Most landing page optimization mistakes are not design failures. The page looks fine. It fails because it answers a different question from the one the visitor arrived with, or because it asks for something before it has earned the right to.
These eight account for most of the gap between traffic and enquiries on the pages we are asked to look at.
1. The Ad Promised Something The Page Does Not Mention
Somebody searches for emergency boiler repair, clicks an ad about emergency boiler repair, and lands on a page about heating services in general. The click cost the same as a good one and the visitor is already reaching for the back button.
The fix is unfashionable and effective: fewer, more specific pages. One page per promise, with the promise repeated in the headline in words close to what was searched. If you cannot justify a page for a keyword, you probably cannot justify bidding on it either.
2. The Form Asks Too Much Too Early
Every additional field costs completions, and the expensive ones are the fields that feel intrusive rather than merely long. Phone number, company size and budget all ask the visitor to accept a sales call before they have decided they want one.
Ask for the minimum that lets you respond usefully, then qualify in the conversation. If sales genuinely need budget to prioritise, that is a follow-up question, not a barrier at the front door.
3. The Call To Action Describes The Form, Not The Outcome
“Submit” and “Send enquiry” describe what the button does mechanically. “Get my quote” or “See available times” describe what the visitor receives. The second framing consistently outperforms the first because it answers a different question.
The same applies to the surrounding text. “No obligation, reply within one working day” removes a real hesitation. “Fill in the form below” removes nothing.
4. Social Proof Nobody Believes
A row of logos with no context, an unattributed testimonial, or a five-star rating with no source reads as decoration and is skipped. Worse, it can actively reduce trust by signalling that the page is performing credibility rather than demonstrating it.
Named person, named company, and a specific thing they say you did. One of those beats six anonymous quotes. If you genuinely have none yet, say something honest about your position instead of inventing the appearance of history.
Anonymous testimonials do not read as neutral. They read as invented, and the visitor discounts everything near them.
Aisha Karim, Analytics and CRO Manager, Media @ Marsons
5. The Page Is Written For You, Not The Buyer
Pages that open with company history, founding year and a mission statement are answering a question nobody asked at the moment of arrival. The visitor wants to know whether you solve their problem, what it roughly costs, and what happens next.
Credibility matters and belongs further down, after the page has established relevance. Leading with it spends the visitor’s attention on the least useful thing you have to say.
6. No Price Signal At All
Withholding price entirely is usually defended as protecting the sales conversation. In practice it filters out serious buyers who need to know they are in the right range, and it lets in enquiries you cannot serve.
You do not need a rate card. A starting figure, a typical range or an honest “most projects fall between X and Y” does the work. Pages that give a signal generate fewer enquiries and noticeably better ones, which is the trade most businesses actually want.
7. Nothing Below The Fold Answers The Obvious Objections
- How long does this take?
- What happens after I enquire, and how quickly?
- What if it does not work, or I want to stop?
- Why are you more expensive than the cheap option, or cheaper than the expensive one?
- Have you done this for a business like mine?
A page that answers those in plain language converts better than one that repeats its value proposition three times in different fonts. Objections do not disappear because you decline to mention them.
8. Nobody Knows Which Version Is Better
The most common mistake is not a design decision at all. It is that the page has been changed repeatedly on instinct with no measurement, so nobody knows whether it converts better or worse than it did in March.
You do not need formal testing infrastructure to fix this. Record the conversion rate before a change and after it, change one substantial thing at a time, and give it enough traffic to mean something. That alone puts you ahead of most pages we are asked to review.
Where To Start
If you only fix two, fix the match between ad and headline, and cut the form to the minimum. Those two are the cheapest to change and they account for more lost enquiries than the other six combined.
If you want a second opinion on a specific page, send us the URL and the search term the traffic arrives on. Most of what is wrong is visible in a few minutes with those two things side by side.
Page getting traffic but not enquiries?
Send us the URL and the search terms the traffic arrives on. We will tell you what is losing the conversion, in plain language, and what to change first.
