Want to learn how to improve any landing page in 2 minutes today?

Let's crack on.

As promised yesterday (if you have no clue what I'm talking about, get up top speed here) I was going to revamp, my newsletter's landing page.

I spent my morning working on it and I think it's a pretty solid v2.

First, here's what wasn't working:

• I was still using a popup form = 1 extra click required to sign up = pointless friction. This was because a couple of months ago I was running 2 newsletters, and using popups was the most efficient way to go about it. Lesson: review what you've been dragging on that's not serving you anymore and do it frequently.
• My bio was the first thing people were seeing. Lesson: Visitors, even if they are great referrals, just care about what's in it for them. So let them have it right away.
• There wasn't enough social proof. Lesson: especially for cold(er) traffic, just learning about who you are and what you do is not enough. You need to add some proof to your pitch. Good testimonials and screenshots can do the job. Remember the framework: "Your claim -> So what? -> Prove it"
• Visuals were fun, but pretty random and took focus away from the copy. Lesson: Use visuals to tell the story along with your copy. But don't let them take over.
• I wasn't setting expectations correctly and the page lacked transparency. Lesson: Address objections by planting them in your copy and by being open about what people can expect (both from the process of signing up and from the value you offer).
• I wasn't creating curiosity or desire. Lesson: Never expect people to be so excited that they will land and click. Imagine them being grumpy and lazy couch potatoes. Structure your copy and layout to do two things: 1) Follow your reader's mental models 2) Make them want to learn/get more.

All of these mistakes were simply the result of never really trying to promote the newsletter and being lazy about it.

And as usual, hiring yourself is probably the hardest part of working on your business.

Before the big reveal (unless you've already took a peek at the page and spoiled it all) here's exactly what I've done to fix it:

1. Moved my bio to the bottom of the page. Put simply, people will only care if they want to. Let's give them the goodies first.
2. Optimized my Converkit bio and profile so I can link to that to show a preview of past issues (this also makes it more "private" and like I don't share these with anyone before they go live to my list)
3. Added more testimonials/social proof: even if they are not specific to the newsletter, it's helpful for visitors to see that I know what I'm talking about, without having to browse my site. Again, help readers by doing the work for them. I also added 2 newsletter feedback screenshots that I think will be pretty strong proof.
4. Rewrote the copy to match visitors' common mental models: I'm not a fan of copywriting formulas but this is as close as it gets. When people land on your site or page, they want to know: WHAT you do, HOW you do it and WHY they should trust you or switch from other solutions. So I gave it to them.
5. Improved copy for voice, tone and punchiness: admittedly the previous copy was just lazy and incomplete. So I added to it but also tried making it more memorable and punchy/crisp where it matters.
6. Added visuals along with some story injected into them and made them smaller: I always think of layout whenever I write my copy. It might be because I "grew up" as a copywriter with UX and wireframing in mind. I believe this provides context and sets clearer expectations (plus adds some fun) for visitors. Using image captions can be helpful.
7. Injected some curiosity-spurring copy: as mentioned, we need to give people a reason to stick, keep reading and ultimately want to get more. So, I added in examples of the content readers can get and a few subject lines of past issues (pro tip: I only included subject lines with the highest open rates which for my list is ~49%).
8. Emphasized transparency: throughout the new page I repeat how this is a DAILY email. I want to intentionally and deliberately filter out people who are not ready or not interested enough. Copy can help you, so use it.
9. Added a second CTA button: in this case I kept the popup because I didn't want to overwhelm readers with another form. My assumption is that most people will just quickly scroll up and fill out the first form (the page still super short), but this is a good way to keep them focused on the copy + giving them another way to take action.

This is pretty much it.

Simple but not easy, especially when it's your own product or service.

Ok, finally, if you're ready...

...for the big reveal...

You can head to the live page (it might need some time to propagate to the server).

And take a look at a before and after comparison here.

I plan on using this case study for my weekly Youtube teardown so I will have the chance to go deeper and literally walk you through the changes on camera.

But hopefully for today's 2-3 minutes, you got some value and lessons you can apply to your own work.

Tomorrow we have more work lined up, as mentioned yesterday:

"I don't really have a welcome email sequence in place 👉🏻 I'll select my favorite past newsletter issues and design a nice little sequence new subscribers will receive automatically. So we curate their experience better and offer more value right away"

Till then, keep optimizing.

P.S. What's your biggest takeaway here? Just hit reply and let me know. I'm starting to like this idea of build-in-public sprints. Great to get things done and crush procrastination. A meta-lesson for y'all.

Cheers,

Chris

🙌🏻 Let’s be friends (unless you’re a stalker)​