Your Landing Page Isn't Converting. Here's Why.

I do growth consulting for early-stage startups. The first thing I look at is always the landing page. And the same problems show up over and over.

Most founders build their landing page like a spec sheet. They list features, describe the technology, explain how it works. None of that matters if the person landing on your page doesn't understand why they should care within 5 seconds.

Here's what I see going wrong.

You're explaining the product instead of the outcome

The most common mistake. Your hero section says something like "AI-powered workflow automation platform" and you think that's clear. It's not. That could be anything.

People don't buy products. They buy outcomes. "Ship your docs in 5 minutes" is an outcome. "Reduce customer churn by 40%" is an outcome. "Never miss a deploy again" is an outcome.

Your hero should answer one question: what changes for me if I use this?

There's no clear call to action above the fold

I shouldn't have to scroll to know what you want me to do. The CTA should be visible the moment I land on the page.

One button. One action. "Start free trial", "Try it now", "Get started". Not three different options competing for my attention.

And make the button look like a button. I've seen landing pages where the primary CTA is a text link styled the same as the nav items. If I can't immediately find what to click, you've lost me.

You have too much text

This isn't a blog post. It's a landing page. People scan, they don't read.

Your hero gets about 10 words. Your subheadline gets about 20. After that, everything should be scannable: short sections, clear headings, bullet points, visuals.

If your landing page requires reading three paragraphs to understand the product, rewrite it. You should be able to explain the core value in one sentence.

There's no social proof

Even if you're pre-launch, you need something that signals "other people trust this."

Options at every stage:

• Pre-launch: "Join 200 people on the waitlist" or a quote from a beta tester
• Early: Logos of companies using you, even if they're small. "Used by teams at X, Y, Z"
• Growing: Numbers. "10,000 deploys this month" or "4.9 rating from 500 reviews"

Social proof should be near the top of the page. Don't bury it in the footer.

Your design doesn't match your positioning

If you're selling to enterprises and your site looks like a weekend project, that's a problem. If you're selling to indie developers and your site looks like it was designed by a committee at Oracle, that's also a problem.

Design signals credibility. It tells people whether your product is for them before they read a single word. The visual quality of your landing page sets expectations for the product behind it.

This doesn't mean you need a design agency. It means the typography, spacing, colors, and overall feel should match who you're selling to.

The page is too slow

If your landing page takes more than 2-3 seconds to load, you're losing people. Especially on mobile.

Common culprits:

• Unoptimized images (serve WebP, use proper sizing)
• Too many fonts loading
• Heavy JavaScript frameworks for what could be a static page
• Third-party scripts (analytics, chat widgets, trackers) blocking render

Run your page through PageSpeed Insights. If your mobile score is below 80, fix it before spending money on ads.

How to fix it

Here's the structure that works for most early-stage products:

1. Hero: One sentence about the outcome + CTA button
2. Social proof bar: Logos or a short testimonial
3. 3 key benefits: What changes for the user, not feature descriptions
4. How it works: 3 steps, keep it simple
5. More social proof: Detailed testimonial or case study
6. CTA repeat: Same button as the hero, reinforce the action

That's it. You don't need a pricing section, a feature comparison table, an about us section, and a blog feed all on one page. Those can live elsewhere.

FAQ

How do I know if my landing page is the problem?

Look at your analytics. If you're getting traffic but nobody is clicking the CTA or signing up, the page is the problem. A decent conversion rate for a B2B SaaS landing page is 2-5%. If you're below 1%, something is off.

Should I A/B test my landing page?

Not until you have enough traffic for the results to be meaningful. At under 1,000 visitors per month, you're better off making directional changes based on qualitative feedback than running statistical tests.

How often should I update my landing page?

Every time you learn something new about your users. After every round of user interviews, after every batch of support tickets that reveals a common confusion, after every campaign that shows you what messaging resonates. Your landing page is a living document, not a one-time project.

What tools should I use to build it?

Whatever lets you ship and iterate fast. Next.js, Webflow, Framer, even a simple HTML page. The tool matters less than how quickly you can change the copy and test new versions.