Posted in Landing Page Optimization	April 17, 2006

By Kim Mateus, Managing Editor Mequoda Daily and Library

Posting a landing page with a confusing or inadequate order mechanism is like opening a new Wal-Mart, but forgetting to install cash registers. What's the point?

In direct mail advertising, one of the two most important elements of the package is the order form (the other being the outer envelope). If you get everything else right and blow the order mechanism, your sales letter landing page will almost certainly fail.

In the final chapter of Mequoda's Creating Landing Pages that Sell book, Peter A. Schaible outlines a few tips for improving your landing page's order mechanism:

• Generally, it is unwise to offer more than two options or two price packages. You can test this, but frequently too many choices tend to overwhelm users and diminish response.
• A good online order page should include such alternate order options as a toll-free number for phone orders and a printable order form for fax orders.
• The order page should state your guarantee and return policy. In general, longer guarantees will increase sales and diminish the number of returns.

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• It is critical that the online order form incorporates security technology. The current standard is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.
• It's always a good idea to remind your customers that their credit card information is protected by SSL. You can state this on your order form, and include the logo of your SSL provider.