action (CTA) and a submission form come to mind, but a lot more goes into effectively converting customers into brand ambassadors.

Before we dive into the landing page, let's take a minute to talk about the bones of your referral program that are going to play a large role in attracting, engaging, and converting program members.

First, you need to ensure that your customers, fans, and followers are highly motivated to join your referral program. This has a lot to do with knowing your customer base and their preferences. What types of rewards are your they interested in receiving? Is it discounts, credits, swag, or just cold, hard cash? Understanding what the best referral program incentive structure for your unique audience is a crucial step to bringing in more members.

Second, to build on that motivation, you need an effective value proposition to ensure that your customers understand the value of your brand vs. your competitors. Simply answer the question, why should a customer sign up for our referral program over a competitor’s?

Motivating customers is one thing; getting them to convert is a whole different story. This is where friction comes into play. It can be anything from the location of your form on the page to the clarity and conciseness of your copy.

For example, many website visitors today are concerned over privacy and data sharing. This can cause hesitation when giving up personal or professional information online. But including something as simple as a privacy policy assurances with your form shows the trustworthiness of your brand and removes the user’s anxiety.

Lastly, the ease of joining your program is a large contributor to referral success. Don't make visitors jump through hoops to join your program or distract them with competing offers. 

Now let's dive into developing the ultimate referral partner landing page!

How to Design a Killer Referral Landing Page that Leads to More Conversions

An optimized referral landing page will make your referral marketing program much more successful. We reached out to our Success Coaches who have helped thousands of brands analyze and optimize their referral program landing pages in order to maximize conversions.

Based on their best practices, here's how to design a killer referral landing page. 

1. Feature your value proposition in the headline

The goal of the headline is to grab the visitor's attention and convince them to join your referral program. This is a great place to share your value proposition. It’s the first thing visitors will see, and it must compel them to continue moving down the page. When crafting an effective headline, here are four things to keep in mind:

Appeal: How appealing is the offer to a potential brand ambassador?
Relevance: How relevant is the offer to your target audience?
Clarity: Is it easy for a potential brand ambassador to understand your offer?
Credibility: How legitimate is your offer? Customers will be turned off by pie-in-the-sky promises like “Make $10,000 a month from home!” Convey the value of the referral reward program to your customers, but keep it in line with the actual benefits.

2. Outline the incentives in a clear, easy to understand way

Whether your brand offers a one-to-one cash reward for a referral or you have a tiered structure that involved points and credits, the important thing is to clearly outline how a program member earns a reward for making a successful referral. Incentives vary from business to business, but clearly outlining the offer and structure motivates your fans, followers, and customers to join your referral program.

3. Showcase social proof

If your referral program is booming, why hide it? Sharing social proof on your landing page adds legitimacy to your referral program. Seeing a large amount of engagement will show a potential brand ambassador that your referral rewards are valuable and easy to earn. For example, if landing page visitors see that thousands of people have already signed up to participate, then they’ll be more inclined to sign up as well. 

4. Provide a low-friction form

Let's face it: The submission form is the make-or-break moment for a landing page visitor taking the leap from browsing to brand ambassador. Effective conversion forms are a balancing act between reducing the amount of friction while still maintaining the quality and quantity of customer data collection. It’s always a good idea to A/B test any form of customer engagement on your landing page. Try out different language, add or subtract a form field, or even swap out different colors.

But if you’re unable to A/B test, a good rule of thumb is to keep things short and simple. Prioritize what you truly need from brand ambassadors vs. any extraneous information that may deter them from signing up.

5. Have a positive call-to-action button

A landing page’s call to action (CTA) refers to the actionable language that prompts customers to convert into brand ambassadors, most often in the form of a button. A CTA should clearly describe the rewards that customers will gain from your program and prompt them to continue with the signup process. Use actionable words such as “Register” or “Earn Rewards” to propel customers down the referral funnel.

Design-wise, keep your CTA visible above the fold. You want maximum visibility to prevent customers from leaving the page before they see the offer. Many times, CTAs are presented via buttons with contrasting colors that pop off the page and grab a customer’s attention.

Optimizing Referral Landing Pages to Maximize Conversions

As always, A/B testing your landing page and incentives is the best way to truly understand what works and what doesn’t. If your brand is leveraging technology, it's key to partner with a referral marketing software vendor that offers multivariate testing capabilities and true visibility into data so you can make informed decisions based on these results. 

I hope you can use the design tips outlined in this post to develop the right referral landing page for your brand. Understanding your unique visitors and A/B testing incentives, designs, and language will help ensure a high conversion rate and a flood of new brand ambassadors and referred leads.

For more tips and tactics for your referral program, check out our eBook below.

Unlock growth with referrals—request your free demo today and see the impact firsthand!