Not this:
But this:
78% increase
in conversion
In the original page, the visitor was presented with three equally weighted buttons, each leading to a similar form. Analysis showed that the page truly had only one objective — to collect lead information from the visitor, so that a sales engineer could get in touch with them. However, legacy forms had existed for the purpose of different sales activities, even though the information they collected was essentially the same. Because the forms already existed, the page left it to the visitors to decide what to do next, even after they already decided — based on the information above — that they wanted to engage in the process. In the optimized version, we simply reduced the number of choices to one. We are achieving the same objective; except now the visitor didn’t have to do the additional work to figure out which button is the best one to click next.
2. Confusion
Second, we look more closely at the initial questions that typically arise in the minds of the visitors as they enter the page. Two
simple, yet crucial, questions that arise — whether consciously or unconsciously — within the first moments of any transition are:
1) Where am I? 2) What can I do here?
In working tirelessly to improve our pages, it’s easy to forget that the visitor doesn’t have as much information about the content or the process as we do…since we are creating and constantly working on these pages. Therefore, visitors are often left to fend for themselves in figuring out just where they are or what they can do. Answering these questions immediately on the page using content and design elements — as opposed to letting the visitor figure out the answers by doing some investigative work — is what often makes the difference between the visitor staying and bouncing.
The following example illustrates how answering these questions can keep the visitor continuing to engage:
The original page greeted visitors with an image that doesn’t clearly say much about where they have landed. This creates confusion.
The optimized version uses a strong headline that clearly communicates where the visitor has landed.
Example 1: Where am I?
Increasing Appeal
It’s not enough to have a product or service that’s better than the competition. It’s critical to be able to communicate that the product or service is better. This is the distinction between quality and appeal: quality is intrinsic to the product or service, but appeal is a
measurement of how this quality is perceived by the potential customer. This perception is created by many factors, some of which relate to the benefits of the offer itself, while others to the credibility of the company that is making the offer. Ultimately, the optimization objective of increasing appeal is about effective communication from the page to the mind of the visitor.
The challenge is that the visitor is
simultaneously exposed to the appeal of many competing offers. It is common for online users to open multiple search engine results at the same time to go through them for the purpose of narrowing down their choices. Therefore, appeal must be expressed in such a way that — for the right customer segment — it is greater
than the appeal of competing offers.
Creating appeal is typically more difficult than reducing friction, but our past experiments have revealed two sets of tactics that tend to produce positive results by using the information we already have.
1 . Differentiation
Appeal in a competitive environment must necessarily be aware of the other offers. It must be clear to the visitor not only that your offer has value, but that its value to that particular visitor is greater. The idea of differentiation is certainly not new in marketing, but communicating it clearly on a page is often overlooked. We must identify and communicate the key factors that differentiate our offer from the competitors
Example 1: Increasing appeal using competitive differentiation
Value
CostAPPEAL
We are the only data centre to hold the ISO27001, AS/BS7799, SunTone, RedHat, ASIO and DSD certifications. This provides you with peace of mind that the people, processes and the physical location are secure and always running.
The Macquarie support team becomes an extension of your team increasing the ability to support complex infrastructure on a 24 / 7 basis. At any time, you have immediate access to our engineering teams with specialist experience in supporting mission critical application infrastructure environments.
In addition to having the highest level of global accreditations, Macquarie Telecom is the world leader for customer care, winning the World Communication Award for “Best Customer Care.” With a support team that is genuine, stable and able to build long-term relationships, we can ensure that our customer experience is second to none.
In the optimized version, key value differentiators for this company and service are highlighted in pieces of the copy clearly positioned in the primary eye path. Each
differentiator is stated succinctly as a bullet point, and then also explained in detail on click.
2 . Credibility
Communicating value has one major obstacle: distrust on the part of the visitor. Consumers are highly aware of sales and marketing, and therefore are always suspect about claims that are provided with the offer. This means that even if the value is communicated clearly, the appeal may still not be affected because the visitor may be unsure about the truth of the message, or discount it completely.
There are many ways to increase credibility. One is related to the concept of “social proof” that has been heavily researched by psychologists. Applying it to Web pages, we have found that statements of value made by third parties (testimonials, magazine reviews, etc.) are more powerful than statements made by the company itself. Likewise, credibility can be derived from third-party accreditation (academic degrees, compliance certifications, awards, etc.), rather than direct endorsements.
However, these third-party credibility indicators may not be readily available. Our testing has also shown that even when we have to make a statement about ourselves, we can increase its credibility by being as specific as possible. Using statements that quantify any benefits of the offer (“takes 5 minutes to assemble” rather than “easy to assemble”) or cite specific qualitative attributes (“developed by engineers at MIT” rather than “advanced engineering”) has been shown through testing to increase the likelihood of conversion. In the Macquarie Telecom experiment, we used these tactics to convert general statements on the page into instantly credible, clear expressions of value.
Example 1: Increasing appeal using third-party credibility indicators
The original statement certainly communicated value, but saying that accreditations are “proven” immediately raises a red flag in the mind of the visitor: “Why should I believe that they are proven?” Rather than subjectively assert that these accreditations are proven, the optimized copy spells out exactly what these accreditations are. Even if the visitor is not familiar with each of them, the very presence of these third-party elements creates the perception of an indirect endorsement, and therefore increases the appeal of the offer.
Example 2: Increasing appeal using specificity
We are the only data centre to hold the ISO27001, AS/BS7799, SunTone, RedHat, ASIO and DSD certifications. This provides you with peace of mind that the people, processes and the physical location are secure and always running.
Highest Level of Global Accreditations
All our solutions are backed by stringent
Service Level Guarantees with cash rebates for under performance:
• 99/9% uptime guaranteed • Guaranteed response time • Guaranteed time to repair
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
everyone says “we provide reliable services.” Naturally, the visitor is not easily swayed by such a generic statement. In the optimized version, we made it crystal clear what is meant by “reliability” from Macquarie Telecom, using numbers wherever possible, and pointing to specific guarantees that are part of the offer.