{"id":75,"date":"2014-07-17T20:48:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-17T20:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.flockunlock.com\/?p=75"},"modified":"2025-10-28T11:34:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T11:34:22","slug":"lean-landing-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flockunlock.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/lean-landing-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Lean landing page"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"landing\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pre-Minimum Viable Product<\/h2>\n

Here at Flock Unlock<\/a> we’re big fans of Eric\u00a0Ries<\/strong>\u2019 Lean Startup<\/a> methodology. Which basically tells startups to build a\u00a0Minimum Viable Product (MVP)\u00a0in order to\u00a0decide whether to pivot or persevere.\u00a0According to Eric Ries<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

A Minimum Viable Product is the version of your \u201cproduct\u201d that maximizes validated learning for the least amount of effort.<\/small><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now a\u00a0landing page is the perfect pre-MVP. It allows us to\u00a0explain\u00a0our “product”, test our product\u2019s value proposition and see if our product\u00a0is something people actually want. Did we mention it (most likely) costs way less then building your MVP and basically anyone can build one using one of these brilliant online landing page building services.
\nTo make it easy for you here’s a list of 5 services to choose from.<\/p>\n

Landing page services<\/h2>\n

KickoffLabs <\/a><\/strong>Lead generating landing pages, email capture widgets, and launch pages for everyone. Get a Viral Boost with built-in referral & email marketing.<\/p>\n

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Unbounce <\/a><\/strong>Unbounce lets marketers build high-converting landing pages without I.T. 1-click publishing, A\/B testing and a suite of best-practice landing page templates<\/p>\n

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LanderApp <\/a><\/strong>Create and A\/B test beautiful landing pages for your online marketing campaigns using an easy step-by-step process.<\/p>\n

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RocketStart <\/a><\/strong>Build a perfect landing page in minutes & generate leads.<\/p>\n

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LaunchRock <\/a><\/strong>Start Now and Launch Your Page in Minutes. Acquire, engage and grow your audience with powerful social sharing tools & analytics that drive user growth.<\/p>\n

Our Pick: KickoffLabs<\/h2>\n

The main reasons we chose KickoffLabs<\/a>\u00a0over the competition was their easy to use API<\/strong> and the\u00a0Magic Contact Data<\/strong> feature on top of that their Viral Boost<\/strong> feature is a nice extra\u00a0and the MailChimp integration<\/strong> was a real must have for us.<\/p>\n

Since we already designed the Flock Unlock<\/a> landing page ourselves we didn’t really need the Do It Yourself type of landing page creation tool.\u00a0We did however need an easy to use API which we could hook up to our existing landing page.\u00a0If you’ve worked with API’s before you’ll find KickoffLabs<\/em> API to be very easy to implement.\u00a0While it’s a fairly basic API,\u00a0there is the ability to add additional paramaters which\u00a0allowed\u00a0us to store additional data with each user.<\/p>\n

We really liked the\u00a0Viral Boost<\/strong> widget that encourages social sharing after someone entered their email address it’s\u00a0baked into their predefined DIY templates. Getting it working on our own landing page wasn’t that easy, but with some additional effort we got there. From the start we decided to only ask visitors for their email address, because well, no one likes to enter all of their personal data just to sign up for a beta right?<\/em><\/p>\n

We were pleased to see KickoffLabs<\/em> Magic Contact Data<\/strong> feature, what it does is lookup the email addresses for additional information, including the associated name, location, social profiles and more! Just what we needed.<\/em> While it doesn’t find additional information for each and every email address, we were pleasantly suprised to see how well it actually worked.\u00a0Big kudos to the creators!<\/p>\n

One thing we would like to see, is if this additional Magic Contact Data<\/strong> could also be synced to our MailChimp account.\u00a0Currently KickoffLabs send new email address directly to MailChimp then looks up additional information.<\/p>\n

As a startup ourselves we also love to support other small companies.\u00a0KickoffLabs<\/a> is run by “two scrappy co-founders” as Josh and Scott call themselves. They’re not only offering an amazing tool with lot’s of features, they’re also providing top notch support and\u00a0creating usefull resources.<\/p>\n

Landing page tips<\/h2>\n

Here are our top 5 tips when creating a landing page.<\/p>\n

1. Short and clear headline.<\/h3>\n

Explain the essence of your service in prefferably one sentence. Short headlines work better than longer headlines. The headline is probably the most important part of your landing page and tells visitors what your product is all about, it should encourage visitors to keep reading!
\nOur headline:<\/strong> “Reward people for social interactions with your brand”.<\/p>\n

2. Benefits over features<\/h3>\n

Did you notice our landing page doesn’t have a features list? Well that’s because it’s usually better to speak about benefits instead of features. What value are you offering your clients? Focus on the value and you will see conversion rates grow.
\nHow we did it:<\/strong> No feature list but an explanation of the benefits.<\/p>\n

3. Single call-to-action<\/h3>\n

Your landing page should have one main objective. Usually for a start up landing page this is getting the visitors email address. Make sure your CTA stands out and is visible above the fold (e.g. using bright colors, high contrast, strategic placement on the page\u2026)
\nHow we did it:<\/strong> One clear sign up form above the fold and another last CTA sign up form at the bottom of our landing page.<\/p>\n

4. Keep It Simple<\/h3>\n

A landing page should be able to explain your offering to a child. Great copy is very important. Clarity above all! Remember people don\u2019t sign up for what they don\u2019t understand. Only use meaningful graphics that enrich your copy never use poor stock images.
\nHow we did it:<\/strong> Clear explanation of how our platform works complemented by flat style graphics.<\/p>\n

5. Social Sharing<\/h3>\n

Make it extremely easy for those who show interest too share your page! KickoffLabs does this extremely well with their “Viral Boost” feature. If by any chance possible it’s also a good idea to incentivize this sharing behaviour.
\nHow we did it:<\/strong> Show social share buttons after sign up. (Unfortunately no brilliant incentive at this point)<\/em><\/p>\n

Landing page teardown<\/h2>\n

While we love giving fellow startups\u00a0advice and\u00a0tips we’re far from perfect ourselves.
\nKickoffLabs<\/a> Co-Founder, Josh Ledgard<\/strong>\u00a0recently reviewed our landing page amongst others, during a live\u00a0webinar providing us with a bunch of optimization tips and feedback.<\/p>\n

The entire video is available on YouTube, Flock Unlock landing page teardown starts at: 30:22<\/p>\n