Progressive disclosure means showing visitors only what they need at each stage, with deeper information available when they want it. On landing pages, this typically means: hero section tells you what it is and why you should care, scrolling reveals more detail, and accordions/expandable sections hold the specifics for those who want them.
The principle comes from cognitive load theory: people process information better in small, sequenced chunks than in large, simultaneous dumps. A pricing page that shows three plans upfront with "Compare all features" expandable below is using progressive disclosure. A pricing page that shows three plans plus 47 feature comparison rows immediately is not.
Where progressive disclosure works on landing pages
FAQ sections: Show the questions, hide the answers until clicked. This lets visitors scan to find their question without being overwhelmed by a wall of text. Accordion UI is the standard pattern.
Feature details: Show headline and one-line description for each feature. "Learn more" expands to show details, screenshots, or examples. Visitors who need the detail get it; visitors who don't aren't slowed down.
Pricing: Show the plans and prices upfront. Detailed feature comparisons behind a toggle. Most visitors choose based on the high-level plan structure; the comparison table is for the 10% who need to verify specific features.
Forms: Multi-step forms that show one section at a time convert better than long single-page forms. The perceived effort is lower even when the total fields are the same.