In Hubspot’s 2017 State of Inbound report, 63 percent of digital marketers surveyed said that generating traffic and leads was their biggest challenge. And, in a study conducted by Search Engine Journal, it was found that inbound leads cost 60 percent less than outbound leads. These two data points make a strong case for leveraging inbound media to generate leads in a more cost-effective way.

Digital marketers have been using different inbound marketing techniques such as landing pages, popups, live chats, and push notifications with varying degrees of success. As the digital marketing evolves, marketers have begun to create more specialized techniques that target a specific goal with higher success rates. And one such technique is the ‘squeeze page’.

A squeeze page is a kind of web page that does exactly what the name says – ‘squeeze’ a visitor to provide contact details to capture the lead.

Squeeze pages v/s Landing pages

If the concept of squeeze pages sounds similar to that of a landing page, it’s because they are – in broad terms. However, there are several differences between the two. A landing page is a web page that is created specifically for visitors to land on it and several times, landing pages are the first contact that the visitor has with the website. The web page contains information either in the form of a visual, text, or a video. The visitor is then prompted to take a particular action such as purchasing a product, signing up, downloading an ebook, and so on. The user may choose to follow through with the call to action or to exit the page.

Squeeze pages on the hand are created for a singular purpose only. To eke out the lead by enticing and cajoling a visitor to provide their contact information.

So, what puts the ‘squeeze’ in squeeze pages

Squeeze pages accomplish their goal of lead generation by subtly coercing the visitor to opt-in. To be able to do this, the visitor must feel that there is an ultimatum – to opt-in or to be left out. This can be created only if the stimulus offered to the visitor is strong and is of high value.

Building a great squeeze page

On his blog at Kissmetrics, D Bnonn Tennant says, “The important thing is to give him something he will use. Not something he should use. Something he will use. That’s the only kind of thing he’ll find valuable.”

Reports, whitepapers, series of informative articles, exclusive product updates, teasers, guides, cheat sheets are a few of the ‘high-value lead magnets’ that can compel a visitor to give up their email id. We use ‘give up’ because most visitors tend to get annoyed when asked to provide their contact information, especially when it is not required to view a video, a pdf, or a whitepaper. They would be more willing to provide it if they will be receiving high value content on their mail.

Creating a good squeeze page

Since squeeze pages have such a focused goal, it is important that everything from the visual layout and the content on the page must be focused on nudging the visitor one step closer to filling in their details.

Some of the things to keep in mind while creating a squeeze page are:

• Offer a ‘high-value lead magnet’ to hook the visitor

• DO not make unrealistic claims that might sound ‘too good to be true’

• Add high quality visuals that conveys your messaging succinctly

• Create a powerful call-to-action that may not directly tell the user to perform an action but describes a positive outcome for a visitor if they do so. For example, if you are offering a course on digital marketing, instead of just saying, ‘Sign Up’, use something more rewarding such as “Yes! I want to become a kickass digital marketer!”

If done properly, squeeze pages can be a great tool to up your lead generation. Bronn says that he achieved a 58.6 percent opt-in rates by using squeeze pages. And since the objective of a squeeze page is very specific, it does not require heavy content and subsequently can be created and deployed fast.