design-landing-page-copy

Design Landing Page Copy

Write landing page copy structured to move a specific visitor from skepticism to conviction in a single scroll.

Why This Is Best Practice

Adopted by: Joanna Wiebe's Copyhackers methodology used by Wistia, Shopify, and hundreds of SaaS companies; Tim Ash's landing page framework cited in Google's conversion optimization training

Impact: Copyhackers reports headline rewrites alone producing 10-90% conversion lifts in A/B tests; Nielsen Norman Group research shows users decide whether to stay within 10-20 seconds of landing

Why best: Landing page copy is not general marketing writing. Every element exists to earn the next element. The headline earns the subhead. The subhead earns the body. The body earns the CTA. If any link in that chain breaks, the visitor leaves.

Steps

1. Write the headline last — the headline must reflect the visitor's most pressing desire or fear in their own words; mine customer reviews, support tickets, and sales calls for exact language
2. Write the subhead as proof of the headline — the headline makes a claim; the subhead answers "how?" or "why should I believe that?"
3. Design the hero section CTA — one action, one button, verb-first label ("Start your free trial" not "Submit"); place it above the fold
4. Write objection-led body sections — list every reason a visitor would not convert; each body section dismantles one objection with specificity
5. Use social proof near the point of highest doubt — place testimonials and logos where skepticism peaks, not arbitrarily at the bottom
6. Write benefit-led feature descriptions — lead with what the customer can do or feel, then explain the feature that enables it
7. Repeat the CTA with escalating specificity — each repeated CTA should reduce perceived risk or increase perceived reward based on what the visitor just read

Rules

• Write in second person: "you" not "users" or "teams"
• Headlines must be specific: "3x faster deploys" beats "faster deploys" beats "improved performance"
• Never use the word "seamless" — it has been emptied of meaning by overuse
• The primary CTA must appear without scrolling on desktop and mobile
• Every claim must be substantiated within two sentences

Examples

Weak headline: "The platform built for modern teams." Strong headline: "Ship features on Friday without fearing Monday morning." (addresses specific fear in customer language)

Common Mistakes

• Writing for the product instead of the customer: copy that explains features before establishing that you understand the customer's problem loses readers immediately
• CTA button text that says "Learn More": it signals no commitment but also no reward; tell them exactly what happens when they click
• Placing testimonials at the bottom: social proof belongs next to the claim it validates

When NOT to Use

• Do not apply this skill to enterprise software pages where purchase decisions are made by procurement committees over months, not by a single visitor during a single scroll; those pages require detailed specification sheets and RFP support content instead.
• Do not use this skill for content marketing articles or blog posts whose goal is education and organic SEO, not immediate conversion; applying conversion-first structure to informational content degrades readability and search ranking.
• Do not apply this skill when the product requires a mandatory sales call or demo before purchase, making a self-serve CTA misleading; in that case the page's job is qualification and meeting booking, which requires a different structural approach.