Guide: Customised Hotel Website Landing Pages

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a web page a visitor is directed to after clicking a link from a hotel marketing channel (e.g. email newsletter, pay-per-click ads, or social media). Landing pages are typically used to advertise special offers like a discount for a hotel room. The aim of landing pages is to capture a visitor’s information through a lead-capture (or conversion) form. Landing pages convert visitors into leads, which are visitors who provide their information to a business and therefore can be contacted by a business.

Why do I need customised landing pages?

The most critical aspect of a landing page is that it captures visitors’ information. Any hospitality business knows that good information is key to success; the better you know the demographics of your visitors, the better information you have on which to base your hotel marketing strategies. This means you will use your resources more effectively, and less of your money will be wasted on strategies that don’t attract customers.

Additionally, capturing the information of visitors who do convert will give you an idea of those who do not convert, which means you can put more research into how to convert people who aren’t converting, if you so choose.

On a related note, you can use the data gathered from landing pages to cater your hotel website to those who are visiting it. This will increase the amount of time visitors spend on your website and thus their investment in your hotel, which also improves the chances of these visitors sharing your hospitality website with others.

Another way to maximise a landing page’s potential is by creating content around the subject of a landing page. It’s always smart for hospitality businesses to produce content on their websites, so why not produce content that puts you more in touch with visitors? For example, if your floral arrangements business writes a blog about the types of flowers most suited for certain occasions, you could conclude the blog with a link to a landing page with a discount on their next flower arrangement. Tying in content creation with your hotel’s landing pages will increase both your web presence and your chances of gaining visitor information.

How do I know landing pages will work for my hospitality business?

Based on data from the Marketing Benchmark from 7,000 Businesses report, companies see a 55% increase in leads when increasing their number of landing pages from 10 to 15. Furthermore, companies with 40+ landing pages get 12 times more leads than those with 5 or less.

Clearly, landing pages are low-risk, high-reward strategies to increase how much you know about your visitors.

Why can’t I use my homepage as my landing page?

Many hospitality websites make the mistake of linking deals and offers from their hotels’ marketing channels straight to their homepages. This is not advisable, for it increases the likelihood that the visitor will immediately click off your website instead of going through the effort of wading through your website to find the deal. If visitors are sent to a hotel’s landing page which features a deal or offer, they’ll know exactly where to enter their information in order to receive the product. Most importantly for you, instead of clicking away, the visitors will willingly provide their information, which you can use to improve your hotel marketing strategies.

What are the features of an effective hotel landing page?

1. Headline — Create an eye-catching title that succinctly previews the offer below.
2. Body text — Write a brief and compelling description of what the visitors will receive by filling out the form.
3. Keywords — Include keywords in the title and text.
4. Social sharing buttons/links — Featuring these will encourage visitors to share the offer with others, thereby increasing the number of people who will see the hotel landing page.
5. Hidden navigation — Hiding menu and site navigation buttons will minimise visitors’ distraction as well as the bounce rate, thereby improving your chances of capturing their information.
6. Lead-capture/conversion form — Provide fields for the information necessary to get the product to the visitor. Also provide fields for any information that would be useful to your hotel’s marketing team (such as a post code) without being invasive to the visitor.
7. Image or video — Using videos on hotel landing pages can increase conversions by 86%. Additionally, having a hotel landing page that is visually appealing will make customers excited to receive the product, thereby increasing the chances they will fill out the information necessary to receive it.
8. Business logo — Feature your hospitality business’s logo on the page so that the visitor becomes more familiar with your brand, but ensure the logo isn’t displayed in a way that distracts from the landing page.
9. Button text — The button shouldn’t say ‘Submit’; some people don’t like the idea of ‘submitting’ anything, even if it is to get something in return. Instead, use text like ‘Get Promo Code’ or ‘Download Free Guide’ in order to make providing their information a more positive experience.
10. Thank-you page and email responders — After visitors click the button to submit their information, direct them to a thank-you page that thanks the visitors and confirms the transaction. Also, set up an automatic email that does the same. This will make customers feel closer to your hotel business.

How can I improve my landing pages?

A/B testing is the most effective way of optimising the number of leads your hotel landing pages secure. Specifically, A/B testing on the following components will improve your conversion rates:

• Headlines and header images
• Form fields
• Body content
• Button colour, sizes, and text
• Images and colours
• Font colour and sizes

Additionally, on the marketing channel that contains the link to the hotel landing page—say, an email newsletter—be sure to highlight the landing page link. Ensure the button linking to the landing page stands out and the text is bold and clear.

Also, consider adding a tasteful arrow pointing to the button, or, on a similar note, place the button in a model’s line of sight. This latter idea arises from a study conducted by the Department of Social Psychology at the University of Padua, Italy. They found that people are compelled to follow another person’s gaze. So, in the context of marketing: If your newsletter offers a deal on flower arrangements, select an image of a person holding a bouquet of flowers and looking down at the bouquet, then place the button with the landing page link on the flowers of the bouquet. This way, the visitor’s gaze will be drawn to the model who is looking at the bouquet with the landing page link, and the visitor will be more compelled to click the link.

Conclusion

Landing pages are an excellent way to secure visitors’ information and thereby improve your hotel’s marketing strategies and analysis. What’s more, they are not difficult to create, and the rewards of setting up landing pages can be monumental for your hospitality business.