5 Elements of High-Converting Landing Pages For Financial Advisors (With Examples)
If you’re a financial advisor, this can strap a rocket ship to your business…
It’s something that, when done correctly, can generate more leads than you know how to handle… And it can save you time because it generates qualified leads instead of anyone who can fog a mirror. I’m talking about a landing page. A landing page is a page designed to get someone to take a specific action. If you listen to the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast, you’ve heard me use the words “landing page” and “opt-form” interchangeably when describing my email marketing system. However, a landing page can be much more than an email opt-in form. It can be:
And more. Because a landing page is designed to do one thing: convert visitors into leads. It does this by capturing information. That’s why, in the financial advice world, even the calendar page is *technically* a landing page because it captures information and turns visitors into leads. Here’s one definition of "landing page" from Mailchimp… 
My Landing Page Philosophy...My belief is that landing pages should strike a fine balance between the quantity and quality of leads generated.
It’s possible to generate far more leads by using other people's advice. I don’t dispute that. You can open your doors to everyone, make big promises, and spend tons of resources to generate a higher quantity of leads. Likewise, it’s also possible to generate higher-quality leads by doing something other than what's described in this article. For example, you could have a long survey with a multi-step funnel. You could make people jump through hoops to get to you, although very few would make it to the end. When it comes to lead generation, you are constantly fighting a battle between high quantity/low quality vs. low quantity/high quality. I’ve discovered that, by incorporating these elements, you can have a healthy mix of both. 😄 
Element #1: Your Headline.I’m going to give you some lessons from David Ogilvy, who is one of the greatest advertisers of all time. He’s been responsible for some killer headlines, and here’s what he had to say…
Your role is to sell, don’t let anything distract you from the sole purpose of advertising. - David Ogilvy Your headline’s goal isn’t to be clever or witty. It’s also not to prove how creative you are. In one of his books, Ogilvy wrote about how he hated when his employees referred to themselves as “creative”.
People don't care about your creativity. They only care about what’s in it for them. So, I want to give you one of my favorite headline secrets of all time. Are you ready? Here it is… 💡 Clearly explain what people are going to get when they go through your landing page. That’s it. I know that sounds simple, but it works. Financial advisors typically don’t set as many appointments as they otherwise could because they don’t clearly explain what people get by having an appointment. Financial advisors typically don’t get as many email subscribers as they otherwise could because they don’t clearly explain what people get by subscribing. Here’s another example… this is a solid ad a CPA is running to get more attorney clients… 
First, I want you to notice the title of the lead magnet: “Tax Strategies Attorneys Must Know To Reduce Taxes”.
If you’re an attorney, that title should catch your eye. It’s one of the reasons why having a niche is one of the best things you can do to get more clients. At the time of this writing, this ad has been running for a whopping ELEVEN MONTHS! It’s crushing it because it’s a solid offer being delivered to a niche audience. Not because of some Facebook targeting secret or algorithm “hack” touted by someone to sell you a Facebook ads system. When you click the ad, you’re taken to a page with this headline… 
This headline works because it succinctly defines the offer. It is:
If you include those things in your headlines, they will become more effective. However, this landing page takes it a step further by adding this gem: “Even if you have an experienced CPA.” This is an integral part of why the headline is such a winner because it addresses an objection many attorneys have. They may view this ad for tax planning services and think, “I already have a CPA, so it’s not for me.” With this one sentence, the objection is obliterated, and attorneys are more likely to convert. What are some ways you can address objections in your headlines? Let’s brainstorm. You can say things like:
David Ogilvy also said: On the average, five times as many people read the headline as the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar. - David Ogilvy This means you should spend most of your time crafting your headline. Because most people will read your headline and make a snap decision about if they want to move forward. The more effective your headline is, the more people will move forward.
Here’s some more advice that can help you design incredible headlines… 💡 Write twenty-five headlines and pick your favorite five. This is based on the 80/20 rule. If you write twenty-five headlines, five of them will be the top 20% that you like more than the other 80%. Then, take your top five headlines and show them to people in your target market. NOT your family members… NOT your friends… And NOT other financial advisors. Have people IN YOUR NICHE tell you which headline they like best. That one headline is the top 20% of your top five, which means it’s almost certainly a winner. Element #2: A Strong Reason Why.Another master copywriter named John Carlton told his students to imagine the person reading their messages as a somnambulant sloth on a couch. He said this sloth uses a huge amount of energy to go to the bathroom during a commercial, much less act on your offer. To get this sloth to convert, you must have a strong reason why.
Let’s continue with our “Tax Strategies Attorneys Must Know To Reduce Taxes” example… Why should attorneys want to say "yes" to that offer? Because it can save them money. Why would they want to save money? Because they can use the money to do other things. Like what? Travel, spend time with their families or load up on Buffalo Wild Wings. (There’s no judgment here. Mango Habanero wings are delicious.) You can also dig deeper and give a reason why people should act today. Is your offer going away? Do you have any limited-time bonuses? Are there limited spots on your calendar? One reason why webinars can work well for financial advisors is because webinars are inherently time-sensitive. If you let people know that your webinar will be this Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., it provides a strong sense of urgency to sign up before then. Element #3: Social Proof.⚠️ This may or may not work for you, so use it with caution.
Social proof was coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book, Influence, and it’s basically when people copy the actions of others. As humans, we love to see what everyone else is doing. For example, people tend to feel more comfortable buying a product that has one hundred reviews instead of four. It’s also why celebrity endorsements work so well. As always, check with your compliance department before doing anything I write or talk about, but here are some ways to integrate social proof into your landing pages:
A note about that last bullet point… RingDNA split-tested a toll-free number vs. a local area code, as you can see below… 
Variant B with the 415 local area code lifted conversions by 40%.
Now, I’ll shoot straight with you: while I’ve seen social proof increase conversions, I’ve also seen it decrease conversions. For example, DIYthemes ran a test between two variants to see whether including the number of email subscribers led to more subscribers… 
The variant without the number (“14,752 others”) got 38% more conversions. 🤯
In my case, too much social proof also tends to decrease my conversions. For instance, sometimes I will receive emails from financial advisors asking if they can talk to my Inner Circle members before subscribing. (I’ve never understood this. It’s only $99 per month. If you need a background check and three references before parting ways with $99 per month, then you need the money. Don’t ever spend it. Clutch it tightly. Harder.) When I get this question, I like to respond with: “No, but if you subscribe, I would like to use you as a reference for people who ask in the future. Will you be a reference for me?” They either ignore me or say no. Do these people really believe that successful financial advisors are waiting by the phones all day long to help ease their insecurities? Get real. I also used to have testimonials on my opt-in pages. Sadly, the financial advisors asked me to take their testimonials down because they were getting hounded by people asking for reviews. Keep in mind this is for a FREE opt-in delivered by email where people can unsubscribe at any time. People STILL wanted handholding. My landing pages got tens of thousands of views, so even 0.1% of those people reaching out to the financial advisors added up to dozens of people emailing, calling, and messaging the people who left testimonials. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, your mileage may vary with social proof. Element #4: Ease of Use.Once people are on your landing page, it should be easy for them to get whatever it is you’re offering.
If your landing page is an email signup page, it should be easy for people to give you their email addresses. If it’s an appointment page, it should be easy for people to set appointments. The biggest takeaway I can give you here is to provide instructions. If setting an appointment with you requires filling something out, say that. Don’t leave anything to chance. Explain what you want people to do as if they’re five years old. ALSO READ: I Analyzed The Websites of Barron's Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors Element #5: What Happens After...That’s right, the fifth element isn’t even on your landing page. It’s everything that happens after someone converts.
Let me make myself clear: if someone fills out a form on your website and all that happens is a generic message popup that says, “thanks for your message” or “someone will be in touch with you soon”, then you are missing a massive opportunity. The best thing you can do once someone goes through your landing page is to send that person to a custom thank-you page based on whatever it is he or she did. When people book an appointment with you, redirect them to a thank-you page talking about your appointment process, what a good decision they’ve made, and so on. Reinforce what they’ve done. Congratulate them on their good behavior. When people opt-in to your email list, redirect them to a thank-you page talking about whatever it is you’re delivering to their inbox. Thank them for subscribing and tell them what to expect in the future. If you email once per week, make that clear. Tell them to whitelist your email address so they receive your emails. But whatever you do - for the love of all that is good and holy - don’t say “thanks for subscribing” and leave them hanging. In my experience, the best way to immediately increase landing page conversions for financial advisors is to have a solid email follow-up sequence. This isn’t surprising because it’s rooted in real sales data. Another marketer named Robert Clay did some research and found that only 2% of sales occur after the first meeting. The other 98% will buy only once a certain level of trust has been established. And guess what builds that trust? Your email sequence. Clay also found that 80% of sales require at least five follow-up attempts. Knowing this, it’s easy to see how an email sequence of at least five emails can dramatically and permanently increase your conversions. I’m going to stop there because I don’t want this to turn into an article about email marketing, but if you want to learn more about how email is setting appointments for financial advisors, I encourage you to read this: 4 Things I’ve Learned From Sending 3.2 Million Financial Advisor Emails |