Subscriptions Online - how to optimise sub-path pages by 30% to 50%
How to increase your ability to optimise sub-path pages by 30% to 50%
Flint McGlaughlin, Director, MarketingExperiments. Also runs research lab at University of Cambridge.
He used 3 cases studies to make points on conversion of visitors to users to customers
First one:
Site offers customisable news feeds and the objective was to improve the conversion rate for visits to signups
The process which he engaged in was during a webinar with over 1000 participants and took 10 minutes
- Make eye path vertical - one column
- Increase font size
- Purpose not clear
- Add credibility indicators
- Put sign up on the main page (typically asking people to link to a second page looses 50% of them)
The simple changes made conversions rise from 3.9% to 6.6% and then also reduced marketing spend by focusing on keywords which lead to highest conversions.
Clarity trumps persuasion
(he mentioned a clients $5M web redesign which was awful because it was unclear)
Optimisation is about leading the visitor to a single objective - too many objectives confuses the user and the page
Two questions to ask about a site and how it works: (you must fill two cognitive voids)
- What is your offer? (you have 3 seconds to get them oriented)
- Why should I participate? (if I am your ideal customer why should I purchase from you and not anyone else?)
Our tendency is to rush to the "why" before we have answered "what"
Our tendency is to answer "why" before we have made the questions, itself, relevant
Our tendency is to answer "why" with presumed authority rather than actual credibility (quantitative is better that qualitative). If you do not have quantitative then use someone's else's qualitative.
Marketing Sherpa offers subscription to knowledge
Q - does a feature matrix on the trial page help or hinder subscriptions conversions
The answer was yes - an increase in 1.12% conversions to 1.97% (75% increase) with the matrix - despite the matrix making the page longer and pushing the subscription signup to the end!
Subscriptions to an internet hosting subscription - currently at 1%
3 pages shown - original and 2 treatments. All 3 have a matrix
Wording on top - simpler headings, more focused proposition - Our best every hosting packages won!
1.31%, 3.44%, 2.05% (relative difference 162%)
Beware of unsupervised thinking by users!
(He uses his 13 year old son and when a page is done he sits him down in front of it and asks him - What is this page about?)
During the Q&A he said that using credibility indicators randomly does not work - for example littering the home page with 3rd party references. Instead use them at relevant decision/value proposition points and make them specifically relevant.
The amount of copy should be just enough to answer the 2 questions - what and why. You can use "popups" to carry additional content for more detail.
keith
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