Become great at landing page optimization
Increase conversion rates on any landing page you work on.
Online course
By Michael Aagaard,
Senior CRO consultant
Course length: 4h 22min
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What do you do when the landing page simply doesn’t perform?
The easy answer is “Start optimizing!” But that introduces a whole series of difficult questions: Where do I start? How do I figure out what the problem is? Should I start testing right away? Do research first? If so, what kind?
This course will teach you how to answer these questions and many more. You’ll learn solid processes for analyzing your landing pages, conducting appropriate research and applying the right optimization tactics. We’ll get into qualitative and qualitative conversion research, information hierarchy, design, copywriting and not least neuroscience basics.
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After taking this course you’ll…
- Know how to analyze landing pages and build an effective optimization strategy
- Posses a toolbox of practical research methods and optimization tactics including GA reports and auditing processes
- Understand how to conduct crucial conversion research (both qualitative and quantitative)
- Have a deeper understanding of core psychology and neuroscience principles
- Be much more confident in your design and copywriting skills
Learn to identify your greatest optimization opportunities
There are a million and one things you could change on any given landing page. Most of those things aren’t going to have an impact on conversion. This course will teach you how to analyze landing pages and build an effective optimization strategy. Moreover it will give you a toolbox of practical research methods and optimization tactics including GA reports and auditing processes that will help you identify your greatest optimization opportunities.
Skills you will master

Ilona Hetsevich, Performance Marketing Manager @ Codewise
The best course in terms of amount of valuable information, real-life examples, case studies, additional resources and useful pieces of advice.
Well structured and contained all the useful information on qualitative and quantitive research, design and copywriting, information hierarchy and understanding user behaviour.
I apply gained knowledge on an every day basis at work.

Brandon Kinney, Paid Search Manager @ ProjectManager.com
I’ve taken a few CXL courses and this one was by far my favorite. I really appreciated the psychology of it, and some of the Michael’s examples were almost identical to things I was trying to solve. In short, it helped me a lot.

Kyneret Azizo
I love Michael’s passion for LPO. I appreciate his systematic way of teaching and how he really gets into the details and shows us great visual examples of the principles he’s referring to.

Francis Angelo Reyes
This landing page optimization course has always been my favorite. It’s concise and blends core concepts (analytics, research, copywriting, design, etc.) well.
This course is essential for you if …
- You’d like a more structured and strategic approach to LPO that is based on research, data and user psychology.
- You want to be more confident when your client or boss asks you to increase the performance of important landing pages.
- You are tired of basing your optimization efforts on random ideas and not getting satisfying results.
This course is NOT for you if…
- You want “5 quick hacks guaranteed to increase conversions on any landing page.”
- You believe that LPO is a simple process of running as many A/B tests as possible.
- You think that landing page experience isn’t that important to your business.
Skills you should have before taking this course
This course is beneficial for anyone wanting to learn more about landing page optimization. Prior experience with landing pages, Google Analytics and a basic understanding of user research are an advantage.
Michael Aagaard
Senior CRO consultant
Michael has been practicing CRO full time since 2008 and has worked with companies all over the world ranging from charities to E-commerce and SaaS.
He currently works as a freelancer, but has worked with and for several agencies and was Senior Conversion Optimizer for Unbounce in Vancouver from 2015 to 2017. He has held keynotes in 12 different countries and loves getting on stage to share what he has learned in his CRO career.
Course overview
Your full course curriculum
Landing page optimization
1 Understanding the landing page experience
Creating an effective landing page experience isn't just about what goes on on the page itself. In this session, you’ll dive into the multiple aspects that influence the overall user experience and what role the landing page plays. Moreover, you'll get a high-level overview of the LPO process.
Topics Covered:
- Get an introduction to all the factors that influence the landing page experience and what specific role the landing page itself plays.
- Understand the characteristics of an effective landing page so you know what to aim for and what to avoid when building landing pages.
- Get an overview of the landing page optimization process so you know what steps are involved and where you should start.
2 Fast vs slow thinking and cognitive biases
Understanding how the brain works and how humans make decisions are two very important aspects of creating a good landing page experience. In this lesson we'll look at some basic psychology principles and three cognitive biases.
Topics Covered:
- Understand the difference between fast and slow thinking and how these two different "modes" affect your users' decision-making process.
- Learn how cognitive biases like framing and priming affect the user experience and how/when they can backfire.
- Learn how to use cognitive biases to guide the user through the landing page experience in a clear and logical way.
3 Intro to brain chemicals – Dopamine and Cortisol
In this lesson you'll get an introduction to basic neuroscience and two of the most important brain chemicals that affect the landing page experience.
Topics Covered:
- Understand how brain chemicals affect human user experience so you can take this into consideration when building new landing pages.
- Learn how dopamine and cortisol drive human behaviour and how you can use these to create optimal user experiences.
- Insight into the most common cortisol triggers that negatively affect the landing page experience so you can avoid pitfalls.
4 Wireframing and Information Hierarchy
A logical and well-structured information hierarchy is the backbone of any high-converting landing page. Building wireframes early on help you visualize, structure and critique the ideas you have in your head and facilitate collaboration.
Topics Covered:
- Learn what information hierarchy is and why it is a crucial step in building an effective landing page.
- Learn how to structure a logical and effective information hierarchy that helps you decide how much content you need and in which order to present it.
- Understand how to address the questions, motivations and barriers of your potential customers or leads.
5 Quantitative LPO research in UA and GA4
Gathering quantitative data is a very important step in LPO. This insight gives you an overview of what users are doing and where things are going wrong. Moreover, it provides you with important insight on who your target audience is and how they interact with your landing page.
Topics Covered:
- Learn how to get important insight from Google Analytics on less than an hour.
- Get an introduction and guided tour of the most insightful standard reports in Google Analytics to use in your LPO research.
- Learn how to create a manual step-drop analysis so you can pinpoint where users are abandoning the conversion funnel.
Google Analytics 4 Update
We suggest to watch this lesson as Michael Aagard gives you the context and insight into what you need to look for in Landing page analytics. For example thinking about device splits, where people go next and so on.
To build landing page reports in GA4 check out these lessons by Fred Pike:
Landing Page Report – Part 1
Landing Page Report – Part 2
Landing Page Report – Part 3
6 Qualitative LPO research – part 1
Where quantitative research helps you answer “where”, “what” and “who”, qualitative research helps you answer “why” questions. In this lesson you'll learn how to conduct a full funnel walkthrough. Moreover, you'll learn more about how to get important insight from user testing, interviews and customer reviews.
Topics Covered:
- Learn how to conduct a full funnel walkthrough that focuses on finding the weakest points in the landing page experience.
- Get tips for how to use customer review sites to get insight to inform what content to include and how to write your copy.
- Get a list of questions you can ask during interviews with CS, Sales and customers as well as guidelines for how to conduct these interviews.
7 Qualitative LPO research – part 2
In part 2 you'll get a deeper understanding of how to use tools like Session Recording, Feedback Polls and Heat Maps in your LPO research.
Topics Covered:
- Learn how to get insight from Session Recordings and how to incorporate these insights in your LPO work.
- Get practical advice for how to use Feedback Polls effectively in your LPO work - this includes a set of questions that you can run right away on your landing pages.
- Learn more about Heat Maps and what to look for when analyzing the data you've collected.
8 Landing page copywriting part 1 – How to write copy for landing pages
Consider this lesson a crash course in landing page copywriting. You'll learn the most important aspects of writing copy for landing pages and how to use your information hierarchy as a guide for how to structure your copy.
Topics Covered:
- Learn the fundamentals of landing page copywriting and a simple approach that will help kickstart your writing process.
- Understand how to use your information hierarchy, a guide for how to prioritize elements and structure your copy.
- Get a simple technique for finding out how much copy to include on any landing page you work on.
9 Landing page copywriting part 2 – The 5 most important landing page copy elements
In this lesson you'll get an overview of the most important copy elements you have at your disposal and how to use these most effectively. This lesson includes formulas and templates that'll help get you off to a flying start.
Topics Covered:
- Get a deeper understanding of what copy elements to focus your attention and energy on. This helps you prioritize your copy efforts and write more effective copy.
- Get a deeper insight into how to use copy to mitigate drive motivation and mitigate negative emotions.
- Get a set of formulas and templates that will help kickstart your writing process and keep you focused on the right elements.
10 Landing page design part 1 – the 6 most important design elements
In this lesson you'll get an introduction to landing page design and what to focus on in order to put together an effective landing page experience. This lesson includes the 6 most important design elements.
Topics Covered:
- Understand the basics of designing effective, high-converting landing pages.
- Learn the 6 most important landing page design elements so you know what to focus on. This will help you save time and stay away from the less important aspects.
- Learn how to use your information hierarchy and wireframes as a guideline for your design efforts.
11 Landing page design part 2 – Visual Hierarchy, the 6 most important aspects
In this lesson you'll learn what Visual Hierarchy is and how to use the 6 most important principles of visual hierarchy in your design work.
Topics Covered:
- Get a deeper understanding of Visual Hierarchy and how it affects the experience your users have when they interact with your landing page.
- Learn how to easily identify what elements should stand out on your landing pages in order to create a logical flow that guides your users through the landing page experience.
- Get useful guides for deciding on what colors and fonts to use in your design so you can save time on this otherwise time-consuming process.
12 Landing page design part 3 – form design
In this short lesson you'll get practical tips for designing high-converting forms for your landing pages.
Topics Covered:
- Get a deeper understanding of what role your forms play in the overall landing page experience.
- Learn important aspects of form design that marketers often fail to take into consideration.
- See examples of pitfalls to avoid so you can be more efficient in your design process.
13 Putting it all together – How to audit landing pages and build an optimization strategy
This session is all about putting everything you’ve learned in the course together into a solid practical process: from audit to optimization strategy.
Topics Covered:
- Get an overview of the entire process including everything you've learned so far in the course.
- See how all the different aspects of LPO come together to inform your final strategy.
- Get inspiration for how to structure your LPO project and how to drive an ongoing optimization process.
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Learn Landing Page Optimization: FAQ
Who is this course for?
This course is essential for you if:
- You’d like a more structured and strategic approach to LPO that is based on research, data and user psychology.
- You want to be more confident when your client or boss asks you to increase the performance of important landing pages.
- You are tired of basing your optimization efforts on random ideas and not getting satisfying results.
Some careers that will especially benefit from this course are SEO specialist, CRO specialist, UX designer, content manager, growth manager, web designer.
What will you learn?
After taking this course, you will:
- Know how to analyze landing pages and build an effective optimization strategy
- Posses a toolbox of practical research methods and optimization tactics including GA reports and auditing processes
- Understand how to conduct crucial conversion research (both qualitative and quantitative)
- Have a deeper understanding of core psychology and neuroscience principles
- Be much more confident in your design and copywriting skills
What does the course include?
Our Landing Page Optimization training includes 14 lessons, 5 downloadable resources, 4h 22min of video material, several assignments, and a final exam.
Are subtitles available for the lessons?
Lessons have English subtitles and transcriptions available.
Will I receive a certificate of completion?
After taking this course, you will receive the Landing Page Optimization Certification from CXL, with credentials that you can add to your LinkedIn profile.
What is the refund policy?
All plans come with a 7-day refund period .
How long will it take for me to finish it?
This is entirely up to you – it’s how many study hours per week you can put in. This course is 4h 22min long.