Summary How to structure a SaaS landing page with copywriter Dayana Mayfield (Youtube) www.youtube.com
3,860 words - YouTube video - View YouTube video
n/a How do you turn a blank page into a persuasive landing page? The good news is that you actually don't have to start with a blank page at all, because today, I'm speaking with expert SaaS copywriter, Diana Mayfield, and she's gonna show you the basic structure that she uses to write highly persuasive SaaS landing pages without starting from scratch. SaaS companies for about 5 years with a big focus on web copy and landing page copy. And today, she's gonna show you how she structures her landing pages using an example for a pre launch SaaS product called Raize IQ. Here's what you're gonna see.
n/a The basic structure that Diana uses as a starting point for her SaaS landing pages, these are the basic building blocks that you can swipe from her and use for yourself, how she makes decisions about when to follow her basic structure and when to break from it. And, finally, she's gonna walk us through the Raised IQ landing page so you can see how it all comes together. We've got a lot to cover, so let's dive straight into it.
Dayana Mayfield It's all about the story. Right? So it's like, what do you need to tell somebody to get them from, like, a to z? From, like, understanding it to actually, like, possibly making, you know, a purchase and signing up. So the hero is like that hook where you want the clarity of what it does.
Dayana Mayfield You know? So the hero, you're gonna have, an interesting hooky headline and then, like, a really clear sub headline, then you always want social proof, which can be your customer logos, your g 2 rating, and Capterra rating badges or a testimonial. And then not every SaaS product will have a problem section. I think it really depends. I think once for small businesses, it's often good if they have a problem section because it just kind of illustrates, like, you know, where they're Where they're at or, like, smaller companies that don't have, like, a lot of brand awareness.
Dayana Mayfield Like, you don't know like, you haven't heard of it. Right? So it's like Slack, you know, they're not gonna have that standard, like, problem solution section. They're gonna mostly focus on, like, product marketing and making it really clear what the product does, but it's like so many people have heard of it. Right?
Dayana Mayfield And then solution overview, you know, it's just a way of saying, like, you know, here's what the product does. Solution details could be, you know, the different features or just kind of, like, something that follows after that kind of gives you, Like, even more information about the solution. And then product marketing section, this is just kind of my way of calling out a section that's like, Say it's a template. Like, there's templates in there. Right?
Dayana Mayfield And so that could be a section where you show the templates, or there's some sort of, like, output. You know what I mean? Like a page builder or something. You can show different examples of pages that were built with the product. You're just very Clearly showing what the heck it is.
Dayana Mayfield Something where it's just really focused on, like, the software, and it's not it's not like description or explanation. It's not illustrations. It's really gonna be, like, quality screenshots and, like, a very simple headline. It's like opening up the closet and, like, showing you, like, what's inside. And then who it's for is obviously If you have different, you know, target audiences that you wanna call out, like, say, okay.
Dayana Mayfield This is for coaches, consultants, and freelancers or something, Or, like, this is for insurance agents. It's not necessary for every software company. I think it's important if you either have 1 to 3 target audiences. Right? Like, if it's really only for 1, audience, then I think it's smart to do that.
Dayana Mayfield Just make it really clear. Unless, of course, you have that in the headline. Because often, if it's for 1, you might have that, like, really clear in the headline. So maybe the who it's for is probably better if you have, like, 3 targets. So, anyways, that's another 1 that not every company will have.
Dayana Mayfield And then, like, use cases could be, like, just different examples. Right?
n/a Sure.
Dayana Mayfield And then process and steps. So this 1, again, is not not something that every, SaaS company would use, but If there's just, like, a really clear workflow, like like, maybe it's like an add on. Right? Say it's like a Shopify add on for, like, customer service. So it's like, 1, add to your Shopify store.
Dayana Mayfield 2, talk with your customers. So for some SaaS, like, that's not necessary. For others, it can make things really clear, especially if it's like something that integrates with something else or something that kind of if you're changing a workflow, like, maybe people are used to doing things in 10 steps, and this product is gonna change it to 2 or 3 steps, Then that could be a really smart reason to use that that type of section. And then main features and many features, This is kind of an similar to solution details, but a little different. So maybe solution details would be like, you know, just like your top 3 features and you wouldn't have, like, The mini ones.
Dayana Mayfield But maybe, you know, if you wanted to, like, you know, showcase the features, maybe people really, like, that for certain features in your in your industry, like, you know, they wanna check that you have this thing when they're When they're checking their options, maybe it's a crowded marketplace and they've got, you know, 5 or 10 options they're exploring, and so they really need to, like, clearly kind of that that you have these things. The many features could even be, like, just basic stuff that people are looking for, like, you know, mobile Demise, 2 f a, and then quality agreements. So these are, like, you know, quality agreements to alleviate fear. This could be things like, you know, the quality of customer support, that there's customer support via live chat and email. It's a 30 day free trial.
Dayana Mayfield It's it's gonna depend on the SAS company and, like, what type of businesses they work with. If it's small business, if it's enterprise, what sort of things that they're going to put on there. If it's enterprise, it's gonna be something like dedicated, customer success representative And then a transformation section. This was something that we did for Ray's IQ, which is like you're gonna transform from spending hours and hours and hours to do it yourself to, like, minutes. And, yeah, you can kinda spell it out and make it really clear.
Dayana Mayfield Another way you can talk about the transformation is in the final CTA, like, in the headline right above the last CTA, you might Say something like, you know, focus on your customers, not on your software or something like that because that could even be like a transformation where it's like we're switching from just dealing with, like, the crap and integrating things, tinkering To now we have something that's so intuitive and easy to use, then now we can really just, like, focus on, like, what matters.
n/a So you finished with all of your research. You are ready to start outlining. I don't want to spend too too much time on this because I'm really eager to get to the actual Raize IQ landing page and have you talk through that, but I'd love to just get a really quick overview of, you know, how you start to, you know, put the your research and your ideas into these sections and start to create the overall structure for the page. So why don't you just go ahead and very quickly just walk us through these sections?
Dayana Mayfield Okay. Cool. So, the first thing that I always do, like, after I've done my research and I'm ready to start rough drafting is I make this table. It's essentially like a 2 column table, and on the left, I write down, Like, the name of that section. So then that helps me, like, think about the story.
Dayana Mayfield So the first thing I do is I write down the names of those sections on the left before I do anything, you know, on the right, which is the actual copy, the thing on the left never actually goes in the website. It's just a note to myself of what I'm putting where. So for this, you know, of course, a hero and then social proof, that's a pretty good standard way, you know, to start any SaaS website. But then from there, for this 1, I chose, you know, to do the problem solution setup because, you know, it is a simple offer. It is a huge problem.
Dayana Mayfield There isn't really anything like it that solves this problem in this way. And then what I also do is I put, like, design ideas. So the the designer then went and put the graphics in there, but I just write, like, design ideas alongside the copy Just to make that clear. So there's, like, yes. There's, the problem, solution overview, and then I think it goes into, like, a transformation section.
Dayana Mayfield Then does it
n/a Mhmm.
Dayana Mayfield Yeah. The time transformation and solution details, which is basically, like, the, you know, specific features that kind of back it up. And then there's like an output section because, just to make things clear, like, what are we getting? We're getting an out a a financial model that we can stick in a pitch deck. Right?
Dayana Mayfield So it's like not every software is gonna need, like, an output section. But for this 1, it it just makes things that much clearer. And then the use cases, we wanted to Put that, because, you know, we wanted to focus on there's 2 different things that you can do with it, not just the Pitch decks. So, yeah, that's the setup. Always the story.
Dayana Mayfield Think about the story, and then what are the sections that we need before actually writing a copy.
n/a So here is the actual, raise IQ page. Dan is gonna walk us through these sections in a little bit more detail. So the first thing that we have here, obviously, is the hero section.
Dayana Mayfield Yeah. So, it is difficult to write headlines for products that do a lot. Like, products that are kind of that all in 1, you know, like, they do so many different things for different, user types. That that is challenging because then people kinda rely on You know, it's like just a key phrase. It's like, oh, it's this type of software, and, like, that's it.
Dayana Mayfield And there's something, like, exciting or outcomes focused with that. So I'm not gonna, like, lie and say it's, like, always easy for me to write headlines because it's really hard to write headlines for that sort of product. But for Raise queue and products that do essentially 1 main thing for 1 type of person, that is So much easier to write. Yeah.
n/a So you were just talking about, what's at stake, that the stakes are actually pretty we high, and so I think that is a nice segue into, the next section that we have here, which, looks to be a a problem section, and you're defining the problem here, something that I want to call out that I really like about this section is what you just started to touch on is this idea that, you know, if you wing it and you don't provide quality projections, smart investors can tell right away, and they will walk. So it's this idea you know, what is the cost of not taking action? If you don't do this, this is going to be the cost and the result. Sometimes I think we get really focused on, talking about benefits. You know, here's what is going to happen, if you take action, but something that I like that you did here is you told us what is going to happen if we don't take action, and sometimes that can be, a more powerful lever to pull.
n/a You think? Mhmm. Mhmm.
Dayana Mayfield Yes. Absolutely. It's like, what do you wanna avoid? So if you've ever read, StoryBrand By Donald Miller. I hope I'm I think it's
n/a That sounds right. I believe it's
Dayana Mayfield Donald Miller. Okay. I'm like, I hope it's Donald Miller. But in his Framework, he talks about, like, what does your you know, the hero of the story is the customer. What does the hero want to achieve, and what do they want To avoid.
Dayana Mayfield So, yeah, a lot of times people focus you know, copywriters focus on what people wanna achieve, but then they forget to put what you want to avoid, and I actually do that, I try to do that quite a bit because it's pretty, you know, pretty powerful.
n/a Let's move into this next section. This looks to me like a solution overview. Is that, is that right?
Dayana Mayfield Yes. Solution overview for the You know, it's like an outcome. Right? So it's like it's like an outcome, and then it's also showing you an alternative too. Like, when you use this, like, nobody's gonna know that you didn't, like, hire an accountant to do it for you because it's actually gonna include all of the details.
Dayana Mayfield Right? And so it says, our founder took a class from Harvard Business School on financial accounting, so you don't have too. So it's like we to to build this, we studied every single thing that's supposed to go in there. Because you don't you don't know. Like, you know you need to make 1, but you don't know what's supposed to go in there.
n/a So let's move on to the next section. I am a huge fan of Yeah. Comparison charts. Yeah. And so so this is a transformation section according to your framework.
Dayana Mayfield So, it's kind of like the 2 outcomes. 1, it's gonna be less time, and 2, it's gonna come out better than if you had tried to Figure it all out yourself. Mhmm. So that's why it's like the double. It's like save time and wow investors.
Dayana Mayfield You know, it's gonna take you over 20 hours. It's gonna Confuse investors. It's gonna show that it was done by an amateur versus it's gonna take you somewhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It's gonna impress investors, and it's gonna look like an did it for you.
n/a Alright. So let's hop into this next section. So would you call this a is this like
Dayana Mayfield a solution details? Yeah. Solution details or main features. So raise money easier with these smart features. So we're kinda reminding them this is all about you getting to raise money easier.
Dayana Mayfield Right? So, like, this the raise money part it's not, like, all over in your face. Right? Because, like, we can't totally promise that. So it's not like, raise money with, like, raise queue.
Dayana Mayfield Right? But it's, like, it's in there a little bit, like, just a reminder, like, your core outcome. Right? It's, like, take it all the way to the outcome that they really, really want. Not just they don't just want a financial model.
Dayana Mayfield They want to raise money. Right? So it's like you don't put that everywhere, but you do use that Some places.
n/a You know, something and just to call it something that, you know, I see all the time when you don't have a copywriter writing is you'll see this section will be something like, you know, features or some sort of, like, placeholder or or UX copy that helps us understand where we are in the page, but it doesn't help us answer so what.
Dayana Mayfield Yeah. Yeah. So I don't think we need to hop into, like, each individual 1, but just as an overview, what was really important to, you know, share in this section was that it's ready for you to use. You know, there's the jump start data you can get started with. There's the template.
Dayana Mayfield It's gonna include all the financial details, so you don't have to try to come with your own knowledge of what's supposed to go there. It's it's all there, and you have to fill it in, and then, you know, professional design, so it's gonna look really great.
n/a Awesome. So let's move into the next section here. I'm trying to figure out for myself, just as an exercise, like, what what of the different sections that we went through before the different sections that you use, which of those this applies to. So I'm wondering, is this kind of like This
Dayana Mayfield is the output. This is the output. So just to show you Yeah. Just to show you, like, in case you've been sleeping, like, this is what it's gonna make, you know, because we don't wanna assume that, like, You know what I mean? It's pretty clear.
Dayana Mayfield It's a pretty simple clear thing. You know, use our financial model builder. Like, it's pretty clear, but, hey. Like, let's just show it. Like, It's gonna make you this really nice pretty thing.
Dayana Mayfield Like, do you think you can make this nice pretty thing by yourself? I don't think so. Right? So, like, just showing what you're gonna get. You know?
n/a What's in the box? So something else that I think you're doing here is it also looks like you are dealing with some objections. So if I'm if I'm to read this correctly, I see not sure what to include. So to me, that sounds like model, it's it seems to me like you're sort of addressing that hesitation. Is that right?
Dayana Mayfield Mhmm. Yeah.
n/a Let's check out this next section here. Build it now. Update it later. What's going on in this section?
Dayana Mayfield I don't want people to just sign up, pay for it for a while, and, like, leave. Because then you're gonna have a SaaS product with no recurring revenue, and you're gonna have really high churn. So the strategy with this 1 is is like, hey. There's you can keep using it. This is the use cases.
Dayana Mayfield So the main use case, let's be honest, is investor pitch decks. That's gonna be the number 1 reason why people sign up, but we wanna make it clear there's another use case you can do ongoing financial analysis, which if you are a smart founder, you're gonna wanna be doing that Anyways and you should get really intimate with your numbers, and you should be using Ray's IQ monthly or quarterly. Cool.
n/a This looks to me like what I would probably call a how it works section, but I think you had a different name for it.
Dayana Mayfield Yeah. I call it, like, process or steps, that's kind of a StoryBrand thing as well. It's like, what are the steps to the outcome that they want? So where do we talk about what they wanna avoid and achieve in StoryBrand? And it's like, how do they get to what they wanna achieve?
Dayana Mayfield That's kind of like a StoryBrand thing because it's like you're taking them on the journey. Right? And you wanna make it clear, like, okay. I'm interested, But what what do I actually have to have to do to make it work? You know?
Dayana Mayfield So it's like, here's how to create a new financial plan. You're gonna put your revenue streams, your expenses, your assets, and your liabilities. Right? So it kind of serves 2 purposes of, like, here's How you do it, and also it's like we know what we're talking about.
n/a Okay. So we've gone through, almost all of the sections and now we have what I call the close, and I think you had a different name for it. You just I think had, like, final call to action. So, you know, this is a this is a wait list, so it's not quite the same as, you know, trying to get someone to start a free trial, request a demo, or some of the other things that typically see on, on a SaaS homepage or a SaaS landing page. So do you have any tips on how to write the closing section of a page that doesn't quite actually have anything to offer
Dayana Mayfield at the moment. Yeah. I think that, it's smart to always, like, make it really clear What you're asking. So, like, normally, I would put, you know, like, a transformation kinda line in the headline. But for this, it's like, we don't wanna confuse people and think, oh, it's, like, ready.
Dayana Mayfield Right? So just really clear, like, request early access. And then you also wanna make it, like, well, why do I wanna know? Like, you know, so you wanna know because you're gonna Find out as soon as it's ready. You know?
Dayana Mayfield So get notified as soon as soon as it's, like, ready for you. So just a little kind of push, a little, like, nudge. Yeah.
n/a So it sounds like the the approach here was, you know, because the product, isn't ready that you're focusing on clarity first. You didn't have something in your headline here that suggests the transformation that you might normally use, because that transformation might have use people, but then you still in the subhead and even in some of the micro copy or or sorry. Some of the click trigger copy underneath the button that you're you're also still tying it back to the so what.
Dayana Mayfield Mhmm. Mhmm. Exactly.
n/a Big thanks to Diana Mayfield for everything she just showed us. If you want to get in touch with Diana, you can head on over to her website at dayonamayfield.com. I'll go ahead and pop that on the screen, so that you know how to spell it. If you go to her blog section, you can grab some free resources she has on there, including a packet of b 2 b SaaS copywriting templates that I highly recommend you check out. Also, if you want more videos like this 1 you just watched, please head on over to copy spotlight.com.
n/a You can get on my email list there and you'll be notified the 2nd I release each video for copy spotlight, and you'll also get some cool bonuses that I'm only going to send through the email list and things that won't be available on YouTube or in video. Thanks a lot. Take care.