Squeeze Pages Are Like Cakes – Awesome if You Know How to Make Them, A Big Mess if You Don’t

What is a squeeze page?

A squeeze page is a landing page on a business’s website that is designed to drive leads on an impulse from a potential customer. Squeeze pages are called “squeeze” pages because they squeeze the user into a funnel to completing a lead, and do not allow the user to stray to other parts of the website (leaving the funnel). These kinds of pages are most often used on the tail-end of paid advertising, to ensure a quality return on investment.

Not all squeeze pages are created equal.

No generic squeeze page will work for all businesses. Some industries, like emergency services (plumbing repair, disaster restoration, DUI lawyer), require relatively little persuasion to induce a lead. Other industries may require much more persuasion before you even think about getting a lead – a university or a warehouse management firm, for example. Furthermore, the type of lead you desire may drastically affect your conversion rate or type of squeeze page in any industry. Do you want them to call you? Are you giving them a quote for something? Are you giving them information? A free trial or sample?

What do my potential customers care about?

There are three big things you’re going to want to think about here:

1. Trust–For many industries, trust is a must. There are too many poor-quality, inexperienced, or scam companies out there for people not to care about the integrity of your company. You need to express knowledge in your field, and show experience and trustworthiness through customer testimonials.

2. Services/Products–Do you even offer what this person is looking for? If you send somebody searching Google for “breakfast catering service” to your squeeze page, you best make it clear that you specifically do breakfast catering in addition to whatever other catering services you offer. If people are looking for car repairs, let them know of all the popular common car repairs you do, and that you can figure out and do any other car repair under the sun. Lastly, why is your service or product better than the next guy’s? Does your cell phone company offer a larger service area? Does your product provide a money-back guarantee?

3. Price–If trustworthiness holds lesser value in your industry, it’s likely because your prices are more important. Anybody can offer you safe storage space or give your car an oil change – but who is going to give the best deal on it? Think about how easy it is to convince someone to trust you in your industry, and that will tell you how important it is that your prices blow the competition out of the water. Lastly, offer a deal that only squeeze page visitors can get, and if you can, give it a time restraint. Creating a sense of urgency can sometimes be the best call to action.

Last but not least…Call to action.

Make your intentions clear and simple. The whole page is focused on creating desire and need – so make it clear how they can obtain it throughout the entire process. However, don’t spam your page with so many calls to action that the user doesn’t even know what they are looking at anymore.

–By Dave Wong, PPC Director, Oozle Media (Google)