DM Days New York: Improving Conversion Rates on Your Web Landing Pages
Direct Marketing Association
June 23, 2006
On Thursday, Mark Wachen, CEO and founder of Optimost, gave attendees tips on how to improve their Web site conversion rates in a presentation entitled "Landing Page Optimization: You Got the Horse to Water...Now Make it Drink." Wachen's presentation took place on the closing day of the Direct Marketing Association's DM Days New York Conference & Expo, which was held at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City.
Wachen began by pointing out that one common misconception is that failure or success of a site depends upon one yes/no decision on the part of the visitor. In fact, he pointed out that it's actually a bunch of mini-decisions. The user may abandon the site at any point in the process. "The visitor is always one click away from your ten closest competitors," he warned.
So what can you do to your landing page so that it does not push someone into the "arms of the enemy?"
For beginners, he advised that every page should appeal to a variety of different segments, Wachen advised.
In addition, when correcting problems on a page, Wachen said, the knee-jerk reaction is that you have to start from scratch and rebuild. This involves the process of bringing in experts and spending a great deal of time and money.
Further, he explained, if you change everything at once, you will be less able to determine which changes caused any improvement you might see. The solution, according to Wachen, is to look at things on an incremental basis. "Little things can make a big difference in conversion rate," he pointed out. "Changes should be made in a systematic way. Think about where the road blocks on the page are," he said.
Before and After
Wachen shared some real-life examples of companies' landing pages, illustrating both the positive and negative points.
In the first example, Wachen showed how one Web site made a series of seemingly small changes – such as a change in headline, layout, submit button, and bullet points. But the results? These "small" tweaks created a 40 percent increase in conversion.
In another example, he showed how simply changing the order of the pages on a site increased conversion rate significantly.
The amount of copy can have a big impact on the success of a Web page, Wachen explained. "Keep it simple," he advised. "The biggest mistake is that people feel they need to fill every inch of the page with copy and hopefully something will stick."
For example, he noted that sometimes providing six main points can be less effective than paring them down to three or four. This is because potential customers can feel overwhelmed by too much information. Further, he pointed out, what you think is a benefit, may not be perceived as such by visitors to your site.
Wachen gave the example of a site that used the seemingly positive message "no spyware." Even though the site owner thought the message would be perceived as reassuring, the effect actually sowed doubt in users' minds and conversion did not improve until the message was removed.
Even useful information may have a negative effect, Wachen explained. In one case, removing the FAQ's from a site actually increased the conversion rate. However, Wachen pointed out that "satisfaction guaranteed" seems to be a consistently beneficial message.
Another change that sometimes works, according to Wachen, is changing a simple statement in a headline into a question. "Free Casting Call" became "Are You Ready to Be Discovered?"
He also noted that creating a sense of urgency such as in changing "Special Offers" to "Today's Specials" can also increase conversion lift.
Noting that "real estate on a Web page is an important issue, as is placement," Wachen advised delegates to ask themselves, "What's the point?" Make sure you have a compelling reason for copy that you use, in order to avoid putting out the wrong message, he added.
Wachen warned about the dangers of trying to be too clever or too "cool." Doing so can alienate the portion of users who are less sophisticated. On the other hand, he said toning down the "cool" level does not usually alienate the more sophisticated visitors, who already know how to navigate and use devices such as "click here" buttons.
One sensitive area for Web owners is that of using an author's picture on the site. With the exception of appropriate celebrity endorsements, Wachen advised that using an author's picture usually is not helpful – especially if the image appears to contradict the style or message of the site.
Wachen thanked the owners of the "Motley Fool" Web site, which he used to illustrate this particular point. "They were nice enough to let us use this as an example. Many people are not willing to do so." The before and after illustrations demonstrated how removing the author's picture drove up conversion rate significantly.
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http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/dispnewsstand?article=5275
