Starting a business is hard. Between developing your product, attracting customers, and managing cash flow, there's hardly time to build the sleek, high-converting website you need to communicate your value proposition. That's where landing pages come in.
Landing pages allow you to quickly create focused webpages for specific campaigns and products. With the right landing page builder, any founder can make beautiful, responsive pages optimized for conversions – no coding required.
In this post, we'll cover the key features to look for in a landing page builder. Then we'll review some top contenders and see how they stack up, with a focus on tools tailored for startups. By the end, you'll know what to look for to find the best landing page tool for launching your startup dreams.
Key Features for Landing Page Builders
When evaluating landing page builders, there are a few must-have features to ensure you can create high-converting pages with ease:
Intuitive Drag and Drop Editor
For non-technical founders, a visual editor is a must. Look for a drag and drop interface where you can easily customize design elements and content blocks by clicking on them. Things like text, images, videos, and buttons should be editable right on the page. A good editor makes it simple to try different layouts and move elements around until you find the optimal flow.
Live previews allow you to see changes as you build, saving you from constantly switching between edit and preview modes. Undo and redo features let you quickly revert mistakes or bring back changes with just a click. These conveniences speed up iteration so you can build better pages faster.
Responsive Design
Today over half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. A responsive landing page adapts seamlessly across desktop, tablets, and smartphones, ensuring a flawless experience for all visitors.
Tools with built-in mobile previews and responsive breakpoints make it a breeze to optimize for any device. With higher mobile conversion rates, responsive design is a proven way to increase sales.
Templates
Professionally designed templates let you hit the ground running. Rather than building from a blank page, start customizing a pre-made template tailored for your goal – whether it’s lead gen, sales, events, etc.
Popular startup templates include pricing pages, signup flows, calculators, and more. With many options based on the latest web design trends, you can quickly give your page a polished, trustworthy look. Then swap templates anytime as your business evolves.
Built-in Forms
Forms play a pivotal role in capturing leads and conversions. Having access to pre-made form building blocks like contact forms, email signup forms, surveys, and calculators saves a ton of work.
Just plug the forms in, customize the fields and design, and connect them to your CRM, email, or analytics tools. Now you’ve got built-in lead and customer data collection directly on your landing pages.
Integrations
Expand what’s possible on your landing pages by integrating popular marketing and sales tools. Email services like MailChimp, ESPs like ConvertKit, CRMs like Salesforce, analytics platforms like Google Analytics, and automation tools like Zapier can all connect to your landing pages.
Connecting these tools creates a powerful conversion optimization system. Now your pages become more than standalone destinations – they become hubs that pull in apps from across your stack to boost conversions.
Custom Code
While most page building happens visually, having the option to add custom HTML, CSS, and JavaScript unlocks advanced customization options. You can integrate third-party scripts, make complex style tweaks, and build interactive elements like calculators, live chats, etc. tailored to your needs.
Low-code visual tools don’t replace the power of code. But when used together, you get the best of both simplicity and extreme customization to boost conversions.
Top Landing Page Tools for Startups
Now let’s see how some of the most popular landing page builders stack up for startups and SaaS companies:
Unicorn Platform
Made specifically for startups and SaaS, Unicorn Platform combines easy drag and drop building with components and templates optimized for conversions.
The visual editor and pre-made section library gets you creating quickly with minimal learning curve. Templates cover key startup flows like signup forms, pricing plans, benefit lists, testimonials, and calls to action.
Built-in popups, A/B testing, analytics, and other conversion-focused features help you optimize. Plus, affordable pricing tailored to early-stage needs makes Unicorn Platform an ideal choice for bootstrapped founders.
Leadpages
A longtime leader in landing pages and conversions, Leadpages offers unmatched template variety with hundreds of options. Robust A/B testing lets you optimize for higher conversions.
Integrations with marketing and sales tools like Salesforce, MailChimp, and Calendly streamline your stack. However, Leadpages has a steep learning curve and can get costly at higher tiers.
Instapage
Instapage focuses on ad campaigns and marketing teams, with collaboration features for content creation. Conversions are maximized through A/B testing, analytics, and personalized visitor experiences.
With flexible publishing and multi-page site support, Instapage goes beyond simple landing pages. However, it may be overkill for early-stage startups, with a significant learning curve and higher cost.
Unbounce
Dedicated to boosting conversions, Unbounce offers a powerful visual editor and template marketplace. Capabilities like A/B testing, analytics, personalization, and marketing automation integration optimize conversion rates.
However, Unbounce also has a steep learning curve. And with prices starting at $200/month, it can get very costly, especially for startups.
Landingi
Landingi makes it easy to build popups, landing pages, and more to boost leads and sales. With email marketing, advanced analytics, and shopping cart integration built-in, it offers an all-in-one inbound marketing toolkit.
However, Landingi suffers from an unintuitive interface with many confusing upsells pushed on users. Pricing also tends to run higher than other options.
Key Factors for Startup Landing Page Builders
As you evaluate landing page builders for your startup, keep these must-have factors in mind:
Simplicity and Ease of Use
For time-strapped founders, the builder should have an intuitive interface that lets you create landing pages in minutes, not hours. Prioritize drag and drop editors with pre-made templates and blocks that allow quick building with minimal learning curve.
Reasonable and Predictable Pricing
Steep pricing and complex packages full of surprise upsells will cripple bootstrapped startups. Look for simple pricing that scales with clear limits, not hidden fees. Avoid hefty multi-year contracts that lock you in. A builder focused on startups will offer affordable plans.
Startup and SaaS Specific Features
Seek out tools built for startups with integrations, templates, and easy content creation tools tailored to your needs. Quick and helpful onboarding, documentation, and support shows a commitment to simplifying success for founders.
Optimized for Conversions
Since converting visitors into leads and customers is the goal, pick tools that help maximize this. Templates, A/B testing, analytics, speed optimization, and personalization all impact conversion rates. Prioritize these, along with easy form building.
Startup Landing Pages Made Simple
Creating a high-quality landing page to fuel your startup’s growth is now easier than ever thanks to today’s robust drag and drop tools like the best landing page tool Unicorn Platform. By focusing on simplicity, transparent pricing, startup-specific features, and proven conversion optimization, you can find the ideal landing page builder for your unique needs.
We highly recommend startups try Unicorn Platform’s free trial to experience their industry-leading combination of easy visual editing and purpose-built capabilities for SaaS businesses. Use the promo code STARTUP20 to save 20% off your first paid month.
With the right landing page builder, you can stop worrying about website creation and get back to focusing on your startup's mission. Get out there and start converting!
Unicorn Platform