| name | ecom-landing-pages |
| description | Use when someone wants landing page ideas, concepts, or angles for a store: "give me landing page concepts", "LP ideas", "landing page angles", a campaign or ad landing page, pages for a new audience/segment, a seasonal/event/promo page, or a geo/local page. Also use when a chosen concept gets picked and needs building out into an actual page (section-by-section blueprint), or when auditing an existing landing page against best practice. The core insight: one product becomes dozens of pages by varying the ANGLE, not the product. Not for full-site information architecture, product detail pages, collection pages, or blog/SEO content (a landing page has ONE goal, no site chrome). Use an SEO/content skill. Not for the ad or email creative itself, though message match with the page matters. |
| compatibility | Platform-neutral. No Admin API or credentials required. Ideation runs from the public storefront; the build blueprint is theme-agnostic. |
Ecom Landing Pages
Turn a store brief into two deliverables: a ranked list of landing-page
concepts, and a build blueprint for the ones worth shipping. The method was
reverse-engineered from Mill.com, a DTC brand running ~40 production /lp/
pages off a single product. That spread is the whole idea in one sentence:
one product becomes many landing pages by varying the angle, not the
product. A person who clicks a "feed your chickens" ad and a person searching
"nyc curbside compost" want the same device but need different first sentences.
This is the one platform-neutral skill in the collection: landing-page thinking
is the same on any CMS, so the ecom- prefix, not shopify-. Execution notes
that differ by platform are called out where they matter.
When this fires
- A store needs landing-page concepts for paid traffic, a campaign, a new
segment, a season, or an event.
- A concept got chosen and needs building into a real page.
- An existing landing page needs an audit against best practice.
Not for full-site IA, PDPs, collection pages, or blog/SEO articles: those live
inside the browse flow and compete for attention. A landing page has one goal
and strips the chrome. Different rules.
The loop
1. Intake from the live storefront
Read the store's real site: homepage, key product pages, collections, the
sitemap if it helps. Never invent products, audiences, or offers: an empty
intake field is a signal, not a license to make something up. Pull:
- Product / offer: what sells, price, the single most important thing it does.
- Core value prop: the one-sentence promise.
- Distinct audiences: buyers segmented by identity, not demographics.
- Top pains: the problems that drive purchase, in the customer's own words.
- Use-cases: the different jobs the product does.
- Geos / markets: cities or regions with concentrated demand or local programs.
- Seasonal / event calendar: sale moments, in-person events, launches.
- Offers: trials, guarantees, discounts, bundles, financing.
- Gift / occasion fit: is it giftable? which occasions?
- B2B / segments: institutional buyers with a longer cycle and different criteria.
- Partner / affiliate channels: creators, trade partners, referrers.
2. Generate against the 8 archetypes
Every landing page is one of these angles. Walk each one against the intake and
ask "is there a page here?" A page can stack archetypes; lead with the dominant
one, because the headline only gets to make one promise.
| # | Archetype | When to reach for it |
|---|
| 1 | Audience / persona | A distinct buyer identity with its own motivation; the headline names them |
| 2 | Use-case | The product does several jobs and a segment cares about exactly one |
| 3 | Pain / emotional reframe | Cold top-of-funnel traffic that doesn't know the category yet |
| 4 | Location / geo | Geo-targeted ads, local programs, regional logistics or PR |
| 5 | Event / seasonal / promo | A campaign window, a sale, or an in-person moment; urgency-driven |
| 6 | Offer / trial / guarantee | Conversion-stage traffic that needs a nudge or risk reversal |
| 7 | Occasion / gift | Holiday and gifting; reframes the reader as the giver |
| 8 | Segment / B2B + partner | Institutional buyer or referral partner; metrics and process, not lifestyle |
Push every archetype at least once before ranking. The failure mode is
generating the same angle ten times. The full taxonomy with Mill examples and
the stacking rules is in references/build-blueprint.md.
3. Key each candidate to a traffic source
Traffic source is the primary angle selector. It dictates the angle and the
headline's job. Drop any idea that can't name a source: a page with no campaign
behind it is an orphan.
- Paid social, cold → pain/emotional or audience. The viewer wasn't looking
for you; earn the click with a felt problem or an identity hook.
- Search, intent → use-case, geo, or offer. Match the query language exactly.
- Local / geo ads → location, with local proof and local logistics.
- Email / retargeting, hot → offer/guarantee or bundle. They know you; remove friction.
- Partner / affiliate → segment/partner, usually a different conversion goal
(a sign-up, not a purchase).
4. Prioritize on 4 axes
Score each candidate 1–5 and rank. Intent match carries the most weight.
- Intent match: how precisely the page answers the traffic source's mindset.
- Demand / traffic availability: real search volume, an ad audience, or a
live event to send traffic. No traffic is a no.
- Business value: margin, AOV, strategic segment, or lifetime value of who converts.
- Build cost: copy + assets + (for B2B) a lead-capture/CRM path. Cheaper wins ship first.
5. Output: lead with the ranked table
One row per concept. This table is the deliverable: put it first.
| # | Concept | Archetype | Target | Core promise | Primary CTA | Traffic source |
|---|
| 1 | "Feed your flock" | Audience/use-case | Backyard chicken owners | Turn scraps into chicken snacks | Shop now | Paid social |
| 2 | "NYC: skip the trash chute" | Geo + pain | NYC apartment dwellers | No more takeout-trash trips | Shop now | Search + geo ads |
Then, below the table:
- Deliberately deprioritized: the archetypes or ideas you cut and why (e.g.
"geo is thin for a national DTC with no local programs"). Never a silent cap.
- Build first: the top 2–3 with one line each on why they lead.
- Offer to take one concept through the build blueprint. Stop at the ranked
list unless asked to build.
Building a chosen concept
When a concept is picked, build it on the 10-section page skeleton in
references/build-blueprint.md: hero → benefit
pillars → how it works → use-cases → tiered social proof → risk reversal →
comparison → FAQ → cross-sell → final CTA. That reference also carries the copy
patterns, the archetype-specific structural deltas (B2B swaps lifestyle for
metrics; promo moves price up top; partner leads with terms), and the
pre-launch checklist. Worked teardowns of live Mill pages are in
references/mill-teardown.md.
Red flags: stop and correct
- Inventing the store's products or audiences instead of reading the site →
go read the live storefront and re-ground every concept.
- A flat list with no archetype spread, or concepts with no traffic source →
you skipped steps 2–3. Force every archetype once; every row names a source.
- A table where everything wins → you're listing, not prioritizing. Rank
honestly and state what you cut.
- Jumping straight to building the page → the deliverable is the ranked list
first. Build is a separate step, on request.
- Same angle repeated → the whole point is angle variety off one product.
If three rows are the same archetype with a new noun, collapse them.
References
Provenance and maintenance
Last verified: 2026-07-05. The method is reverse-engineered from a public,
observable system, so a stranger can re-verify it read-only: visit
mill.com and browse its /lp/ landing pages, then map each
live page to one of the 8 archetypes above. If the pages still cluster into
audience, use-case, pain, geo, event, offer, gift, and B2B/partner angles off a
single product, the taxonomy holds. Landing-page best practice drifts slowly;
the archetypes and the section skeleton are durable, but re-confirm any
Mill-specific claim (page counts, exact headlines) against the live site before
quoting it, since a brand can restructure its funnel at any time.
