Create a SaaS landing page: Examples and expert copy principles (The Complete Guide)

Are you looking to create a SaaS landing page from scratch or redesigning an existing one?

We created this guide so you don’t have to waste countless hours writing the wrong copy for your SaaS landing page.

Let’s GO!

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Note: SaaSwrites is a curated growth marketing hub and resource built to help SaaS founders grow their products. We sincerely thank all our experts for their constant value addition to this world.

If you’re looking for a quick landing page structure, here is one from George Ten - an expert copywriter:

Don’t know how to build a sales page? Here’s the basic structure:
Hook - reel them in
Lead - create desire
Body copy - handle objections
Offer - what you sell
Bonuses - sweeten the deal
Guarantee - risk reversal
Play with the order.

But if you’re here to learn more about creating a landing page, let us go deeper into detail!

Essentially, there is a structure that you can deploy to your SaaS to have some high conversions. Let’s get deeper into them!

How to build your SaaS Landing Page from Scratch

Let’s talk a little more about each section of your landing page and how to effectively build one!

Have a clear landing page structure and design ready

Logan shares that the best landing pages have:

specific headline

intriguing hook

amazing offer

testimonials

about section

urgency & scarcity

a clear CTA

bonuses

client/customer wins

no off-page navigation

Have a simple design that flows the information without being too crowded

Crowded landing pages:

don’t highlight important information

make you read everything on the page

lose the reader & reduce conversions

Here’s an example of a page that is too crowded and has poor readability:

To avoid your pages being crowded you want to provide enough space between different sections and elements.

Cutting out any fluff in your wording also allows for better pages.

Here’s a page that breaks up their sections better while also including fewer words:

Workable having a well spaced landing page.

Invoke the right Emotions and Colors

There are a number of ways to provoke emotion on your landing page:

color

pain points

solutions

more humans

Everyone and their mother has heard of different colors meaning different things but… You don’t need to memorize that.

Here’s why…

You should pick colors that match your brand and product.

Most of you don’t have million-dollar companies so why are you thinking like one?

If you want to use red - use it. Just don’t be silly with crazy colors (use common sense here).

Go to http://coolors.co for help.

Your ideal customer’s pain points and solutions to those problems should be all over the page.

Research their problems. Paint your product as the solution to them.

To make it feel more personal…

Add emotions to your copy on your SaaS landing page.

Have a clear outcome from your headlines

Jon Brosio shares that you must tell your page visitor:

WHO is this for?

WHAT it is about?

WHY they should care?

In plain language. Confuse the visitor and you lose the sale.

Here’s an example from @theoohene

How this landing page clearly specifies a clear outcome.

Here is another example:

Matt Gray clearly specifies the outcome on his landing page.

Logan says everyone always talks about writing great headlines but no one mentions their design.

Like the first picture I showed you, it’s important that you mix up the font size.

You’ll be able to capture your reader’s attention whenever you want.

I like following the order of:

small text (10pt font) - introduction

large text (20pt font) - main headline + attention grabbing

medium text (14pt font) - how they can benefit

Here’s a great example:

An example of having various font sizes for your headlines to specify an outcome.

Tell and show the nagging problem

Jon says to paint a vivid picture the visitor deals with.

Be as clear as possible. Refrain from being clever.

Depict the cruel reality the page visitor is dealing with.

Here’s a great example from @dickiebush and @Nicolascole77

Every offer has a problem that needs fixing.

Outline the problem in the next section.

Don't try and be fancy. Be SPECIFIC.

Look at what @thedankoe has done. Brilliant.

Dan Koe talked about the problem on his landing page.

Magnify emotion and Amplify consequences

Selling is about poking at one's emotions.

The next section:

Elevates

Amplifies

Magnifies

The emotional response of the reader. (What happens if the problem persists?)

No one does this better than @IAmMarkManson

How to magnify the prospect’s emotions and amplify the consequences of not taking action.

You can't just highlight the problem – you need to amplify how it affects the page visitor's life.

Use:

Data

Examples

Storytelling

To magnify what happens when unsolved. @writingtoriches has a great example in the landing page body.

How the landing page uses data, examples and storytelling to magnify the problem.

Being different in your how it works section

Tom Hunt shares a hands-down approach to build a powerful how it works section of your SaaS landing page.

Step 1: Find your top 5-10 competitors

Step 2: Understand how you are different/better

Step 3: Write that out with ✅ and ❌ emojis

Here’s an example:

Sell the solution and the transformation story

Describe how the problem can be solved. This can either be how:

You solved the problem

New tech has created a solution

Someone has solved it in the past

Use stories to illustrate "secrets" or strategies used. @ItsKieranDrew is perfect here.

Use storytelling to show the transformation through your solution.

Place special focus on the transformation. You've:

Established the problem

Amplified it with emotion

Hinted at the consequences

Now, share your story of how you overcame those problems (or a testimonial of someone who did). @dvassallo shows exactly how it's done.

Daniel shows how his solution provides the transformation on his Gumroad landing page.

You now need real-world evidence that this offer works. Use:

Reviews

Testimonials

Case studies

To show that real people/businesses have used this and seen real results. @KurtisHanni is thinking outside the box with this example of social proof.

A creative way to show social proof of real people using your product on your SaaS landing page.

Deconstruct your offer

Deconstruct your "system"

What are you offering?

How is it constructed?

How is it used?

Use this section to breakdown the:

Course

Cohort

Service

You have to promote what you're selling. Explicitly layout:

Dates (if applicable)

How it will be received

The features and benefits

Modules, tools, supplies, etc.

Everything to describe the offer in full. @thedankoe clearly labels his offer:

A clear offer to drive CTA on your landing page.

Add more value to your offer

Add a value stack. Make an offer your customer cannot refuse.

Reiterate everything included with your:

Course

Cohort

Service

And add up the value. Medium writer, @Sinemguenel creates a great bonus stack here:

Build Trust and Show Authority

Logan shares that trust is the hardest thing to build up on a page. People don’t trust anything anymore. To prove to your readers that you’re worthy of their time you need other people to tell them.

How can you do this? Well…Here’s the best way to display that:

logos of companies you’ve worked with

written & video testimonials

case studies of actual statistics

a short “about us” section

be transparent about everything you do & your product/company goals

With your social proof…

Tier building trust with logos of companies.

CTA

Have easy To Click CTA’s. Pushing “Buy Now” is much harder to click than “Join The Challenge Now!” How can you make the next step sound fun and exciting?

When you’re creating your buttons keep this in mind. Here are some great examples:

Some good CTA options to add to your SaaS landing page.

Ultimatum

At this point, the customer has two options:

They purchase: Problem solved

They don't purchase: Problem persists

This "hard sell" motivates the visitor to take action. Example: @WrongsToWrite

How to add an ultimatum to your landing page.

Objection Handling

You want to handle objections.

Is your product/service expensive?

Then highlight a testimonial like this: “I was worried about the price before I bought but within a week I had made $1000!”

Make a list of possible objections readers might have and answer them like this.

Here are some questions you can ask your previous customers/clients to answer:

what obstacle/objection would have prevented you from buying

what did you get out of this (result-wise)?

would you recommend this product/service? Why?

These usually handle most objections.

Add an FAQ to handle knee-jerk objections

People will always make excuses to not buy. Eliminate those excuses with an FAQ:

Recap the offer

Reinforce the value

Eliminate "knee jerk" objections

@thejustinwelsh touches on every aspect in his FAQ

FAQ section example handling some common objections.

FAQ" really means "objection-killer". Especially when done right. Use this section to create kill any objections in their tracks. @theoohene has a great FAQ example here:

Another FAQ section example handling some common objections.

Eliminate ALL Risk by adding a Guarantee!

Guarantees increase conversion. Many creators are afraid people will cheat them out of a product.

The majority of charge-backs hover around 1%.

Include a guarantee after your offer, just like @AliAbdaal

Add a guarantee to your landing page to increase conversions!

Include a customer response

At this point, you need to offer an ultimatum.

Either: They take action

They don't take action

Again, use emotional copywriting to amplify the consequences of both outcomes.

Use @heyblake for a short, concise example:

Include a customer response to add another ultimatum.

Add images throughout the page

Logan says “I have nothing against having some images and graphics around the page.

I do have something against them when they slow your site down though.

Conversions begin to drop off after a site takes longer than 3 seconds to load.”

So…Here’s what you can do to speed up your site:

shrink images with http://tinypng.com

enable lazy loading

test site speed with http://gmetrix.com and go through their suggestions

Site speed is often reduced once you take away all the fancy stuff. A good rule…

75%< of your site’s images/graphics should be helpful to the reader.

This includes:

social proof

product images

pictures for emotion (humans)

arrows

25% can be elements to make the page look nicer. I say only 25% because more simple sites convert better. I promise.

Add some pictures of people smiling. Try and avoid basic stock photos as well.

People can sniff out the real stuff. Take the time to take your own pictures or use ones that aren’t so “fake”.

It’ll increase conversions I promise. Doesn’t this make you feel happy?

Make your landing page scannable

One of the most overlooked elements on a landing page.

Only 10% of people will actually read every word on your landing page. You need to play off this stat.

The best thing you can do is include a headline/subheading over every paragraph of text…

An example of a scannable landing page structure

If someone scrolls a little further down your page they should see one of these things:

a new section w/headline

a subheading inside a paragraph

You need to break up long chunks of text as much as possible. Even long sales letters have subheadings.

Another great way of doing this is by using:

bold for words like FREE and crazy statistics

underlined for big claims that I’m making for my product/service

italicized to put emphasis on certain points or words

Here is an example:

An example of using bold, underlining, and italics to make your text scannable.

And that’s it! Following this entire set of structure will help you build an amazing landing page from scratch!

SaaS Landing Page Template: How this landing page template generated an additional $60,000 per month and increased the conversion rate by 250%

Carl Weische | CRO shares a landing page template that you can apply on your SaaS landing page:

SECTION 1: ABOVE THE FOLD

This section needs to include:

Value Proposition & Benefits (“What’s in it for me?”)

Lots and Lots of Social Proof (Reviews, Customers, Press Release)

Clear Call To Action To Buy the Product

The hero section of the landing page has all the attributes for a conversion.

Essentially this section is designed to:

Address the target audience

Hit their Pain points

Show the Solution

Create Trust. So you need an easy-to-understand headline and a WOW factor that triggers the action.

SECTION 2: HOW-TO

Have an appealing headline and explain the process of using your product

Make it seem as easy as possible to buy and get results with your product

The How To section of the landing page is easy to understand with icons and short explanations.

SECTION 3: EXPLAINING PRODUCT

Handle the most common objections and answer questions that your customers might have.

This is the first Section where we use long-form copy to persuade the user.

SECTION 4: PRODUCT BREAKDOWN

Here you want to showcase what’s inside your product and why that is beneficial for the consumer.

Remember: You always have to answer “what is in it for me”!

Make it visually appealing so you can underline what you write with images.

The product breakdown shows benefits with pictures.

SECTION 5: SHORT DESCRIPTION

This serves to again handle objections and build trust.

The short description handles objections and builds more trust.

SECTION 6: BUNDLES

There are many ways to do bundles.

To maximize AOV and CVR your bundles have to be irresistible. Make the customer feel stupid for not taking the higher AOV bundles.

Bundles make your product purchase exciting!

Also you need to be highly profitable while creating bundles.

Especially for high-margin products, you have tons of wiggle room and bundles can be very lucrative.

Test your bundle offers and combinations until you see what performs best.

SECTION 7: STORE BENEFITS

Use this section to showcase the benefits your Store offers to Customers

This section provides the benefits of the store, something that SaaS products can apply to technology or technical features.

SECTION 8: REVIEWS

Couple of testimonials to create trust and make your potential customers relate with other buyers.

The testimonials show numbers and real pictures to build more trust.

SECTION 9: FAQ

Want to make something straight before the questions even pop up?

Use a short FAQ at the bottom for those who might want to ask a thing or two.

The FAQ section handles any more objections.

Utilize a Newsletter at the Bottom to collect E-Mail Addresses and then nourish your leads

Round up with a footer that links to important other pages.

CONCLUSION: This page generated an additional $60,000 per month and increased the conversion rate by 250%.

How to ship a SaaS landing page in less than 24hrs

Now that you know all about the techniques to create a landing page from scratch, let’s create one in less than 24 hours!

Sharath shares a checklist and tools I used to ship SaaS products in the past!

1. Building the landing page

There are four important sections you should have on your LP:

Hook - A punch line

Why should people care - Value

How does it work - Simple steps

Social Proof - Wall of love

Use @carrd to build and ship a Landing Page in less than 2hrs!

2. Handling the Logistics

This list can go on and on but remember, the goal is to ship fast, so keep it to the essentials like:

1) Buying a domain - Use @Namecheap

2) Designing a simple logo - Use @logologydesign

3) Building a community - Use Twitter communities

3. Add some Illustrations

They elevate your LP and help communicate the idea to your audience quickly. I usually use @pablostanley’s @blushdesignapp, which is packed with many unique illustrations.

SaaSwrites’ Pro tip: Use screenshots if possible!

4. Copywriting

If there is anything that acts as a crucial part of your LP, it should be messaging.

5. Setup beta waitlist

A waitlist setup is important to gather people interested in your idea.

Use @MailerLite or @mailchimp to gather emails and build cohorts.

6. Take a custom email

Use custom emails to communicate launch announcements, product updates, and customer support. It helps you avoid the impression of being spammy and gives your audience an official look.

Use Gmail for business; it's easy to set up and costs $6/mo

7. Bring a viral loop

Build a viral loop on your thank you page(after people join the waitlist) and welcome email where people can share their excitement with others.

It’s a win-win situation where they get priority access, and you get free word-of-mouth marketing. Use @clicktotweet.

8. Setup Analytics

@PlausibleHQ is by far the cleanest analytics tool I have ever used.

It helps you track channels people use to visit the LP and how many are active and gives you a holistic view of data.

9. Create a launch strategy

Launch on multiple platforms like Twitter, @IndieHackers, @newsycombinator with an announcement like this:

“Announcement: Gathering social proof is not only important for companies or startups, but it is also equally important to makers/founders/VCs who are turning into brands.

So I'm launching my next product called <tool name>. Join the waitlist: <link>

10. Engage with people

Above all, have fun, show care and address everyone who supported you with a comment, a DM, or an email!

People sense care, and I truly believe in expressing the gratitude you have towards the community that separates you from many!

That’s all there is to building a landing page! Are you getting started creating one?