landingpage-cro

Landing Page CRO — Conversion-Focused Page Structure

Design the argument of a landing page: which sections, in which order, doing which persuasive job. Output is a structural blueprint plus audit findings — not visual design, not finished copy.

© GEKKOS Tech. Licensed under MIT.

Two modes

• Build mode (user is creating a page): run the message-match check, then produce the section sequence with per-section jobs and must-contain elements, then the measurement plan.
• Audit mode (user asks "why isn't it converting"): fetch/read the page, check message match first, then walk the section sequence for missing/misordered jobs, then run the friction checklist. Report findings ordered by expected conversion impact, not by page order.

Message-match rule (check this first, always)

The single highest-leverage CRO factor. Two equations must hold:

1. Ad promise == hero promise. Whatever the ad (or email, or post) promised is the first thing the hero must confirm — same offer, same benefit, same wording family, same visual world. A visitor who clicked "30% off onboarding" and lands on a generic homepage-style hero bounces before reading anything else.
2. Keyword == H1 intent. For search traffic, the H1 must answer the query's intent (not necessarily echo the keyword verbatim, but resolve it). Someone searching "payroll software comparison" must land on a comparison, not a signup pitch.

If traffic comes from multiple distinct promises, recommend separate landing page variants per promise — one page per message, not one page for all messages.

The conversion narrative — section sequence

Default sequence for a cold-to-warm conversion page. Each section has ONE job; a section doing two jobs is doing neither. Layout patterns per section are in references/section-patterns.md.

#	Section	Job	Must contain
1	Hero promise	Confirm the click was right, state the core value in 5 seconds	H1 = main benefit (message-matched), supporting subline (how/for whom), primary CTA, hero visual showing product/outcome, above the fold on mobile
2	Credibility strip	Answer "can I trust these people?" before any selling	Client/press logos OR review score OR key number ("12,000 customers"); compact, no headline needed
3	Problem / solution	Create recognition ("that's my problem"), then map product to it	Problem stated in the visitor's words, 2–4 pain points, solution framed as the mechanism (HOW it fixes it, not just "it fixes it")
4	Offer detail	Make the offer concrete and evaluable	What exactly they get (features as benefits), pricing or pricing-path, scope/timeline, visual of the actual product/service
5	Social proof	Let others make the claims the brand can't	2–3 testimonials with full name + photo/company (specific results > praise), case numbers, ratings with source
6	Objection handling / FAQ	Remove the last "yes, but…"	4–7 real objections (price, effort, switching, "will it work for MY case", contract terms) answered honestly; sourced from sales/support if available
7	Risk reversal	Make saying yes safer than saying no	Guarantee, free trial, free cancellation, "no credit card required", data portability — whichever is true
8	Final CTA	Convert the reader who scrolled everything	Repeat primary CTA + one-line benefit recap; optionally a lower-commitment secondary path (newsletter, demo) for not-ready visitors