100 Conversion Optimization Case Studies

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If you’re a marketer, you’re undoubtedly looking for techniques to optimize your website for better conversions. Fellow marketers have released tactics that worked from them. In this post, I’ve curated some of these. They’ve come from multiple sources and been placed in one post. I present to you 100 conversion optimization case studies!

Overview and Results Achieved:

CloudSponge had an outdated website design:

This is the redesign:

The new design achieved a 33% conversion increase.

Key Findings:

-You can see the difference between the two designs. One is boring, has one call to action, and gives no good reasons why anyone should choose CloudSponge. The new website lets visitors view a demo and also gives them reasons to try CloudSponge.

If your website looks like the original CloudSponge, get a new design. It’ll pay for itself once you see a conversion bump.

Source:

http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2010/10/26/how-cloudsponge-increased-conversions-33-using-99designs-case-study/

Overview and Results Achieved:

L’Axelle wanted to get more people to click on their add to cart button. This was their original homepage:

This was the test:

L’Axelle describes the original copy as being comfort oriented. They sell on the basis of people feeling relieved and relaxed.

The test copy is action oriented. It is about solving a problem.

The action oriented headline and copy earned a 38.3% conversion rate, 93% better than the original.

Key Findings:

-”Put an end to sweat marks” is action oriented and assures some relief for customers. Adding the word “end” makes it sound like they won’t get sweat marks ever again. If the headline read “Reduce Sweat Marks,” the copy might not have performed well.

Source:

http://www.abtests.com/test/125001/landing-for-laxelle

Overview and Results Achieved:

The Weather Channel wanted to turn people into premium subscribers. They decluttered their homepage and had a single action. These changes increased conversions 225%.

Key Findings:

-When in doubt, simplify. Simplicity is difficult and requires restraint, but it’s much easier for visitors and helps them make decisions.

Source:

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/how-to-convert-225-more

Overview and Results Achieved:

37signals changed the design of their Highrise product page. While they’ve done many tests, we’ll feature one where they had a white background and tested it against a background of a customer. Here is the test and results:

And they tried a long page with the same background vs a short page. The long page performed worse:

Key Findings:

-As you can see, the type of background with the person really sticks out from most of the other pages on the internet. It may signal to the visitor the importance of the website and make them want to read more of the offering.

Source:

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-3-final

Overview and Results Achieved:

The Sims 3 wanted to get more people to register. They tested their value proposition.

The original page:

The test:

The test increased game registrations 128%.

Key Findings:

-As you can see, the test emphasizes “free.” If your product is free or offers a free trial, don’t hide it. Let people know, because most are willing to try something that is free.

Source:

http://www.widerfunnel.com/proof/case-studies/the-sims-3-doubles-game-registrations-by-identifying-the-most-compelling-offer

Overview and Results Achieved:

Nature Air had 17 separate landing pages. They did a single A/B test on each landing page. The control did not make the CTA prominent:

Then they put the CTA in the content area:

Conversions went from 2.78% to about 19%, meaning their conversions improved 591%!

Key Findings:

-No matter how compelling your offer, if you don’t make it easy for visitors to click on something, they’ll never know. Make your CTA prominent, part of the content area, and easy to find. You’ll preferably want to keep it above the fold.

Source:

http://www.blastam.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/google-website-optimizer-increases-conversion-591/

Overview and Results Achieved:

FigLeaves sells women’s apparel on their website. They added product reviews to the site, and this change made customers 35% more likely to purchase.

Key Findings:

-Helping the visitor navigate and make decisions proves once again to be helpful at increasing conversions and making the visitor more likely to buy.

Source:

http://blog.arhg.net/2010/02/reflections-on-bryan-eisenbergs-keynote.html

Overview and Results Achieved:

BaseKit wanted to get more performance out of their pricing page. This was the old design:

This is the new design:

BaseKit calls this new version “Bolder, brighter, clearer pricing, nicer design, testimonial, more obvious currency selection.” The new design achieved a 25% higher conversion rate.

Key Findings:

-Your pricing page is just as important as your pricing. The way you present your pricing and the information surrounding it can play a big role in whether the visitor becomes a customer.

Source:

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increase-conversions-pricing/

Overview and Results Achieved:

Hawk Host A/B tested their homepage.

This is the control:

This is the test, with the prominent padlock:

The padlock converted 2-3x better than the original. No official percentage was given.

Key Findings:

-I’m not sure what purpose the globe served, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that a padlock increased conversion rates. It gives a subliminal message of security and assures visitors. Aim to have your images link with your unique value proposition and main message.

Source:

http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/02/21/multivariate-testing-a-real-life-example/

Overview and Results Achieved:

WikiJob had three testimonials on their homepage. They had a couple of problems with these testimonials, though. The testimonials weren’t attributed to any specific customers and no one even knew if they were testimonials. They were just quotes placed on the homepage. WikiJob did have testimonials, but they were at the bottom of the page. WikiJob decided to A/B test and move the testimonials to the top of the page.

What they experienced was a 34% increase in conversion rates.

Key Findings:

-Testimonials can give visitors assurance that previous people had success with you, thus ensuring your reputability.

Source:

http://www.salesnexus.com/blog/sales/the-importance-of-using-testimonials-2/

Overview and Results Achieved:

Zen Windows had a conversion rate of .75%. They hired a firm that redesigned the visitor flow.

Old design:

New design:

As a result of the redesign, their conversion rate increased to 2.95%.

Key Findings:

-The redesign made it easier for visitors to navigate the website. If your visitors are struggling to navigate your site, you can bet it’s having a negative effect on your conversions. If you’d like to learn what visitors think of your website, check out User Testing.

Source:

http://www.marketingadept.com/blog/2011/01/zen-windows-case-study/

Overview and Results Achieved:

Performable tested their homepage with two buttons: One was green, and the other was red. They kept the text (Get Started Now!) the same.

They found that 21% more people clicked on the red button than the green button.

Key Findings:

-As the article mentions, button color is easy to test. Experiment and you may be surprised with your results.

Source:

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/20566/The-Button-Color-A-B-Test-Red-Beats-Green.aspx

Overview and Results Achieved:

UK airline BMI had an urgent CTA that read “Hurry! Only XX seats left.” When they added a red background to the CTA, they increased their conversions 2.5%.

Key Findings:

-Colors that coordinate with the message may increase conversions. Consistency among text and colors can help reinforce the message you want to instill in visitors.

Source:

http://blog.sendblaster.com/2011/07/25/designing-a-call-to-action-that-customers-can%E2%80%99t-resist/#more-3936

Overview and Results Achieved:

BellaCor offered bonds from Buy Safe to a select group of visitors. They tested this against a group that was not given an option of bonds. The group that was offered bonds had a 10.4% better conversion rate than the control.

Key Findings:

-Consumers want to protect their transactions. They need assurances and security.

Source:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/08/26/bellacorcom-boosts-conversions-bonds

Overview and Results Achieved:

Oriental Furniture added a Buy Safe seal to their website. They checked this against the control that didn’t have the seal. After a couple of months of testing, Oriental Furniture experienced a 7.6% bump in conversion rate.

Key Findings:

-Assurances are almost always beneficial for websites and customers.

Source:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/01/05/orientalfurniturecom-drives-conversion-76-security

Overview and Results Achieved:

WaterFilters.net needed a search for their website. They turned to Google Site search.

As a result of implementing the search, bounce rate decreased 4% and conversions increased 11%.

Key Findings:

-Aiding visitors in their navigation through your site is a good tactic for increasing conversions.

Source:

http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/sitesearch/pdf/waterfilters.pdf

Overview and Results Achieved:

Intuit implemented proactive chat in different areas on their website.

Adding chat to the checkout process increased the average order value 43%. And there was a 20% increase in conversions compared with not using chat.

Using proactive chat on a product comparison page increased sales 211%:

It also was included on their checks and supplies product page:

And on the lead generation page:

Key Findings:

-Introducing proactive chat, where the visitor can see the chat box, may improve conversions if placed in areas of your website where visitors have questions.

Source:

http://www.proimpact7.com/ecommerce-blog/how-intuit-increased-conversion-rate-by-211-just-by-using-proactive-chat/

Overview and Results Achieved:

Crazy Egg got a website redesign and in 30 days improved their conversions 21%. They highlighted a few of their key changes:

-Let visitors try before they buy – the old design

-Align the brand with the audience

-Pay attention to the details

-Test, learn, and never be satisfied

Source:

http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/design/get-more-conversions-website

Overview and Results Achieved:

Bradley Spencer had this big secure image on a website:

And without the secure image:

The results were surprising – a 400% increase in conversions over 3 days. Four times more people clicked the coupon link.

Key Findings:

-Conventional wisdom says that adding security badges on your site would increase conversions, and 8 or 9 out of 10 times it would. This is one of those rare times when it didn’t. Always be experimenting, you’ll never know what you can remove to increase users.

Source:

http://www.bradleyspencer.com/2010/5-surprising-lessons-from-user-testing/

Overview and Results Achieved:

Device Magic wanted to test if video or an image slider converted better.

The original – with video:

The variation – with image slider:

The image slider increased conversions from homepage to signup page by 35% and subsequent signups by 31%.

Key Findings:

-Every website is different, so it cannot be surprising that an image slider outperformed video. Unfortunately, this video is too long (visitors know they’ll be sitting there for over 4 minutes to watch) and the screencap doesn’t make the video seem too interesting.

Source:

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/video-or-image-slider-ab-test/

Overview and Results Achieved:

Express Watches is a UK based online seller of Seiko watches. A big customer anxiety is the fear of getting counterfeit watches. Express Watches A/B tested on whether customers cared more about price or authenticity.

The control – competing on price point:

The variation – assuring authenticity:

The variation increased sales 107% over the original.

Key Findings:

-This result is likely industry specific. In industries where a lot of fraud exists, it certainly helps to prove you’re authentic. This can be applied to other industries as well. Placing badges like “Certified __ Partner” may increase sales.

Source:

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increase-in-sales/

Overview and Results Achieved:

SafeSoft Solutions develops products for customer contact centers. They A/B tested to see if leaving pricing on a landing page increased or decreased conversions.

The control:

The variation:

The variation brought a 100% boost in leads generated over the control. In this case, showing the price did have a positive impact.

Key Findings:

-People have a notion in their head that if a company doesn’t display pricing, it’s likely an expensive product. To get pricing, you have to talk to one of their salesmen and hear a sales pitch first. The variation removes this question and tells the visitor up front what the price is.

Source:

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/prominent-price-display-increases-leads-generated-by-100/

Overview and Results Achieved:

UK Tool Centre thought that having an extra product filter on their website was reducing visitor engagement. The filter was a brand of wood care products called Cuprinol.

This is the control:

In the variation, the filter menu was removed:

The variation resulted in an increase of 27% engagement in the product pages. This was due to visitors being less distracted.

Key Findings:

-Don’t distract visitors with unnecessary options.

Source:

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/remove-product-filter-increase-site-engagement/

Overview and Results Achieved:

AMD used ShareThis for social sharing. They wanted to increase the amount of sharing among visitors. They tested six variations, with different icons and placement. They tested it on AMD’s Support & Drivers page.

AMD found the best place for your social buttons is the left-position chicklet version with dynamic adjustment based on browser window size:

Key Findings:

-Experiment and learn the optimal place for your social media buttons. Many websites place them on the left-hand side, but only you can test to see what works best.

Source:

http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/amd-3600-social-sharing-increase/

Overview and Results Achieved:

One company had shopping cart abandonment rates of around 80%. They had the goal of getting it down to 70%, hoping they’d see a 50% increase in sales. Down to 60% and maybe their sales would double. When they factored this in, they knew they had to redesign their shopping cart experience.

Here’s a comparison of their redesign compared to the old design:

As you can see, the new design is greatly improved. There is a little help section along with guarantees on the right, live customer support, customer testimonials, backend improvements, and they shortened and categorized the form.

This resulted in an abandonment rate that went down from 80% to 54%.

Key Findings:

-If you have an abandonment rate in the 80% class or above, it’s time to put some focus into a redesign. Changing a struggling homepage while ignoring the checkout experience will keep you stagnant. Find what the problems are (big or small) and work to fix them. You’ll see improved conversion rates and more income for your business.

Source:

http://experienceblogger.com/post/1081389180/design-for-conversion-checkout-page-redesign

Overview and Results Achieved:

SAP BusinessObjects originally had a small blue text link for its add to cart option.

They added a big orange button on the test:

And increased their conversions 32%.

Key Findings:

-Making a CTA will almost undoubtedly increase conversion rates.

Source:

http://dmu.cdmginc.us/testing-corner-do-bigger-buttons-work-better/

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7 Marketing Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies

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Who doesn’t love a good eye-tracking study?

With the ability to take a lot of guesswork out of conversion rate optimization, eye-tracking software and heat maps can reveal some startling insights into increasing conversions (and avoiding sales killers) that can benefit every business.

Today we’re going to go over 7 important eye-tracking studies that give a sneak peek into common browsing patterns and elements of human behavior that all marketers need to know.

Let’s take a look!

You don’t have to be an expert in UX (user experience) to understand the importance of Fitts’s law.

While seemingly complicated at first glance, one of the fundamental lessons Fitts’s law communicates is that object “weight” (in the visual hierarchy) is a big determinant in what attracts eyes and mouse clicks.

Consider this recent case study from TechWyse that examined the homepage of a truck service with a heat map:

As you can see from the first test, the non-clickable “NO FEES” button was hogging a lot of attention, but it is not a call-to-action and its information isn’t the most important on the page.

That’s no good.

Also, it is right next to one of the most important CTAs on the page (the phone number) and it stands out so much that it actually is drawing people away from other more important elements.

Take a look at the changes they made to alleviate this problem.

Much better!

The “Call Now” button clearly is getting a lot of attention over every other section on the page, which is great because it is how customers get started contacting the business!

Lesson learned: When you are assembling a persuasive landing page, be sure the elements that “pop” are the ones that matter, and that you aren’t giving too much weight to visuals that don’t encourage customers to take action.

Most marketers have seen those SERP (search engine results page) heat maps that show the top 3 rankings hogging all of the action… But what role do visual elements play in holding visitor attention?

In an interesting heat map study published on Moz.com, videos were shown to be particularly powerful in capturing eyeballs, even when they weren’t the #1 result.

As you can see below, both direct video results (such as a hosted YouTube video) and embedded video results (videos embedded on a webpage) commanded more attention than a regular search listing, especially if they were near the top of the results.

Why video?

There was a popular post a few weeks ago on how authorship may have hurt click-throughs for a product page. It was on the front page of Hacker News and many marketers were arguing over how Google Authorship has impacted their own search traffic.

While the debate stirred up some counterpoints, one conclusion may be valid. Authorship photos might cause people to assume that the page is an article or a blog post rather than a product page.

Video, on the other hand, should not have the same effect, since it usually is interpreted as a product video. However, instead of assuming, test to see if it impacts your search traffic for top keywords.

Lesson learned: If you want to stand out at the top of some competitive search results, you may want to test an embedded video rather than authorship for product pages.

Using visual cues to guide visitors to key areas of your site is nothing new, but just how effective is it?

According to studies such as the aptly named Eye Gaze Cannot be Ignored, it is incredibly effective. Human beings have a natural tendency to follow the gaze of others, and we have been coached since birth to follow arrows directing us to where we should be looking/going.

Consider the following example that included a page with a baby and a compelling headline for taking care of the baby’s skin.

It’s obvious that the baby’s face is drawing a lot of attention. (As a matter of fact, faces of babies and pretty women draw the longest gazes from all visitors.)

Unfortunately, from a marketing standpoint, this is a problem because the copy isn’t commanding enough attention.

Now look at the browsing patterns when an image of the baby facing the text was used.

As you can see, users focused on the baby’s face again (from the side) and directly followed the baby’s line of sight to the headline and opening copy. (Even the area of text that the baby’s chin was pointing to was read more!)

Lesson learned: Visuals are an important part of a site’s overall design, but most pages can be optimized by including images that serve as visual cues for where visitors should look next.

I bet many of you already have heard of the F-pattern of reading that is common throughout the web, but would you have guessed that it applies practically everywhere?

According to this study from the Nielsen Group, all across articles, e-commerce sites, and search engine results, people almost always browse in an F-shaped pattern that heavily favors the left side of the screen.

This coincides with additional research that shows people tend to view the left side of the screen overall far more than the right.

It is important to note all of these studies were conducted with English speaking (and reading) participants. The opposite was true for those users whose languages read from right to left.

Is it any wonder that some of the most tested websites in the world (like Amazon) have placed a clear priority on the left sides of their homepages?

Lesson learned: Web users tend to browse sites based on their reading habits. For English speaking people (and languages with similar reading patterns), the left side of the screen is heavily favored, and all sites tend to be browsed in an F-pattern.

Relying on the screen above “the fold” to do all of the heavy lifting is one of the biggest usability mistakes you can make. The idea that it is the only place web users will browse is a complete myth.

Multiple tests (including this one and this other one) have shown that users have no problem scrolling down below the fold. Surprisingly, they will browse even further down if the length of the page is longer.

KISSmetrics’s own co-founder and VP of Marketing, Neil Patel, conducted an interesting A/B test on his homepage and found that a page with 1,292 words beat a page with 488 words by 7.6%. And it didn’t end there. The leads from the long form version of the page were higher in quality than the leads from the variation.

Another great test from the folks at ContentVerve showed that moving the call-to-action far below the fold actually boosted conversions by 304%.

Lesson learned: Although it’s dependent on the page you are testing, you shouldn’t be afraid of placing important elements below the fold (and testing them there), because it gives people time to read your copy before they take action.

Who’d have thought that eye tracking and email marketing could be best of friends?

According to this study conducted by the Nielsen Group, people scan emails very quickly, and the only areas they give any appreciable amount of time to at all are the initial copy and headlines.

From the study:

Users are extremely fast at both processing their inboxes and reading newsletters. The average time allocated to a newsletter after opening it was only 51 seconds.

This means that you need to get to the point in your emails in under a minute. The message should be as compelling as that of an online article, but you don’t have as much time to capture attention as you might in an article.

This coincides with a study from MarketingSherpa that shows people prefer short, clear, and un-creative headlines for their emails. (Creative headlines can seem mysterious, and mystery in an inbox may equal spam.)

Truly a situation where the KISS principle applies!

Lesson learned: Once you’ve earned the right to appear in a prospect’s inbox, be sure to keep that privilege by crafting emails that are clear and get to the point quickly. You don’t have as much time to broadcast your message as you would in an online article.

If you’ve ever seen this video by Dan Ariely, you know that sometimes seemingly “useless” price points actually are quite important for increasing conversions.

One common pricing element that fits the bill here is the “pre-sale” price. It isn’t literally used by customers because they don’t pay that price… But is it still “used” to evaluate the new price?

In an effort to answer this question, Robert Stevens of THiNK Eye Tracking conducted a test that examined how people look at prices and products on shelves.

In the initial test, results weren’t too surprising. Most people spent time looking at prices and product packaging.

But if the pre-sale price was included, would people look at it?

They did!

Better yet, Stevens also tested perception of the sale price to see if viewing the pre-sale price played a role.

These were his findings:

After consumers selected the smoothie of their choice, I asked them if their purchase was a good value for the money on a 7 point “like” scale (with 1 being very good value for the money and 7 being not very good value for the money).

Consumers who saw only the promotional item gave a mean score of 2.4. Consumers who saw the promotional item next to a full-price premium offer gave it 1.7, even though they purchased the same item!

Basically, humans are pretty bad at evaluating price without contextual clues (as argued by Ariely in this TED talk). We find it much easier to make decisions when we have something to base them on.

That’s why people often view a sale price as a better value when they can see what they really are saving. Without that contextual clue, the sale price is hard to evaluate because they don’t know what the product usually sells for.

Lesson learned: Sometimes “useless” prices like pre-sale prices can be used by customers to evaluate the value of a potential purchase.

About the Author: Gregory Ciotti is the marketing strategist for Help Scout, a Zendesk alternative made for small businesses that want help desk software with a personal touch. Get more data-driven content from Greg by downloading his free guide on converting more customers (with psychology).

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