Is having no navigation so important for landing pages?
Is having absolutely no site navigation bars, menus, or other ways of leaving a page so important for landing pages?
On content pages, most users don't seem so curious or eager to click even relevant or interesting links. So I wonder how much of a distraction or encouragement to leave any navigation elements may be, assuming the landing page has prominent and attractive product information and a call to action.
I think the main purpose of the navbar is not for first time visitors but for those who came back to the site. The first time visitors should be guided through your main CTA while the ones who came back should have an accessible navbar so that they can access information from site quickly (e.g. Pricing, Contact, etc ).
This is interesting because there's not enough emphasis on repeated visits and the uses of a landing page after the call to action is taken.
Consider it an extreme simplification for new people to focus on the main thing... 1 goal, don't add distractions, don't put design that takes away from the message, 1 flow, emphasis what's important, don't have unneeded corporate restrictions, don't be afraid to make it it's own thing outside of the main site... this is just a small portion of what needs to be said in it's place... (a.k.a. "keep it simple")
I'd say it depends where your primary CTA locates. If the NavBar helps that's okay, if not, you can also leverage the body text to drive actions.
The short answer is it depends, as many things in life. But like other people have said, removing the navigation and crafting your page to a narrative, using the right copy and elements, will make having a navigation obsolete!
I guess having good product content and an appropriate call to action makes everything else on the page fade in the background.
Do you need those elements on your page, as you said the landing page has content and a call to action? Would that bring value to your users?
Some site builders don't make it possible or easy to remove all navigation elements, so I wondered whether they really have a major impact in a landing page.
I've read quite a lot of A/B tests and the general conclusion was: less distraction = more focus on your messaging = better conversions.
But at the end, just do a simple A/B split test and see for yourself. Currently running something similar on my ZeroToUsers website (but too early to tell).
It would be great if you could share your results here on Indie Hackers.