Website design is not easy and it’s something that is an iterative process. It’s all about attracting the right audience and converting them quickly with targeted events (e.g., downloads, trials, signups, etc.). If you want to make your website better at turning visitors into customers (or subscribers), you’ll need to identify the obstacles to the conversion paths you’ve designed.
Google Analytics is essential for understanding your visitors but it can’t tell you why visitors leave, what they wanted or what could have persuaded them to take action. It provides detailed statistics about the visitors to your website — where they came from, and which links they clicked on once they arrived. Capturing the behaviors of the visitor is more difficult with the web, but it can be done.
Utilizing Heatmaps for Conversion Optimization
There are several actionable types of user data that can be used to generate heatmaps, but if you are focused on conversion optimization, then the most promising form of user data is from mouse movement and clicks. At Convertiv we have used several vendors for generating heatmap data and our favorite is Crazy Egg which shows exactly where visitors clicked — even if it wasn’t on a link.
- A/B Testing: Utilizing multiple page designs will further enhance your optimization. Pooling the data from two or more different layouts of the same content and utilizing the best features from each design is how you take heatmapping to the next level.
- Content Placement: Always place the content that is key to your visitor’s goals at the top of the page. Users generally mouse-over and click on what they see first, and while People do scroll, why introduce such a barrier to conversation? Don’t!
- Avoid Home Page Sliders: Everyone likes sliders for different reasons; often these reasons are centered on increasing impressions and click-through rates. While this may be a good tactic on a home page, it is much less affective on a landing page. If a visitor just followed her search results to your site, she already knows what she wants and will scroll by any slider between her and the content or call to action she’s looking for.
- Use Visual Content: Imagery and graphics can dramatically help visitors find what they are looking for on a page. Use pictures related to key content and colors that stick out from the rest of the page for CTA’s. This will help to direct mouse movement to the right place on the page more quickly.
- Less Content is More: Summaries are almost always better than long winded explanations. People like to see bullets or numbered lists so that they can land on a page and quickly understand if this is what they were looking for. This practice can help lower friction to a conversion dramatically (especially with technical information).
Additions & Feedback
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