Landing Page Copy

Landing Page Copy

Write copy for pages with a single conversion goal: signup, purchase, demo request, download, lead capture. Stack-agnostic.

This skill is narrower than content-and-copy. Landing pages exist to drive a specific action, not to inform broadly.

When to use

• Writing a hero section for a homepage or product page
• Writing a sales page or long-form sales letter
• Drafting opt-in or lead-capture page copy
• Campaign-specific landing pages
• Pricing page copy
• Demo or signup CTAs

When NOT to use

• Long-form blog content (use content-and-copy)
• Email sequences (use email-sequences)
• Brand voice definition (use brand-voice)
• Page design and layout decisions (use design-standards)

Required inputs

• The product, service, or offer
• The target audience and the specific objection they bring
• The conversion goal (one specific action)
• Brand voice
• Existing customer language (testimonials, support tickets, sales calls)
• Any constraints (length, format, regulatory)

If audience is unclear or objections are unknown, run brand-discovery or pull from sales call recordings before writing.

The framework: 7 sections

A landing page does seven things in sequence. The structure can flex (combine, reorder, expand), but the elements stay constant.

1. Hero

The first 3 to 5 seconds. Decides whether the visitor stays.

Three components:

• Headline. The promise. Specific, outcome-focused, free of cliche.
• Subheadline. The mechanism. How you deliver the promise.
• Primary CTA. The action. One button, descriptive label.

Strong hero patterns:

• Outcome + audience + mechanism. "Ship features 3x faster, for engineering teams who hate meetings, with our async-first project tool."
• Pain reversal. "Stop losing customers to slow page loads."
• Surprising claim. "The note-taking app that gets used. We have data."
• Direct address. "You have 47 unread Slack messages. Here's what to do about it."

Weak hero patterns:

• Generic adjective stacking ("Powerful, intuitive, scalable")
• "Welcome to our platform"
• Brand-name-only headlines ("Acme: The Future of X")
• Vague benefits ("Streamline your workflow")

2. Social proof (early)

Within the first scroll, prove someone else trusts you.

Forms:

• Customer logos (recognizable beats unknown)
• Quantitative trust signal ("Over 10,000 teams")
• One strong testimonial with name and role
• Press mentions (logos of where you've been featured)

Placement: Right below the hero, before the visitor invests in reading more.

3. Problem / promise

Establish that you understand the visitor's situation.

Pattern:

• 1 to 3 paragraphs naming the specific problem
• Use the visitor's language (mined from research, not your marketing language)
• Stop before you sell. Resonate first.

Test: Read the problem section aloud. Does the target audience nod? If they don't, you don't understand them yet.

4. Solution / mechanism

How you solve the problem. The "what we actually do" section.

Effective structure:

• One headline summarizing the solution
• 3 to 5 specific features or capabilities, each with a 1-2 sentence explanation
• Each feature framed as the benefit it produces, not the technical detail
• Visual support (screenshots, illustrations, video clips)

Failure mode: Listing features without translating to outcomes. "Real-time collaboration" is a feature. "Edit together without copying-pasting from email" is the outcome.

5. Proof and detail

The expanded social proof and case studies section.

Components:

• 1 to 3 detailed case studies (specific customer, specific outcome, specific numbers)
• Multiple testimonials with attribution
• Specific data points (usage stats, success metrics, growth)
• Awards, certifications, or third-party validation

The deeper proof section is where committed visitors convert. Skim-readers won't make it here, but the ones who do are ready to buy.

6. Objection handling

Anticipate the reasons people say no. Address them directly.

Common objection types:

• Price. "Is this worth it?"
• Time. "Will this take forever to set up?"
• Trust. "Will this actually work for my situation?"
• Risk. "What if I commit and it's wrong?"
• Comparison. "How is this different from [competitor]?"
• Implementation. "Can my team handle the change?"

Handling formats:

• FAQ section. Structured, scannable.
• Comparison table. Vs. competitors or vs. alternatives.
• Risk reversal. Money-back guarantee, free trial, no-contract terms.
• Proof of effort needed. "Setup takes 5 minutes, not 5 weeks."

7. Final CTA

The closer. Re-state the offer. Re-state the action.

Strong final CTAs:

• Repeat the primary CTA from the hero (consistency)
• Frame in terms of the visitor's situation ("Get your team set up in 5 minutes")
• Remove friction ("No credit card required")
• One action only (avoid offering 5 alternatives that paralyze decision)

Avoid:

• Multiple CTAs competing for attention at the bottom
• New offers introduced only at the bottom (visitor is now confused)
• Long forms that ask for more information than needed for the action

The CTA itself

Buttons matter. Treat the button copy as a whole-page-worth of attention.

Strong CTA patterns:

• Action + outcome. "Start your free trial," "Get my pricing," "Send me the guide"
• First-person. "Show me how" outperforms "Show you how"
• Specific. "Book a 15-minute demo" beats "Contact us"
• Low-friction. "Free trial, no credit card" reduces commitment cost

Weak CTAs:

• "Submit" (functional but lifeless)
• "Click here" (no value statement)
• "Learn more" (vague; about what?)
• "Get started" (started doing what?)

Workflow

• Confirm the offer. What exactly is being offered? At what price (if any)? What does the visitor get?
• Confirm the audience and objection. Specific segment. The specific worry they bring.
• Mine the language. Customer testimonials, support tickets, sales calls. Use real customer phrases.
• Draft the hero. Headline, subheadline, CTA. Test 5 to 10 variations.
• Build the structure. All 7 sections in order. Sections can combine for shorter pages.
• Draft sections. Section by section. Don't polish until the structure is sound.
• Edit for friction. Remove every word that doesn't earn its place. Landing pages do not have words to spare.
• Test the CTA. Read the page aloud. By the end, is the visitor's next action obvious?
• Pre-publish: check links, spell-check, mobile preview, SEO basics if SEO is a goal.

Failure patterns

• Hero that explains instead of sells. "We're an X for Y" is description. "Get X without Y" is sell.
• Feature lists with no outcomes. Features without benefits read as a spec sheet.
• Generic testimonials. "Great product!" is worth less than nothing. "We cut onboarding time from 2 weeks to 4 days" is gold.
• Multiple competing CTAs. Pick one primary action. Everything else is noise.
• Walls of text. Visitors scan. Use short paragraphs, bullet lists, and visual breakpoints.
• No social proof. Trust is the first hurdle. Without proof, the rest of the page does not earn the chance to be read.
• Mismatched headline and CTA. Hero promises X, CTA asks for Y. Visitor confused.
• Writing for everyone. "Our solution works for any business" appeals to no one. Specificity converts.
• Ignoring mobile. Most visitors are on mobile. Test the page at 375px first.

Output format

Default output is a structured markdown document for the page, with each section labeled. The markdown is ready to import into the CMS or hand to design.

Structure:

# [Page Title]

## SECTION: Hero
- Headline: [text]
- Subheadline: [text]
- Primary CTA: [button text]
- Supporting cue: [optional, e.g., "No credit card required"]
- Hero visual notes: [if any]

## SECTION: Social proof (early)
- Logo bar: [list customer/press logos]
- Trust statistic: [if any]

## SECTION: Problem / promise
[2 to 3 paragraphs]

## SECTION: Solution
- Headline: [text]
- Feature 1: [headline + description]
- Feature 2: [headline + description]
- Feature 3: [headline + description]

## SECTION: Proof
- Case study 1: [customer, outcome, numbers]
- Testimonials: [list]
- Data points: [list]

## SECTION: Objection handling
- FAQ: [questions and answers]
- OR Comparison table: [vs alternatives]
- OR Risk reversal: [guarantee, terms]

## SECTION: Final CTA
- Headline: [text]
- Final CTA button: [text]
- Supporting cue: [optional]

## Variants for testing
- [Alternate headlines]
- [Alternate CTAs]
- [Alternate proof framings]

Reference files

• references/hero-formulas.md - Patterns and formulas for hero headlines.
• references/objection-library.md - Common objections by category, with handling strategies.