No matter which PPC channel you use, your SaaS landing page best practices act as the gatekeepers to conversion success.
There are two facets to PPC that most influence your SaaS PPC conversion rates:
- Your audience or keyword targeting
- Your SaaS PPC landing pages
By reading on, not only will you learn the fundamental strategies and concepts behind SaaS PPC landing pages, but you will also be walked through each section of the landing page.
This will tell you exactly what to include on your designated landing page
The goal is to help you feel comfortable with what you can do to improve conversion performance and bring in more qualified leads.
This article will cover the second for your SaaS, however, if you are interested in learning more about every facet of running successful PPC ads, visit our blog.
Why are SaaS PPC Landing Pages Important?
Businesses with one or fewer landing pages tend to have 55% fewer leads than SaaS businesses that have 10-15 designated PPC landing pages.
Your SaaS PPC Landing Pages directly influence your conversion rates.
With these pages, users can learn how your product works, what it looks like, and how it can help them.
Without good SaaS landing page best practices, your users, who you paid to bring to that page, will not be compelled to convert. They might even be confused.
That brings us to our next point.
SaaS Landing Pages Connect The Rope That Your PPC Started
Imagine your SaaS PPC campaign as a rope.
On the left end of the rope, you have where your users start their journey.
This would be when they first see your social/display ads, or when they type in search phrases.
As these potential SaaS users travel down that rope, they encounter two main points of friction that will fray it:
- Ad Copy
- Landing pages
Your SaaS landing page is where most of the fraying happens.
Unclear headline? Users will leave.
Conversion doesn’t match the intent? The rope frays.
No social proof? Site visitors start to doubt you… thinner rope… so on.
By the time you get to the end of the rope, it’s a lot skinnier.
Your goal is to keep that rope strong. Make the start of their journey as similar to the end as possible.
Building SaaS campaigns with strong thematic ties through the user journey is key to successful PPC. That’s what intent is all about.
SaaS Landing Pages Take PPC clicks & turn them into multi-thousand-dollar deals
Most PPC campaigns target users who have never heard of your SaaS before.
These campaigns take users to your SaaS’s landing page where the user hopefully learns enough about your product to gain interest in purchasing.
That’s a lot of confidence to build in thirty-sixty seconds.
Maybe I’m in too deep but that’s pretty darn cool.
And they really work for generating business. My clients use them, I use them, and most growing SaaSs use landing pages and PPC in conjunction.
… this magic only works as long as you have good landing pages.
Of course, that takes some finessing so here’s how we’re going to do it in the next 10 minutes.
(Or at least conceptualize it)
SaaS PPC Landing Page Best Practices
Before you read on, we’ve broken down this SaaS PPC landing page best practice guide into an outline so you can see where this train is headed.
- How to scare users away from your landing page
- The key physical website elements that make up SaaS pages
- Strategizing to set your landing page up for success
- Determining the SaaS conversions you’ll use
- Conducting competitor research
- Utilizing existing site content
- Manipulating your navigation bar for landing pages
- Creating a killer hero section to convert more
- Laying out your SaaS features and understanding use cases
- Affirming users with social proof
By the end of this article, you will absolutely have the tools to design (or ask a designer to create) compelling landing pages that will convert.
Top 3 Ways to scare away your SaaS PPC Landing page visitors
The first thing to know about SaaS PPC landing page creation is that it’s a lot easier to get it right than it is to get it wrong.
That’s because landing pages never have to be as ‘well-designed’ or ‘perfect’ as you think they do.
The most important thing is that the information is in line with the user’s intent, specific, and easy to digest.
What better way to show how something will work than show how to break it first?
Too much SaaS information at once
It’s easy to overload the hero section of your PPC landing page.
In most cases, any good SaaS owner would be able to fill a small book with features, use cases, specifications, help articles, and more.
Trying to jam even 15% of that into the hero section will overwhelm the user and likely cause them to bounce from the page before they even scroll.
SaaS CTAs
On that same note, trying to put multiple conversions on a page is understandable. Maybe you’re thinking that you can give the user more options to suit their needs?
However, the more conversions there are on a page, the less likely the user is to complete even one of them.
It’s said that simplifying your conversions to one type per page can improve your conversion rate 2 percentage points (from 2% – 4%).
Don’t make the user think more than they have to.
SaaS Landing Page Lacking Clarity
On the other hand, having too little or vague information on your SaaS landing page is not a good practice either.
If you can’t even tell what the product does when you land on the web page, then you are missing the mark.
Be upfront about what your visitor gets in exchange for converting.
Just throwing a general contact form at them won’t work.
If your hero section doesn’t have an adequate SaaS CTA, you might be missing out on conversions.
Tell your users what to do and give them ample opportunity to convert.
Ignoring Intent In your saas PPC campaign
Meeting the user’s intent with the correct SaaS conversion type is key.
For example, I searched “how to keep track of club members?” Which is arguably a high-funnel, informational word.
I then clicked on an ad that brought me to this SaaS landing page:
The “demo request” call to action is a bit of a mismatch here. It’s a big stretch to change my mind that much.
I told the search engine what I wanted; to find out how I can track my club members.
I didn’t search “club management software.”
The other pages in the results were things like ‘top 10’ lists of relevant SaaS software, guides on proper organization, etc.
This page might convert. Who knows. But I would be willing to bet they are leaving conversions on the table.
If you want to target words like this, or are using non-retargeting-display and social ads, try offering a lighter conversion.
Ideally, you’d offer them a guide to managing members.
But that’s not always valuable to the SaaS business.
So maybe offer a video demo, free trial or free plan. Something that seems less intense to the converter and still brings value to your SaaS.
Acknowledge how your users are reaching your SaaS LP. From there, offer conversions and information that match the intent of the user.
Physical Components of A SaaS PPC Landing Page
An easy way to create a compelling SaaS PPC landing page is buy splitting it into its key elements.
This way, following the best practices to extract maximum PPC ROI becomes bite-sized.
Hero Section
The first thing that your SaaS user sees when they land on your page is your hero section.
Most landing pages and home pages are built with a ‘big ol’ hero section. This section usually contains an H1 element, a subheading, and a call to action.
Conversion
The conversion is usually located in the hero section. It’s important enough to mention it on its own.
Conversions can be lead forms, newsletter signups, meeting schedulers, free trials, & purchases.
In fact;
- 42% of conversions are demo/consultations
- 24% are sign-up pages
- 21% are lead magnet pages
- 14% are others
As per Finances Online.
Features, Benefits, Use-Cases
Usually, one of the next things you see as you scroll down a SaaS landing page is a features/benefits/use-case section.
This section usually displays product imagery, describes the different key features, and might elaborate on some use-cases.
Social Proof
Social proof backs up your SaaS’s words with client reviews, case studies & other easily digestible visual testimonies.
Often you will see a list of clients under the hero section and then key testimonials and case studies at the bottom of the SaaS landing page.
Strategy Components of A SaaS PPC Landing Page
Good SaaS PPC landing pages are built on the basic acknowledgment of the user journey.
Fundamentally, we all understand this user journey because we go through it ourselves on a daily basis.
And for the most part, you can refer to your judgment as a user of the internet and shopper of SaaS products.
The only thing that clouds this understanding is that we are all so invested in our own products. This causes us to forget what the objective buying experience is like.
Understand the incoming PPC intent
The first strategy element to serving high-converting landing pages to future SaaS customers is understanding how they got to your site.
For search, you can ask questions like…
What keywords did they search to get there?
Were they looking for answers or a solution?
For display and social, you can ask…
What social ad did they click on?
What promises did that ad make?
Who is that targeted audience?
Meeting your visitors with the right information and the right CTA is everything in PPC.
We will cover what exactly what to do with that later in this article.
How does a SaaS user make a conversion decision?
The next thing is understanding how a SaaS user makes a buying decision.
There are a lot of complexities behind this but let’s break it down simply:
Provided you met the user’s intent, the user is hoping that the solution to their problem is right at the top of the page.
Whether that’s reading a ‘how to’ blog, signing up for a trial, downloading a whitepaper, etc.
However, if they have any skepticism they will scroll down to learn more.
At this point, the 4 main things they are thinking about are:
- What’s the price?
- Do other people use and like this product?
- Does this product offer the features I need?
- Is it used for use-cases similar to mine?
Your landing page needs to deliver those answers in a concise way or users will leave.
One note on price; I know many SaaS landing pages omit price, which is smart. Normally, once a user sees the price, they will judge the entire software.
Let them fall in love with your software and then show them the price later.
Step By Step Guide To Building A High-Converting PPC Landing Page For SaaS
If you’re interested in following the absolute best practices for creating SaaS PPC landing pages that convert, you’ve finally reached that place.
SCB has created many articles about creating landing pages. Those hold all the theories and options and examples that we could possibly think of.
However, this guide is formatted a little differently.
In the following steps, we are going to try to simplify the process by telling you what to do.
‘What?? Tell me what to do?? How dare you??’
I’ve found that sometimes the options are too overwhelming and landing page design gets lost in the decision stage.
Every little thing starts feeling like it’s the most important, make-or-break, decision.
In reality, great landing pages are created when you start somewhere and optimize.
We’ll leave the precise content up to you, but in terms of design and order of operations, we can try to take that off your hands.
Determine Your Conversion Goals
Your SaaS PPC Landing page would be an amorphous blob without goals.
Your SaaS goals dictate how you target your users, what information you serve them, and what kind of conversions you ask for.
So for the first step, I will assume you already have ads running, if you don’t I would highly suggest running some search ads for low-funnel keywords.
Do you want to feed the top of your funnel with emails & names?
Do you want to add more qualified leads by booking meetings, getting business information, trials & purchases?
That sounds like a loaded question, however, both have places in your marketing mix.
So decide which conversions you want to get and take that into this next section.
Think about the PPC ads that are directing traffic to your SaaS landing pages
This is where you really have to challenge yourself to have empathy for the user.
Personally, I shop through SaaS products every day. When I am going through the landing page creation process I try to remember, what was I looking for when I searched? What would have gotten me to convert?
Here is an oversimplification of that journey:
- First, your user realizes there is a problem. At this point, they likely have no awareness of the SaaS solutions out there. That’s when they will search for things like “how to simplify the meeting scheduling process.”
They’re looking for solutions on how to do it themselves, but becoming aware of paid SaaS solutions is part of this step. - From there, they might try to fix the problem themselves without paying for it.
- If their issue persists, they might begin searching for other solutions. Gauging the market.
Searches at this stage include things like ‘best…’ ‘top ten’ ‘cheapest’ free.’
At this point, they are pretty close to buying. Some might, but most will continue to shop around. - If they don’t, they will eventually end up searching for terms like ‘SaaS management platform,’ ‘EHS management software,’ and so on. If you’re lucky, you’ll have traffic for those terms plus ‘demo,’ or ‘free trial.’
Now, typically lighter conversions are better at stages 1-2. As well as offering more informational landing pages with helpful assets and downloads.
Think newsletter signups, checklist downloads, whitepapers… any way to offer these users value while still getting a SaaS lead out of it.
As you move through stages 3-4, you can begin to ask for demos, meetings, trials, and payments.
3 & 4 are also where you can be really focused on features and other product factors on your landing page.
Just make sure you are showing features from the user’s perspective. I.e tell them about how your SaaS is used and the features that support it.
The value of your product can also influence what conversions you ask for. If your SaaS product is B2C or inexpensive, you can start asking for purchases further up the list.
Conversely, B2B and more expensive SaaSs have to be more graceful with their approaches.
An expensive B2B SaaS shouldn’t ask for a PPC visitor to schedule a demo until they are in step 4, or what’s traditionally called the transactional stage.
Do Competitive Research
No one is asking you to completely reinvent the wheel here.
You have to start somewhere. Why not start somewhere where your users will also be looking?
Search your target keywords, click on competitor ads, and notice what they are doing.
Then, ask yourself the following questions.
What SaaS features do they push?
Which features do your competitors boast?
How do they display these features?
Do you have more to offer? Less?
Which PPC conversions do they ask for?
What types of conversions do they provide?
How many form fields are they asking visitors to fill out?
Where on the page is the CTA? – hopefully right away!
How do they present this information?
Are they showing pictures of the platform?
Do they display all of the industries their SaaS works with?
What kind of social proof do they provide and how?
Take stock of your existing non-PPC SaaS pages
So you’ve done an audit of your competitors’ SaaS PPC landing pages.
Now, compare your findings from the last section to what your current SaaS site has to offer.
There’s no need to design and rewrite entire pages if you have many of the assets available to you on your existing site.
Again, this is about starting simple and iterating from there.
Home Page
Many SaaS homepages would make great PPC landing pages.
If not, sometimes all they need is a few tweaks.
Commonly, adding a CTA or form to the hero section is the most necessary to follow landing page best practices.
If not, see if there is at least a good feature section or social proof section that you can steal for your new SaaS PPC page.
Feature Pages
Does your SaaS have features and industry pages?
These can contain great foundational elements for perfect landing pages.
Good use-case pages often make for great content when making themed ad groups in Google Ads and social ads.
Blog Pages
If you have SaaS PPC landing pages aimed at higher funnel traffic, using quality blog content can be helpful.
Think of all the FAQ, checklist, comprehensive list content, and more that you’ve created.
You can repurpose these things as SaaS PPC landing page content or refit it to be a downloadable offering!
Nav bar
The nav bar seems like it doesn’t need to be mentioned in this list. It’s easy, isn’t it?
You want users to be able to browse your site and view all of your beautiful content.
Yeah, that’s true. Leave it as is if you must, there’s really nothing wrong with that to start.
But I would suggest making a few easy changes.
Removing distractions
First, remove all of your nav links other than the home one.
You might also want to leave your pricing page link there too. If you have one.
Your landing page should have everything your user needs to convert.
If you’re worried that they don’t, then you haven’t created a targeted enough landing page/ campaign.
If that’s the case, revisit your intents and narrow your targeting.
This will make it easier to fit all of the right information onto one page.
Should I keep my ‘login’ button?
Take it off for now. Users often get these buttons confused for register buttons and it can distract from the seamless experience we are trying to achieve.
Hero Section
Your hero section is both the most important and simple section of your SaaS PPC landing page.
Best practices for hero sections are as follows.
Headline
Your headline should mirror what your users saw on your ad copy.
If you are running search ads, the headline should also closely resemble the keywords that brought your user to this page.
No need to get creative here, keep it simple. Otherwise, you risk confusing and inevitably bouncing your visitors.
CTA on page
Your CTA on this SaaS landing page should also match your ad’s call to action.
It’s best to have the form, calendar booking, sign-up, or whatever you are asking for, right here in the hero section.
If not, a button that leads to another page will do just fine.
Subhead
Your subhead should elaborate on what your heading reads.
Good subheads might also include your target keywords or a variation.
They will also often list your SaaS product’s main feature/benefit to that audience.
Social proof
Right underneath that Hero section, I would include a horizontal list of your clients.
Make it small and visual
This almost acts as a subliminal and instant way to back up or establish your product’s reputation.
You could also toy with some quick stats or takeaways, so long as they are small and don’t distract.
You can do more later
No need to fit in every SaaS client you’ve worked with or all of your reviews, we will have a space for that later.
Features & product images
The next thing your SaaS users will see on your PPC landing page is your features.
For most, this is where a pretty immediate decision can be made. Getting this right is tough and important.
Choosing the features you advertise
Likely, your SaaS will have so many features that they won’t (or shouldn’t) fit on the landing page.
For the sake of this “best practices” guide, choose 3-5.
The SaaS features you decide to show should do three things:
- Appeal directly to your target audience
- Show that your SaaS is similar to the competitors
- Differentiate yourself from your competitors
Think of use cases
For this part of the landing page, think about how your SaaS users will use your product.
This is how you will sell PPC visitors, fitting your product into the mold they have in their heads.
Matching the features to the use will help you greatly.
Use product imagery
Support these few features with product imagery on your landing page.
There’s no easier way to digest information about a SaaS than matching product images to brief descriptions.
This helps your future SaaS customers relate to your platform.
Try to keep each point concise
Finally, PPC visitors won’t spend a lot of time on your landing page,
Sum up each feature quickly.
In low-funnel campaigns especially, these users are probably very familiar with the features and don’t need much explanation.
More Social Proof
Now is your chance to add more social proof to your SaaS PPC landing page.
If you’ve worked with other clients before, use them to create content here.
Think about why the user has scrolled this far
If your user has scrolled this far, they are having trouble finding a fit or differentiator.
Knowing that other businesses like theirs have spent hard-earned money on your SaaS app allows them to empathize with your solution.
Case Studies
Case studies are one way to sell users on your product.
Don’t put full paragraphs about your solution here,. Rather, some simple stats should do.
Use multiple clients to highlight different benefits.
Testimonials
If you have some great, concise testimonials/reviews, this is a great place to show all of the love your SaaS has received.
A second chance to convert
Since your SaaS user has scrolled all the way to the bottom of your PPC landing page, they must love your product.
Reward them for being thorough and offer them a place to convert at the bottom of the page.
Same SaaS conversion action, but lower
This conversion can be the exact same as the conversion at the top of your SaaS landing page.
No need to rework anything.
Just make sure you remind the user of what happens when they convert and what value they will get out of it.
You’ve followed some of the SaaS industry’s best landing page practices
Congrats, you’ve finished creating your SaaS PPC landing page. More likely, now you have to go out and make it.
Either way, I hope you were able to take significant benefit from this landing page guide.
There are so many ways to make a good landing page, so don’t get hung up on the design details.
Work on putting the right copy in, asking for the correct conversion, and making it all concise.
Summary of SaaS PPC Landing Page Best Practices
This was a long one, but it was packed with valuable information on how the best SaaS PPC marketers make their landing pages.
To summarize the SaaS PPC landing page best practices:
- You will scare away potential SaaS customers with too much information. Stay focused and concise.
- Understand the context in which your users are coming to the site.
- Make sure your SaaS hero section is keyword-focused.
- Ensure that you use just one type of CTA.
- Limit distractions. Reduce the number of links leading away from this page.
- Use features combined with product images to highlight use cases.
- Social proof is a quick way to visually convey merit to the user.
Thanks for reading!