Five landing page fixes that do not need a test

A/B testing is useful once the obvious problems are gone. Most pages still have the obvious problems, and running a test on top of them just measures which broken version is less broken.

Here are five fixes worth making before you test anything.

1. Stop treating it like a website

A landing page is not a small website. It has one job.

Remove the popups. Remove the live chat bubble. Remove the navigation that invites people to wander off. Every one of these exists to serve a goal other than the single action you want.

One goal, one action, nothing else.

2. Cut the copy load

People scan before they read. Long paragraphs get skipped whole.

Use bold headings that carry the argument on their own, short bullets, and visuals that show rather than describe. If someone reads only what is bold, they should still get the offer.

Clarity beats cleverness.

3. Match the tone to what you sell

Copy that fights the product creates a quiet sense that something is off.

A meditation app written in aggressive sales language feels wrong. A sales tool written in soft, gentle language feels weak. The mismatch reads as confusion, and confusion bounces.

4. Add a logo bar

A row of recognisable customer or partner logos buys credibility with no words at all.

No carousel. No animation. Just show them, near the top, where the first doubt appears.

5. Use simple words in headlines

Avoid words with more than one common meaning. "Run", "bank", "sharp" and their cousins all make the reader pause for a beat to work out which sense you meant.

That pause costs you, and it costs you most with people reading in a second language. Plain words convert better.

When testing is actually worth it

Once these five are done, you have a page worth testing. Before that, a test tells you which of two flawed pages performs slightly better, which is not information you can use.