These are some of the findings I've discovered through many years of testing in a bid to retain this valuable knowledge and avoid past mistakes, I'm sharing them with you now. You're welcome : )
Some key testing findings.....
1. Place Call-to-Action on bottom right. Always.
2. What are the 3 main features/benefits – ‘unique value proposition? Now are they immediately obvious on your page? No? Put them there.
3. Do you have credibility indicators for your website; testimonials, reviews, awards, stats? Use them. Ideally as secondary content. By that I mean placed in content that isn't a lead up to your main Call To Action but in content below or to the side of it.
4. If you can drive people to a product page instead of a hub/portfolio page, do it.
5. Avoid additional links on your page. Generally speaking these are just leakage points. Customers will use them given the opportunity.
6. Strongly differentiate between products where they are jointly visible on the same page.
7. Is your copy generating any fear? If you have to throw up a negative messages relating to your product such as "this *** if used incorrectly will kill you" consider the tone of voice in which you do it.
8. We’re not selling features, we’re selling solutions to customer problems. Need led propositions works. Always.
9. White space can be used to make a page look less ominous. Too much and it makes it look amateurish.Get an eye for balance.
10. Too much of one colour on a page leads to information blindness. Avoid the Sea of Red/black/yellow.
11. Anything that rotates or animates tends to draw focus to your static secondary content. Place your proposition in the static content.
12. Ensure continuity of look & feel in the journey. You’ll increase drop-out if you ask a customer to go through multiple brand look & feel experiences. Continuity and flow.
13. Your existing customers are considerably more likely to buy from you than new customers. Differentiate between the two segments whenever possible. Use a sense of loyalty.
14. Remove choices. Yes you should always support multichannel but be aware if you offer a CTA to offline channels you are generally loosening your online sales funnel.
15. Understand where the visitor came from. If you said something in a PPC Ad make sure it’s reiterated in your page front & centre. If they came from a Partner/Aggregator they are a ‘hotter’ lead and need reassurance that you’re up to the job of giving them a solution to their ‘need’.
16. People don't read on the Web. Study after study has shown that less content on a landing page leads to higher conversion rates. Ruthlessly edit your text down to simple headlines and short, bulleted lists. Cut out the self-promoting marketing speak that people won't read anyway. You can link to detailed information on supporting pages.
17. Despite what many people say there IS a page fold. Be aware of it and if it’s crucial to the user journey and the value proposition it SHOULD be above the page fold.
NEVER SECOND GUESS THE CUSTOMER. TEST MULTIPLE EXPERIENCES & THEORIES. LET THE PUBLIC DECIDE WHAT WORKS.
Happy testing : )
