Landing Page Examples V

18. Smooth Sailing – Live event landing page

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Why I like it

Ok, this one’s a touch controversial as it was created by one of the co-founder’s of Unbounce (Carter). I’m including it in this list for two reasons: I like the page and it’s use of social widgets, but re importantly, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to say what I think is wrong with it

On the plus side it’s got a great aesthetic, indicative of the genre of music that it’s promoting and it has a wide range of modern landing page features to increase engagement:

• Video: you can listen to some smooth music while you check out the band list.


• Social Proof: the Facebook widget shows photos of anyone you know that’s “recommended” the page alongside a count of smooth music fans.


• Secondary CTA’s: while I wouldn’t typically recommend more than one CTA, you can sometimes benefit from a “safety net” call-to-action. For this the footer has a couple of extra ways to stay in touch.

Optimization suggestions

To keep people on the page longer and enhance the chance of a conversion, I’d suggest the following:

• Provide a clearly stated secondary headline beneath Smooth Sailing, which describes what the event is. “12 Vancouver Bands Play Yacht Rock Covers from the 70s”. This would make me understand it a lot more quickly.


• Add a play button beside each band to let you hear an audio preview (a la iTunes).


• Put a lighter background behind the Facebook widget – right now it’s hard to see.


• Throw up a lightbox style popup with a Map to the location “The Biltmore” – to prevent people leaving the page to figure it out.

19. Shopify – Online product signup

Note: This one is critiqued by James Gardner (no relation).

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What I like

• Video – the use of video really strengthens a brand’s proposition. It’s a great way to communicate a lot of information quickly and clearly.


• Positive language – Rather than providing lots of copy to ready through, Shopify has created five bullet points. The language used (and the iconography) is all designed to give the user confidence. Phrases such as ‘Easy to use’, ‘Secure’ and ’20,000+ Store’ breed confidence in the user (as does the tick icon).


• Clear CTA – the CTA is clearly positioned and concise – there are only three fields to complete, lowering barrier to entry and making it more likely that the user will complete sign-up.


• Supporting information – their supporting information is comprehensive, but delineated from the main sign-up area, so as not to cause confusion or draw the user away from the sign-up process.

Things I’d change or test

• Shop URL – the inclusion of the shop URL might cause issues. What is it? What do I enter? There’s no explanation as to what is expected from the user. It may be better to include this field later in the sign-up process.

20. American Bullion – Guide download

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What I like

• Descriptive headline: The headline tells you what the page is about in three words.


• Simple intro paragraph: Describes what you’ll get for completing the form.


• Perfect form header and CTA: A descriptive form header and button copy.


• Supporting information: Everything you need to know is pretty much above the fold, but if you’re not convinced then you can check out a large amount of social proof below including: testimonials, media mentions and trust symbols.

Things I’d change or test

The only thing I would add to this page would be a sub-header above the 3 steps to say what they are about: such as “About Gold Investing”.

Landing Page Examples V