Landing page optimisation for paid campaigns
Where most paid spend leaks. A practical checklist for getting the landing page right.
Most paid campaigns lose more money on the landing page than on the ad. The ad gets the click; the page is responsible for the conversion. When studios audit underperforming campaigns, the issue is usually downstream of the ad.
The five-second test
A visitor lands on the page. Within five seconds, can they answer three questions?
1. What is this? 2. What's in it for me? 3. What do I do next?
If any answer requires scrolling, reading, or interpreting, the page is leaking. Cold paid traffic has less patience than organic. The five seconds matters.
Match the ad's promise
If the ad says "20% off your first order", the landing page headline needs to confirm "20% off your first order" within the visible area. Not in the footer. Not on a checkout overlay. Immediately visible.
This is the most common landing page mistake: the ad sells a specific promise, the page is a generic homepage that doesn't reinforce it. Visitors think they clicked the wrong thing and leave.
Build campaign-specific landing pages for major paid pushes. Generic homepages convert paid traffic at 30-60% of the rate of matched landing pages.
Strip the navigation
Cold paid traffic on a landing page shouldn't have a full nav menu. Every nav link is an exit. Strip it down to logo and one CTA. Visitors who want to explore can hit back; visitors who came to convert should have nothing else to do but convert.
This single change moves conversion rates 10-30% in most categories.
One offer, one CTA
Multiple competing CTAs (buy now, learn more, schedule a call) split decision-making and reduce conversion. Pick one and repeat it. Variations of the same CTA work; competing CTAs don't.
Above-the-fold proof
If your conversion involves trust (anything over $50, anything new), put proof above the fold. Customer logo strip, star rating, named testimonial, founder photo. One trust signal in the visible area beats a wall of testimonials lower on the page.
Speed is conversion
The page must load. Three seconds is the upper limit on mobile. Past five seconds, half your paid traffic has bounced before the page rendered.
If your developers tell you it's "pretty fast", measure it in real Chrome (PageSpeed Insights). Real-user metrics are usually worse than internal benchmarks.
Forms shorter than your competitor's
Every field reduces submissions. The minimum viable form for a B2B lead is name, email, company. Phone and job title knock 20-40% off submissions each.
If you need more information, capture it on the next step or in the follow-up email — not on the initial form.
Mobile-first is now mobile-only
70%+ of paid social traffic is mobile. Treat the desktop version as the secondary experience. Designs that look good on desktop and fall apart on mobile are the most common reason ad budgets leak.
What to measure
Conversion rate (submissions or purchases per visitor). Time to first interaction (how long before someone clicks, scrolls, or types). Scroll depth (do they reach the CTA, or bounce before). Form drop-off (which field loses them).
Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity recordings let you see this in 30 minutes of watching real sessions. Worth more than weeks of analytics.