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Decision Fatigue in Web Design

Decision fatigue can lead to a decline in the quality of decisions after a continuous decision-making process. In web design, users can experience this fatigue when faced with too many choices, leading to indecisiveness, frustration, and eventual disengagement.

Hick’s Law plays a part in this, suggesting that the time to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices. Nonetheless, Hick’s Law is just a fraction of a much broader picture. Balancing user choices and decision fatigue effectively also requires understanding principles like settling for the first reasonable option, avoiding potential losses, and making decisions based on readily available information.

Strategies to Minimize Decision Fatigue

To help users make confident decisions without causing fatigue, several tactics can be implemented.

Streamlined Navigation

Develop a logical, intuitive navigation path to eliminate unnecessary decision-making. For example, clear categorization in a website’s menu helps users find what they need without going through numerous options.

Prioritized Choices

Present the users with essential choices first and omit irrelevant ones. A home page showcasing the most popular products instead of an extensive catalog can prevent choice overload.

Restricted Options

Limit the number of options at each decision point to avoid overwhelming users. For instance, in a subscription selection, offering three plans – basic, premium, and advanced, can be more effective than having numerous slightly differing options.

Design Strategies to Reduce Cognitive Load

Strategic design choices can further alleviate decision fatigue.

Consistent Design

Keeping design elements consistent throughout the website simplifies cognitive processing. For instance, maintaining the same style for all buttons or icons aids user recognition and reduces the cognitive load.

Utilizing Familiar Patterns

Use recognizable icons and layouts to reduce cognitive effort and decision-making time. Employing standard symbols for shopping carts or menus enables users to interact with your website effortlessly.

Anticipatory Design

Predicting user actions and simplifying processes can lessen the number of decisions a user needs to make. Autofilling forms based on past user data is one such example.

Effective Error Handling

Minimize frustration and decision fatigue by guiding users effectively when errors occur. For instance, a clear error message with a suggested solution can keep a user engaged, even in the event of a mistake.

Final Thoughts

Taking into account the principles of decision fatigue and integrating the mentioned design strategies, your web design can become more user-friendly, reducing decision fatigue. Our overview aims to set you on the right path but remember, UX practices often involve deeper explorations and constant testing. Your understanding of decision fatigue will deepen as you engage more with UX research and real-world testing.

While we’re grappling with the complexities of choice, remember there’s another potent tool at your disposal – social proof. Using elements like reviews, testimonials, or popularity indicators can steer users toward decisions others have already made, thus easing their decision-making process. To learn more about how social proof can reinforce user decisions, we invite you to read our article on the topic.

In a world where choice overload is a reality, appreciating the power of simplicity and efficiency in decision-making is invaluable. It’s about striking that optimal balance – giving users ample choice without sparking decision fatigue.

Social proof is the psychological phenomenon where individuals follow the actions of others, believing that those actions represent the correct behavior.

Think about the long lines outside an Apple Store during a product launch. Those lines make us believe that the product is valuable and desirable because so many people want it. The same concept applies to the web where social proof can take various forms.

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Harnessing the Power of User Testimonials and Reviews

Trust is intangible, yet it can make or break the relationship with your users.

One of the most compelling forms of social proof comes from testimonials. When potential customers see positive statements from those who have used your product or service, it helps ease their decision-making process. These endorsements act as assurances of your product’s value.

In addition to testimonials, other user’s reviews, and ratings can greatly influence prospective customers. Collective user feedback often offers an unbiased perspective on your offerings, making potential customers feel more confident about their purchase decisions.

Boosting Your Online Credibility with Endorsements and Affiliations

An endorsement from a reputable figure in your industry can significantly bolster your brand’s credibility. Such approvals validate your offerings and can set you apart in a crowded market. Your alliances also reflect your credibility. Displaying logos of esteemed clients or partners you’ve worked with can subtly yet effectively boost your brand’s trustworthiness.

Showcasing Popularity and Expertise

Your social media presence can reflect your brand’s popularity. Showcasing follower counts, likes, or shares illustrates your brand’s reach and influence. Your accolades and certifications showcase your commitment to excellence in your industry. These badges of honor provide further assurance of your expertise.

Leveraging Social Proof Strategically

Successful implementation of social proof requires careful planning and execution. Every audience is different, and the types of social proof that resonate can vary greatly. It’s crucial to identify what appeals most to your target demographic. For maximum impact, social proof elements should be placed in high-visibility areas on your website, such as landing or product pages.

Always prioritize genuine content, especially when it comes to user testimonials and reviews. Authenticity not only upholds ethical standards but also strengthens your brand credibility. Affiliations with authoritative figures or organizations in your industry are a testament to your brand’s credibility and should be prominently featured.

Final Thoughts

Social proof, when used right, can turn a skeptic into a believer. It’s more than just showing potential customers that others approve of your product or service. It’s about strategically showcasing that your offerings are trusted, credible, and desirable—thereby nudging users to follow suit. Remember, you can also employ tactics such as time-limited offers, exclusive content, or highlighting limited stock. After all, when users see others seizing an opportunity, they feel the urge to jump on the bandwagon.

It is now time that website owners understand that mobile users are top priority and should be taken seriously. If you are still backing on the desktop website with a bunch of media queries and letting luck shape your revenue, I will help you decode the importance of responsive design and how to make a high converting mobile web pages.

Responsiveness and Conversion Rates

A lot of the people take the responsiveness and conversion rates as a cause and solution pair in the website world. But converting a mobile web page is a much more complex process than just making your website responsive or mobile-friendly. Sure, responsiveness is an important aspect of conversion and is the first step in the website development but it alone cannot increase your CTR. In 2015, Google started giving more preference to responsive and mobile-friendly websites. Improving for a better experience for their users, Google does not want people to keep searching for that one perfect website which is rendered proportionately on the device. This move gave the website owners a wake-up call to focus on the user experience and mobile-friendliness as much as possible.

So how can we improve our conversion rates once we have the responsive website built? To be fair, responsiveness is more concerned towards scaling your website up and down. If my images are scaled in the proper ratio on a 5.5-inch device, I have got a responsive website. But the user is never concerned about responsiveness. Instead of praising the scalable elements, the user is more concerned about how fast those elements rendered on to the device? My user is more concerned about their own preferences and benefits.

Nearly 8 out of 10 users bounce back when the content is not properly visible on the mobile device. Such anomalies on the mobile website bring down conversion rates and affect the business. In the subsequent sections, we will focus on things that are responsive in nature (no doubt!) but is not enough that can make the user click that CTA of yours or purchase a product from your website. Soon we will realise that responsiveness has much more than what meets the eye. Let’s see how we can put ourselves up to the user’s expectations.

PS – We have used LambdaTest LT Browser to show website view in various device viewports. Know more here – https://www.lambdatest.com/lt-browser

Do you need all the content on the mobile?

The first thing to ask in developing a website for mobile is the content you are about to show on the device. A device’s screen is small, which means you have to show less but relevant content on the small space provided to you. The content should be able to communicate to the user without using too many words. A user is not going to read everything just to find if he gets anything pleasing for himself. That is your job to show him what he needs to see. The content analysis can be boiled down to three major categories: the headline, the font size and the content.

What’s a perfect headline?

A web page starts with a headline which is probably the first thing a user sees. This is your chance, the moment that decides whether the user will increase the session duration or will bounce back. The following two website ranks on the first page of Google for “real estate solutions”:

The above landing page is from RESGroup while the below screenshot is from Getrealestatesolution.

Apart from a weird header which is taking 25% of your valuable screen space, the headline is concise and easy to read. The RESGroup have focussed on a long heading (if that what it is) and forces users to scroll the entire page to find something meaningful for them. A good point to note is that although building up trust on the user is important by embellishing the web page with your achievements, a user needs to find something which they can use. They rarely care about what you have to offer but more about how they can be benefitted. Remember, a user makes up his mind about the website in just 50 milliseconds.

Scrolling from up to bottom and reading about your achievements will result in an increased bounce rate. Getrealestatesolution is building up trust and showing their achievement both cleverly into a single line: “We make realtors and brokers more successful”. This more or less would translate to “We are capable enough to make you successful” and “You will be successful if you join us”.

Font-Size: Should my user zoom in?

Font-size is an extremely important part of a landing page (or any other page) to determine the conversion rate of your website. A font-size of 16 px or 1 em is considered perfect for good readability of the content. Although one might argue that they can still read properly on 14 px, there are a large percentage of visually impaired people to be taken into account. The main target audience of the majority of businesses lies in the range of 15-49 years which is 28% visually impaired, as per WHO data. The following screenshot shows a blog on CSS Subgrids with 12 px font and the original font below it.

Although text can be enlarged by zooming into the mobile device, it moves the content out of the screen and makes the screen scrollable which is not liked by the users.

The relevance of Keywords- Which words to choose?

The final thing to remember while presenting content to the user is to use specific keywords which are relevant to the user. Mobile screens are very small with 5.5 inches being the most popular among the users as per a 2019 study. With a little time and smaller space in our hands, we want to gain a user’s trust as soon as possible so that he sticks on the website and does not bounce back.

The specific keywords process first starts by eliminating all the redundancy and loose words. Words such as “very”, “extremely”, “best” etc are considered fillers in the content. “We are very professional and provide the best services” could be transformed to “We are professional in providing real-estate services”. The second sentence is more effective and uses 1 less word than the first.

After elimination comes the relevant keywords to pitch to help you convert through the web page. These keywords will work as something your user can trust upon. At least, the user should be well convinced that you are the best and believe me, writing “best” does no charm in conversions. So, instead of being verbose and explicitly pitching your projects, choose minimal but effective words that show your confidence, experience and professionalism. In my analysis, I found two interior design services websites that portray this point quite clearly.

This is the landing page of Woodenstreet

In addition to proving our point of small font-size, the only effective sentence in this segment is “Customize them to your liking!” which makes me feel the fact that I will have control over customizations but not a strong one. The words are loose to build trust over to the service company.

Another competitor of this website is Livespace. The same section on their website looks like this:

The segment focuses on keywords and experience by the lines of sophisticated keywords that will lure the user. I too want someone who knows a bohemian bedroom!! (Just Kidding!)

Also, notice the transformation of the same sentence in these two websites. Where Woodenstreet says, “Customize them to your liking!”, Livespace says, “Your wish is our command!”.

Which one do you think has more weight to convert your page?

For the enhancements of the content, you do not need to remove the white spaces and fill every gap on the web page. White spaces are good! They let the elements breath in the congested space and every element can get proper attention from the user. For larger content, you can also use bullets that can deliver more information in lesser sentences.

To ensure yourselves of the appearance of your website on mobile devices, you can use tools which can help you emulate the experience. A developer-friendly browser such as LT browser is also a great choice since it provides a complete solution with loads of features (including a debugger) and performance reports to analyze. LT browser can show you your website on any mobile device of your choice in a couple of clicks.

Test Responsiveness on LT Browser

Emulators and simulators have been long used to test the website on different devices. But today, for a specific tester’s need, we can take advantage of a mobile-specific testing browser that provides a complete environment for the tester. A developer-oriented browser such as LT browser can provide additional features highlights of which are given below:

• A large list of in-built tools: A list of 40+ in-built screens can render the website in a couple of clicks.
• Comparison Grid: A comparison grid shows two mobile devices side by side for the testers to compare. The tester can also use scroll-sync to mirror his actions on both the devices simultaneously.
• Screenshot capture and Session recording: The tester can take screenshots of the device screen and mark a bug and send the video/image to the team.
• Third-Party Integrations: The third-party integrations allow the developer to share the bugs or issues with their teammates with a single click.
• Network Throttling: A very important feature to check user experience is how the website performs under various network bandwidth. This can be achieved with network throttling in LT browser.
• Local Testing: Local testing allows the developer to test their website even before publishing it on a domain service. With the local tunnel, they can view the website on any device from the local system.
• Performance Report: To analyse the final performance, developers and testers can view the performance report and share it or save it for future use.

The thumb zone and its importance in conversion

The thumb zone has been a conclusive argument for some time now and a strong foundation to many pieces of research in mobile designs and mobile web implementation. The thumb zone is the area on the mobile screen determining how hard or easy it is for our thumb to reach a certain point. A research study by Hoober concluded that 49% of people operate their mobile phones with one hand and only a 15% with two hands. Among those who do, 67% are operating through their right thumb with two major positions:

Note: The second image is placed slightly above as compared to the first image.

The color that you see in the above image: is our thumb zone. A thumb zone in general for a person using their phone with one-hand can be magnified as follows:

The green zone is the easiest to achieve: hence the most important for our conversion goals. The yellow zone is a bit hard to reach but manageable: something we can put less important things in such as headings and other content, things which are not clickable. Finally, the red zone is the toughest to reach and is the worst place to put our CTA.

Another worst position to put our CTA is at the bottom of the page or deep down below. No user would want to scroll down 4 5 times and search your CTA on the webpage. A lot of them probably don’t even know about CTA buttons and if it exists on that website or not.

The best way is to put CTA in the thumb zone and on above-fold in the first web page view. Amazon has put similar thought into their CTA and the following is their landing page:

The Sign In button is exactly where our green zone lies with the width being enough that we do not touch anything accidentally.

From the above page, we observe two interesting things: first the Sign In is also available at the top right (the hardest) position too and our green zone has another CTA “Create Account”.

Having two sign-in options reminds the user about signing in two times. You would see the button anyway even if you do not click that. LiveSpace uses the same approach on its website in a little different way:

The bottom button is fixed and is a constant reminder to “book design consultation”. The second approach is interesting. There are two possibilities of an unknown user: either he signs in (given that he has already registered) or he creates a new account.

Deciding among the two is important for an owner to come to a final conclusion of primary CTA and secondary CTA. Having two CTAs is generally not considered a good approach as it confuses the user but even if you do, one of them should stand out in comparison to another, as in Amazon.

What CTA to use?

As a website owner, you might have a lot of services to provide: a consultation booking form, you want to showcase your cheap pricing too! And you want them to call you by a single click from the home page itself!! A CTA can increase your revenue with high conversions but a CTA cannot be the developer’s wish. It has to be what the audience wants. To increase your mobile conversions through CTAs, you need to analyse what your visitors are more interested in.

Google Analytics is a great way to start here. Google Analytics provides the keywords your visitor is most interested in. Mailchimp has a lot of good features which can be used as CTAs for example, “Start Campaign”. But their website on mobile uses the CTA linked to pricing:

CTAs are something to ponder upon and it is also a good idea to include a good input from the marketing and sales team which can suggest to you the user’s inclination quite well.

With keywords in hand, the next step is to think about the CTA text that can bring out more conversions through a responsive mobile web design. In the above screenshot, Mailchimp could have used, “See pricing” but they went with “Pick a plan” even though the page links to the pricing page.

Similarly, Youneedabudget provides the user with “Try YNAB Free For 34 Days” instead of Sign Up or Try YNAB Free.

Research these words and find out why your user visits your website. Show them exactly what they are looking for through the CTAs and the conversion rates would see an increase.

The CTA should also look like a “CTA” and work like one. If the CTA gets blended into the background and looks like a ghost button, it loses its purpose. CTAs should be a contrast in colour speaking out loud and demanding attention from the user; that is what they are there for.

Mailchimp does that perfectly with a little darker shade of yellow in the background and CTA with blue; a complete contrast.

For business providers looking for direct leads, forms work as fine as a button since they cannot provide all the information in concise segments and users have a lot of other doubts. For example, interior designing. Interior designing has different requirements for different users and personal contact is necessary. A responsive form works as a great CTA here:

The number of fields is important to understand the conversion rates. A user is not interested in filling too many fields and will bounce back too easily. Quicksprout shows how the number of fields leads to a lower conversion rate on the mobile:

More than 5 fields in a form is intimidating for the user and the user is unlikely to complete the form. If you cannot manage to lower down the fields below 6 or 7, use the autocomplete feature of the browser in your HTML code so that the user can quickly fill out the form in one tap. Autocomplete is available in major browsers today and is helpful for the user.

If your CTA is a call button, it should be a one-click button instead of plain text. Do not expect your user to take the burden of copying the number and moving onto his dial pad, paste it and then call you.

Remember the 2-second rule!

Google aims at 0.5 second load time when it comes to loading any Google’s product. But don’t worry, we still have not touched such a high-performance statistic practically although we have come a long way in the last decade. Google states that 2 second is the user’s “acceptability” for the website load time. So how is it affecting our conversion rates?

As it turns out, the bounce rate depends heavily on the website loading time:

Gone are the days of 2G connection when people could wait a hundred seconds for the website to load. With the increase in elements on the website leading to a lower load time, the conversion rate drops by a whopping 95%!!

What can we do to increase loading speed?

The question drops to the mind as to what we can do as web developers to decrease the web page load time when the network plays a vital role which we have no idea about. As a developer, we can follow a series of checks on our responsive mobile design to ensure higher conversion rate and simultaneously lower bounce rates:

Content Display Improvement

A good way to start is to code the web page to display something (if not all) to the user as early as possible. For example, AJAX queries are a great way to show a partial content to the user on the first view.

Server Improvement

Use a good server!! Servers play an important role as they are responsible for not only communicating with requests but also sending the first byte to the user. Google recommends a time of 1.3 seconds for the mobile server to communicate with the first byte. The lower the better.

The figure shows recommended average response time of the mobile server in various categories:

Request Count Optimization

Lowering the number of requests to the server also decreases the overall page load time. The lesser number of requests would generally mean lesser elements to fetch. While Google recommends less than 50, today’s average lies somewhere between 120-170.

Weight of Elements

An extremely important factor in determining the loading speed of the website is the weight of elements present in the mobile web page. The study found out that websites use too many elements in order to lure the users which slows down the loading speed even on the 4G connection (which is the most popular). 70% of the pages took 5 seconds for any visual element to first appear on the web page. This has made the average loading time to 15 seconds as compared to the recommended 2 seconds.

The main culprit; images. Providing an extremely high-quality image will just decrease the conversion rates especially the ones which are nowhere related to the product such as background or achievement thumbnails. Applying very high-quality images without compression can load up the page to as high as 4MB which is more than the average.

The analysis is done in the study also found an image worth 16 MB of size on a web page which is a simple blunder, an invitation to decrease the conversion rates. What can we do? Compress these images and use proper image formats.

By simply compressing the images on the web page, the developers can save up to 250 KB of size on as high as 25% of the website analysed. Image format can help you in decreasing the load time too. Out of all the mobile-friendly websites, 46% use JPEG and 28% use PNG. The reason behind the success of JPEG is that it is a lossy compression losing bits in the process. JPEG is a great format to use when too much focus is not on the extreme detail of the image like nature images, landscapes or background color shades etc. PNG on the other hand is lossless and saves the bits in the process. PNG images are great when sharpness, details and observations are required in the image.

The following image is a JPEG image:

This image is of a natural scene and hence does not demand very small details for the user. Your user will not zoom into the Taj dome to check out the colour shade. This image makes about 127 KB in size.

The same image in PNG consumes 714 KB of the web page which is extremely unnecessary.

To determine your website’s performance, you can use a trusted tool PageSpeedInsights by Google.

To increase the speed of the landing page, developers can also make use of CDN or Cache that web service providers such as Amazon offer. These are very fast and help store data according to the geographic locations.

A/B Testing and you are done!

When Google launched ads on Gmail, they were not sure which blue colour to use. In their experiment, they decided to provide different shades of blue to different users and see their response. With 1% of users getting one shade and another 1% getting another, Google ended up testing among 40 shades of blue to 40 different groups. The final blue selected in this experiment earned them an additional $200 million in revenue.

This is termed as A/B testing. A/B testing is a process of comparing two different versions of a web page by giving them to different groups and recording their response. A/B testing has been used extensively today to finalize the colour, location or size of the CTA button. An experiment between green and red CTA buttons showed that the red CTA button performed 21% better on 2000 page visits. The 21% increase in the conversion rates points towards how important A/B testing is today.

This does not mean every red CTA button will outperform green ones. Performing A/B testing will provide conclusive results by which you can increase the conversions and they are different for different websites.

Not only CTAs, as a developer you can also test the headlines, buttons and other important content to decrease the bounce rate which eventually does result in increased conversions. You can use Heatmap tools for A/B testing.

Conclusion

If you ever believed that responsiveness is everything there is to increase the CTR, you are not alone. The researches and studies have brought out a lot more about the behavioural aspect of a user than we knew before. From colour to the font-size, conversion rates on a mobile device is like a house on wooden pillars. All of them together increases the CTR to its capabilities and give your revenue a boost up.

Apart from the points discussed in this post, as a developer, you can also perform certain enhancements on the website for better conversions. User experience always matters on a mobile website. Whether it is conversions, word of mouth or any other target, you will always be rewarded for a better user experience. Enhancements such as not losing the sessions when the back button is pressed, providing cart support on multiple devices or shutting up the navigation bar in a hamburger menu. These enhancements are always noticed by the user and the easier it is for him, the better are the chances of conversions. So the next time you are busy developing your website, make a checklist and boost up that conversion rate from mobile web pages.

Here are some email marketing trends that could take your business to the next level in 2019.

AI Infusion

If you haven’t started yet, 2019 should be the year you begin implementing AI into your email marketing efforts. There are plenty of available tools on the market that can help you do the following:

• Coming up with subject lines and images
• Customizing content based on an individual’s past interactions with previous emails
• Predicting when users could unsubscribe
• Curate nurture emails
• Provide insights into which types of content leads to website traffic

These are just a few examples among a whole host of features that AI could bring to your email marketing. But before you jump into a solutions provider, take a look at what elements you think can help your campaign and make a decision based on need.

AMP for Email

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a Google initiative designed to speed up the rendering time of web pages on mobile devices. The tech allows marketers to create website-like experiences within an email. These could include:

• Use of carousels and accordions
• Accepting user input
• Browse content straight from the inbox

But the most exciting possibility brought to email by AMP is the ability for content to be updated. For example, if you visit the Ritz Carlton website today, the following day, the hotel could email you a list of available rooms. When you return to the same email the following week to find the hotel’s contact info, you find that the content has been updated with the latest available listings.

Email that doesn’t get stale – that would be a blessing to marketers.

Additionally, because it is yet to be available to all email service providers, AMP is also backwards compatible with unsupported email clients. This means content would only fall back to older markup language if it’s unsupported.

Increased Segmentation

If you’re not segmenting your list in 2019, you’re not doing it right. According to HubSpot, segmented and targeted emails account for an estimated 58% of all earnings. This is mainly because it allows you to target highly specific groups of people with a personalized message relevant to their individual needs.

For example, you can segment a group based on preferred content streaming services, geographic location, and email opt-in dates. So if, say, a marketer is organizing a music festival in Calabasas, California, they can target a campaign based on:

• People who live within a 200-mile radius of Calabasas
• People who regularly open promotional emails from the company
• People who have purchased a music-related product from the company
• People under 40

Because you send targeted segmented emails to people who are actually interested in receiving them, this will lead to higher open rates, higher click-through rates and better customer relationships.

Interactive Content

SnapApp defines interactive content as content that requires participants’ active engagement, beyond simply watching or reading. Those who engage, in return, will receive real-time, hyper-relevant results they care about.

The animated infographic above goes beyond the generic image slide shows of travel and lifestyle content. For example, if you click on “Walking Tour,” you’ll be presented with a suggested tour provider, why it’s different from the usual tour, and a CTA to check the tour’s availability. It’s not only highly-engaging and visually appealing, it’s extremely useful.

According to Martech Advisor, interactive content increases click-to-open rate by 73%. And if you’ve ever interacted with it yourself, you’ll understand why.

More Storytelling in Content

Speaking of engaging content, emails in 2019 will be shifting from hard selling to more storytelling. Storytelling in email means that you’re providing content that engages audiences by creating an emotional connection.

As noted by Benchmark, these types of email content:

• Provide stories focused on a customers’ pain points
• Furthers the connection between the brand and its customers
• Reduces the spam/promotional vibe of brand emails

In the “More Storytelling in Content” example mentioned in the Benchmark link above, Patagonia talks about their efforts to champion environmental sustainability. This subject resonates with their audience as they’re outdoors enthusiasts who care about their playground.

Countdown Timers

Countdown timers create a sense of urgency, which has been a proven technique to increase sales and conversions. These attention-grabbing timers also create a strong, visual CTA that can be processed by email recipients in an instant.

As well, countdown timers serve as a great tool for building anticipation, which would then increase the open rates of your successive emails. For example, if you send an email with a timer for a flash sale, if your recipient has been carefully targeted, chances are they’ll be looking forward to the next email with more info on the sale. This could then lead to future emails being instantly noticed in their inboxes.

Human Conversations

As people lean more and more toward authenticity, they prefer to engage with other people as opposed to a corporate message. This means that your email content should have more personality in order to create a genuine connection with your audience.

It’s important to note, though, that the tone of your emails should still take into consideration the target audience.

In the “Writing in Conversational Tones” example mentioned by Benchmark, Chubbies plays into their brand personality of being the carefree person who likes to chill and enjoy a few beers. While they’re essentially nudging their customer towards a purchase, they make it sound like a buddy just making a friendly suggestion.

Takeaway

Email marketing will continue to be a valuable tool into the foreseeable future. Taking advantage of trends and technological innovation will elevate not only your email marketing, but your business as well.

What do you plan on implementing in 2019?

Your website’s conversion rate directly impacts your return on investment, so it’s worth researching and discovering how much your current website encourages its users to take the next step in your business relationship.

If you find that your conversion rates are lower than you want, make some simple tweaks to assure that it’s doing its intended job – bringing in new customers and converting customers to your brand.

Conversion Rate Optimization: A Primer

We can’t talk about converting visitors without addressing conversion rate optimization (CRO), which is the practice of making improvements to your website in hopes of getting more visitors to take a desired action.

Examples of these conversion actions include filling out a contact form, making a purchase, or downloading an ebook. CRO can involve something as simple as changing the wording or a message on a landing page or changing the color of a button, to something as complex as redesigning the entire hierarchy of your site. At its core, CRO has two goals:

1. To optimize your site’s data to match the way your user approaches information gathering, and;
2. To leverage the psychological principles of web design to maximize the chances of continued user interaction.

How Should Businesses Approach CRO?

Now that we have an operational definition of CRO, the next logical question most have is, “How do we make it work for us?”

Conversion rate optimization, like its cousin, search engine optimization (SEO), is an always-evolving multifaceted discipline. What works for one company might not work for another. What makes CRO markedly different from SEO is that it will depend heavily on your market research and desired buyer personas. Your CRO approach will vary from other methods, but generally, it operates on a few principles:

1. Creating a Clear Value Proposition

Often, when a business is facing lackluster conversion rates, it’s because there is no clear value proposition on the homepage. If you optimize your site for search, a new user will come across it looking for a solution to a problem.

Your goal is to convince them, quickly and effectively, that your company is the solution. Businesses often fall prey to the “peacock” trope – they try to fill their homepages with what makes them different and effective, which makes the user (and thus your message) lost.

A better approach is to write a clear, concise value proposition for your homepage. Add this to a clean, simple homepage and an alluring photo, and your user will be encouraged to move on to the next step.

2. Demographic Responsive Design

By now, most are familiar with the concept of responsive design and its importance to conversion rates. In case you need a refresher, here is a statistic to whet your appetite: According to the firm eMarketer, more than half the respondents to a recent survey reported they wouldn’t purchase from a brand that offers a poorly designed mobile experience.

In today’s era of data and personalization, our obligation extends far beyond mobile responsiveness. This is where the concept of demographic-responsive design comes into play. We know that each generation has unique qualities – we know millennials as idealists and see Gen Z’ers as being more cynical. With the power of demographic-responsive design, we can accommodate these two dichotomous traits with only a little extra effort.

3. Banish Your Homepage

Is the homepage dead? In today’s world of mobility and personalization, some web designers (and marketers, for that matter) are beginning to think so.

In today’s marketing landscape, the homepage has become less relevant, especially when combined with demographic-based responsive design. Instead of a central homepage, consider creating landing pages indexed by demographics, location, or other relevant metrics.

At its best, a landing page is a one-stop roadmap for your visitor. Provide everything your users need to convert on a tailored landing page, with little navigation required.

4. Make Your Forms Simple

Forms are tedious, and users dread filling them out. This holds especially true in the online sphere, where user attention is diminished even more than in the real world.

Online forms are little more than digital paperwork. Since users already see this as a chore, take steps to minimize the drudgery and create forms that convert:

• Ask only for information that’s absolutely necessary – with no optional fields. There’s no need to lengthen the process with information you don’t need for a business transaction.
• If possible and when it makes sense, use predictive text. For example, addresses and locations can often be auto-filled, which reduces some of the user burden.
• Make your error fields clear. It’s a constant annoyance for users to figure out why their form won’t submit. Strong visual cues and clear instructions will help minimize submission failure and make navigation more intuitive.

5. Revamp Your CTA

If your website is failing to convert, it might simply be because your calls to action aren’t effective enough. A good CTA guides the user to the next step in the business process, telling them they’re on the right track. There might be several reasons your CTA is failing to impress:

• It’s too confusing. Pack too much into a CTA, and your users might wonder if they’re doing the right thing. Worse, they may become convinced that you’re not what they need.
• It’s too generic. Learn more. Contact us. Continue. While these CTAS are simple, they don’t offer as much to a user as a more descriptive CTA might. Enticing users to continue is an important aspect of your CTA.
• They’re too hard to find. You have a well-worded, descriptive CTA, but it gets lost in your webpage. Dominant colors, animated buttons, typography that pops – these are all essential to making your CTA visible. Users shouldn’t have to search for it. Bring the conversion to them.

6. The Argument for Simplicity

In web design, we talk a lot about simplicity and how important it is a site’s success. The reason we harp on this so often is because we’re following a scientific precedent.

Those with a marketing background are no doubt familiar with Gestalt psychology, which aims to explain how our brains maintain order and perception in an otherwise chaotic world. One of the main principles of this discipline is the Law of Pragnanz, or literally translated from German, the law of pithiness. This principle says that we crave order, and thus organize our experiences in the simplest manner possible. Instinctively, we like simplicity because it leaves less room for the element of surprise.

If you want an example of this concept in real life, consider the anxiety associated with a large purchase such as a home or car, which requires reams of paperwork. Contrast that with a website like Amazon, where we can review order history, print return labels, and schedule UPS pickup, even for large purchases or those coordinated through third-party vendors.

We can apply the same scientific principles to boost conversion rates. Simplifying your site in terms of typography, images, and content is a start. Deepen your efforts by simplifying forms and heeding these other tips:

• Use “engagement bots.” This artificial intelligence tool isn’t exactly new, but we’ve expanded their use. Chatbots can answer questions for customers 24/7, automate the return process, and keep users on track for conversion any time of day or night.
• Make your shopping carts intuitive. Cart placement, icons, and coloring should all have one focus – to guide a user easily through checkout.
• Scroll, don’t navigate. Especially on a mobile interface, separate landing pages can be cumbersome. Put all the information a user needs on one landing page and make it scrollable.

Final Thoughts

Increasingly, the internet focuses on user behavior, so understanding your users and the conversations they have is more important than ever. Websites must be more than functional, they must be attractive, with a user experience that focuses on conversion optimization.

Simplicity will always trump pages overloaded with information, as these will confuse your user. To boost your conversion rate, consider using these tips and tricks to tweak your website’s design.

Conversion rate = the percentage of visitors to your site who take the action that you desire them to take, whether that means completing a form or buying a product or service.

Many factors contribute to a successful conversion rate. In this article we’ll talk about ten common website conversion mistakes and share the potential solutions to fix them.

1. Slow Loading Time

A good conversion rate is closely tied with a great user experience. Loading time is one of those crucial factors that may lead your users to abandon the site even before seeing it. In the information-overload-age we live in, it’s absolutely necessary to cut down the loading time as users are more impatient then ever before.

If your page takes more than 3 seconds to load 4 out of 10 of visitors will abandon it.

“After 3 seconds, 40% will abandon your site.” – Lara Hogan, Engineering Manager at Etsy

Fix: Design for Performance

Optimising your website for all devices will naturally increase your conversion rate. Invest in a good hosting service and they will ensure that your information loads quickly. Make sure that all pages on your website load properly and that all links work.

Lara Hogan, Engineering Manager at Etsy shares valuable tips in her keynote on Speaker Deck. I’ll quickly summarise it for you to take immediate action:

• Optimise images and use as little graphics as possible as it adds to the loading time.
• Cut down the number of typefaces you use.
• Do you really need a sliding carousel?
• How will images you use affect the load time?
• Which font weights (if any) do you really need?
• What can be repurposed?

Tesla has been clearly working on making that first impression an incredible one.

2. Bad First Impression

According to research conducted by Google, users form an opinion of your website in less than a second.

“Users perceive and form design opinions even in 17 ms.” – Google

Fix: Define the Style Guide

Make sure you don’t have an outdated layout or design. Stop chasing design trends as they come and go and leave you in a potentially risky situation where your brand might look outdated in the near future.

Establish a brand style guide by choosing common colorse, typefaces, spacing rules, and a formulate a brand voice to unify your future design output. A style guide will ensure that you are consistent across all channels, including your website, email and social media.

Duolingo is a perfect example of a clear and prominent call to action (CTA) button.

3. Unclear Call to Action (CTA)

A website’s function is to ultimately serve as a communication or presentation tool. It’s by no means an end product so you have to define its main or final action with an efective call to action or CTA. The lack of clear call to action buttons on a website wastes the opportunity of turning visitors into potential subscribers, leads and customers.

Fix: Be Prominent

The success of your website is highly determined by the conversion rate, and a prominent call to action goes a long way to ensuring that visitors view it and has an urge to take action. When it comes to the purpose of your website, you basically have three strategic options:

• Sell products or services
• Generate leads
• Establish credentials and build authority

A very simple rule can be applied here. K.I.S.S. – keep it simple, stupid – make your content easy to understand and provide an obvious next step you want people to take.

Be bold and straightforward. Make your CTA as obvious as you can. create an attractive, easy-to-view button to promote what you have to offer, and be sure to place on your site or mobile app prominently.

Spotify has a super clear unique selling proposition, “Music for now.”.

4. Too Many Features

A vague Unique Value Proposition (USP) and lack of clear target audience can seriously ruin your business at any stage. By pleasing everyone you will end up serving no one and will ultimately fail. Many beginners don’t know how to package their product or service so they make it look good for as many people as possible.

Fix: Define Your Target Audience

Sit down and get to know your user, define your target audience and build a typical user profile also known as user persona. Design for your end user and focus bringing value for your customer. Do not provide features to please everyone, provide just as much as needed to provide value.

Check out this guide on Entrepreneur on defining unique selling proposition.

NegativeSpace provides stunning high-quality stock photos for free.

5. Low Quality Images

Imagery is one of the most used asset in website design and no wonder why picking great imagery can make or break your conversion rate. Cliché looking and studio-shot stock photography has been around for too long and industry disruptors like Stocksy, 500px Prime, Offset have succeeded due to the fact that people are seeking for genuine looking imagery.

Fix: Use Brilliant Photos

There are numerous of websites that provide free stock photos that don’t suck. NegativeSpace, Unsplash, Death to the Stock Photo, PicJumbo, Jay Mantri, just to name a few.

Simply by utilising these natural looking photos you will instantly be perceived as more welcoming and trustworthy brand as your website will not look that generic.

Groove has been growing their user base mostly by driving quality traffic to their valuable blog.

6. Mediocre content

Mediocre content is one of the things that doesn’t attract traffic. Lack of great content on your website will lead to lack of potential leads or customers so try to rethink your content strategy and focus on quality. Listicles and simple roundups don’t add much of a value to your audience as they can probably find the same thing elsewhere.

Fix: Serve Your Audience

Invest time and money in producing a superior content, even if you will be posting less frequently you will still be targeting right people and achieving a better conversion rate.

There is no tool or strategy that will make your content get shared and consumed if it doesn’t provide value and genuinely serve a certain audience. Consistently create helpful and engaging content related to your business and keep showing up over and over again.

Buffer has grown mostly because of their kick-ass content strategy. You can simply copy their model and process of creating content and implement it into your strategy.

Check out the The Anatomy of a Perfect Blog Post: The Data on Headlines, Length, Images and More by Buffer’s Kevan Lee.

Swipes use top rated reviews and press mentions to create a trustworthy brand image.

7. A Lack of Proof

People buy from people or organisations they already know about. When starting out it’s incredibly hard to be perceived as trustworthy and get these first customers without having big names associated with your brand. However, not providing any social proof goes against you.

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” – Warren Buffett

Fix: Provide Social Proof

As humans, we’re constantly seeking for approval or reassurance from other people before we make a decision or invest our trust in something. Make sure to provide some proof of what you’re preaching. If you are just starting out you can utilise following:

• Customer testimonials
• Quotes
• Case studies
• Social media shares
• Press appearances

Even writing this article I am backing up my decisions by linking to other articles, quoting research results and using quotes from famous people such as Warren Buffet.

SquareSpace has a nice, mobile-friendly website with a clear call to action button.

8. Failure to Optimise for Mobile

It’s the middle of 2015 already ignoring responsiveness is simply stupid. Responsive design is a must, not a nice to have anymore if you don’t want to lose potential customers and money.

According to Business Insider, the number of people using mobile devices outstripped people on desktop computers in 2014.

“The number of people using mobile devices outstripped people on desktop computers in 2014.” – Jim Edwards, Business Insider

It is a big fact to skip when designing your website strategy and should definitely consider providing an engaging website experience for your visitors as they move from one device to another.

Fix: Rethink mobile strategy

Human behaviour has changed significantly since mobile devices entered our lives. People use their smartphones or tablets in their beds, on the go, even in the bathrooms. Start with mobile-first approach and then expand to desktop.

If you don’t have budget or time to rethink your whole strategy for mobile make sure you set aside resources to optimise for mobile devices as soon as possible as it may have already affected your traffic. In April, 2015 Google rolled out mobile-friendly update, that simply put favours mobile-friendly websites by boosting the ranking of pages on mobile search results.

Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool – This test will analyse a URL and report if the page has a mobile-friendly design.

9. Ignoring A/B Testing

You can’t simply assume something, build it and expect people to like it. However, this is how many people think and build their businesses. You have to be very critical with every decision you make and back everything up with data. You have to continuously test website elements like the copy, buttons, colors, and format to ensure that everything your website employs is working towards your overall goal, not against it.

Fix: Run Regular A/B Tests

By conducting regular A/B tests, you will get rid of the assumptions that comes with optimising your website for the user. There are numerous blogs that share best practices on running effective tests and dozens of tools that can help you with that. I’ve written earlier about automating your website conversion and mentioned quite a lot of tools you can utilise.

“The biggest mistake is to make an assumption without data – either basing a decision on a personal belief, or assuming that a part of the process is ok, without seeing the data to prove that.” – Al Mackin of Formisimo

However, it’s important to keep in mind that you should only focus on altering one element at a time to avoid clouding the validity of your results. For example, If you want to compare the performance of two headlines, don’t change anything else on the page but the headlines to ensure clear outcomes.

Wake has extremely clean layout and uber clear navigation with prominent call to action.

10. Confusing Navigation

Navigation on your website is the only way to reach your products or services once visitor opens it. Too many options can paralyse the visitor to take an action and will frustrate them that will eventually end up in abandoning the page. Using slang or technical jargon in your navigation doesn’t help either, it has to be as clear and as obvious as possible so visitors can quickly find what they need. We’re all busy, right?

Fix: Review Information Architecture

Review your whole information architecture and determine what are the most important parts you need to link to. Eliminate secondary and tertiary options as they just create bigger mess and delay user making a decision. Keep menus simple and clean, use understandable wording and once again, test.

Here are some practical ways to improve your website’s navigation:

• Keep it consistent across every page and homepage.
• Obvious navigation titles. Use simple and straightforward language to avoid interpretations.
• Include search. People search a lot, make sure to implement search feature into your navigation.

Conclusion

Conversion optimisation is a long and never ending process that requires a lot of research, hypotheses and tests to see positive results. I hope the top mistakes I’ve identified will help you avoid wasted time and money on your marketing campaigns. I’d like to hear your thoughts and experiences on website conversion optimization.

Now that we have gone trough mistakes, let us take a closer look at how to create a high convertible landing page.

Maybe you clicked a link shared by a friend on social media or found the product thanks to ad retargeting. Whatever the case, you bypassed the traditional ecosystem and raised the stakes of your interaction with the product page. It has, in effect, become the homepage.

If you land directly on it without any context, the page must be engaging enough to hold your attention, but detailed enough to capture the sale. And achieving that is no easy feat.

A Multi-Faceted Approach

Consider the effort that goes into writing product descriptions. Each item requires a unique blurb of at least 250 to 400 words. That may not sound like much at first, but if you offer 1,000 products, you’re looking at 400,000 words of copy – twice the length of “Moby Dick.” And Herman Melville didn’t have to orchestrate a photo shoot, take inventory, and assign related products after he was done writing.

Getting a product page right requires input from developers, designers, writers, photographers, and a project manager. Every element should center around the content, amplifying the message through complementary buttons, color schemes, fonts, and functionalities.

Product page optimization requires a significant investment of time and resources, but provides an almost immediate return on investment. Here’s what a high-performing product page includes:

1. Engaging Product Descriptions:

Compiling a full product catalog is the only way to gain serious organic traffic. 95% of people interviewed in an eCommerce survey said that product descriptions played an important role in their purchase decisions.

Every description should include a well-crafted, informative take on the product, along with sizing charts for each specific item where applicable. For instance, ASOS offers sizing guides that are specific to different subcategories, such as “Men’s Jumpers and Cardigans.” This resource prevents people from navigating away to look up sizes elsewhere or simply abandoning the sale in frustration.

Aside from its shipping, this is where Amazon really succeeds. Their product pages will never win a design award, but that’s secondary to them: It’s not glamorous, but a customer is highly unlikely to leave their product pages because they’re missing information.

One eCommerce study showed that in 20% of cases in which users failed to complete their purchases, incomplete or vague product data was to blame. Customers should never have to Google additional information about an item or feel unclear about what the purchase includes. Effective product descriptions tell them everything they need to know in conversational, relatable language.

2. High-Resolution Product Photos

Images are essential. Large, attractive photos can boost eCommerce sales by up to 9%, and 63% of consumers told Nielsen Norman Group that pictures were “very important” when shopping online.

One company, Skinner Auctions, saw a 63% jump in conversion rates after it increased its image sizes. Zappos uses images especially effectively, offering large pictures of its shoes from several different angles. Customers can click through a range of photos and watch a video for additional information. Photos tell prospective buyers what they can expect from a product and reassure them of its value and quality.

3. Sound SEO Elements

Top-performing product pages offer engaging content, high-resolution photos, a clear call to action, and solid SEO. Product pages must have thoughtful keywords in the title tags and body copy so that search engines can pick them up. All data should be marked up so that pricing, shipping, reviews, and other details appear logically in the code. This also impacts search engine rankings.

Product page URLs should include relevant keywords so people know they’re in the right place when they land there. Optimizing product page links can increase conversions by 76%. If all of these technical aspects are in order, the site will rise in search rankings every time a new product is added. They also make for an enjoyable customer experience, so people are more likely to buy from the brand in the future.

Good SEO practices should be built into the page design from the outset. It’s very difficult and time-consuming to tweak these performance elements once the page has been launched. Before completing the design, companies should partner with SEO specialists who know how to strategize for eCommerce: building content, descriptions, messages for out of stock and seasonality, 301 strategies, link building and architecture, and user-generated content. This article can give you a good starting point.

4. Fast Load Times

The numbers don’t lie – a 10-second delay in page loading could cause 50% of would-be buyers to abandon their purchases. Amazon estimates that it stands to lose $1.6 billion in sales per year if its site suffers a one-second slowdown. Even for smaller sites, a lagging page can cost millions of dollars in revenue.

Modcloth is a good example. Their site doesn’t just look great: It loads more than 15 megabytes of content in under three seconds and gets more than an 80% performance grade.

There are several ways to improve load times, such as boosting server response rates, enabling compression, and allowing for automatic image optimization. Development teams should also minify their websites, which means removing any unused or unnecessary code. They can also edit out redundancies to decrease the number of processes the server has to run. Google Pagespeed can automatically optimize different elements to shorten loading times as well.

5. Customer Reviews

People need reassurance before they buy, especially if they’re unfamiliar with the brand. A Figleaves study found that products with reviews had 12.5% higher conversion rates than those without reviews. More importantly, the conversion rate for individual products rose by about 35% after adding customer feedback.

Rent The Runway made the determination that reviews had to be a pillar of the business, and went all in – customers share product reviews and rate by size and share height, age and photos.

Consumers conduct their due diligence before purchasing. They’ll seek out reviews on forums and other sites to determine which brands are trustworthy and compare products. Businesses that include reviews have a better chance of keeping prospects on their product pages because all of the information consumers need is right in front of them. Review pages also rise faster in search rankings than product pages, so they’re a useful way to generate more traffic.

6. Prominent Pricing

Customers might be charmed by engaging copy and a sleek interface, but eventually they want to get to the bottom line – what does the product cost? Companies should make prices visible in the initial impression, along with how much consumers can save by buying from them instead of another business. People like to know that they’re getting a good deal, so it’s important to spell out the savings.

Amazon includes this information on the right side of every product page. Customers can see how much Amazon is charging and how much more they might pay on another site. Amazon also incentivizes recurring sales by listing its subscription rates on different products. The pricing section is a perfect place for these types of upsells. Recommending popular items, related goods, and subscription deals is especially effective when people are already in shopping mode.

But the checkout process shouldn’t be cluttered with additional offers. It should be easy for consumers to check out quickly and without hassle. Because people are concerned about identity theft and credit card fraud, the site should include a message about the brand’s security protocols before a sale is made. The product page should also serve as a 24/7 customer service representative, answering potential questions and offering plenty of contact options.

Conclusion

From descriptions to pricing to SEO, product pages are masterpieces of collaboration and good design. They should appear seamless to customers, offering a blissful shopping experience that leaves them eager to hand over their money. Invest in optimization strategies to create an effect that makes these pages immediately convert browsers to buyers.

Conversion Goals Explained

Put simply, a conversion goal is the purpose of the website, the action you want a visitor to take while they’re there. Buy a product, click the share button, navigate to a certain page; these are all conversion goals.

In addition, there are micro conversions and macro conversions. A macro conversion is what you’re really after, the purpose of the site. For example, an eCommerce site has to sell products, a non-profit wants donations and a blog needs you to read posts.

Micro conversions are the little things that a customer can do that leads them towards a macro conversion. Signing up for the newsletter means there’s still a chance to convince them. If someone visits a product page but doesn’t buy anything, that’s a micro conversion. Webmasters can use this and other statistics to figure out why a user didn’t purchase the product.

For instance, if you run a WordPress site for your premium plugin, your end goal is for users to purchase the plugin. Your micro goals are for people to share your blog posts, click on the plugin purchase page, or sign up for a newsletter. Your landing page could feature a big download link, but even your unrelated pages, such as blog posts, could have subtle buttons pointing towards the plugin page.

How to Include Conversion Goals in Web Design

The first thing you need to do is get the information out of your client. They may or may not have concrete conversion goals, or even know what a conversion goal is. However, they do know their website’s purpose. Are they an eCommerce startup? A blogger? A freelancer? An established business?

Ask them what they want visitors to do on their website, and what pages you need to lead them towards. Is there anything specific they’re going for?

There are many ways to design a website around conversion goals. First, you need to make the goal apparent on every webpage, especially the landing page. Users should not struggle to get around, or have to search through menus and dropdowns to get to the right page. Generally, use a simple design without too much clutter.

A call to action, such as “click here to see our products”, is essential. Remember to highlight the call to action or link prominently. You can put it near the top or center of the screen, or use bright, contrasting colors to call attention to it.

Avoid using banners, especially ones placed at the top or sides of a page, as these can be mistaken for ads and ignored.

Finally, don’t forget your visual hierarchy. Research how people view a webpage and put the most important content in those most-viewed areas. Make these elements bigger and more visible, and use space strategically to highlight these areas.

And never sacrifice aesthetics for marketing’s sake. You can mark important areas with bright colors without using garish hues. You can use an eye-catching font that’s bold but fits with the rest of the website. Aesthetics and conversion goals don’t have to be at war; with the right designer, these concepts can fit elegantly together.

Converting Visitors with Great Web Design

With the right techniques, achieving conversion goals isn’t so hard. While a lot of factors go into whether or not a visitor reaches those goals, it’s a good idea to build a website that pushes users towards them. There’s a lot of analytics software out there that lets you set conversion goals, and you or your clients can use the data generated to continue improving and building on your website.

For this post I’m focusing on conversion rate case studies that aim to increase total sales and signups with just a few small tweaks.

If you go through each case study one by one you’ll find many CRO ideas that you can try on your own projects.

1. Homepage Sign-up Form

Most visitors enter a company website from the homepage. This is the best place to capture leads if you can place a signup form above the fold in clear view.

This case study, with Tom’s Planner, increased total signups by 43% just by adding a form onto the homepage.

It seems like a crazy thing to overlook but it really makes a difference. Anyone hoping to add more subscribers to their newsletter should try out this simple design trick.

2. Promo Code Boxes

There’s an interesting study done on Bionic Glove’s ecommerce checkout page. They ran a promo code box on the checkout page and noticed a lot of potential buyers left the page to go search for promo codes in Google, then never came back.

By simply removing this promo code box, total revenue increased by 24.7% over the testing period.

Some of this increase probably comes from fewer promotional codes that reduced pricing, but the company also saw an uptick in total conversions with more people completing the checkout process. Impressive results for such a strange test idea.

3. Stock vs Real Images

I always prefer natural photos over stock because they feel more relatable. Many companies still go with stock pics but this case study might be enough to change their mind.

The 160 Driving Academy firm tested different photos on their homepage: one of a generic stock image and another of real students from the academy. They were testing against total signups for the newsletter and new registrations.

This A/B test garnered a 161% increase in total conversions across both actions combined. Just from switching one picture and making the site feel a little more authentic.

4. CTA Text

Great CTA buttons are necessary for solid conversions. Small mistakes with CTAs can cost you sales, and one big mistake that many overlook is their CTA copy.

The team at Price Charting ran this A/B test for two different CTA button texts:

• Download
• Price Guide

The latter increased total clickthroughs by 620.9% and clearly dominated over the generic “download” text.

Moral here is to make your CTAs specific. Tell the user what they’ll get or what’s in it for them, not just what the action should be.

For example, you might try writing “create my account” for your signup button instead of just “sign up.”

5. Adding “Free” Text

Here’s a case study that really surprised me because it’s just so simple. Soocial ran a small A/B test by adding “free” text right beside their CTA button.

The conversion rate jumped from 14.5% up to 18.5% which may not seem like a whole lot at first. But it’s well over a 20% increase which adds up if you’re running high volume traffic.

6. Short vs Long Pages

This frequently debated subject may be as old as the web itself. Should you build a longform landing page or use a smaller design?

Well the answer will differ based on your audience and what you’re selling. But this A/B test by PayPanther shows that the long-form redesign really did work better with a 372.62% increase in signups.

If you haven’t tested your landing page content, definitely try a longer-form style. You might be surprised with the results.

7. Homepage Copy

Header text on your homepage can also play a vital role in conversions. If you already have a signup form in your header then all you can do is optimize it for more user actions.

Check out this small study by VenueSphere to see how much copy affects conversion rates.

They ran a variation with a slight change in the subheading(not the heading) and this increased total leads by 69%. You may have to go through a few variations to see similar results, but there’s no doubt that your page copy matters.

8. Price Comparison Information

I don’t see this on many ecommerce sites but it seems like a solid idea for increasing growth. The team at Paperstone ran this A/B test where they added price comparisons next to their checkout form.

This comparison measures their price against their top competitors showing they were ultimately the more affordable choice.

Over a total of 12k unique visitors the price comparison increased total “add to cart” clicks by 10%. Not too shabby!

It’d be difficult to do this yourself if you don’t know your competitor’s pricing, but it may be worth testing if you run enough traffic through an ecommerce shop.

9. Product Page Authenticity

Here’s another case study focused on a really small change that blows my mind. ExpressWatches ran a test by adding an authenticity badge to their checkout page.

Over their 30-day test they saw a whopping 107% increase in total conversions. That means doubling the total number of sales, just from adding a small graphic saying “authorized dealer” next to the checkout button.

10. Larger Product Images

Whether you’re selling your own or affiliate products, images always gain higher clicks. Optimized images help a lot but you also want to consider total image size and how each photo fits onto the page.

That’s where this case study comes into play.

By making product images larger, the Czech ecommerce shop Mall.cz was able to increase total sales by 9%.

That doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re running a large ecommerce site with many different products, 9% can be a huge difference in revenue. And this higher CR happened not by adding anything new or changing text, but just by resizing the images they already had.

11. Remove Nav From Landing Page

I should note this split test seems best suited for websites running paid traffic through AdWords or Facebook. But I suppose it could work for any traffic source!

The company Yuppiechef tested conversions across a landing page with no navigation menu vs a variation with a navigation. They saw a difference of 100% more conversions on the winning lander with no navigation.

Seems crazy right?

It ultimately depends on how people find your page and what their goal is by visiting the page. If they don’t want to browse your site, then they’ll only be interested in the content that’s right in front of them.

Anyone who designs a lot of landing pages might give this a shot.

12. Image vs. Video

Earlier I mentioned a case study with stock photos vs natural photos. Well this case study tested an image against an embedded video on the homepage.

The goal was to increase “add to cart” clicks, and the video lander achieved this with a 12.6% CTR increase.

It seems like videos on landing pages increase trust and build a bond with visitors who actually watch the video. This makes the site feel more human and ultimately captures the minds of visitors on the fence about purchasing.

But none of these case studies are bulletproof for every website. The best way to improve your conversion rate is to run your own tests and see what happens.

Take a peek at our A/B testing guide to learn more and maybe even find some results that get you writing your own case study.

Website serves your business as a communication tool online, its essential function is to present the product or service and allow conversion. Simply put, it turns a visitor into a lead, lead into a customer that makes a transaction.

However, this path takes time and your job is to ensure that you’re showing the things your target audience wants to see and create a desire to take an action.

These tools will allow you to do a better competition research, analyse your website strengths and weaknesses and suggest smart improvement suggestions for you to achieve better results.

SEObook is an extremely handy tool for spying on your competition and doing thorough keyword research.

SEO and keyword research tools

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is still one of the best ways to get quality traffic for free. All it takes is to know some basics of optimising your website internally and externally and playing around with keywords and positioning.

Check out Designing an SEO Friendly Website to learn more about internal optimisation.

• SEObook: SEObook offers a variety of free and premium tools including Firefox extensions and web-based tools. Tools include keyword suggestion, keyword list generator, robots.txt tools, page comparison tool and many more.
• Moz: Moz is one of the most respected SEO resources in the market that has many tools for improving your marketing game online. Moz tools empower you to identify content and link building opportunities. Research and compare competitor backlinks, identify top pages, analyse local listings and even get daily SEO report.

Mailchimp is one of the leading email marketing software companies that is very easy to setup and has a powerful free plan.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is still ruling the online marketing world. Email subscriber is worth around 15 times more than the social media follower or fan for simple reason, you own it.

A person subscribing to your email list gave you permission to email him or her at anytime and is more likely to see and engage with your message where your message on social media networks might get lost in the feed of other people trying to get your target person’s attention.

“Email subscriber = 15x as much as a Twitter follower.” – Nathan Barry

Below are some cool tools that allow you to easily create segmented lists, create autoresponders and integrate with other platforms you already use for your marketing.

• Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a powerful online email marketing solution allowing you to capture emails, manage subscribers, segment audiences, create autoresponders and more. Mailchimp has a free plan for up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month.
• Mailerlite: Mailerlite is an email marketing software with innovative and easy to use drag & drop editor that lets you create newsletters in no time. I’ve recently switched to MailerLite from Mailchimp mainly for pricing reasons.
• AWeber: AWeber is an email marketing and autoresponder software that has been in the industry for many years and proved its reliability and ease of use. It offers free expert support services online or by phone.
• Campaign Monitor: This online tool helps you create and customise your email templates, send campaigns, conduct A/B testing, integrate with your blog and generally make you achieve more with email marketing.
• ConvertKit: ConvertKit is an online software tailor-made for professional bloggers  like you to help you gather more email leads and gradually convert them into customers.

Jetpack is very useful and powerful plugin for WordPress that has many handy features like analytics, security and auto sharing.

Social media

Social media is definitely one of the biggest traffic sources for many blogs and websites out there. Since I’ve started blogging back in 2008 I’ve always utilised social media to promote my content.

I’ve tried all types of social media networks and found out that Facebook and Twitter work the best for me, in fact, my website receives more than a third of its visitors from social media. I’ve discovered that for getting engaged fans and followers it is crucial to provide high quality content and be consistent with it. What worked for me might not work for you and vice versa but you should try and experiment with your audience and various social networks.

Services and tools below give you enormous power over your social media accounts with smart analytics, intelligent content suggestions and automatic scheduling allowing you to be always on the radar when your audience needs it the most.

• Jetpack for WordPress: Jetpack is a multi-purpose plugin with dozens of useful features for your WordPress powered blog. Among many cool tools Jetpack makes it easy to share your site’s posts on several social media networks automatically when you publish a new post.
• Tweetdeck: Tweetdeck is an essential tool for every marketer. I’ve been using it for numerous years now and all I can say that it helped me to manage many projects at the same time. Track brand mentions and hashtags, manage multiple Twitter accounts, schedule tweets, and more.
• CoSchedule: CoSchedule is an easy-to-use tool that helps you get your team on the same page, customise your social media sharing schedule, boost your traffic from your old posts, organise all of your content on a single, consolidated editorial calendar and more.
• Mention: Mention is a real time social media monitoring software that allows you to listen to what’s being said on the web and social web. It has powerful tools to react quickly, collaborate, and analyse your online presence. Great way of keeping up with rapid social media pace.
• Buffer: Buffer is generally a scheduling and posting tool on social media accounts. You can write a bunch of posts at one time, and choose which social profiles to send them to, and then Buffer will spread them out throughout the day or week so that you don’t have to be at your computer all the time.
• Hootsuite: Hootsuite is a powerful and useful social media management tool for any organisation. You can easily manage social networks, schedule messages, engage your audiences, and measure ROI right from the dashboard.
• Beatrix: Tell Beatrix some info about your company or clients and she helps you find, create, approve and schedule posts for your social media accounts. You can quickly pick and schedule images, links, get suggested content for your social channels based on keywords that you set and track your progress effortlessly.
• IFTTT: IFTTT is an incredible time-saver and automation tool. It empowers you with creative control over the products and apps you love by setting up “if this then that” rules. There are dozens of pre-built scenarios (recipes) that will save you lots of time if used properly.
• Zapier: This is another vital tool for automating repetitive tasks. Zapier connects the web apps (currently over 300 supported apps) you use to easily move your data and automate tedious tasks.

WP Experiments plugin allows you to basically test anything you can imagine on your blog to achieve better performance and conversion.

A/B Testing

A/B testing is a simple way to test changes to your page against the current design and determine which ones produce desired results. It is a method to validate that any new change to an element on your webpage is improving your conversion rate before you make that change to your site code. Assumptions won’t take you far in online business. Every hypthesis you have should be tested and winner option should be chosen using data from these tests.

Just changing a copy, color, or call to action wording can dramatically increase conversions.

“Photo of a real human vs. an illustrated avatar: Talking avatar got 131% more email opt-ins.” – Mr Green

• WP Experiments: WP Experiments is a powerful WordPress plugin for making unlimited tests with your content on your WordPress powered website. Easily change button texts, paragraphs, titles, or anything else on your website and see how your audience reacts.
• Visual Website Optimizer: This tool claims to be the world’s easiest A/B testing tool and is recommended by marketing experts. Visual Website Optimizer lets you run A/B, multivariate and split URL tests using a simple visual editor and provides insightful analytics.
• Title Experiments Free: This free WordPress plugins allows you run split (A/B) tests of multiple titles for a post and discover which gets more page views. Great way to increase click through rates.
• Nelio AB Testing: Another free WordPress plugin for running A/B experiments on your website. It helps you define, manage, and keep track of A/B-testing experiments, combined with powerful and beautiful heatmaps.

Hotjar is a new and very promising analytics software that combines various tools like heatmaps, surveys, visitor recordings and more.

Smart analytics (click analytics, heatmaps)

Analytics are incredibly important for your website or blog. Knowing who you are serving, their needs, desires and behaviour you can easily prepare content and products that fit your target audience and convert more.

Whether you need to know how long people spend on certain pages, where do they look at using heatmaps, where they click, how long it takes them to figure out the way to the conversion, where do they tend to leave or abandon the website?

Analytics can also be combined with other tools from this article including lead capturing software, testing effectiveness of a/b tests, hypothesising and proving point with experiments and enhancements.

• Hotjar: Hotjar is a new and very powerful smart analytics tool with useful features like heatmaps, visitor recordings, conversion Funnels, form analytics, feedback polls and proactive chat in one platform.
• Google Analytics: Google Analytics is an essential tool for tracking almost every happening on your website. Powerful and insightful reports, measurement and conversion optimisation tools for free.
• Mixpanel: Mixpanel focuses on analysing actions and engagement instead of measuring pageviews. Super valuable tool for gaining more insights into your target audience and their behaviour with your product.
• Woopra: Woopra is a robust real-time customer analytics tool that allows you to track targeted users and make the best of your website. Connect with dozens of other apps you use to truly start seeing the patterns and behaviour of your customers.
• KissMetrics: KissMetrics is specifically targeted for ecommerce sites and analyses customer data in real time and ties anonymous activity to known activity once a visitor becomes a customer.
• Crazy Egg: Crazy Egg gives you insights and data on where your visitors click, where they scroll and stop and shows you where they coming from to allow you make better data-driven decisions.

LeadPages is a one-stop-shop for everything related to leads. Build your own conversion-oriented website, run A/B tests and capture leads.

Leads

Capturing leads is incredibly important when testing out or validating your business idea. Just by making a landing page and optimizing it on the way you will save a lot of money of pre-building product that no one will buy at the end. Tools below allow you to create a landing page with no coding knowledge required and allows you to run tests, collect emails and more.

• LeadPages: LeadPages is a powerful online software for building mobile responsive landing, launch and sales pages that are purely conversion oriented.
• Unbounce: Unbounce is an online tool with a focus on marketers that allows you build, publish and test landing pages without programming knowledge. It integrates with dozens of different online tools like Google Analytics, Mailchimp or AWeber just to name a few.
• Strikingly: Strikingly allows you to create a quick and beautiful, mobile friendly one-pager for your personal brand or business. It is an incredibly handy tool that saves time and money. I’ve seen many people using it successfully at Startup Weekend Bali in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.
• OptimizePress: OptimizePress is a tool for building high converting landing pages, training or courses with progress bars, secure membership portals among many other features. It also has dozens of useful integrations with other marketing software.

SumAll is extremely valuable tool for brands online as it allows you to track, measure and report various social media events.

Social Media Analytics

Social media is extremely unpredictable medium with rapid pace and lots of things happening at a time. However, there are tools that identify patterns, measure activity and engagement to give you more insights into the global social media machine.

• SumAll: SumAll is extremely powerful marketing analytics software that combines social media, web traffic, sales metrics and other data to allow you to track business and social media metrics.
• Curalate: Curalate has a powerful image analysing engine that allows you to get insights into the industry and start engaging with your users with images. Run contests, schedule, publish & analyse social images.
• CrowdBooster: This tool allows you to track and analyse your online presence. Easily identify your most loyal fans and followers, get automated reports and schedule unlimited updates on your social media accounts.
• Simply Measured: Simply Measured is an online software providing you social media monitoring and analytics solution. You can track, measure and optimise your content performance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and many more.

Alexa is a globally recognised website ranking that provides website data like demographics, page views, bounce rate and more.

Web & SEO Analytics

Analysing your competition as well as discovering how you are seen by your competitors is vital in making data driven decisions and getting better results faster. It’s always good to know what audiences like certain websites and how they approach them. Tools below will give you a quick overview of many different factors that can help you with adjusting your website strategy.

• Alexa: Alexa provides traffic data and more information about your competitors including globally recognised rank, demographics and more handy data that can give you a huge advantage against your competition.
• Compete: Compete is a tool for discovering what your competitors are after, what keywords they use, how do they perform and what people they attract. It is a tool for serious online competition monitoring and benchmarking your business performance.
• SEMrush: SEMrush is a tool that allows you to track keywords of a certain website whether yours or competition and see how do they perform in organic and paid search results.

Klout combines your social media accounts and tracks your engagement and determines how influential you are in your field.

Influencer Marketing Tools

People buy from people they know and trust. For a fresh new business or a brand it’s extremely hard to get new fans and followers as people need to trust you to start spending their time and money.

One of the best ways to speed up the process and get in front of more eyeballs and most important appear trustworthy is to collaborate with influencers. Tools below will let you identify your key influencers and provide ways to connect with them and build long-lasting relationships.

• Klout: Klout is a universal tool for social media influence. It gives you a rating on a 100 point scale including different social media broadcasting networks like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and more.
• Traackr: Traackr helps you identify people who might have the biggest impact on your business and provides tools to connect and build meaningful relationships with them.
• BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo is an incredibly handy tool when you need to research the best performing content by keywords or a specific website. Identify top performing content from influencers and analyse what it takes to create popular content.
• Exposely: Exposely is a social advertising software that connects brands with engaged online influencers. Whether you’re a brand or influencer there are mutual benefits of working together and this platform finds you the best fits.

Bloom is a powerful pop-up software designed for WordPress with innovative features like on scrolling triggers and after purchase pop-ups.

Conversion Optimisation Tools

• Bloom eMail Opt-In Plugin: Bloom is the ultimate email opt-in plugin for WordPress. With Bloom, you can easily add opt-in forms to your website and harness complete control over the design and location of each.
• SumoMe: SumoMe is a one-stop shop for getting effective tools for increasing your traffic, analysing content and optimising it for more leads. I personally use it for pop-ups and opt-in forms on my website giving me 10 new subscribers a day.
• Optimizely: Optimizely is a great tool for optimising customer experiences. Their technology provides you the ability to conduct A/B testing, multipage, and multivariate testing that may be used for making data-driven decisions.

Placeit has an enormous collection of various mockups starting with laptop on a desk and finishing with wearable tech on a wrist.

Graphic Creation Tools

According to Neil Patel, Tweets with images get 150% more retweets. Just this simple plain fact should convince you how much of an importance graphics have in your marketing communication.

There is an emerging category of marketing graphic creation tools that help you create engaging imagery for your social media campaigns and convert more.

• Piktochart: Piktochart is an easy infographic design app that requires very little effort to produce beautiful, high quality graphics. It has a large selection of ready made templates to make your creative process easier to supercharge your marketing online.
• Placeit: Placeit allows you to upload your screenshot or video and place it on many devices including laptop, desktop, tablet and mobile phone mock-ups to create a realistic presentation of your product or service.
• Pablo by Buffer: Pablo is a simple online tool by Buffer for designing engaging images for your social media posts in under 30 seconds. Simply pick an image, write your copy and share it on Twitter, Facebook, Buffer or download it.
• Easelly: Easelly is a simple web tool that empowers anyone to create and share powerful visuals like infographics and posters with no design software or experience needed.
• Pixlr Editor: Pixlr Editor is a simplified online alternative of popular Adobe Photoshop software. it has saved me couple of times when my computer crashed and I had to do some more complex designing.
• Canva: Canva is a simplified online design tool for everyone. You can easily create designs for web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations and much more.
• Infogr.am: Infogr.am is a powerful tool for creating interactive infographics. Simply start by choosing a template and start visualising data charts, maps, videos, images, icons and more. It even allows users to edit data, download infographics share and embed them.

Conclusion

Marketing is not an easy game and takes a lot of time and experimentation. What has worked for your competitor might not work for you as well as techniques that were effective a year ago might be totally irrelevant in today’s market.

As you can see from this list I’ve gathered, there are many tools and online software companies that help you achieve more with less. I haven’t used all of the tools but the ones I’ve used are worth your time and money.