20/11/2025 • Andrew Lowdon
How to Create a High-Converting SaaS Landing Page
CRO & UX Article
Introduction
Every part of a SaaS landing page affects how people judge the product and decide whether to continue. Typography, spacing, and structure all shape how fast they understand the message and how confident they feel as they move through the page.
This guide gives practical steps that help brands design a clear, organised desktop layout. For full spacing ratios, grid patterns, and visual rules, you can get the SaaS Landing Page Desktop Guidelines ebook at the end of the article.
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Step 1: Select Layout Patterns That Guide Users Forward
A high-converting landing page begins with cognitive flow. The layout must help users make sense of information in a sequence that reduces decision-making effort. When the order of content does not match how people process ideas, friction appears long before users consciously notice it.
Research shows that readers experience attention breaks about every four minutes, so any disruption in layout adds strain exactly when focus is already fragile.
You can include testimonials, product explanations, social proof, and feature blocks, but if the flow forces the brain to jump between unrelated ideas, users break focus and stop scrolling.
A high-performing layout guides the visitor from understanding → evaluating → acting.
1. Start with a structured grid system that supports cognition
A 12-column grid is more than a visual framework. It stabilises cognitive processing. Keep your main content within a central 8–10-column structure. It keeps their reading field consistent, which reduces the brain’s effort to track elements across a wide desktop screen.
A chaotic or overly wide layout forces users to reconstruct “where everything belongs” as they scroll. A stable grid solves this problem by giving the eyes predictable reference points.
2. Use spacing to create clarity, not decoration
Good spacing helps users separate ideas at the right moments. When sections are cramped, the brain blends them together. When spacing is excessive, the flow feels broken.
Desktop layouts benefit from section spacing in the ~80–120px range because it creates breathable separation without making the page feel disjointed. But the real power comes from consistency. Predictable spacing gives users a rhythm. They know when a new idea begins and where one ends.
“Heatmaps reveal attention, but scroll maps reveal confusion… The friction isn’t always where users stop; it’s often in the section just before the user abandoned the page.”
Spacing issues often show up exactly this way: users drop off just after a cognitively messy area.
3. Design the hero section as the first cognitive checkpoint
Your hero is not just the “top of the page.” It is the moment where a visitor decides if they want to continue.
A high-performing hero section does three things at once:
- Tells the visitor the core benefit instantly: Keep the headline direct, outcome-focused, and within about 12 words.
- Reduces cognitive load, not adds to it: Replacing generic stock photography with interface screenshots. Abstract imagery forces the brain to work harder to establish relevance. A real interface screenshot tells the visitor, “This is what the product is.” A stock photo tells them nothing.
- Places the CTA where scanning naturally ends: Keep it close to the headline, surrounded by clear space.
Zapier demonstrates this well. They have a short headline, a clear subtext, generous spacing, and a CTA placed directly below. No cognitive jumps required.
This layout delivers one clear benefit. It removes distraction and draws attention straight to the action. A bad example would be a hero that opens with a metaphor-heavy headline, a floating abstract illustration, and a CTA pushed to the far right where the eye never lands.
1. Build a Clear Typographic Hierarchy That Users Can Predict
Typography is the structure of thought on a page. If your hierarchy isn’t predictable, users must “relearn” the rules in every section, a cognitive cost that adds up fast.
A strong hierarchy does three things:
- Shows what to read first
- Shows what to skim
- Shows what can safely be ignored unless needed
When headings look too similar or body text lacks rhythm, users cannot immediately distinguish core messages from supporting details. This disrupts the “flow forward” of the layout section established.
Follow this pattern:
- H1: ~48-64px, for hero headline, primary page title
- H2: ~36–48px, for section headings, feature titles
- H3: ~24–32px, for subsection headings, card titles
- Body text: ~16–18px with a line height of around 1.5 to 1.6.
2. Use Weight and Contrast to Keep Scanning Fast
Contrast is what makes a headline instantly recognisable without being oversized. It’s what makes a value proposition readable at a glance. And it’s what keeps scanning behaviour fast
Good SaaS landing pages:
- Use bold weights sparingly (primarily for headlines and key statements)
- Keep body text at a regular weight of 400
- Maintain at least 4.5:1 contrast for the main text and 3:1 for bigger headings
For example, Notion uses high-contrast black text on a white background, creating clean, readable text even on large displays. This aligns with accessibility standards recommended by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and supports Notion’s minimalist brand style.
Bad pages often do the opposite. Everything looks equally heavy, or equally light, or equally grey. When all text looks the same, none of it does. The mind must then manually decode importance, which increases cognitive load.
3. Choose Typefaces That Support Trust, Not Just Style
Users don’t consciously evaluate fonts, but they do respond to the emotional tone those fonts create.
Reliable SaaS typography shares these traits:
- Neutral personality: not quirky, stylised, or overly branded
- High legibility at small sizes: especially important for technical markets
- Clear distinction between similar characters: 1, I, l should not be easily confused
- Stable x-height: which improves readability across devices
Fonts such as Inter, Roboto, or Open Sans are web-safe, lightweight, and optimised for digital use. They load quickly, keep rendering consistently across browsers, and reduce layout shifts that can disrupt the user experience.
Avoid decorative fonts for main content, such as Lobster, Pacifico, Playball, Great Vibes, Comic Sans, and highly stylised script or display fonts. They slow loading times and make professional interfaces look less credible.
A good choice of font will make the readers say, "This product is competent. This page is reliable. And my attention is safe here.”
4. Remove All Forms of Typographic Noise
Noise in typography is anything that forces extra visual effort without giving real meaning. It often shows up as excessive bolding, scattered font sizes or weights, uneven letter spacing, decorative touches that don’t help comprehension, and heavy use of uppercase.
Even underlined text used for emphasis creates friction because it competes with link behaviour.
Each of these issues adds small points of strain that interrupt reading flow. The page starts to feel cluttered, even if the reader cannot explain why. That sense of heaviness weakens trust and makes the content feel less polished.
Removing this noise is one of the fastest ways to make a SaaS page feel clean, premium, and confident.
Step 3: Choose Visuals That Help People Understand Faster
Visuals on a SaaS landing page should not be used solely for decoration. They should help visitors understand the product faster and with less effort.
1. Use Hero Visuals That Show Real Product Context
A hero image is the first concrete reference point visitors get. It should show what the product is and how it appears in real use.
When the hero uses abstract illustrations, symbolic shapes, or conceptual metaphors, the brain must spend time interpreting the meaning. Visitors try to connect the image with the headline and often struggle to find the relevance. This creates early cognitive effort when clarity should be effortless.
Real interface visuals have two advantages. They reduce ambiguity, and they anchor the promise made in the headline. For example, a headline about automation paired with a dashboard screenshot gives the brain an instant link between the benefit and the actual tool. A stock photo of a smiling person sitting at a desk does not provide that link.
2. Optimise Visuals for Fast Loading
Performance is not a technical detail. It is part of the user experience and, therefore, part of conversion design.
Because visuals are usually the heaviest assets on a landing page, they create the largest performance risks. And these risks directly impact revenue.
According to Google, 50% of users leave a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. A short delay can erase the impact of the entire page before it gets a single glance.
To protect conversions:
- Keep hero images under ~500KB
- Compress all UI screenshots (WebP or AVIF preferred)
- Lazy load images below the fold
- Avoid heavy background videos
- Avoid large raster shadows or oversized gradients
- Minimise image-based text (bad for legibility and performance)
- Use SVG for icons and lightweight illustrations
Performance affects perception. A smooth-loading page suggests that the product is technically well-built.
3. Make Every Visual Earn Its Place in the Flow
Before placing any image, only use an image if it explains a process faster than text, reinforces a claim, shows a feature, or answers a likely user question. Everything else is noise.
Visuals can accelerate the user's flow when:
- They clarify how a feature works
- They support a headline with evidence
- They reduce the amount of text needed to explain something
- They make abstract benefits concrete
- They help a visitor compare or evaluate a feature
When visuals follow this standard, the page feels intentional and informative. When visitors can clearly see the product and move through the page without friction, trust forms naturally.
Step 4: Use Space and CTAs to Direct Attention Toward Action
A high-performing layout does not rely on colour or animation to highlight the next step. It relies on space. White space shapes the path of attention and helps users understand what matters first, what supports the main idea, and where to act.
1. Place the main CTA where users look naturally
Most desktop visitors follow an F-shaped scanning pattern. Their eyes start at the top left, travel across the headline, then move slightly downward in search of the next clue.
Positioning the primary CTA close to the core message aligns with this behaviour. It prevents users from hunting for the button and removes the gap between understanding the value and taking action.
CTA buttons lose impact when they compete with surrounding elements. Generous spacing helps the CTA serve as the section's anchor. Around 60px of open space around the button gives it enough separation to feel intentional.
2. Keep spacing consistent to maintain visual rhythm
Spacing above and below text, headings, visuals, and CTAs creates a rhythm. This makes the page feel organised and easy to navigate. For instance:
- ~40px above headlines reinforces structure
- ~24px below headlines prepares the user for the content to follow
- ~32px between text blocks and CTAs keeps the layout clean
This smooths the scanning experience and reduces the micro-friction that often goes unnoticed but still influences abandonment.
Slack demonstrates these principles well. Their CTA sits in a clean, open field, supported by a clear headline. It feels unmistakable without feeling forceful, which is the balance that drives confident action.
Step 5: Present Clarity That Turns Interest Into Product Use
A poorly designed website with irrelevant information can drive 38% of users away, which matters because trust cannot form when visitors feel lost or unsure about what they are looking at.
A clear headline is the first checkpoint. It should tell visitors the outcome they gain, not just describe the product. A headline like “Automate Your Reports in Minutes” gives a concrete promise and a measurable benefit. A vague line such as “Work Smarter with Our Platform” is not as strong as the former.
Clarity continues through proof. People want to see that others have already succeeded with your product. Testimonials, specific results, and recognisable client logos strengthen the message by validating the promise you have made.
Pricing clarity reinforces trust even further. Many visitors scroll directly to the pricing section to confirm whether the product fits their budget. Users with purchase intent are less forgiving. If they cannot locate pricing within about three clicks, they leave. This happens not because the offer is weak, but because the effort feels unnecessary.
A simple comparison table helps visitors scan differences quickly and choose the right plan without friction.
Zoho Books presents its pricing in a clear four-column format. The layout is simple, the pricing is upfront, and the differences between plans are easy to scan. This helps the potential users choose the plan that best fits their needs without any confusion or extra effort.
Every part of the page contributes to perceived credibility. Headlines, spacing, visual hierarchy, and proof elements all work together to help the visitor understand your offer without friction.
Trust does not come from decoration or dramatic claims. It comes from how easily someone can see the value, process the information, and feel confident in the next step.
A landing page that communicates with clarity naturally builds belief, and that belief is what turns interest into action.
Go Deeper with the Complete SaaS Landing Guide!
Download the SaaS Landing Page Desktop Guidelines ebook to access detailed spacing ratios, typography scales, and layout templates. It contains the complete framework used to create consistent, high-performing SaaS landing pages optimised for desktop.
At 43 Clicks North, we help software teams create clear, meaningful landing pages. If you want expert support in applying these principles, reach out to us. Our team can help design a structure that performs as well as it looks.
Keep your design clear, your message focused, and your visitors moving from interest to action.
