You don’t have to radically change your site to see dramatic results. In fact, you’ll often find that minor tweaks are all you need to see big usability results. Unfortunately (this I say from experience) identifying what simple changes hold the biggest effect on conversion can be a daunting task.
In this post, we’ll talk about some small changes that can help you generate more than 15% conversion lift going forward.
#1 Optimize Visitor Decisions with Minor Tweaks to Landing Page
How your visitors view your landing page, especially within the first 4 seconds of arriving on it, determines if they are going to stay around and eventually become paying customers. A recent analysis by Eyequant (a popular tool that analyzes visitor behavior) suggested that the first few words on your landing page are what catch the initial attention of the visitor.
What do I mean by the words “first few words on your landing page”? Well I’m talking about the main Title of your page and the first bullet point on it. Those (according to research) are the two master-sentences that catch the attention of the visitor. Take a closer look at your landing page now and see if those two crucial phrases are selling you as you’d wish them to. Minor tweaks on these can include:
- Re-writing the whole sentence or phrase
- Changing font size and color
- Improving on spacing arrangement
Landing pages that appear ambiguous are an instant turn-off to visitors. In short, the visitor wants to know what your site is all about and what value they’ll gain from visiting it within the first few moments of landing on it. They don’t have much time to waste trying to figure this out from an ambiguous page.
The color, wording, size and shape of your DOWNLOAD and CTA buttons may seem like an insignificant design element but in real sense they play a decisive part in the conversion sequence – and have a big impact on the actions of your prospects. Simply put, the download and other CTA buttons are the tipping point between bounce and conversion.
Consider changing the color of your buttons to something that resonates with the expectations of your clients. Orange buttons are particularly known to attract user attention in a jiffy.
You could also change the button copy to something that urges the customers to click without pressuring them. You can change this from “Order tips and quotes” to “Get tips and quotes”.
It is these subtle changes that completely change the perceived value of your service and help optimize on decision making.
#2 Empower Your Visitors
Always put your ears on the ground to know what your users are looking for from your website. Always keep in mind that you need an extra set of eyes to perfect the aspects of your site. So, always solicit feedback from your users. There are a few simple ways to go about gathering useful feedback.
You can embed a short video in your sidebar (or in any other apparent place on your site) thanking the user for dropping by. Tell them what type of feedback you’re looking for and show them how to submit it. A simple 1-2 minute video will work.
There are a number of tools that allow you to solicit feedback from your users. Use this to gather all your feedback – User Voice, Get Satisfaction and Kampyle are just a few examples of such tools.
Gather this feedback and act on it. There are many benefits to making usability decisions based on customer feedback: it makes your users feel more important, it eliminates frustration that may be taking its toll on your users, it generates fresh ideas from users.
One way to improve usability (and accommodate dynamic expectations) is by adopting tools such as WalkMe. WalkMe helps eliminate customer frustration and promotes self-service adoption, hence empowering your users and guaranteeing a high rate of satisfaction.
To Sum Up
In many instances it is the little things we do that make a huge difference in a site’s success. Remember, there’s no limit to the number of small changes that you can make on your site – from changing button sizes, link colors, text font size, tag lines and much more. The two small changes we’ve recommended above are very crucial to realizing bigger usability opportunities with your site.