Microsoft is an easy target, I admit. Their failures are well documented (outlook 2007, zune, branding, etc.) It’s easy to pick on the big guy. We expect that the one with the largest cash reserves should do the best job, right?

Truth be told, Microsoft does a lot of things well, and the ubiquitousness of Windows and Office has certainly made life easier for the vast majority of users.

But, today I’m interested in their landing page experience, and not surprisingly (having used their web site before), it sucks.

If you want to avoid some of their mistakes, read on.

The ad should relate the benefits to the target audience

Imagine I was interested in Windows Vista. I visit microsoft.com and there’s a page-dominant ad for a trial download. The ad doesn’t score points for likeability, which it should if it’s not going to speak to features or benefits either. I won’t comment much on the ad creative here, but I will give it credit for at least acknowledging that I’m apprehensive about Vista.

The Top 5 Landing Page Problems:

1. Landing Page cues do not reinforce the click decision. You have 2-6 seconds to convince the reader that he or she should stay on the landing page. The first thing I see is the main headline “Always on Guard. Test drive today.” Wait a minute.. this must be the wrong page. Am I downloading a Windows Firewall trial? And what does that have to do with the Canadian National Anthem?
2. Premature close. The second most prominent element on the page is a button that says “Special Offers on Windows Vista”. But I’m here for a trial, Microsoft. Don’t presume that you’ve taken me from Interest, skipped over Desire completely, and have me at Action on the first click. You’re proposing marriage on the first date. Wait until you at least know my favourite colour.
3. Nothing is above the fold. The header image is so large that everything I’m looking for is below the fold. Check out this screenshot on my average-resolution business laptop.
4. Why do I need a navigation bar? There is rarely a good reason to include your web site nav bar on a landing page. It does nothing but distract your future customer from moving along the action funnel.
5. Like most web users, I’m a skimmer. I scroll down and see a couple blocks of copy and a nice screenshot of (presumably) what the trial will look like, and go straight to the bottom looking for the download button.

   Ah, there’s the button, and I click it. This takes me to another page (with a completely different look and feel, which is a common cause of transactional friction) and headline, “Test drive the 2007 Microsoft Office release”.

   Huh? I’m here for Windows Vista, not MS Office!

   Take a closer look at the landing page and see if you can tell what happened.

   They’ve made the biggest mistake you can on a landing page; multiple calls to action.

   It turns out that the screenshot I skimmed over IS the button for the Vista trial. But Microsoft added this trial for MS Office at the bottom. I’m willing to bet this one mistake is costing them at least 1-2% off their conversion rate.

Bonus Problem

When I finally found the proper Vista Trial page, there was one button that said “Get Started”, no navigation bar, a nice dichotomous segmentation, a list of four key benefits/features, all above the fold.

I’ll give you a hint, Microsoft: This should be your landing page!

But, there’s one problem. The “Get Started” button doesn’t work. At least, not in my Firefox browser.

Sorry, Microsoft, I’m outta here.

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