Landing pages are where conversion happens. They dictate what potential customers think of a brand, how interested they are and if they want to continue. Yet, not all customers are ready to buy at the same stage in the funnel, and one generic landing page isn’t likely to suit everyone. Thus, to facilitate higher conversion efficiency, organizations should have tailored landing pages for each funnel stage and the headless CMS structure provides the agility and infrastructure to allow this on a large scale.
How Landing Pages Work Within the Funnel
Landing pages do not exist in a bubble. They are part of a funnel and used at various stages of the sales and marketing process. Contentful alternatives are often sought by teams looking for more flexibility or cost efficiency when managing these landing pages across multiple stages of the customer journey. For example, in an awareness campaign, companies use landing pages to engage and brand as a new audience. In the consideration stage, a landing page becomes an educational tool with product features and benefits, distinguishing features, and social proof like testimonials or case studies. Finally, in the decision phase, the landing pages are most effective using urgency and social proof as well as next steps call to actions, what to expect with pricing transparency, limited-time offers, etc.
However, if companies use a one-size-fits-all approach, a landing page for everyone in all stages of the funnel, they will risk deterring prospect engagement. For example, awareness stage prospects might be overwhelmed by too much information while those who could convert at the decision stage are under-informed because the one page created is too broadly focused. Creating landing pages for specific stages in the funnel allows companies to keep consistent messaging with intended messaging. A headless CMS allows for this access, as modular parts of pages can be used elsewhere and mixed and matched in different funnels to create the ultimate segmented landing page that accomplishes its purpose in getting prospects to move along faster.
Why It’s Difficult to Personalize with Legacy Systems
Legacy content management systems originated at a time when content was published on one website, using one portal. Thus, they tether content to templates for one page and make rapid changes near impossible. Even the smallest adjustment will invoke a designer to get involved.
To personalize a landing page using a legacy CMS requires duplicating the entire landing page and editing within copy blocks while hoping the new and old content links do not break between the original and other duplicate or perturbed pieces.
When the content needs to be sent to multiple types of landing pages, different funnels, international markets, niche audiences it complicates the capabilities of simple interface systems. Involving developers does slow everything down and creates greater distance between nimble marketing efforts and implementation. Thus, if marketers want to shift focus to testing and tweaking deliverables to see how they could improve performance, they can’t launch windows close to favor less-than-real-time operations.
While legacy systems impede the ability to personalize, a headless CMS platform liberates it through accessibility and simplicity of application.
Create funnel-specific experiences with structured content
Landing pages that match funnel intent come from a structured content approach. While most systems require adding copy, images, and CTAs directly into static templates, a headless CMS associates them as plug-and-play building blocks that can be constructed and reconstructed. Therefore, companies can create funnel-specific experiences, for example, awareness landing pages using certain blocks from a brand storytelling library, educational imagery reserved for the awareness stage and different blocks associated with testimonials, comparisons, and CTA-driven entries aligned to the decision stage.
What’s more, because the content is structured and thematically connected, companies only have to change things once when implementing universally. If a product description changes, it automatically changes every landing page associated with that product across every funnel stage. This saves time while ensuring accuracy and consistency. At the same time, structured content allows for variable flexibility teams can test the blocks in various orders and learn what works best for each stage within the funnel. Over time, companies develop a repository of preferred elements that work best for awareness vs consideration vs decision stages. Only a headless CMS grants the scalability of this kind of modularity to ensure structured content drives personalization at every stage of the funnel.
Use visitor information to facilitate real-time personalization
Without information, personalization is arbitrary. However, with access to visitor data regarding actions taken within a site, how they entered the online ecosystem, and their past purchase behavior or special offers, brands can connect this funnel and entry data to create on-the-fly landing page personalization. Integrated with analytics systems and customer data lakes, a headless CMS can deliver different iterations of landing pages in real time. For instance, if someone landed on a page through a paid social ad, they could see versions created with elements from that social campaign similarly branded versus preexisting customers who might receive loyalty discounts or upsell options.
Real-time personalization works because it’s real-time. It’s not wait until the campaign goes live or provide a universal template; instead, the landing pages can speak to the current situation in real time. This helps brands optimize for situational relevance and conversion ability while alleviating potential friction for visitors. Over time, the data gleaned from personalized experiences can inform future endeavors. A headless CMS helps scale this process because it utilizes APIs as touchpoints between content and data-infused systems; brands can automate the personalization process at the module level to ensure specific landing pages meet intent, no matter how specific the user experience may be.
Scaling Personalization Across Markets and Audiences
One of the biggest hurdles global enterprises face is scaling personalization. Various markets require localized messaging, currency, imagery, compliance disclaimers, etc. Various audiences require benefits and CTAs for first-time visitors vs. return prospects vs. industry-specific personas. With a traditional system, scaling this is difficult as teams must manually build dozens of versions; with a headless CMS, however, the construction of content allows for such division.
Localization workflows can be created in the CMS, evergreen blocks, product information can be used internationally, and campaign modules promotions can change regionally. Likewise, personalization rules can specify which modules get changes based on persona type, allowing every visitor to see the message it’s meant to see without requiring an entire page duplication. The ability to scale personalization across markets and audiences is what makes a headless CMS architecture all the more effective when working with global brands that need to ensure relevance no matter where in the world they are seen.
Consistency is Key Without Reigning in Creativity
When personalization goes awry and too many variations are created without direction, things can become inconsistent and ineffective. If landing pages possess different elements that don’t flow altogether based on design aspect ratios, voice, and overarching brand rules it can render a choppy experience. A headless CMS alleviates this through control features found within the personalization workflows.
Global brand modules logos, compliance disclaimers, tone guidelines can be locked so they’re applied consistently; creative items like images or promotional offerings can vary by funnel stage or personal need. This is the perfect blend because teams still have the opportunity to create compelling experiences by funnel stage but can do so while knowing that the overarching brand identity will remain consistent. Thus, customers constantly see them and their products/services as trustworthy. When a consumer interacts with a brand over time, they want to feel like they’ve gotten to know the brand’s identity more even if their content continues to be personalized. The headless CMS supports creative freedom without fear of inconsistent brand identities. Instead, with these features for personalization, consistency thrives.
Landing Pages for Iteration
Landing pages need iteration, they can’t just be made and left. A headless CMS allows teams to modularize their efforts so one team can make a module for a CTA while another makes a testimonial module, made independently yet for the same page. They can A/B test one CTA versus another, for example, or two placements of the same testimonial, learning more quickly than they would if they had to adjust an entire page.
When everything is already connected, learning becomes part of the process. An analytics feature afforded by the integrated CMS offers teams insight into how landing pages made for specific funnel stages operate. If awareness pages are getting the most time on page, that feature can be adjusted on those pages for further engagement; if consideration pages are resulting in poor-quality leads, that can be adjusted there to better clarify true intention. For decision pages, conversion rates can indicate what’s working and what’s not. By iterating across the long term, each experiment adds long-term value and the content is better structured to support an increasingly effective and customized workflow.
Landing Pages in Connection Through A Funnel
Great landing pages should never exist in a vacuum. Each page should connect to the next phase of the funnel for which it exists. For example, those who come to an awareness landing page should be gently funneled into a consideration page while those who get to decision moments should easily be presented with a buy or sign-up option. A headless CMS creates this connection, ensuring all funnel stage landing pages exist under one roof with modularized assets that can be shared and intentionally ordered.
Creating this connected experience means clients are never presented with random acts of purpose. Instead, they’re guided through a story that makes sense over time and changes as their intent changes. When businesses use modular blocks that connect from one stage to the next, they’re creating experiences not random assets. This increases engagement and reduces drop-off rates while increasing conversion rates consumers always see what they need to see when they’re ready to see it.
Future Channels and Touchpoints
The funnel through which customers engage may also expand. Customers no longer are limited to web landing pages; landing pages become adjustable via mobile apps, progressive web apps, social media, and new channels like voice or augmented reality. A headless CMS can prepare for such future considerations thanks to API-based delivery. The same content modules that exist today for a web-based landing page can be adjusted just as easily for devices we have yet to encounter.
This means companies don’t need to have a grasp on every singular touchpoint that may come to be; personalization will still be propagated. If a company wants to experiment with this year’s new social media platform or communication app, it doesn’t have to interrupt its content creation flow. It can branch out its personalized landing page experience to where customer attention may go and do so without pause. These types of landing pages ready for the future are ideally strategic for growth in the long term, all made possible through headless CMS variance.
Conclusion
Personalization of landing pages across funnels requires intent, action, placement and more based on customer stage and contextual relevance. Yet a traditional system can only take it so far in terms of complexity needed to fulfill each variable. Only a headless CMS has the infrastructure required to be content structured, modular and at scale. With data-driven insight for personalization, these markets can scale for any new dependent channel, A/B testing can create iterations almost instinctively and in real-time, and considerations for future channels can be supported through integration from the beginning. Considering such variables allows companies to go beyond one-off campaigns and create a path for customers where all landing pages make sense, are cohesive and ultimately, seek conversion. Ultimately, in a digital-first world, this level of attention serves to make landing pages vehicles for expansion.
