The landing page checklist: find why visitors don't buy

The short answer: check six things, in order

A good landing page checklist follows the order in which a visitor reads the page. First, does the opening screen explain what the product is and who it's intended for? Next, is the offer clear, with the full price and terms, and is there proof behind the claims? Finally, are the main doubts answered, is the form or checkout short, and does the page load quickly on a phone?

A landing page is the page someone arrives on after clicking an ad, an email or a search result. It has one job, which is persuading them to take a single action, such as buying, booking or registering. When visitors don't buy, start your investigation in those six places. This guide turns each one into checks you can tick, and then shows you how to get your AI to run a landing page audit for you.

Why don't visitors buy?

Before you start the checklist, it helps to know exactly what you're looking for, because a visitor who leaves without buying has usually run into one of these problems.

• They weren't sure they had arrived in the right place, because the page didn't match the advertisement or search that brought them.
• They didn't understand the offer, so they couldn't tell what they would receive, what it would cost or when it would arrive.
• They didn't believe the claims, because the claims had no supporting evidence or the evidence looked thin.
• An important doubt went unanswered, such as delivery costs, returns, contracts, sizing or setup time.
• The final step was too difficult, whether that meant a long form, unexpected costs at checkout or a forced account registration.
• The page was slow or broken on their phone, so they abandoned it before reaching the important information.

Some visitors leave because they were never going to buy, and no amount of copywriting changes that. The checklist is for the visitors who wanted to buy and got stuck somewhere along the way.

The landing page checklist

Use this checklist on one page at a time, and open the page on your phone as well as your computer, because some problems only appear on the small screen. Tick each line only if a stranger looking at the page would agree with you.

1. The first screen

The first screen is everything visible before you scroll, and it is where a visitor decides whether the page deserves more of their attention.

• The headline states what you offer and who it's intended for, using plain, specific language.
• The headline matches the wording of the advertisement, email or search result that sent people to the page.
• A short line beneath the headline explains the main benefit or describes how the product works.
• The main button is visible without scrolling, including on a phone screen.
• The button label describes the immediate next step, such as "Start free trial", "Book a call" or "Add to bag".
• The image shows the product, the result it delivers or the person it's designed for.
• There is one primary action, and secondary links don't compete with it for attention.

2. The offer

• A visitor can say exactly what they get after reading the offer once.
• The full price is clear, including delivery, tax or setup fees wherever they apply.
• Any discount or deadline is genuine, with an expiry date you will actually enforce.
• The page explains what happens after someone acts, such as the delivery time, the first email or a call booking.
• Plans or options are easy to compare, ideally in a short comparison table.
• Benefits come first, with features presented as the reason to believe each benefit.

3. Proof

• Evidence appears beside the claims it supports, rather than only at the bottom of the page.
• Reviews and testimonials are genuine, with names or details wherever customers agreed to share them.
• Each rating identifies its source and the number of reviews it is calculated from.
• Every number on the page, whether customers, results or awards, is accurate and current.
• Every customer or media logo on the page is one you have permission to display.
• A photo, demonstration or video shows the product being used in a realistic situation.

4. Objections and doubts

An objection is a reason someone has for not buying, and your customers already tell you theirs in emails, chats, reviews and sales calls.

• The three questions customers most often ask before buying are answered on the page.
• Delivery times and delivery costs are stated clearly, not hidden behind a link.
• The returns, refund or cancellation policy is easy to find and easy to understand.
• Any guarantee says exactly what it covers and how a customer can claim it.
• The page identifies who the product is not suitable for, whenever that helps the right customers decide.
• A short FAQ covers the remaining questions, written in the customers' own words.
• Visitors have an obvious way to ask a question, whether by chat, email or phone.

5. The form or checkout

• The form asks only for information you need immediately, leaving everything else for later.
• Each field has a clear label that remains visible while the visitor is typing.
• Error messages explain what went wrong and how to correct it, positioned directly beside the relevant field.
• Buyers can complete their purchase as guests, without being forced to create an account.
• The total cost appears before the final step, so there are no unpleasant surprises.
• The checkout offers the payment methods that customers in your market typically expect.
• After submitting, a confirmation page or email explains exactly what happens next.
• You have personally tested the complete purchase or sign-up process on a phone within the last month.

6. Speed and mobile

• The page passes Google's Core Web Vitals in PageSpeed Insights, or you know which measure fails.
• Text is comfortably readable on a phone without the visitor needing to zoom.
• Buttons and links are large enough to tap accurately with a thumb, even when they sit close together.
• Nothing on the page jumps around or changes position while the content is loading.
• Pop-ups don't cover the page before the visitor has had a chance to read anything.
• Images are compressed and sized appropriately for the screen displaying them.
• The page works properly in the browsers your visitors actually use.

Core Web Vitals are Google's measures of how a page feels to load and use. According to web.dev, "good" means the main content loads within 2.5 seconds (LCP) and the page responds to a tap within 200 milliseconds (INP). The layout should also barely shift, with a CLS of 0.1 or less. These figures are measured across real visits on both phones and computers.

How do you run a landing page audit with AI?

Your AI can read a page the way a first-time visitor would, which is exactly what you can no longer do with your own page. It works best when you give it the same view a visitor gets, together with what you already know about your buyers.

Step 1: Gather the inputs

• Take full-page screenshots on desktop and on a phone, and if your browser can't capture the whole page, use a screenshot tool that can.
• Copy the page text as plain text, so the AI doesn't misinterpret small print in the images.
• Include the advertisement, email or search result that currently sends visitors to the page.
• Describe the intended audience and the single action you want visitors to take.
• Add genuine customer questions and complaints, if you have collected any from emails or reviews.
• Provide any numbers you have, such as visits, sign-ups or sales, along with the date range they cover.

Step 2: Run the audit prompt

You are a landing page reviewer. Your job is to find what stops visitors taking the action I want, and what to fix first.

I am attaching:
- Full-page screenshots on desktop and on a phone
- The page text
- The ad or email that sends people here: [paste it]

The page is for: [who it's for]
The one action I want: [buy / book / sign up]
Customer questions and complaints I hear: [paste them, or say "none yet"]
Numbers, if any: [visits, actions, date range]

Check the page in this order, and give pass, fail or can't tell for each line:
1. First screen: clear headline, matches the ad, one main button visible on the phone screenshot, image shows the product or result.
2. Offer: what they get, full price and terms, what happens next.
3. Proof: real proof next to claims, sources for ratings and numbers.
4. Objections: are the customer questions I listed answered? Where?
5. Form or checkout: number of fields, labels, surprise costs, account needed.
6. Mobile: readable text, tappable buttons, pop-ups covering content.

Rules:
- Quote the exact words or point to the exact part of the screenshot for every fail.
- Say "can't tell" when the screenshots don't show something. Don't guess.
- You can't measure speed from screenshots. Tell me to check PageSpeed Insights instead.
- Don't invent proof, reviews or numbers in your rewrites. Mark any rewrite that needs a fact I must supply.

Output:
1. A table: section, check, result, evidence, fix.
2. The five fixes to make first, ranked by how many visitors they affect and how easy they are.
3. A rewrite of the headline and the line under it, in two versions.

Step 3: Check the gaps against real customer words

The strongest fixes come from doubts your customers genuinely have, rather than ones you imagine. Paste reviews, support emails or sales call notes into the next prompt, and it will show which doubts your page answers, which it hides and which it ignores entirely.

You are a customer researcher. I want to know which buyer doubts my landing page fails to answer.

I am pasting:
1. Customer words: [reviews, support emails, chat logs or sales call notes]
2. My landing page text: [paste it]

Do this:
1. List every doubt, question or worry in the customer words. Group similar ones and count how often each group appears.
2. For each group, check my page. Is it answered clearly, answered but hard to find, or not answered?
3. For each one not answered or hard to find, write a short answer I could add, in the customers' own words where possible, and say where on the page it should go.

Rules:
- Quote the customer words that show each doubt.
- Use only facts from my page or from my notes. If an answer needs a fact you don't have, write [FACT NEEDED] and say what it is.
- Remove names and contact details from any quote.

Output a table: doubt, how often, example quote, answered on page?, suggested answer, where to put it.

Step 4: Fix, then measure

Some fixes are simple bugs, such as a broken button, a hidden price or a form that fails on a phone, and you should fix those immediately. Others are educated guesses, like a new headline, which you should test if you have enough traffic, or else change and then compare equal periods before and after. Our free page conversion and test calculator estimates how large a test your traffic can support.

A worked example: HubSpot's free CRM page

HubSpot's free CRM page is a useful page to study. CRM stands for customer relationship management, meaning software that keeps track of your contacts and deals. Here is how the page lines up against the checklist as it appeared in November 2026, although pages change, so look at the live version yourself. This is our own reading for this article, and HubSpot did not take part.

What can a small business borrow from this? Name the offer and the buyer in the headline, place the biggest doubt directly beneath the button, and repeat the same button, with the same wording, after each section. Above all, answer the "is it really free?" doubt before the visitor has to ask.

If you ran prompt 1 on a page like this, the most useful output would be the "can't tell" lines. They describe details the screenshots can't reveal, such as how the registration form behaves on a phone, which you then need to test manually.

A one-page audit template

Copy this template into a document and complete it for each page you review. Using the same structure every time makes your audits consistent, so you can compare pages and track improvements over time.

Common mistakes, and what to do instead

Several of these mistakes come from reviewing a page the way its owner sees it, rather than the way a visitor experiences it. The table pairs each one with a better habit.

Where AI Blocks helps

These free items handle this job inside your own AI assistant. Copy the prompt or download the skill, and then use it in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or another assistant.

• 30-point landing page checker takes your page and screenshots and returns a 30-point audit, a score and the five fixes to make first.
• Landing page conversion reviewer ranks conversion problems by impact, with recommended fixes and a score.
• Customer objection coverage checker finds the customer questions your page leaves unanswered or hides.
• Ad-matched landing page writer produces landing page copy that continues where your ad left off, with the full cost stated.
• Website usability reviewer checks a page or form against ten usability rules and ranks each fault by the harm it causes.
• Long web form usability planner is a workflow for removing unnecessary fields and testing a revised form.
• Website fix priority planner sorts your page issues into quick fixes, questions to investigate and changes to test.

If your page sells a product, pair this guide with product descriptions that answer buyer questions. If your traffic comes from search ads, read how to match Google ads to your page. Reviews are evidence you already own, so learn how to use your reviews in your ads and pages.

Questions people ask

What should be on a landing page?

A landing page needs a clear headline that matches the advertisement, and an offer that states its full cost. It also needs evidence, answers to the main doubts, one main button and a short form or checkout, and it should load quickly on a phone. The checklist above covers each of these in detail.

How do I find out why my landing page isn't converting?

Start with the checklist, working on a phone, and then compare real customer questions with what the page actually says. If you have analytics, look at where visitors stop, whether on the first screen, the form or the checkout. Fix whatever is broken first, and then test the remaining ideas one at a time.

Can ChatGPT audit my landing page?

Yes, provided you give it full-page screenshots and the page text, because it judges clarity, proof and objections well from those. However, it can't measure your page speed or see your analytics unless you supply the numbers, so use PageSpeed Insights for speed.

How long should a landing page be?

A landing page should be as long as it takes to answer the buyer's doubts, and no longer. An inexpensive, familiar product can sell on a short page, whereas an expensive or unfamiliar one usually needs more proof and more answers. Let your customers' questions decide the length.

How often should I audit my landing pages?

Audit a page whenever you change the offer, the ad or the page design, and review your most visited pages at least once a quarter. Test the form or checkout yourself every month as well, because these things can break without anyone noticing.