The main concern of any affiliate is how to get more leads, recapture the budget of the affiliate program and make a good profit. To achieve these goals, people create more and more various tools to keep users stimulated to perform necessary targeted actions. However, only a few webs can use different approaches in a truly professional way, using their outstanding skills.
The main concern of any affiliate is how to get more leads, recapture the budget of the affiliate program and make a good profit. To achieve these goals, people create more and more various tools to keep users stimulated to perform necessary targeted actions. However, only a few webs can use different approaches in a truly professional way, using their outstanding skills.
We repeatedly encounter problems both beginners and experienced affiliates make, so we are here to help you save time and money, trying to clarify the most intricate topics: what are pre-landers?How to make and test pre-landers? How should we design them? What images can we use? Are there any rules regarding the pre-landers?
Today, we'd like to dedicate this article to one particularly important phenomenon known as a pre-lander. What are pre-landers? How to make and test pre-landers? What do we actually know about pre-landers, how can they be useful in a campaign? What are their features, advantages and disadvantages?
Grab your popcorn and prepare to enjoy the ride. Let the pre-lander story begin!
What Are Pre-Landers
A pre-landing page is a sort of transit page; a one-page-layout, which, in terms of functionality, resembles a creative. The webmaster uses a transit page to promote goods and services after a warming-up period. Pre-landers, much like a landing page, are an integral part of an advertising chain that encourages the user to take a targeted action (for example, to make a purchase, order a sample, or subscribe to an account or a channel).
A campaign scheme would roughly look like this:
advertisements and creatives;
pre-landing page;
landing page.
Just as a landing page, pre-landers don't have to be 1-2 pages long. Affiliates can add more pages, and scale up the platform so much that it turns into a website; this is a question of pure practicability and necessity.
Pre-Lander Types
- Forum. A platform where users recommend products, services, and sites.
- Expert article analysis, written by the author.
- Wheel of Fortune kind of game for casino promotion.
- Before/after. It was so bad before (weight gain, disease, poverty), and now the pockets are full of money! What a wonderful life!
- Price aggregators.
- Interview with the expert: pre-landing page disguises itself as a news portal.
- Survey. The user takes a test, and the algorithm gives them a link to the website of a credit institution.
- Creepypasta. Such bugaboo stories serve as a ground for creatives of teaser ads. Example: a dangerous virus has been discovered in your city! This product will stop the epidemic.
- One-page layout with text or video review.
- Blog or success story.
Differences
Unlike landing pages, pre-landers do not emphasize the benefits of a product or service; nor does it dwell on the benefits that a person will receive after the purchase, and there is also no order form and call to action.
There are no explicit ads on the pre-lander. A couple of pages tell the story of a fictional person: the author encountered a problem, tried many solutions, and only this particular tool helped them. This particular tool, the product, is mentioned only in passing, as a link closer to the end of the article.
Important! Both landing and pre-landing push the user to do the target action; they just do it in different ways.
Advantages
- Warming up and information sharing. Pop-ups and creatives are made to attract attention. If the user has already searched for something similar, then they will perform the desired target action. Most users on the page need more information to make a decision. The pre-lander does not give too much information, but it piques curiosity and impels users to click the link and transfer to the landing page.
- Bypass advertising restrictions on social networks to promote gray niches. Large sites like Google or Facebook are enabled with algorithms that block ambiguous creatives of dubious offers, so it can be extremely difficult to safely promote betting/gambling and weight loss products. Pre-landers can disguise the product and increase the chances of passing the moderation procedures.
- Target audience review and elimination of non-targeted leads. Information on a product or a service helps us filter the interested users and segregate them from the total mass, which in turn increases KPI, one of the crucial indicators for many advertisers. If the pre-lander contains a question about age, it can cut off unwanted users under 18.
The correct format of the transit page depends on the desired target action, the target audience, the chosen niche, and the offer. Now, is everything working as planned? Not at all.
Disadvantages
- Crudely made transit pages scare off the user. It is generally a problem, but it may become a calamity for white niches with expensive offers. Even a well-assembled pre-lander sometimes fails to inspire trust in a warmed-up audience.
- It takes money to create a pre-lander. As a rule, you will have to spend money to rent a hosting and develop a few pages.
- The distance between the user and the product is increasing. If a person is not warm enough, they may not reach the target action the affiliate needs.
To sum things up, it's enough to say that a pre-landing page is a great tool for promotion, but it requires maintenance and cash injections.
Areas of Use
Transit pages work best when they promote niches prohibited on social media, for example, Nutra, gambling, finance, etc. The pre-lander works effectively in tow with teaser advertising and pop-up banners.
Pre-landers are also used to promote white offers, for example, clothes and shoes. In this case, affiliates draw up qualitative reviews to demonstrate the product features to a warm target audience.
Don't Use the Pre-Lander
Expensive niches (premium accessories, real estate, and branded clothing) do not need a pre-landing page and crudely made transits can scare away the potential client.
If you work with a warmed-up audience, take a respite: you don't need such a page. Another step in the campaign will simply increase the time needed for the final decision.
A Few Words on Good Pre-Landers
Here's the structure of a pre-lander:
- Problem. I am facing a problem, and no solution can be found.
- Solution. I have accidentally found it on the Internet, or an acquaintance of mine has given me a valuable piece of advice.
- Benefit. My life has improved: muscles are growing by themselves.
- Result. I have achieved these miraculous results in no time using this incredible tool.
- Customer reviews. They confirm the quality and reliability of the cream or magic pill.
This is a simplified outline; it can be perfected and altered: users are getting smarter each day, no longer falling for fakes and baits.
There is no recipe for a successful transit page, but there are several components that can be distinguished by brute force search:
- A reliable source disguise. This helps increase user trust in the data mentioned in the text. Pay attention to the layout quality and the design of the transit page.
- Abstract topics. Social media will not allow you to post honest and straightforward ads referring to gray niches. Therefore, pre-landing is synonymous with a loyal and accurate presentation of the material.
- Expert opinion. Any text will be more trustworthy if you add a pinch of expertise. This adds points to the advertiser in the eyes of readers.
- Before/After. Provide a vivid example, painted in colors, of how a person solved a problem thanks to this product.
- Success Story. People love magical and drastic change: the transformation of a student into a millionaire will be acclaimed among the target audience if the topic is presented correctly. You know, everyone wants to live in a movie.
- Deadlines & Security. Numbers and statistics showcase expertise and convince the user that the advertiser is an influential, reliable source. Security emphasis removes inner barriers preventing buying.
- Positive Customer Comments. Normally, these fictional characters praise the tool claiming it's helped them solve their problem. This trick enhances user trust and hauls them closer to the target action.
Pre-Landers in Various Niches
Pre-landing structures depend on the niche of choice. Let's discuss it in detail.
Nutra
More often than not, affiliates choose the before/after format. It kills two birds with one stone: one, people want to resemble their favorite celebrity, and affiliates turn this desire into an advantage; and two, it somehow exhibits the reliability of the pill: look, it helped this famous actor, it's gotta work on you! The text is supposed to remind the reader of a news portal: here it is, CHER is telling us the secret of her youth and health.
Gambling
For a GEO with a low per capita income, a success story of an online casino player who became insanely rich works perfectly well. Imagine, this (wo)man makes a lot of money, earning thousands of dollars!
In developed countries, the approach should be changed: it is advised to use a peculiar symbiosis, a pre-landing page with gamification, for example, a wheel of fortune. The user spins the wheel several times, and the system informs about the accrual of winnings, which must be collected via the link.
Finance
Finance is a rich niche, and success stories won't do you any good. Draw up a display with loan terms and banking services for people with an analytical mindset.
Another tempting option is a calculator that calculates the prerequisites for a deal or a video review of a service working in the financial sector.
Crypto
Refresh the promotion principles used in campaigns advertising brokers and binary options. There are two possible approaches:
a success story of a crypto market player who earned capital on the high volatility of coins using a unified strategy;
gamification in the form of a trading terminal chart, where the user needs to guess whether the price will rise or fall.
Gaming
Users here are enticed by colorful graphics, features, low requirements for PC hardware, and a shareware form of distribution. Therefore, promo videos, screenshots, development news, or current events in the game are always on the transit page.
Now you are acquainted with the main types of pre-landers. Let's talk about the methods of its creation.
DIY: Pre-Lander Edition
There are two opposed approaches: create a pre-lander yourself or use ready-made templates.
Advantages of the first method:
You can adjust all system parameters yourself;
You can personalize the pages for the needs of the promoted product;
You can set the technical parameters of the pages and optimize the transit page for different devices.
You can adjust the page in accordance with the needs of the GEO.
Disadvantages of the first method:
Financial investments. One way or another, you will have to buy a domain and rent a hosting, so those expenses will gradually pile up.
Hire a designer. If you do not know how to create a pre-landing page, you are expected to hire someone who knows. They won't work for free, so it is another tick on your expense list.
Time & effort. Making up a pre-lander is a time-consuming process, but no one can guarantee that this creation of yours will eventually pay off in the long run.
The second method mentioned above also has its merits and demerits. Let's draw up a list.
Advantages of the second method:
The interface is over-simplified, and the number of features is limited;
A built-in control system, which can be slightly adjusted;
Lower financial costs.
As for the disadvantages, there is only one serious thing you should take into consideration: there are no proper tools to personalize the pre-landing page and adjust it to the particular offer and the niche. Hence, the functionality is limited, and affiliates cannot bring all their ideas to life, they have to restrict themselves and work within the framework of the available features and options.
Before you make up your mind as to which variant to choose, have a look at the third one. Actually, you can borrow someone's pre-landing idea and tweak it the way you need, focusing on your own needs. This is not a prohibited method; Big Brother is not watching you and all, however, we do not recommend this approach. Here's why:
- Hackneyed pages. The more often the audience sees the same transit page, the faster this page loses its relevance: users are already beginning to develop immunity.
- Different techniques. The transit page could be used for a similar offer and aimed to accomplish a similar task. There is a great risk of draining the entire turnover without getting the desired response from the audience;
- The previously adjusted settings. If you intend to borrow someone's page, you'll have to remove the unnecessary parameters, which will take quite a lot of time.
Beginners should resort to online page builders to delegate certain responsibilities. As soon as you get some skills, you can create transits yourself.
How Do I DIY?
There are a few rules to follow to create a good transit page. Let's discuss them in detail.
Technical Aspect
Pre-lands consist of several pages and widgets that do not require computing power. The situation may change in the future, but beginners can use a free online page builder controlled by a simple control system; it seems to be a reasonable option.
However, affiliates working with many different GEOs cannot copycat the approach: they have to think about buying hosting or renting an entire VDS server. It is indeed an expensive part of your affiliate marketing journey, but you need to set up and refine all work processes.
Important! Hosting should be chosen in accordance with the GEO you're working with. A potential buyer should be familiar with the domain zone. By picking a server that is geographically closer to the target audience, you can reduce the download time and increase the performance of the pre-landing page.
Target Audience Under the Microscope
The technical side of the process is much easier than working with the target audience: you spend a few hours on it once, and everything follows the circuit in a pattern you have previously established. Sometimes you'll have to respecify certain aspects, but overall it is a one-time thing that doesn't need to be constantly refined.
The target audience is different in every GEO: the pains, needs, mentality, income, and purchasing power in India cannot compare with these indicators in the Scandinavian countries.
For example, betting in the CIS is a real way to earn money, so you can place the history of a successful player on the transit page. In the US and the EU, sports betting is entertainment and an opportunity to tickle your nerves and support your favorite team. The same goes for slot machines.
It is crucial to put yourself in the place of a potential client, ponder over what objections people may have in their heads, and how to present information in the most favorable light. If the affiliate understands what drives the user who has moved to the transit page, the key to success is in his pocket.
Structuring Your Content
In 90% of cases, the HPAMP structure will ensure the success of the page.
- Hero (H). Outlining the main character and a concise summary of their background. You can use a celebrity here.
- Problem (P). Describing the problem faced by the protagonist. Be specific, so you can build bridges with a potential buyer: baldness, overweight, serious credit obligations, etc.
- Assistant (A). A friend, an acquaintance, or a web resource informs the main character about a possible way to solve the problem.
- Magic Wand (M). A unique money-making strategy or miracle cure for hair growth.
- Result (R). Solution of the original problem. For example, a poor student lived in a dorm and ate Chinese food from disposable cartons, but now... look at them! They've bought a mansion and a BMW; they're attending Michelin restaurants to lunch! Yes, it is a very exaggerated story, but you get the point.
A/B Testing
A/B testing is a test launch of the pre-lander, where we monitor the click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and the final KPI. During testing, do not forget to change the GEO, display time, priority device, and target audience groups in order to determine which combination is most profitable.
Also, during the experiment, the text content, the graphic part changes, graphs, and tables get removed or inserted. This test helps to find the target audience and its pains to increase the final conversion.
Working Combination
Each affiliate marketer has their own methods and ideas, but there are still several
unified templates:
creative, pre-landing and landing pages from where the advertiser receives orders;
creative, pre-lander, lander, advertiser's site.
There are many formats, and the choice depends on the GEO and the conditions of the customer.
Recommendations
It might be easy to create a pre-lander, but it is much tougher to make it work effectively and efficiently. If you want to increase your KPI, pay attention to the following aspects.
Load Time. Load time refers to your choice of the right server location. The pre-lander should load in a few seconds, and the transition to the landing page is expected to take the same amount of time. Even the warmed-up users will not wait long;
Visual Appeal. Take care of the graphic component: design, pictures, videos, infographics, text blocks, everything should be structured. Make the interface adaptive to expand the list of supported devices;
Text Block Structure. Use numbers, facts, and logic to make a beneficial impression on users;
Vitality. Fill the page with feedback and reviews to give an appearance of activity. Keep track of dates;
First-Person Address. Create the effect of dialogue and personal communication between the hero of the story and the reader to increase the audience's trust.
Now let's talk about what undermines the trust of users in the pre-lander:
Poor content quality: grammatical and punctuation errors, inept word formation;
Outright deceit or false information that is easy to verify;
Intentional and obsessive use of superlatives, as well as the straightforward sale of goods;
Unrealistic success story;
Colorful layout and design that tire readers' eyes;
Disrespectful attitude towards potential buyers: familiarity, obscene language, personal attacks);
Displaced layout, which was not checked at the testing stage.
This is a glimpse of what your pre-lander should not look like, and you probably have a full picture, but let us give you another piece of advice to perfect your experience.
- Do not copycat other people's pre-landers. If a user notices that you have copied the design and text content, they will never perform the desired targeted action. Therefore, create only unique pre-landers.
- Brood over the structure and design. Come up with the ideas in advance, having prepared the layouts and mock-ups, marking out what buttons and texts should be located here and there. Once the layout is completed, test and check the pre-lander to find out if you have made any mistakes or if it is comfortable to read the displayed information.
- Use the life situation of the target audience. Create a story that potential buyers can relate to, and they will do whatever you want.
- Choose the headline. It is increasingly important to immediately convey to the reader what they will receive and what benefits it will bring. Therefore, test several options for the title and first paragraph to engage the target audience.
- Expertise. Ensure the presence of numbers, facts, graphs, and diagrams to increase the significance of the content. Involve a specialist at the testing stage to assess the credibility of the content.
It's possible to make up a longer list of tips, but these are five essential things you should keep in mind to improve your pre-lander performance. Hopefully, the article provided a good clarification, but if you haven't found an answer to the questions that have been swarming in your head for a while, check out our FAQ section.
FAQ
Is it necessary to add a photo to the transit page?
Yes. You are more likely to convince the user to accomplish the target action if you show the results of the miracle cure. By the way, the photo you are using should be unique.
Can I insert the link to the landing page several times in the text of the pre-lander?
It depends. If the text blocks are large, you can do this. However, the transitions between the text and the link should be smooth and inconspicuous.
Should I insistently encourage the user to go to the landing page?
No. You can't force people to go to a landing page: nobody likes being told what to do. Therefore, smoothly submit the link, and let the person decide whether to click or not.
