Corporations with strong innovation cultures are always looking for promising startups developing solutions that meet their business needs. Data-driven startup programs allow them to identify such startups. These are increasingly going virtual or semi-virtual. Consequently, startups do not come to know of a startup program from exchanged business cards but from dedicated landing pages or websites.
Since attention is in short supply on the internet, a landing page needs to quickly catch the attention of the right visitor. If you’re setting up a startup program soon or want to improve conversion for a program you’re running, these best practices for landing pages can help boost the success of your program.
What to Include in Your Startup Program Landing Pages
1. Data-driven Metrics
Today, data is central to the successful operation of any startup program. Conversely, startups also collect data on the organizations running the program. Make it easy for them by highlighting key data points on your landing page. This includes both the context of the challenge as well as your expectations of the cost savings or efficiency improvements from the startup program participants.
Do supply chain inefficiencies lead to losses of 20% of the goods produced? Mention it on the landing page of your startup program. Do you have thousands of vendors across multiple countries? It should find a mention too. Do you expect startup applicants to come up with solutions that save costs by 10%? Probably, the most important piece of data on the landing page. To sum up, include every data point that highlights the challenge and benefits of your startup program.
2. Focus Areas
Numbers excite, but can quickly intimidate as well. On the landing page, place the data in the context of specific focus areas. Before setting up your program, you should have an idea of what metrics you plan to achieve after running it. To do this effectively, gather inputs from different departments within your organization. This allows you to identify if you have concrete challenges or are looking for ideation.
If you seek to tackle multiple challenges, break the startup program into sub-challenges and list all of them on the landing page. Place them in the context of your business propositions and what value you expect to create. Also mention how the sub-challenges fit into the greater theme and what are your expectations from the startups.
3. What is in it for Startups
If you’re a market leader in your category, you may think that the biggest advantage for a startup joining your program is access to your brand value and infrastructure. While this is often true, it isn’t always the case. With increasingly more corporations running their startup challenges, the competition to collaborate with the best high-growth startups is growing.
Mention all the benefits that you offer startups accepted into your program — funding, access to internal data or equipment, mentoring, networking opportunities, etc. For startups, the most tangible benefit of participating in a startup program is an accelerated route to a proof-of-concept. Your startup program’s website needs clearly emphasize the objectives and the best next steps to get there.
4. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
FAQs save everyone a lot of time. They save the innovators the trouble to reach out to you for minor inquiries and your team the time it would take to respond to them. They make it clear what your startup program is about as well as what it isn’t. If you have any eligibility criteria, FAQs are a good place to either mention or reiterate them.
There are other questions that are specific to startup programs that you can answer in this section. Do you have a process for evaluating the startup candidates? What will be the terms and conditions of the collaboration for startups that make it to the program? Any technical documents that provide more details on the specifics of the challenge? Answer these clearly and concisely and see the quality of the applicants to your program improve.
5. Social Proof
Have you run startup programs before or worked with startups in other arrangements? Highlight your success stories from previous collaborations with startups to provide potential applicants with great social proof. They could also enhance the reputation of your current program. As humans, we tend to copy others’ actions. Leverage this tendency by providing examples of social proof on your landing page.
Startups are also more likely to have a great impression of your program if they see other startups are interested in it. If your startup program is open to applicants throughout the year, mention how many applications you receive and the startups you work with on an annual basis. Also, if possible, include testimonials from previous participants.
6. Call-to-Action (CTA)
The primary objective of any landing page is to get the reader to elicit an action out of them. You will find one at the bottom of this page. Click it to learn more about how we can help you set up and optimize your startup program landing page. On your landing page, the CTA redirects startup founders to the application process of your program.
Here are a few things to keep in mind. Make it big and conspicuous. Keep it above the fold, which means the reader should notice it without having to scroll. Use words that invoke the reader to take action. Lastly, be creative.
Set up Your Conversion-Optimized Startup Program Today
Converting high-potential startups into applicants is a critical challenge to your startup program. However, it is only the start. To boost the quantity and quality of applicants to your startup program, we offer the following deliverables:
- Setup of Conversion-optimized Landing Page: Leveraging our experience with SEO-optimized content, we set up the landing page of your startup program to attract more applicants.
- Direct Outreach: By using our propriety Discovery Platform covering over 2,5 million startups globally, we find the ones that fit your innovation needs and convert the most relevant ones into applications for your program.
- Promotional Outreach: By promoting your program through our magazine, social media channels, and 2 500+ online communities, we present it to promising startups globally. This also builds long-term awareness in the global innovation community
- Applicant Pre-screening: When, with our combined efforts, you receive more applicants than you can handle, our trained Analysts analyze startup data to pre-screen the startups with the highest potential.
Are you looking to elevate your startup program or create one from scratch? Get in touch to know how our data-driven approach optimizes the whole process from building your program’s online presence to identifying and converting the most relevant startups based on your specific targeting criteria.
