Should a landing page look different to other pages on a website?

Question

There's been a discussion in my office that landing pages should look exactly like other pages on the site:

• Users will be less confused if pages look the same.

• But landing pages fulfill a specific purpose and should restrict distractions (like menus) while most pages allow for navigation.

• Or is there a happy medium where landing page use certain elements while still focussing on their purpose?

What should landing pages look like?

Answer 1

It's not necessary to have the same layout, but it should have the same color theme as the rest of the site.

This is because the users might get confused if the landing page have different color scheme. They might think that this is different site.

The landing page should emphasize on the main goal of it. If its goal is to click certain button: make that button contrasting with the rest of the page, remove unnecessary at this point content, and use visual ques like arrow to point the attention the the main call to action (CTA).

Here are some fundamentals for landing pages:

• Use text and images that help users understand what this page is about
• Make the main CTA easily visible
• Remove unnecessary clutter
• Use visual ques, like arrows towards the form or CTA
• Set analytics and test different variations using A/B tests

Unbounce have a great article with tips on landing pages and some example templates.

Answer 2

Yes it should look different.

To say "all pages should look alike" is reductionist - it depends on the function of the page.

The landing page's primary purpose is to facilitate:

• An understanding of the range and nature of content within the area
• Navigation into the content within that area

The navigation upward and laterally in the taxonomy is still useful, but it isn't as critical. As such, I would expect that the functionality to escape the area is still available, but isn't necessarily as prominent.

Answer 3

A landing page should be easy to recognise as part of the broader website. This helps build trust as users will know they're on the right website - if the landing page looks so different from everything else that the user can't recognise which site they're on, there'll be at least a small amount of "am I on the right site? Have I come to the right place? I don't trust this site, where's the close button, what viruses might I now have?"

Having said that, there's no need to have the landing page look identical to everything else. Things like the logo, the colour scheme, the style of photography, etc., create an impression of the brand and it's the brand recognition that you want to establish.

So long as there are consistent aspects that tie the whole site together, a landing page can look very different if the reason for the page demands the difference.