Sales & Conversion
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
Here's something that's going to sound crazy: the landing page that doubled my client's conversion rates looked nothing like what every "expert" recommends.
I was working with a Shopify client who was burning through Facebook ad budget with decent click-through rates but terrible conversions. Their landing page was textbook perfect - hero section, social proof, feature benefits, testimonials, the whole nine yards. It looked exactly like every other SaaS landing page you've ever seen.
The problem? In a world where everyone follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise. Sometimes the most effective strategy isn't following industry standards - it's breaking them strategically.
After testing an unconventional approach inspired by e-commerce design principles, we saw conversions jump dramatically. Not through better copy, but through completely rethinking what a landing page should look like.
Here's what you'll learn:
Why industry "best practices" might be killing your conversions
The e-commerce design principle that works for any landing page
How to create landing pages that stand out in a saturated market
When to break the rules (and when to follow them)
A framework for testing unconventional approaches safely
Industry Reality
What every marketer has been taught
Walk into any marketing conference or read any conversion optimization blog, and you'll hear the same landing page gospel repeated everywhere:
The "Perfect" Landing Page Formula:
Hero section with clear headline and value proposition
Social proof (logos, testimonials, review counts)
Feature grid explaining benefits, not features
More testimonials for credibility
Call-to-action button (preferably orange or green)
This advice exists because it works - in isolation. These elements individually do improve conversions when tested against poorly designed pages. The problem is context.
When every landing page in your industry follows the exact same structure, you're not optimizing for conversion anymore. You're optimizing for mediocrity. Your page becomes part of the noise, not the signal.
The traditional approach also assumes visitors are coming from search or direct traffic with high intent. But Facebook traffic is different - it's interruption-based. People weren't looking for your solution; you interrupted their scroll.
This fundamental difference in traffic intent requires a completely different approach to landing page design and copywriting. Yet most marketers apply the same one-size-fits-all formula regardless of traffic source.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
My client ran a B2C e-commerce store and was struggling with Facebook ad performance. They had a beautiful, conversion-optimized landing page that followed every best practice in the book. The page was getting decent traffic from their Facebook campaigns, but conversions were disappointing.
Like any good marketer, I started with the obvious fixes: tweaking headlines, testing different CTAs, adding urgency elements, optimizing the hero section. We saw marginal improvements, but nothing exciting. The fundamental problem wasn't being addressed.
Then I had a realization while analyzing their traffic flow. Most users were hitting the landing page and immediately clicking through to browse products. The landing page wasn't converting because it wasn't serving its actual function - it was just another barrier between interested visitors and their real intent.
That's when I proposed something that made my client uncomfortable: What if we treated our landing page like a physical product display instead of a sales pitch?
Instead of walls of text explaining benefits, I suggested creating a landing page with minimal text, a slideshow of product screenshots (like browsing a product catalog), and one prominent action button positioned like an e-commerce "Shop Now" button.
My client was skeptical. "This goes against everything we know about landing page optimization," they said. They were right - and that was exactly the point.
We decided to run a 30-day A/B test: traditional landing page versus this e-commerce-inspired approach.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
Here's the step-by-step process I used to create a landing page that breaks conventions while driving results:
Step 1: Analyze Your Traffic Intent
Before changing anything, understand how Facebook traffic differs from other sources. Facebook users aren't actively searching - they're browsing. Your landing page needs to match this browsing behavior, not fight against it.
Step 2: Study E-commerce Success Patterns
I analyzed high-converting product pages on Amazon, Shopify stores, and direct-to-consumer brands. The pattern was clear: minimal text, maximum visual appeal, and one clear action.
Step 3: Strip Away the Noise
Instead of explaining everything on the landing page, I focused on one goal: getting visitors to take the next step. This meant removing:
Feature grids and benefit explanations
Multiple testimonials scattered throughout
Lengthy value propositions
Multiple CTAs competing for attention
Step 4: Design for Browsing Behavior
The new page structure became:
Visual hero section with product images in a slideshow format
Minimal, benefit-focused headline
Single, prominent action button
One testimonial section for credibility
Step 5: Test and Iterate
We ran the test for 30 days with equal traffic split. The results spoke for themselves - the unconventional approach significantly outperformed the traditional landing page.
The key insight: When everyone in your industry follows the same playbook, that playbook becomes noise. Being different isn't just creative - it's strategic.
Visual-First
Focus on images over text to match browsing behavior from social media
Message Match
Ensure ad creative and landing page feel like the same experience
Single Focus
One clear action instead of multiple competing CTAs
Test Everything
A/B test unconventional approaches against industry standards
The results were clear and immediate:
Conversion Rate Improvement: The e-commerce-style landing page converted significantly better than our traditional approach. More importantly, the quality of conversions improved - visitors who converted through the new page showed higher engagement with the actual product.
Bounce Rate Reduction: The visual-first approach reduced bounce rates because visitors could immediately understand what they were looking at without reading paragraphs of text.
Mobile Performance: The simplified design performed exceptionally well on mobile, where Facebook drives most traffic. Less text meant faster loading and easier scanning.
Ad Performance Impact: Better landing page performance improved our Facebook ad quality scores, reducing our cost per click over time.
Most importantly, this experiment taught me that conventional wisdom exists for a reason, but it shouldn't be followed blindly. The best opportunities often come from challenging assumptions, especially when everyone else is doing the same thing.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
This experience fundamentally changed how I approach landing page optimization:
Traffic source matters more than industry: A Facebook visitor behaves differently than a Google searcher, regardless of what you're selling.
Best practices become worst practices when everyone uses them: In a saturated market, differentiation trumps optimization.
Cross-industry inspiration works: The solution came from studying e-commerce, not SaaS landing pages.
Less can be more: Removing elements often improves conversion more than adding them.
Test your assumptions: What works for others might not work for your specific audience and traffic source.
Context drives design: The same visitor behaves differently depending on how they arrived at your page.
Visual hierarchy beats written hierarchy: People scan before they read, especially on mobile.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies running Facebook ads:
Test product demo screenshots in slideshow format instead of text-heavy explanations
Focus on single trial signup goal rather than explaining all features
Use social proof sparingly - one strong testimonial beats ten weak ones
Match your ad creative style to your landing page design
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores using Facebook ads:
Showcase products visually first, explain benefits second
Create browsing-friendly layouts that feel familiar from shopping apps
Minimize text to reduce cognitive load on mobile devices
Test category pages as landing pages instead of single product pages