Why your landing page is not converting visitors into customers
Why your landing page isn't converting visitors into customers: UX diagnostics
Conversions, sales, and business
You have invested your budget in Meta or Google ads. Clicks are coming in, the numbers in the dashboard are rising, but there are no inquiries or sales, or there are far fewer than you had counted on. In that case, the campaign is often doing its job, but people are getting lost on the page the ad leads them to.
This text is a diagnostic tool for a page that already exists and for which you are already paying for traffic: the symptom, the probable cause, how to check it, and what to fix. If you are just building the page, start with the guide how to build a landing page from scratch. If the problem is not a single page but the entire website, read also why your website is not bringing in customers.
How much a non-converting page is costing you
Let's take an example with fictional, round numbers. If you pay 50 dinars per click, and one out of 100 visitors buys, each customer costs you 5,000 dinars in ads. If the same page brings in three customers out of 100 visitors, the cost per customer drops to about 1,667 dinars, without a single dinar more in the budget.
Your numbers will be different, but the math is the same: fixing the page changes the cost of every customer you bring in through ads. That is why conversion rate optimization (CRO) is done before increasing the budget, not after. Here I am not dealing with aesthetics, but with the places where people give up. You can find a broader list in the text about design mistakes that turn buyers away.
First, identify exactly where you are losing people
Before you change anything, open your analytics and look only at the traffic from ads on that single page. Three patterns repeat themselves, and each points to a different cause:
People leave within a few seconds, without scrolling. Suspect loading speed, an unclear offer at the top of the page, or that the page does not say what the ad promised.
People scroll and read, but they don't click. Suspect the call to action, too many exits from the page, or a lack of trust.
People click the button but do not finish. Suspect the form: too many fields, a mobile error, or a form that does not send the message.
If the results on desktop are decent, but poor on mobile, the cause is almost certainly the mobile version. Therefore, always separate data by device.
Five most common causes and how to check them
Cause 1: The page loads too slowly
Symptom: Many clicks in the ad account, but noticeably fewer visits in analytics and very short retention. Some people hit "Back" before the page even displayed. Back in 2016, Google published that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if loading takes longer than three seconds.
How to check: Run the address through Google PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile result, not the desktop one. Then open the page on your phone, using mobile data, not your home internet.
Fix: The most common culprits are heavy, uncompressed images, autoplaying background video, too many tracking and chat scripts, and weak hosting. Start with images because that is usually where there is the most room for improvement. For me, speed comes first, because people leave a page that does not open quickly. That is why I avoid heavy animations and effects that slow down the page, and only add animation if the page remains fast with it.
Cause 2: The offer is not clear in the first few seconds
Symptom: The page loads quickly, yet people leave without scrolling. At the top of the page, the visitor is looking for the answer to one question: what is this and is it for me. If they don't find it immediately, they won't look for it further down.
How to check: Read only the headline and subhead. Could the same sentence be on the website of any other company? "Premium solutions for your business" and "A company with 15 years of experience" talk about you, not what the buyer gets. A more reliable check is the fresh eyes test, described further down in the text.
Fix: The headline should say what you offer, to whom, and what concrete benefit that person gets. Instead of "Digital marketing agency" write, for example, "Google ads for local services, with a monthly report you actually understand." How to write the entire top of the page, step by step, is explained in the landing page creation guide.
Cause 3: The call to action is weak or there are too many of them
Symptom: People read the page, reach the bottom, but very few click the button. On the heatmap, clicks are scattered in multiple places instead of being concentrated in one.
How to check: Count the different actions the page offers. "Buy," "Learn more," "Follow us," and "Download catalog" are four decisions instead of one. Then read the text on the main button out of context. If it says "Submit" or "Click here," the visitor does not know what happens after the click.
Fix: One primary action, repeated at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom of the page. The button text should state what the person gets, for example, "Request a quote" instead of "Submit", with a short note below about when the reply will arrive. The button should be in a color that is not used for anything else on the page.
Cause 4: The page offers too many exits
Symptom: In analytics, you see that people coming from ads leave the page to go to the blog, the "About Us" page, or social media, and get lost there. You paid for a click just to send the visitor wandering around your site.
How to check: Go through the page from top to bottom and write down every link and button that does not lead to the main action. The menu, footer links, social media icons, newsletter signup pop-up, and chat window all go on this list.
Fix: For each element, ask the same question: does it help the visitor make a decision. If it doesn't help, remove it. The navigation menu is the first candidate. When you remove the menu, the visitor is left with one clear action instead of several exits from the page. You can see what a page built around a single action looks like in the text about building landing pages in Framer.
Cause 5: The page does not work well on mobile
Symptom: The conversion rate on desktop is many times better than on mobile, and with social media campaigns, visitors mostly come from phones. Check the share by device in your analytics, do not assume.
How to check: Go through the entire path on your own phone, from clicking the ad to the submitted form. Pay attention to text you have to zoom in on, buttons you miss with your finger, fields covered by the keyboard, and overlapping elements.
Fix: Reduce the form to the fields you actually need for the first contact. Make buttons and links large enough for a finger—I write about the measurements in the check section below. Remove everything that looks good on desktop but only lengthens scrolling on mobile. You have more on this in the text on how mobile experience affects sales.
The ad and the page must speak the same language
This is the cause easiest to overlook, because the page itself may look perfectly fine. The problem is visible only when you look at it immediately after the ad.
Symptom: One campaign on the same page yields decent results, while another yields almost none. Or people leave in droves in the first few seconds even though the page is fast and the headline is clear.
The cause is a mismatch between the promise and what the visitor finds. The ad says "20% discount on your first treatment," and the page opens with the headline "Welcome to our salon" and the discount is only mentioned at the bottom. The visitor concludes they have come to the wrong place and goes back.
How to check: Put the ad and the top of the page side by side, ideally as two screenshots from a phone, and compare four things:
Headline: Does the page repeat the main message of the ad, preferably in the same words.
Offer: Are the price, discount, or gift from the ad visible without scrolling.
Image: Does the visitor see the same product or the same visual style as in the ad.
Action: Does the button ask for the same thing the ad announced. If the ad says "Book an appointment," the button should not say "Send inquiry."
Fix: If you run multiple campaigns with different messages or for different groups of people, do not send them all to the same page. Create a version of the page for each message. Often, it is enough to change the headline, subhead, and main image, while the rest remains the same. The worst option is sending ads to the homepage of the site, where the visitor has to search for what they clicked for themselves.
When people read everything and still leave: a lack of trust
Symptom: Visitors scroll to the end, linger, return to the price, but do not send an inquiry. They are interested, but they are not sure about you.
How to check: Search the page for anything that you didn't say about yourself. If there isn't a single review, a single work example, a single client name, you are asking a person who doesn't know you to take your word for it.
Fix: Add two to three specific reviews with first and last names, preferably with a photo or company name. A review that describes a problem and the outcome is worth more than general praise. Add client logos and examples of work if you have them, and place them near the button, where the decision is made.
How to check the page yourself in one afternoon
A serious UX audit requires data and experience, but you can do a basic check yourself using free tools. This is the order in which I do it.
Fresh eyes test
Find someone who has never seen the page and who resembles your buyer. Show them the top of the page on a phone for about ten seconds, then take it away. Ask them three things: what this company offers, who it is intended for, and what they should do next. Do not explain and do not help.
If they cannot answer or answer incorrectly, the problem is in the message, not in them. Repeat the test with three to five people. When two people tell you the same thing, you have something to fix.
Slow connection test
You look at the page on high-speed internet, but the buyer opens it on public transit. In Chrome, open developer tools (F12), in the Network tab turn on throttling (slow network), and reload the page with the cache disabled. Watch how long it takes for the headline and button to appear, not for everything to load.
If you see a blank screen for a long time at first, and then the content shifts as images load, that is exactly what some of your visitors see. PageSpeed Insights will tell you which elements slow down the page the most.
Heatmaps and session recordings
Tools like Microsoft Clarity, which is free, or Hotjar record where people click, how far they scroll, and how they navigate the page. They are installed by inserting a single code snippet. Let them collect data for a week or two, depending on traffic, then look at three things:
Scroll map: How far down the page most people get. If the price or key proof is below that line, most never see it.
Click map: Do people click on something that is not a link, like an image or underlined text. This means they expect something there that the page is not giving them.
Session recordings: Watch a dozen recordings from phones. The places where people pause, double back, or tap the same spot multiple times show exactly where they get stuck.
Button and field sizes on mobile
A button that is easy to hit with a mouse on desktop can be too small for a thumb. The WCAG 2.2 accessibility guidelines recommend a minimum target of 24 by 24 CSS pixels, and as a recommended, stricter measure, 44 by 44 pixels. For the main button and form fields, I stick to the larger measure.
Check the spacing too: two links one below the other, with no space in between, are a trap on mobile. Try to fill out the form with one hand, using your thumb. If you make a mistake twice, the customer will too.
Full path trial run
Finally, click on your own ad, or open the page with the same parameters, and go all the way to the end: fill out the form, send it, and check if the message arrived in your inbox, not in spam. Also check what the visitor sees after submitting. I see forms that do not send messages more often than anyone would expect, and you cannot see that from the ad account.
What to fix first
Don't change everything at once, because you won't know what helped. My order of priority is this:
Anything that is broken: a form that doesn't send, a button that doesn't work, a page that falls apart on mobile.
Mobile speed.
Matching the ad and the top of the page, along with the headline.
One clear action and removing exits.
Proof and trust.
After each major change, leave the page running long enough to see a difference, and only then move on to the next. And before you decide to tear everything down and start from scratch, see when a website redesign makes sense, and when it is a waste of money.
Fix the page before you increase the budget
If you are paying for ads and are not satisfied with the results, a bigger budget on the same page only brings more wasted clicks. You can do most of the checks in this text yourself, and that is often enough to find the biggest leak.
What this looks like on a real project is shown in the web design of the SimpleCRM website.
If you want someone from the outside to take a look at your page, get in touch with me for a free basic UX check: I will go through the page section by section and briefly tell you what's wrong. A detailed audit with recommendations is a paid service. And if it turns out that the page is easier to rebuild than to patch up, I also do landing page creation in Framer.
What should a landing page conversion rate be?
There is no single number that applies to everyone, because the conversion rate depends on the industry, price, offer, and traffic source. A free offer for lead generation generally converts better than an expensive service or an online store. More useful than comparing yourself to other people's averages is comparing to your own past results: if the rate increases after changes are made, you are on the right track.
How do I know if the problem is with the ad or the page?
Look at where people are dropping off. If the ad is being shown but few people click, the problem is with the ad or the targeting. If there are clicks but people leave the page without taking action, the problem is on the page or in the mismatch between what the ad promises and what the page actually shows. That's why you should always compare the ad and the top of the page side-by-side before changing anything else.
Is A/B testing necessary for conversion optimization?
A/B testing, or comparing two versions of a page, is a useful tool, but it shouldn't be your first step. If a page has low traffic, the test won't yield reliable results quickly enough. In that case, it is better to first fix the obvious issues described in this text. Testing makes sense only when you have enough visits and conversions so that the difference between the versions isn't just coincidental.
Should a landing page be short or long?
It depends on the complexity of the offer and how well the visitor knows you. People who are hearing about you for the first time need a longer page that builds trust and addresses objections. Remarketing to people who have already visited the site can work with a shorter page as well. The page should be as long as necessary to answer the customer's key questions.
Can I fix the landing page myself, or do I need an expert?
You can do a good part of it yourself, especially if the page is built in a tool like Framer, Webflow, or Elementor. Compressing images, making button text clearer, and removing menus and unnecessary links don't require technical knowledge. An expert makes sense when you've already fixed the obvious things but still see no results, or when the advertising budget is so large that every week of poor page performance costs more than an audit.
Senior UX/UI and product designer from Belgrade, with more than 10 years of experience. He has collaborated with clients such as MerchKing, Bex courier service, Balkan Group, Maeti, 502 Solutions, DataWiz, and many others. He holds Google and Adobe specializations and a Uxcel certification in UX/UI design.