Last updated: March 6, 2024
Creating the ideal landing page for a B2B SaaS product is no simple task; it requires a strong visual presentation, the promise of alleviating pain points, and a strategic provisioning of information down the page.
In this article, we’ll be breaking down how truly excellent B2B SaaS landing pages are made. The examples that will guide us are landing pages from Hubspot, Dropbox, and Asana:
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Without further ado, we’ll begin our breakdown with the first thing a visitor sees: the headline.
A Short, Concise Headline
The headline is the first thing visitors see, and should convey exactly what your product is and the problem it solves. Attention is at a premium, so any confusion at this early stage will cause the visitor to leave your site. Let’s take a look at Asana’s headline:
Keeping it short (i.e. “Manage projects with one tool”) communicates exactly what Asana does—consolidate all of their users’ various project management tools onto one platform. All-in-all, this is an excellent landing page headline.
Now let’s look at Dropbox’s landing page. You’ll notice their headline is similarly pithy. Our only criticisms of the page would be that it comes across much busier than Asana’s, and the headline “Manage projects from start to finish” is more vague than Asana’s.
By contrast, let’s turn to Hubspot’s landing page for their marketing automation software. You’ll see that their “headline” (if you can even call it that) does little to communicate how their software works:
Hubspot’s visitors know that the product is marketing software, but they likely already knew that when they reached this page. What kind of marketing software–Intuitive? End-to-end? The Highest Reviewed? To learn more, visitors have to click to expand the product description and features boxes. Many will not.
People engage with landing pages for 37 seconds on average before making the decision to keep reading or moving on. That means that you have half a minute to grab their attention and prove that your product is worthy of their time. A clear and concise headline makes the most of the first few seconds of their attention.
Social Proof Elements
Social proof elements demonstrate that you’ve not only solved the visitor’s problem before, but you’ve done it for other companies similar to theirs. Some examples of social proof:
- Client Logos
- Press Logos
- Award Icons
- Accreditations
Generally, the higher profile the organizations you’re featuring are, the better. However, in validating your company, you are also creating a brand impression that may not be advantageous. For example, our marketing agency has worked with a number of Fortune 500 clients and we used to feature all their logos on our home page. Prospects started giving us feedback that they thought our agency only worked with enterprises and therefore didn’t reach out to discuss a campaign. In reality, our typical client is smaller than an enterprise, and we’ve since added more social proof that features midsize companies.
Below are two of Hubspot’s social proof elements, which we think they did a good job with: their client logos box, which is just below their headline…
And their awards and client testimonials.
By contrast, Asana’s logo box is less effective because it’s placed two-thirds of the way down the page instead of just above the fold. This is also the only trust element on Asana’s landing page:
A logo box placed low on the page will result in a considerable number of visitors leaving the page before scrolling down far enough to see it.
When creating social proof elements, it’s important to keep in mind the landing page’s target audience. The Dropbox landing page we’ve been examining is targeted at a specific industry: construction. As a result, they’ve chosen a suite of clients from that industry.
While not above the fold, Dropbox has placed their social proof high up on the page, just below the first product features list. This placement ensures that interested visitors actually see the testimonials.
Product Features and Highlights
The meat of B2B SaaS landing pages are the explanations of your product’s features. Once you’ve earned a visitor’s trust enough to keep them reading, your page must quickly explain what makes your software stand out. This section must accomplish the following:
- Address Visitor Pain Points: Visitors arrive on B2B SaaS landing pages because they have immediate problems and hope your product offers solutions. An effective landing page will concisely address all the pain points your software addresses.
- Be Visually Interesting: Few enjoy wading through large blocks of text. Effective B2B SaaS pages include tables, graphs, interactive elements, and videos wherever applicable to illustrate the product for the largest possible audience. Giving visitors several ways of understanding your product increases the likelihood of conversion.
- Demonstrate Value: The entire time visitors are on your page, they’ll be asking themselves “Is it worth the price and time investment?” Your product must demonstrate why the answer is “yes.”
- Include Clear Pricing Information: Displaying pricing information is considered a best practice nowadays as it satisfies visitors and filters out prospects who can’t afford the product and could waste your sales team’s time.
- Interactivity: If your software lends itself to a brief demonstration, include abbreviated demos that visitors can interact with. This firsthand interactivity will improve conversions (and interaction can itself be a tracked microconversion).
Asana’s page does a great job of addressing pain points:
Hubspot’s page is stronger at incorporating visual interest and explaining their value proposition:
The product features are the main reason your visitors are on this page, so it’s critical to understand their search intent and design content around it. Doing so is the difference between a page that drives conversions and one with a low engagement rate.
Mid-Page Calls-to-Action
Calls to action (CTAs) are critical elements of every landing page, but a common mistake is including only a single CTA at the bottom of the page. Mid-page CTAs present an opportunity for your most interested visitors to convert immediately, without needing to scroll further. These will often take a softer approach, such as with Hubspot’s offer of free tools or a demo:
Another soft approach is to pair the CTA with a product feature element, such as an explanation of the value proposition. Asana takes this approach on their page:
The section also includes a strong graphic element using a screenshot from their product, offering the reader yet another insight into how it works. It also demonstrates the ideal placement for a mid-page CTA: directly following the feature section. Many visitors will not feel the need to read on further, so giving them an opportunity to reach out as quickly as possible improves conversion rates.
Dropbox’s CTAs are softer still, and are links to registration walled reports and webinars: This approach helps Dropbox build out a larger leads list which can then be nurtured through email marketing. It also provides visitors with a clear avenue for learning more about the product.
Paths for Further Research
Many visitors who land on your page will not yet be ready to make a purchase, and want more information before making a decision. Including a section that links to other relevant pages articles keeps them interested and on your website. This section must:
- Maintain a Strong Visual Experience: Because they often get deep into technical writing, your LP should be visually appealing to your visitors. Even your link section should fit this mold, properly spaced and using dynamic images that move the eye along the page.
- Allow for Deeper and More Specific Research: Each link must allow visitors to guide themselves to the pages that are most relevant to their interests.
For example, Dropbox allows visitors to narrow in on the exact feature they’re interested in:
Hubspot takes a similar approach:
Hubspot’s page also includes a carousel with links to related products, should a visitor have found that they’re uninterested in the marketing hub:
While Asana’s focuses on industry and customer roles:
This narrows down the intent of the visitor and allows them to really hone in on the specific problems associated with those industries, making conversion more likely. As a bonus, this provides simple linking opportunities for SEO. It’s for this reason that we recommend using landing pages as the Hubs of a Hub and Spoke strategy.
A Final Call-to-Action
The final CTA is your last opportunity to sell to page visitors. It should consist of simple instructions or actionable next steps that visitors can take to get in touch with your sales team, or make an immediate purchase. Asana’s is as simple as it gets:
As is Hubspot’s:
The final CTA has the luxury of being able to take a stronger, sales oriented approach than mid-page CTAs. Your visitors will have skimmed (or even read) all the way through the rest of the page; a clear indication of interest. This is what allows Dropbox to combine their CTA with a pricing comparison:
This helps filter out visitors for whom the product would be out of budget, thereby saving sales resources for those who may actually purchase.
Outsourcing B2B SaaS Landing Page Design & Optimization
A finished, effective B2B SaaS landing page will include all of the above elements, and execute them well. While companies like Hubspot, Asana, and Dropbox already have the resources to hire the in-house talent that makes pages like these possible, many companies find that they do not have the writers, graphic artists, or web designers necessary to create such pages.
A common solution is to outsource landing page creation over to an experienced party. Our agency has over 12 years of experience creating conversion-driving landing pages for B2B SaaS companies. Contact us if you’d like to learn more.
