eCommerce Landing Page Checklist

Ready to publish your landing page? Not so fast. ✋ No matter where you are in the creation process—from initial brainstorming to final pre-launch edits—this 10-part checklist will help you optimize your page to best convert site visitors into paying customers.

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Your landing page acts as the face of your brand, and a well-designed page is key to providing a strong first impression for your customers. Below, we share some of the most important components of an effective landing page, specifically those that boost conversion and build customer trust: two factors that distinguish a good landing page from a great one.

1. Effective copywriting
   Don’t underestimate the power of words. Every landing page should start and end with copy that is clear, compelling, and easy to understand. If your visitor has any uncertainty about what you’re selling or how it benefits them, they're much less likely to continue browsing, let alone make a purchase. There will be opportunities to showcase your unique brand voice (e.g. snarky, funny, academic, niche, etc.), but these moments should be balanced with clarity about what your product is and why it matters to your audience.
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2. Thoughtful design and UX
   Your landing page should be intuitive, easy to navigate, and visually compelling. Remember whose perspective is most important—your customer’s! Put yourself in their shoes every step of the way. Review your page and make sure every element has a clear purpose.
   
   Consider asking a random sample of your customers for feedback. Be sure they can articulate: who you are, what your product(s) are, how to navigate your website, how to place an order, how to contact customer service, and anything else that’s important to you as a brand. For example, a company that has an environmental angle might want to verify that their messaging clearly conveys a commitment to sustainability.
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3. Explanation of benefits
   For brands with small or single-item catalogs, it’s important to clearly articulate the benefits and use cases of your products. Consider using a comparison chart to demonstrate how you stand out from the competition (comparison charts are more common in SaaS but can apply to eComm as well). By comparing your brand to the competition, customers can easily understand why you’re the better choice, reducing friction to conversion. For example, Seed offers a good comparison of their probiotic supplement compared to direct competitors (generic OTC probiotics) and alternative solutions (fermented foods/beverages).
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4. Clear and compelling calls-to-action (CTAs)
   All CTAs should be clear and compelling, in both copy and design. Consider including important information beside your CTA to encourage conversion. For example, an apparel company might highlight a limited-time offer for 50% off a pajama top when you also buy a pajama bottom. This lets the buyer know the offer is temporary, and creates a sense of urgency to purchase now.
   
   You can also employ UI techniques to make the purchase experience extra seamless, such as using a cart drawer (i.e. slide-out cart or mini cart) instead of a traditional cart page. The cart drawer functions as a streamlined single-page checkout, which provides an elevated user experience and a quicker time-to-purchase.
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5. Build trust with social proof and clear product descriptions
   Trust is uniquely difficult to build in eCommerce. In-person experiences can be helpful in many ways, such as helping consumers determine size & fit, feel material, review specifications, browse, and communicate with sales or customer service. Without a physical point of reference, visitors may have a hard time assessing the suitability and quality of a product.
   
   When it comes to online shopping, customers rely on trust signals to guide their purchase decisions. Testimonials are crucial in this context as they offer real-life endorsements of your product and brand. They give buyers confidence in a brand’s quality and standards, and often share important education about why a product may or may not be a good fit. Further, trust breeds loyalty, and loyal customers are more likely to turn into repeat buyers and refer their friends.
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6. Customer support benefits
   It’s important to communicate all the ways you provide exceptional customer service so you can build a strong foundation of trust with your visitors. After all, consumers are often as invested in the company they're buying from as they are the product they're buying. Be sure to highlight important policies and offers that you have, like money-back guarantees, free shipping & returns, buy-now-pay-later, multiple payment methods (e.g. ApplePay, Shop Pay), and loyalty perks.
   
   Companies can also provide top-notch service through FAQs that are clearly displayed on key landing pages, like product and category pages. FAQs should answer important questions about products and policies, and effectively manage buyer expectations. They should also make it easy to contact customer support through all available channels, such as email, SMS, social media, phone, and live chat.
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7. Speed and performance
   Did you know that the average website visitor sticks around for just 15 seconds before losing interest? The fewer of those precious 15 seconds they spend on loading screens, the better. In addition to being table stakes for UX, site speed also plays a role in SEO as it’s an official factor in Google's ranking algorithm.
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8. Mobile optimization
   According to Statista, mobile eCommerce sales reached $2.2 trillion in 2023 and now make up 60% of all eComm sales worldwide. With consumers spending more time on their phones, and as online shopping becomes easier and more convenient, mobile commerce sales are poised to continue growing at a steady rate.
   
   As such, it’s important to prioritize responsive page designs to ensure your landing page looks good across devices and browsers (don’t forget to check Safari!). In addition to design, be sure to also test functionality across devices and browsers. Interactive elements can operate way differently than expected on mobile (they often break), so it’s important to verify everything functions properly across devices.
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9. Analytics and conversion tracking
   Often an afterthought, analytics and tracking are critically important to establish before launching a new landing page. Analytics help you track web performance, understand user behavior, monitor conversion rates and goals, identify bugs and opportunities for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize your page further. Some tools we recommend: Google Search Console, Google Analytics, June, Heap, Hotjar, Freshpaint, Fathom
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10. Pre-launch testing and feedback
    A pre-launch audit is one of the most impactful things you can do to ensure optimal performance from day one. It's also one of the more deceptively difficult tasks to do. If you’re like us, you’re probably sprinting to finish engineering tasks right up to your launch deadline, cutting scope to ensure all critical components are live and functioning. There's also an emotional toll that comes with launching something new: you and your team have been working on your project for what feels like forever and it's finally ready to release—let's call it a wrap and move on!
    
    Your pre-launch audit is feeling more and more challenging to squeeze in… 🤔
    
    If you can find the time and bandwidth to prioritize an audit, that’s great. We have a strong preference for thorough testing and feedback before you build your new landing page, as it’s cheaper and more effective to adjust designs before they’re implemented & released to the public than it is post-implementation. However, if this is not realistic, we recommend completing a post-implementation audit immediately following your launch.
    
    Consider using an auditing tool like Flourish Commerce to quickly review your website and identify important fixes. Flourish Commerce will even give you an ordered list of fixes that you can hand straight to a developer for easy implementation—with a task list that’s prioritized by effort and impact. Post-implementation audits will uncover key areas for improvement as well as new opportunities to drive incremental ROI.
    
    In addition to a formal site audit, there are a few other methods you can employ for testing & feedback:

• Implement A/B testing and rapid experimentation with a tool like Splitbee, Optimizely, or VWO

• Ask for customer feedback at specific milestones (e.g. send an NPS survey 30 days after purchase)

• Regularly review customer feedback via testimonials, support queries, and social comments

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Well, the secret’s out…landing pages are complex. They are creative endeavors by nature, but that doesn't mean there aren't rules! That's a good thing—rules give us tried and true guidelines to determine if our landing page is bad, good, or great before we start sending traffic to it.

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Ultimately, a landing page is meant to guide visitors through a specific journey (or funnel) to achieve a clear goal. The more confidence, excitement, and clarity you can provide to visitors who are on that journey, the more motivated they'll be to complete it and take the “happy path” from visitor to paying customer.