Leadpages Review – Still the Best Landing Page Builder?

If there is one thing that gets better every year – it is the usability of digital devices.

Gone are the days when you needed a coding expert to create web pages. Today, you can simply select from hundreds of available templates. With user-friendly and simple tools for virtually every task, many minor tasks do not require the professionals they would have required a few years ago.

Leadpages is essentially a landing page builder. Generally, creating a landing page requires a long discussion between the client, the UI designer, and the developer. Leadpages aims to bridge this gap by providing a simple drag-and-drop editor that anyone can use.

They aim to help small and mid-size businesses reach out to a larger audience pool. Not only do they offer great templates for landing pages and domains, but they also provide analytics for every one of their conversion tools.

Trusted by over 40,000 small businesses, Leadpages claims they have the world’s #1 conversion rates.

Let’s get into an in-depth review and see if this checks out!

Landing Page

Creating landing pages is the core function of Leadpages.

Once you have set up your Leadpages account, you will be directed to the default page, which is the Landing Pages menu. The UI is clean and simple. To the left, we have all the menus. To the top are the tools to create a new item. Support features are present at the bottom.

You can create a new landing page anytime with the button at the top. All current landing pages are displayed in the content body along with the conversation rate, unique visitors, and total earnings. You can filter the landing pages based on these. By clicking on the “Analytics” button, Leadpages will take you to a detailed analytics page for each landing page.

There is no limit to the total number of unique visitors.

This is one of Leadpages’s most powerful tools. You can choose to see the “Reset Analytics” button to wipe the slate clean or see the stats for a particular period.

As of now, Leadpages considers every click on an assigned CTA button to be a “conversion”. However, this is not always an accurate measure. To assign conversions to other features, you will have to use third-party platform integrations as this is the only option provided by Leadpages. You can also change the view to graph form anytime.

Each landing page can be assigned a different label and thus, you can filter them based on the campaign they are a part of. One thing I did notice is that Leadpages does not offer any beginner tutorials within the tool. Neither do they offer helpful pop-up tips? In some cases (lead magnets), there are links guiding you to a step-by-step tutorial in a new tab.

If you do need help, you will have to use the “Need Help?” button to the right. Again, this is a general button and you will not have to search for your query among the answered questions in there.

It would be quite effective if Leadpages offered small pop-ups, at least for first-time users at the right times. Now, let’s take a look at the other features under landing pages. A live chat is present at the bottom, even in the free trial version.

Landing Page Editor

The Leadpages landing page editor is a simple drag-and-drop editor. If you have used any online page editor or the WordPress page builder – you will find this to be a piece of cake.

Leadpages offers over 130 different templates segregated based on the industry, colour, style, and page type. You can choose one and go straight to the editor.

As far as customization goes, Leadpages offers the following tools for editing:

• Widgets

This includes items like images, form, videos, and buttons that can be added to the landing space. Even among the widgets, Leadpages offers interesting design edits. For example, while creating a CTA button, you can choose from a variety of edges – rounded, squared, etc., or add gradients. You can click on an existing feature to edit it.

• Page Layout

Every good user interface relies on grids. You can use page layouts to set out different grid lines and work accordingly. It is quite similar to the grid lines in Powerpoint or Photoshop.

However, Leadpages does not offer a free-form workspace where you can drag and drop things anywhere. The workspace is grid-based. This means everything will sit within the nearest grid, no matter wherever you drag it. This may limit creativity for some.

Either way, you can always choose to begin with a blank template and build it from there.

• Sections

This allows you to add special sections like – About Us section, Contact Us section, FAQs, Reviews, Plans/ Pricing, etc. Leadpages allows you to add your brand colors in a separate menu (discussed later). These get saved and appear as the top color option when you edit any section or widget. Thus, you can easily resort to them while designing a form or landing page.

• Page Setup

This allows you to change all formatting aspects like the standard font style and size, page width, background color, etc.

• Page Settings

This sets up the basic SEO of the landing page. You can add meta descriptions, page previews, keywords, social previews, and so on. The Analytics tab, however, is a wonderful feature. Here, you can paste the tracking code from any third-party platform like Google Analytics.

Now, you can track things like bounce rates, time spent on the page, CPC, and more.

Overall, Leadpages offers a quick and simple landing page builder. The tool did take some time to load each time. However, it was effective and fast once it was up and running. You can see a preview of the page anytime, or add a preview panel to the right to see it in real-time.

All landing pages are hosted as – landingpagename.lpages.com. You can, of course, choose to publish it on your own site. All you need is a WordPress plugin. Leadpages allows you to see both a desktop and tablet view of the created page. However, the mobile view is auto-generated, and you cannot change any elements in it.

Any landing page can be put up for a Split Test by clicking on the wrench icon next to it. This brings me to the next feature of Leadpages.

Split Test

The split testing tool can be used to check out the efficiency of two different landing pages and then post the winner to the rest of the customers. Leadpages offers a simple, four-step set-up for Split testing. In the first stage, you need to select the control landing page. Next, you can copy and create multiple variations of it.

Split tests can help you figure out if customers are responding more to a certain variation of the page. or a certain color scheme or deal. You can link the CTA of each page to different URLs as well. After selecting the variations, publish them and select the percentage of traffic distribution. It does not need to be 50-50.

Once you have finalized and published the designs, you can sit back and wait for the leads to pour in. You can use the analytics tab to compare the performance of the variations and also sort them according to the best conversion rates.

Sites

Similar to landing pages, you can use the Leadpages site builder to create a quick site from a template. The editor is the same as the one on landing pages. You can choose from templates based on their tags.

Leadpages scans all their templates. So you can filter it based on the ones that have had the highest conversation rates to date. Of course, template selection really depends on what your brand is showcasing.

You can avail the same widgets, layout features, and set-up styles. There is no A/B testing feature for site pages. Unlike the landing pages, you cannot RESET the stats for a site either.

While the drag and drop editor is easy enough to use, the only help is again in the form of a long questionnaire and there are no specific pop-ups or quick tips.

You can choose to preview the site in tab, desktop and phone mode. But again, you can only really edit it in desktop mode. The others are autogenerated and uneditable. I did try a few wacky scenarios and the auto-generation was acceptable in each case. Since Leadpages follows strict grid adherence, you are unlikely to see auto-generation failing.

Conversi0n Tools

Leadpages offers four other core conversation tools that you can design and keep track of. These are:

Pop-Ups

This allows you to create pop-ups that appear when a user enters a page, or there is stagnancy in their browsing. You can add this pop-up to a site hosted by Leadpages themselves or any other host.

The pop-up editor does not contain any templates. You are directly directed to a simple and empty-looking one wherein you can add any widgets you need. The size of the pop-up cannot be edited.

The pop-up home page displays the stats of any existing pop-up already published. Leadpages allows you to integrate forms into your pop-ups. Once done, you can choose where the data goes.

You can set up for mail to be sent to a specific email ID. Or you can set up a third-party integration and analyze the data via AWeber, ConvertKit, Active Campaign and more. To prevent spamming, you can enable a reCAPTCHA setup. If you do not want your email to be flooded with emails, then you can set up Lead Notifications.

Lead Notifications is another integration provided by Leadpages. This essentially sends you notifications regarding any new opt-ins and subscribers. Once you integrate it, a new menu called Lead Notifications will become active where you can see all such recent activity.

Alert Bars

This refers to a bar at the top or bottom of a page (think cookies acceptance bar). These allow a user to continue browsing without interrupting their session.

You can create an alert bar within minutes with Leadpages’ editor. Part of this is due to Leadpages easy-to-use editor. And part of it is because the alert bar editor is quite a sparse one offering only a few options. The depth of the bar cannot be edited. However, you can choose whether to place it at the top or bottom.

Opt-In Texts

Opt-in texts allow people to send text messages that make them eligible to receive messages regarding offers and deals. You can set-up a unique text code and follow-up message to be sent using this feature.

In the next stage, you can see what happens to the data after someone opts-in. This can include a reply message, a reply mail as a lead magnet, signing them up for a webinar or simply adding them to a mailing list. Again, you will need integrations for the last step. However, this is quite an efficient way of managing leads.

Trigger Links

For those preferring to opt-in via a site, there are trigger links. This allows users to opt-in with a single click on a CTA button. Trigger links can perform various functions. They can offer lead magnets, or whisk the user to another site altogether.

Leadpages allows you to generate trigger links for specific functions that you can then hyperlink to CTA buttons. You can set up a third-party mailing platform like AWeber or MailChimp to send out an email with this click as the trigger. More on how to use this under the Leadbox section.

Leads

You can see the performance of landing pages, pop-ups, sites, and other tools separately on their menu. The Lead menu shows an overview of the entire circuit. You can integrate different platforms and compare the total leads from each platform.

Leadpages allows you to export a CSV with lead data. However, this is only valid for sites, pages, and pop-ups. You cannot export data related to trigger links and opt-ins.

Lead Magnets

This is a useful feature if you are offering services like webinars, ebooks, and tutorials. A lead magnet is a free item that users can avail themselves of once they subscribe or sign up. Hence, we use it to get user information in exchange.

To create a lead magnet, you can install Attract.io. Leadpages has a partnership with them, so this service is absolutely free. You can also use other lead magnet creation services like Canva, Piktochart, Wistia, and more.

Attract.io helps one create PDFs, how-to guides, whitepapers and more. They essentially offer various templates for reports, brochures and case studies that you can choose and customize.

You will of course need an email service provider to be able to send out lead magnets, which I will discuss later. Under the lead magnets section, you can create a lead magnet using a sending email ID. The actual magnet can be pasted as a URL or uploaded.

This creates a lead magnet. However, for it to work – you will need to connect it to a form. This leads me to the next bit.

Lead Magnet Delivery System

Leadpages has an in-built Lead Magnet Delivery system. To use the lead magnet, you will have to return to either a landing page or pop-up editor.

Assign a form widget to the particular page. You can now choose a particular link for the CTA button to redirect to. This will be the “Thank You” page for filling out the form. And from the Actions bar, you can assign a lead magnet to be activated.

So the user will receive the earlier created mail upon clicking it and also be directed to the next page. You can change the file attached to the lead magnet anytime. Or choose to delete it altogether.

In case you want to send a more customized mail or perform a double check on the opt-in, you can integrate a separate email service provider and send mails from there instead of the Leadpages system.

Leadpages allows you to upload files of up to 250 MB in size. You can also use other file hosting services like Dropbox or Mediafire. Some ESPs also provide hosting services.

Leadbox

In Leadpages lingo, a Leadbox is a pop-up that offers a lead magnet. Hence, it asks for sign-up or email information and adds the user to a subscriber list. You can allow a Leadbox to pop up by setting up a trigger link for it. Working is the same.

First, you create a lead magnet and set it up with a file and a sender’s email address. Now, you just need to create a trigger link that will perform the function of offering this lead magnet in an email.

This is where you circle back to the Trigger Links conversion tool. You can select the option “Customise Link” to set up the next action to be lead magnet delivery. Once you have selected the options, Leadpages will generate the link for you to use.

Leadpages allows users to remain on the same page, or you can link it to a Thank You page next. Overall, this is quite a useful tool and you can easily set up a single lead magnet in various ways.

Integrations

Leadpages offers various Native Integrations as well as integrations powered by Zapier. Native integrations include AWeber, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, Drip, Emma, GetResponse, Infusion Soft and more.

You can send a request to the team to consider any other integrations you need. Their response will be based on customer volume. Under the “Brand” and “Image” tabs, you can set up the colors of your brand as well as most-used stock images.

Pricing

The Standard Feature stands at $27 per month. It does not offer A/B Testing, opt-ins, and email triggers. You can also use only a limited 40 integrations. You can also manage only 1 site. These limitations mean that most businesses will need to opt for the next pricing stack.

At $59 per month, you can manage up to 3 different sites and perform unlimited A/B Testing. A good feature is that all Leadpages plans can manage unlimited traffic and leads. Though, smaller businesses will hardly be using this feature to the fullest.

The advanced plan at $239 per month, allows the managing of 50 sites. You can try Leadpages for free for 14 days after entering your credit card information. The free account allows adding of up to 5 different sub-accounts under the main account.

Conclusion: Is Leadpages the leading winner?

Overall, Leadpages performs well for its cost. It would be nice if we could also get some dynamic text features in the drag-and-drop editor like Unbounce. The image library is good enough. Leadpages do lack some features that their contemporaries provide, such as heat mapping tools.

The landing page builder allows limited creativity with this strict guide adherence.

However, the form builders perform exceptionally well. The lead magnet linking is also a robust feature but needs to be streamlined better. Pricing is much lower than other contemporaries, hence I can see why smaller businesses may lean towards Leadpages.

Take a free trial of LeadPages

Overall, it is a great platform to start your journey with. As to conversion rates, it is up to the creator to extract the best out of a platform. Leadpages certainly has all the tools in place for it!