ephas
10 December 2019
I thought that having more content meant easier conversions.
You might have heard of the maxim that longer is better. Long-form blog posts, long landing pages dripping with images and information that helps buyers take a decision. And so on. Short landing pages can confuse prospects. They leave them wanting more.
Yes, longer is better. Not always though. If we only had 1-2 sentences on the homepage, we’d be in trouble won’t we? Do you need a long landing page or a short one?
Experts won’t tell you this. But both short and long pages can confuse prospects. The longer someone’s been on a page, the more confused they can get. That’s information overload.
So there’s always the option to make your homepage the shortest and most user-friendly it could possibly be. This is one of the focus areas that is mission-critical to your business. Let’s analyse one of the most popular landing pages in CRO. That of Crazy Egg. You’ll notice that Crazy Egg’s homepage is shorter than most other websites.
Advice #1 Test a Short Landing Page
* It doesn’t have too much text. That’s not too long, but it’s long enough to convey the full extent of the product. It only seems like a list of tips. Did they arrive at the short version by accident? Or was it the sum result of spending thousands of dollars on page optimisation? Turns out, it’s the latter. The homepage is a result of meticulous testing that required 100s of hours of testing.
* The call to action is right next to the big video. It’s the most important thing.
* The CTA is action-oriented. It’s “Start your free trial now.” It’s a positive, empowering CTA.
* The logo is simple and clear. It does its job. It’s not a bright, eye-catching graphic. The point is to strike a balance so that most of the user attention goes towards the call to action.
* The CTA is right next to the big picture. The homepage is short and to the point. The CTA is action-oriented. The logos and surrounding text is simple, clear, and short. We have a very low number of elements (which we’re super proud of).
A short homepage is a good thing. That’s just where Crazy Egg has worked to change their homepage. BUT, don’t arrive at that decision based on your gut alone? Test. And find out what converts people better?
Plus, on the landing page there’s a video. This is useful for people wanting more info but don’t want the hassle of reading lots of copy. SurveyAnyplace’s findings suggest that there are two groups of visitors to your site. Some are still looking for info and others are close to a purchase. It’s important to appeal to both.
If they had a less-than-stellar homepage, they’d probably lose a lot of conversions because it would be a real pain to navigate. But their homepage is the opposite of that, and we’re working hard to make it more user-friendly. Don’t worry about SEO now.
Advice #2: Really listen to people
There’s something I do that helps me understand my customers better. I’ve figured out what’s causing my conversion rate to drop. And I’ve just kept working.
I’m still learning about conversion rate optimisation. And I’d like you to keep the same attitude with CRO.
According to Levi from 2ndKitchen,
“Always test your landing pages and CTAs. Even small tweaks like changing an adjective or the colour of then CTA button can go a long way in increasing your conversions”
By listening to people I can understand what’s working and what’s not. Listening to people means keeping an open mind. We should as CROs be open to feedback and critical reasoning above everything. Now this has two parts to it. One is listening to your customers and the part is listening to experts. Larry Kim, founder of Wordstream releases infographics to gauge the sentiment on people concerning a particular idea. You can do the same. Design great infographics with a tool like Visme.
Finally, listen to experts. You’re going to learn a lot more. You’ll learn a lot more than you think you can and learn just about everything. You’ll learn about things like how to improve conversions. You’ll learn about things like how to create different types of content. You’ll learn about how things like urgency. Urgency improves conversions too.
And the best way to learn as you go is to watch not just customers but other people, like the conversion rate optimisation experts, on YouTube.
To improve my knowledge, I watched a lot of people on YouTube, and I watched other people’s videos and read about their experiences. I listened to popular podcasts as well. All of this gave me perspective.
Conclusion
I know what you’re thinking. That’s a lot of information.
Yes, I made it to be like this super long.
Before starting optimising conversions on a third party site I’ve spent a lot of time looking at other people’s best practices. I know what people like and what they don’t like. I’ve also read case studies.
So I think if you want to create a great conversion rate optimisation strategy, you’ll have to pay attention to other people.
I remember, when I was helping some people with their strategy, I was like, “Why are you doing this? Why is this not working?” And they said, “Well, because I don’t do what I do. I’m not good at it.”
And I’ve found that the way to convince them is to realise that people may not like it.
So, once you’re really aware of what the problem is, you don’t have to guess anymore. Just look at other people. Look at their behaviour. And see what works for them. And then, I’ll be honest.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. Sometimes the best advice may not be a really good idea.
But if you’re new to this, I think it’s worth looking at.
What are your thoughts on this? How do you think your conversion rate is improving?
About the Author
George blogs at Kamayo a blog he started to share advice on personal finance.
