PPC Landing Page Teardown: When Bold (Unsupported) Claims Backfire

THE BREAKDOWN

Productive's PPC landing page—the good stuff. And what needs work.

In this 4-part series, we’ve seen:

• Part 1: How Teamwork nails the fundamentals

• Part 2: How Wrike struggled with misaligned proof

Now let's look at what happens when you make a bold claim… but forget to back it up.

Some quick context if you're just joining us: I found the landing pages in this series by searching "project management for agencies." Here's how the ads lined up:

Here's Productive’s ad:

And here’s the Productive PPC landing page we’ll look at today:

Here’s what’s working on Productive’s landing page:

1) Clear audience targeting.

From the ad copy to the hero headline, Productive consistently and explicitly identifies their target audience. No ambiguity here—they're targeting agencies.

2) Demonstration of value.

Further down the page, Productive shows how agencies grow with their software, including specific metrics that agency leaders actually care about. (Similar to what we saw with Wrike, but with a twist.)

What's particularly effective about this section is their pairing of logos with people. This design choice speaks to both competitive decision-makers ('look who else uses us') and humanistic ones ('look who else trusts us')—making it more engaging than Wrike's approach.

Here’s what I’d optimize on Productive’s landing page.

1) The hero headline.

"We're the tool for agencies" has three major issues:

• It's a bold claim with zero immediate proof

• It doesn't explain what the tool actually does

• Any competitor could make the same claim (and the do—see the heroes for Productive, Teamwork, Wrike and Workamajig, all side by side)

The frustrating part? Productive has solid proof points further down the page—including specific metrics, role-based benefits and customer testimonials. (Albeit, the testimonials are hidden. More on that in a moment.)

Refocusing the hero headline on any of these proof points could transform their hero from "trust us, we're the best" to "here's why we're the best."

2) Navigation overload.

The full website navigation—complete with dropdown menus, pricing links, and login options—distracts from the main goals: starting a trial or booking a demo.

3) Hidden social proof.

For a page claiming to be "the tool for agencies," the social proof is surprisingly hard to find. There's a great section near the bottom with role-based benefits and testimonials, but it's hidden behind accordions and easy to miss.

THE ACTIONABLE TIP

Back it up or back down.

Here's the key strategy you should swipe for your landing pages:

If you're going to claim authority in your headline, be ready to prove it… before you lose your reader’s attention.

Here's how to implement this:

1. Review your hero headline—what claims are you making that need proof?

2. Place your strongest supporting evidence within the same screen view.

3. Apply this "prove it, now" approach to every claim on your page.

A modest claim with immediate proof beats a bold claim with buried evidence. Every. Single. Time.