When you perform a quick Google image search for “event post-click landing page examples,” you’ll see there are a wide variety of designs. Some are actual post-click landing pages; many are not (most have nothing to do with events, either).
That being said, how are you suppose to locate professional event post-click landing page examples in creating your page?
You can try and make sense of the search results in hopes of determining some best practices or modify your search query until you find a great example to follow. But whatever you do, don’t neglect to build an event post-click landing page for your next event.
What is an event post-click landing page?
Just like lead capture pages, event post-click landing pages are standalone web pages designed specifically to convert visitors into event attendees. They can also be used for the sole purpose of collecting leads for your offers so that you can nurture them further down your marketing funnel.
How do they apply to my event marketing?
Post-click landing pages are an indispensable part of marketing campaigns because, among other reasons, they help you:
- Generate leads easier
- Collect demographic information about your prospects
- Provide fuel for other marketing channels
In general, there are two types of event post-click landing pages:
- The company or association hosting an event
- The business or entrepreneur attending an event, conference, or tradeshow
1. “Host” event post-click landing pages
This refers to the organizations and associations hosting an event, conference, or tradeshow — such as Dreamforce, Oracle World, Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and Inbound.
Essentially, these are all event websites with full navigation bars, complete event agendas, videos, and more.
Beyond the event’s details (dates, city, venue), the goal of the event post-click landing page should be to sign up attendees, exhibitors, and sponsors — like Salesforce and Oracle do with their pre-registration pages:
Host event pages are built long before the actual event takes place so they can generate traffic and sign-ups. Dreamforce and Oracle World occurred in September and October 2015, respectively, and both of the above pages were likely published within days of their completion. That means both 2016 pre-registration post-click landing pages will be collecting emails for a full year!
How event sponsors should use post-click landing pages
Sponsorship dollars help make tradeshows and conferences operate like well-oiled machines — reserving the venue, renting or purchasing setup decorations, catering, security, hiring keynote speakers, etc. In return, sponsors get booth space, signage (on-site and online), and more.
For an example of online signage, let’s look at the National Association of Mortgage Brokers website and the platinum sponsors in the right margin for the “nation’s largest conference and tradeshow for mortgage professionals:”
It’s not a post-click landing page by any means because it includes a full navigation bar, Twitter widget, hotel reservation information, and more. Having clicked through on the first half-dozen sponsors, I was hoping to be directed to their post-click landing page — that would be complete with their booth number, a giveaway they may have… Something. Anything.
Instead, each sponsor logo I clicked on led me to each respective homepage. Needless to say, they’re missing a huge opportunity to engage people and promote their presence at the event.
How event hosts can trick-out their pages
Use cityscapes as your image
City skylines are certainly more appealing than stock images, the brain processes real images faster and better than text, and prospects will stay on your page longer.
The Resi Conference page is not a post-click landing page, but it is still capitalizing on a popular landmark — the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline — to piggyback on the setting to help sell their event. In doing so, they help encourage any non-San Francisco residents to register for the conference and experience the “city by the bay.”
Does the page pass the blink test?
- What is the offer?
- Why does it benefit me?
- Why do I need it now?
- How can I get it?
Have your post-click landing page directly answer all four questions with no confusion.
Allow offline payments
Naturally, event hosts want attendees to pay in full right away, but providing a “pay later” option can help increase registrants. Those that do choose to pay later, you can offer price deadlines to encourage them to pay sooner rather than later. An alternative option is to require a down payment of registrants to save their spot.
Show your numbers
Number of attendees are expected to be at the event? How many keynote speakers and special guests will be in attendance? How many total hours can attendees expect to be engaged?
Follow Content Marketing World Conference and Expo’s example:
Providing this kind of data demonstrates value to those considering registering for your event.
2. Exhibitor event post-click landing pages
The second type of event post-click landing page is those of businesses and entrepreneurs attending a conference or tradeshow. If you’ve ever been an exhibitor, you know just how important they can be to your business. Here are some statistics to support that and show why companies and associations have success at tradeshows:
- 46% of executive decision makers made purchase decisions while attending a show
- 51% of tradeshow attendees requested that a sales representative visit their company after the show
- 92% of tradeshow attendees come to see and learn about what’s new in products and services
With that kind of evidence, it’s easy to understand why businesses continue to exhibit at events and meet their prospects in a single location. Plus, 63% of attendees are not customers of the company’s exhibits they visit — creating many new business opportunities. This is especially significant because…
Events provide free post-click landing page traffic
The amount of traffic depends on how well you promote your page before and during the event. It’s not uncommon for exhibitors to hire attractive models to entice attendees to stop at their booth — offering food and drink is popular, too.
With potentially thousands of attendees strolling by your booth, you must think outside the box and get people to come to you.
Once people are in the booth, exhibitors try and get you interested in their product or service. They’ll scan your badge, which is usually equipped with RFID tags linked to the event’s attendee database.
To collect attendees’ information, it’s better to have a dedicated post-click landing page so you can nurture them after the event.
How exhibitors can trick-out their post-click landing pages
Make the post-click landing page about your target market, not your business. Yes, you should include most (if not all) of these post-click landing page elements, but to build a high-converting page…
Stand out from the crowd
Offer a giveaway as an incentive for people to convert. A free whitepaper or ebook can be used to educate top-of-the-funnel prospects and demonstrate you’re an expert in the field. On the other hand, offering a free demo is more about you showcasing your product or service and people that request a demo are probably further down the marketing funnel.
Look at CrossCheck, a San Francisco bay area based company, (and exhibitor at NADA 2015) and what they did to stand out from the crowd and provide value for attendees:
Everything from coffee, shopping, sports, outdoors, and more. But they also have three giveaways to encourage booth traffic and ultimately conversions: $500 grand prize, free whitepaper, and a product guide relevant to their auto dealer audience. These giveaways are lead generation tools that help CrossCheck nurture prospects into customers.
Keep your form short
There is no “right” form length. Only make the form long enough as it needs to be. Exhibitors are not the event host so they shouldn’t need to collect every detail about prospects. Exhibitor event post-click landing pages should not be sales pages, after all.
No boring CTA button copy
Speak to your visitor. What are they getting from you? Use personalized copy on the CTA button to nudge them that much more, such as “Get My Free Demo” and “Reserve My Spot.”
Social sharing buttons
If event attendees convert on your form and then share your post-click landing page, why not offer them an extra “entry” to your contest? This way, your prospect increases their chance of winning, and you get free exposure on social media. The perfect give-and-take transaction!
What did we learn?
There may not be a cookie-cutter, perfectly optimized event post-click landing page template. Every event host, sponsor, entrepreneur, and business has its own brand identity and goals.
Since you want to be unique and stand out from the crowd, customizing your event page is easier than ever before with Instapage. Better yet, our suite of email integrations can assist with your lead nurturing efforts as well.
Sign up for an Instapage Enterprise demo today.