70% Increase In Conversion And A Lesson In Human Nature
Although every website defines conversion a little differently, we all need visitors to take some desired action. We need them to advance one step at a time until hopefully they become a customer. Because ours is a service business we need a phone call. And because the particular site I’ll refer to in this post is a national franchise that repairs and installs garage doors, we need our visitors to find the local franchise in order to make a phone call. So, the desired action is simply to enter a zip code into the zip code box. Which was happening at a rate of about 8%.
So we did a redesign, here’s what the 2 pages looked like:
Original Page
New Layout
The goal was to create a cleaner look that emphasized the desired action by isolating it above the fold. The result using website optimizer for a month showed only the chance of a slight improvement.
Original Vs New Layout
Then we added a video spokesperson to the new layout.
New Layout With Video Spokesperson Added
The video contained a spokesperson that highlighted one or two important reasons to choose us and asked visitors to enter their zip code in the box. We pitted this new page with video against the original in 2 separate experiments. In the first, the video was present but did not start automatically, the player needed to be clicked to launch the video.
In the second, the video was launched automatically.
You want to take a guess which was the winning combination?
The combination where the video needed to be activated by the searcher was the only combination that showed significant gain and it was dramatic. The desired action was taken 70.5% more often and Google was very confident that should continue – 99.9%!
Website Optimizer Shows 70.5% Increase
I learned a long time ago when selling yellow pages that when people get information on their own they trust it more. I always believed that was true of search as well. Now, I’ll add video to that list.
My takeaway from this experiment is that if you want someone to do something you have to tell them to do it— just wait until your asked to tell them. We’ve added this same spokesmodel to some local sites. She’s telling the site’s visitors to go ahead and a make a phone call, but only after that information has been politely requested.
(Full disclosure: At this time I have no affiliation with Live Face On Web. However, based on this experience, we are currently in negotiations to become a reseller of this product. Whether we do or not I do not yet know.)
