Pre-landers, presell pages, gateway pages — no matter what you call them, bridge pages are an irreplaceable marketing tool that aims to qualify leads rather than just convert anyone that comes across a landing page.
Bridge pages appear between the traffic source and the landing page. They warm up the cold traffic before sending it to convert, which is a step all too necessary for most campaigns. While landing pages aim to convert, they don’t care much about who they’re converting or if the lead will proceed to checkout.
Pre-landers are there to ensure that potential leads are well aware of what they’re getting into by providing them with additional information and enticing them with landing pages they might miss out on. It’s also possible to integrate presell pages into landing pages to offer the visitors an all-in-one experience they wouldn’t get otherwise.
The world of bridge pages is an experimental one, so this article is not going to be a study in statistical data regarding conversion rates. Instead, the focus will be on actionable advice and the benefits of bridge pages that you can start testing immediately.
Common examples of bridge pages
Since bridge pages need to entice the visitors and get them excited about converting, the content you find there needs to either elicit an emotional response or provide unique value to visitors so they’ll have no choice but to engage.
For that reason, the best and the most common examples of bridge pages include (but are not limited to):
- Advertorials. Advertorials are the most widespread solution for native advertisers. For a pre-lander to be successful, it needs to match the traffic source that preceded it. People who click on native adverts tend to be on the lookout for more content and stories. A bridge page needs to satisfy that thirst.
- Quizzes. You could also use pre-landers to learn more about your potential leads, or even better, help them learn more about themselves. What better way to get people into an exploratory mood than with a well-thought-out quiz?
- Lead magnets. How-to articles, e-books, checklists, samples, or anything else that’s free, are good ideas for a bridge page.
- Lists. A top x something type of content has never been a bad move, and the same goes for bridge pages. It’s an excellent place to rank the final product or service you’re selling.
- Videos. Fairly self-explanatory, videos are an incredible addition to other types of content, especially when they’re short, succinct, and engaging.
- Calculators. Similar to quizzes, calculators add a personal touch to your marketing campaign and help you customize retargeting messages. They work extremely well in niches like healthy living, home renovations, or personal finance.
Whichever content you decide to put up on your bridge page, it needs to have a catchy headline or it likely won’t have the optimal effect on the visitors. The same goes for CTAs — the fact that you’re adding more layers to your marketing funnel doesn’t mean you should forego best selling practices.
Benefits of using a bridge page
Bridge page benefits have already snuck their way into this article on multiple occasions. For one, qualifying your leads is an immense benefit to your marketing strategy. In other words, you’re separating the chaff from the wheat by eliminating those leads that would never become sales.
As you’ve probably already guessed, bridge pages initially have lower conversion rates that they make up for by improving sales significantly. Moreover, there are ways of mitigating that conversion loss such as collecting emails and names on your bridge pages.
Aside from getting more qualified leads, bridge pages also boost engagement and click-through rates. Since they’re prone to using highly engaging content such as videos and quizzes, pre-landers also increase dwell time and lower the bounce rate.
Last but not least, the additional content you can find on bridge pages helps build brand awareness and gets more people to interact with your campaign.
Useful tips and tricks
One thing that a lot of advertisers don’t seem to get right is make a bridge page trustworthy. You can do all the A/B testing you want or find the most attractive images on the internet, but they won’t persuade a visitor who is uncertain about the page they’re seeing.
It’s not the most difficult thing to do, especially when you know where to look. First off, protect the domain where your pre-landers are with SSL certification. If you don’t, then all you’re doing is adding a weak link to your defenses. Even the least savvy among internet users know to look for the padlock icon in the URL.
Another extremely efficient method of building a sense of trust with people on your pre-lander is to showcase testimonials right then and there. Give your visitors the reassurance they need to stay on the bridge page before proceeding down the funnel.
Adding antivirus or security badges to pre-landers also increases trustworthiness. However, these badges need to be properly sourced or you might face legal consequences.
Finally, the best marketing advice to ever cross a person’s lips: create a sense of urgency. For example, limit the time people have left to take the desired action. If they’ve been mildly interested before arriving on the bridge page, now they’re all warmed up to proceed.
Final thoughts
A bridge page is that one extra step you never knew you needed up until now. It’s the best way to prepare potential leads for the landing page they’re about to see. If they take the next step after seeing the bridge page, it likely means they’re a qualified lead and a soon-to-be buyer.
