As the summer hits the halfway mark, let us take a minute and ask ourselves, have we been playing a little harder than working?

Did you know that conversion rate optimization is being Googled more than ever, and companies spend around $2000 per month on CRO tools? VentureBeat did a study that revealed that, on average, when using conversion rate optimization tools, there was an average Return on Investment (ROI) of 223%! Even more reason to continue exploring what CRO tools work best for you.

This month’s lineup will help get you on your way to success. We share an article from VWO and answer what Hicks Law is and why it’s so important. The Marketing Sherpa shares three case studies, all geared to help your customers believe your marketing message. Guess the Test answers what phone number page layout provided the best results for a major bank in the UK, the accordion drop-down or the standard number list? And finally, we visit VWO again to discuss winning testing results using CRO research. 

As you continue reading, think about what could work for your business and how you would implement it.

What is Hicks Law?

https://vwo.com/blog/what-is-hicks-law-and-how-it-can-simplify-choices/

Ever find yourself at the ice cream shop with 30 different flavors to choose from, and it takes forever to decide what one you want? It’s quick to understand why the line was so long. When we add new options or variations, it becomes difficult to see what’s in front of us. We can become disinterested very fast- the same goes for your customers.

Hicks law is a basic user design principle, that helps alleviate some of the pains of decision-making. This law states- the more choices, the longer it will take to decide. Below is the formula for Hick’s Law.

Image source: Hubspot

This article from VWO also talks about high-velocity testing and why it is critical to simplify the user experience.

Below is a list of variations you could test for.

• Multi-step form vs. email-only accounts
• Two third-party platforms vs. 3 with no email-option
• Collapsible form fields vs. static fields

It’s easy to see why we enjoyed this article from VWO.

How Customers Believe Your Marketing Message

https://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/value-proposition

Ever try to get your point across to someone, and they just aren’t getting it? We agree this is frustrating, even more so when your business is on the line. This article from The Marketing Sherpa brings you three case studies, all geared to help make believers out of your customers.

The first case study is from Pizza Hut. This popular pizza chain has an in-house startup focused on the experience of its digital users.

The digital ventures team noticed that customers were not clicking on the popular deals page. It was time for testing. Learn how this team turned a simple A/B test into a projected increase in sales of $7.8 million by helping direct their customer exactly where they wanted them to go.

MarketingSherpa

Case study #3 was very neat; it explained how one owner set out to use YouTube and its influencers to improve sales. They list the process from start to finish in this article from The Marketing Sherpa.

Which Page Layout Reduced Call Volumes?

https://guessthetest.com/test/which-page-layout-reduced-call-volumes-standard-or-accordion/

In my opinion, this A/B test from Guess the Test was pretty obvious. Which page layout would reduce call volumes the most? The standard phone list or a categorized drop-down accordion list?

A major UK bank’s call volume was incredibly high. While using the standard phone list, 50% of callers were phoning the wrong number looking for specific banking issues. This was a problem that needed fixing.

Although this study was flawed due to the traffic split of 75/25, it’s safe to say the accordion style is more user-friendly, resulting in a 12% reduction in calls.

guessthetest.com

This article also goes on to talk about the scan-ability of your webpage. Did you know only 16% of users will read every word? Learn how to make your website more skimmable and scannable to improve your user’s experience.

Learn How to Get Winning Ideas with Conversion Research

https://vwo.com/blog/how-to-get-winning-testing-ideas-with-conversion-research/

Conversion research is vital. Before you test, you must know what and why you are testing. Going in blind will never yield the same results as a carefully considered A/B test.

Below is a list of possible achieved goals when proper conversion research is performed.

• Write copy that aligns with your customer’s needs and reduces their fears.
• Catch existing user experience errors.
• Help understand the user behaviors
• Provide user-friendly designs that help your customers.

VWO also provides you with a seven-item checklist to help you evaluate the useability pains of your website. Items such as; are your website elements consistent across all webpages? Is the text on your webpage readable? Find out the entire list in the article.

Remember, A/B testing was ranked the highest method for improving conversions by almost 50%. However, you must know what to test and why.

This article goes on to break down the four pillars for analysis.

• Heuristic analysis
• Technical analysis
• Behavior analysis
• Qualitative & Voice of Customer (VoC) research

Once again, another great article from VWO not to be missed.

In Summary

Let’s end with a saying from my grandmother; take what you need and leave the rest. Take a look and see what tips and tricks you can use to get better conversions and make more profits!

Remember, if you are not testing, constantly trying to improve, your competitors most likely are. What steps are you taking today?

“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it.” ~ H James Harrington

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