Free Assessment: How does your sales & marketing measure up?

Get Started
Close

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.
Get Started
Carly Stec

By Carly Stec

Dec 22, 2014

Topics:

Lead Generation
Lead Generation

5 Conversion Rate Optimization Tips From 5 Revealing Studies

Carly Stec

By Carly Stec

Dec 22, 2014

5 Conversion Rate Optimization Tips From 5 Revealing Studies

When I was growing up, I learned a lot from my older brother's mistakes.

(One time, Derrick said the "f-word" at the table and he got his portable CD player and Game Boy taken away for two weeks!)

While these lessons definitely helped me dodge a couple bullets, I'll admit that there was nothing more telling than the lessons I learned from my own mistakes.

Sure, it's easy to play it safe, but the following studies are proof that there is value in shaking things up. 

While their outcomes shouldn't serve as the end all be all, the goal is to provide you with enough inspiration to fuel your own conversion rate optimization tests. 

Location, location, location 

Having CTAs on your website doesn't guarantee conversions. Factors like copy, color, and perhaps most importantly, placement all contribute to the performance of your button. 

This isn't to denounce the importance of those other factors, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter if your CTA is red or green if no one can find it in the first place. 

Aware of the importance of placement, Kimberly Snyder decided to run a test to determine whether she should incorporate her "Add to Cart" CTA above or below her explainer video. 

kimberlysnyder_conversion_rate_case_study

After analyzing a heat map of the page, she noticed that people stopped scrolling after the video, leaving her CTA underneath untouched. 

By relocating the CTA to the top of the video, she saw a 38% increase in conversions. (Source: QuickSprout

Actionable tip: Heat maps can be used to reveal strategic opportunities for improved conversions on your website. Understanding the way people are behaving on your website makes it easier for you to design a format that aligns with their actions. Not sure how to get started? We suggest checking out CrazyEgg. 

Be mindful of details 

Addressing a pain point up front will helps to transform skeptics into leads.

If your audience is crunched for time, your solution has to be time-friendly. Remember, your goal is to reduce pain, not pile on. 

A simple landing page test from Unbounce's Michael Aagaard revealed that positioning your content to speak to a visitor's apprehensions has the ability to increase conversions. 

Aagaard took to the landing page for his ebook 7 Universal Conversion Optimization Principles to test two different bullet points. 

Content_verve_conversion_rate_optimization_

A) Insights and experience from 4 years of research and over 350 A/B tests distilled into one 26-page free ebook

B) Read the book in just 25 minutes and get insights from 4 years of research and over 350 A/B tests

391 downloads later, he found that variation B increased conversions by 18.59%. 

Actionable tip: When writing landing page content, question every sentence you put forth. Why should my audience care? How does this make their life easier? Does this appeal to their pain points? By addressing the time issue upfront, Aagaard was able to position his offer has something that seemed more manageable for his audience.

Less is more

Psychologist Barry Schwartz explains that while choice provides people with freedom, which translates to welfare, too much choice has been known to have a crippling effect on our ability to make decisions. 

The reason being that too many choices lead to too many decisions which ultimately increases buyer anxiety.

Worried about overwhelming his audience, QuickSprout's Neil Patel decided to test whether or not the number of social sharing choices has an effect on his audience's decision to take action. 

In doing so, he increased the sharing options by adding both LinkedIn and Pinterest to the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ buttons he already had in place. The results revealed that increasing choice actually led to a 29% decrease in sharing. 

QuickSprout_Conversion_Rate_Optimization

Actionable tip: More options don't automatically translate to more action. When determining which buttons to include on your website, be sure to reference your buyer personas. Just because Patel chose to stick with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ doesn't mean that you have to. If your ideal audience spends a great deal of time on Pinterest, swap one out as you see fit.

Simplify everything

Kilt shopping can be stressful (or so I'd assume.)

Aware of their overwhelming inventory, Buyakilt.com decided to incorporate a product filter option on their website to determine whether or not it would influence conversions. 

Buy_a_kilt_conversion_rate_optimization

They found that implementing filters lead to the following:

  • 76.1% increase in revenue
  • 26% increase in conversions
  • 19.76% increase in shopping cart visits

(Source: Visual Website Optimizer)

Not bad, right?

Actionable tip: Don't sell kilts? No problem. There are handful of alternative ways to incorporate filters on your website to improve the user experience. We added drop-down menus to IMPACT's Learning Center to make it easier for people to uncover the resources that best suit their needs. Check it out:

Free_Marketing_Resources___IMPACT

Give to receive

This case study is a bit of a throwback, but the lesson learned remains valuable.

If you offer a service or software as a service, it's likely that you're offering some sort of free trial to prospective customers.

While HubSpot initially offered a free 7-day trial, they couldn't help but wonder if extending the trial period would have any influence on conversions.

Was 7 days really enough time for a prospect to make a decision?

Here's what they tested:

cta-control

cta-treatment

In doing so, they found that the 30-day trial was able to create a 110% increase in free trial requests. (Source: HubSpot)

Actionable tip: Don't be afraid to give away a little more than you're used to. While this approach proved beneficial for HubSpot in terms of free trial submissions, there are tons of other ways to apply this lesson to your marketing. If you just uncovered an awesome hack that helped you double your email list, detail it on your blog. Giving away your secrets is a great way to earn the respect of your audience, and in turn, receive more from them. 

Free Assessment:

How does your sales & marketing measure up?
Take this free, 5-minute assessment and learn what you can start doing today to boost traffic, leads, and sales.

Related Articles

Demand Generation vs. Lead Generation: What’s the Difference?

April 10, 2023
Kristen Harold Kristen Harold

35 Landing Page Examples to Inspire Yours in 2023

January 26, 2023
Ramona Sukhraj Ramona Sukhraj

Should You Still Gate Your Content in 2023?

January 23, 2023
John Becker John Becker

Here's Why You Keep Getting Garbage Inbound Marketing Leads

December 19, 2022
Jessica Palmeri Jessica Palmeri

How To Grow Your Email List: 13 Savvy Tips To Try in 2023

November 22, 2022
Ramona Sukhraj Ramona Sukhraj

Increase Landing Page Conversion Rates With These 3 Simple, Powerful Hacks

June 2, 2022
Hannah Woods Hannah Woods

20 Tips for Optimizing Your Business Blog Articles for Conversions

April 21, 2022
Jen Barrell Jen Barrell

How To Make Each Lead Capture Form a Conversion Powerhouse

April 8, 2022
Carolyn Edgecomb Carolyn Edgecomb

The Selling 7: 5 Best Landing Page Video Examples

December 23, 2021
Zach Basner Zach Basner

Rethinking Your Approach to B2B Lead Gen, ft. Chris Walker (Inbound Success, Ep. 200)

June 21, 2021
Kathleen Booth Kathleen Booth

What is the Content Marketing Funnel and How Does It Work?

June 2, 2021
Kimberly Marshall Kimberly Marshall

What is Lead Nurturing?

May 28, 2021
Kimberly Marshall Kimberly Marshall

88 compelling words and phrases to prompt website visitors into action [Infographic]

April 24, 2021
Kaitlyn Petro Kaitlyn Petro

What is Conversion Rate Optimization? (Definition, Examples, and Tips)

March 31, 2021
Jolie Higazi Jolie Higazi

What is a good average landing page conversion rate?

March 12, 2021
Christine Austin Christine Austin

Call-To-Action Examples: 31 Designed to Earn Clicks and Generate Leads

March 11, 2021
Karisa Hamdi Karisa Hamdi

6 Reasons You're Not Generating Leads With Your Blog Content

November 9, 2020
Justine Timoteo Thomas Justine Timoteo Thomas

9 keys to building an effective landing page [Infographic]

October 3, 2020
Steve Polito Steve Polito

5 effective strategies for decreasing bounce rates on a blog article

August 25, 2020
Kevin Phillips Kevin Phillips

7 savvy tips to boost conversions in your retail e-commerce store

July 17, 2020
Pratik Dholakiya Pratik Dholakiya

6 most common lead generation website problems (and how to fix them)

January 28, 2020
Jen Barrell Jen Barrell

Facebook ads help: Why are my ads not converting?

January 20, 2020
Rachel Palmateer Rachel Palmateer

11 Best Examples of Lead Generation Website Designs

January 20, 2020
Justine Timoteo Thomas Justine Timoteo Thomas

Top 9 proven lead generation ideas you need to try in 2020

December 3, 2019
Ali Parmelee Ali Parmelee

New study reveals which Google My Business features boost conversions

November 4, 2019
Jenna Ott Jenna Ott