Conversion and Landing Page Optimization Beyond Multivariate Testing by, Vanessa Zamora on December 8, 2011

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During Pubcon Las Vegas 2011 WiderFunnel Optimization chief executive Chris Goward sat down with Pubcon video content producer Vanessa Zamora to discuss landing page and conversion optimization. Goward shared the meaning of the company's LIFT Model , which consists of six conversion factors that affect site owners conversion rates, including value proposition, relevance, clarity, anxiety, distraction, and urgency. The LIFT model is a helpful framework used for analyzing websites and landing pages to find out how to create hypotheses to ensure the user experience is well thought through so that the WiderFunnel Optimization team is able to assist a company in having the best chance at getting a conversion rate lift through their controlled testing methods, Goward explained.

 

When asked about best practices in regards to landing page optimization implementation, Goward noted that in his experience he's learned that there is a lot of talk about best practices and what is defined as such depends largely on specific situations, website scenarios, target audience, and goals. Goward's company has found some consistencies in how users interact with websites, but a lot of the common knowledge is just not true, he added. Goward said that his company is working to debunk the preconceived notions and myths, like for instance the widely thought assumption that sex sells. Through testing, Goward's organization discovered that it is actually distracting, contrary to popular belief. Goward said there has been a lot of talk about videos on landing pages and how effective they can be. One of the recent examples his company tested was for a B2B company, and they found that contrary to what they thought might happen, screen shots were more effective while videos decreased conversions. Another example, as a result of a test conducted with the Hair Club, revealed that rotating images that were very emotive actually decreased conversions whereas static text that explained very clearly and persuasively what the product offered, worked best, Goward said.

 

 

Goward, who spoke on the Multivariate Testing and Conversion Optimization panel during Pubcon Las Vegas said that he found the discussion around the buzz word multivariate testing interesting, and added that it's not a widely-used practice used by those actually doing conversion optimization. Multivariate testing, according to Goward, relies too much on the tool and it's a false promise that you can put any idea into a test and get a brilliant result. The ideas you input are much more important, Goward explained, and with good planning, AB testing, and isolating variables you can get a lot better result a lot faster than using complex technology that will do the heavy lifting for you. The fact that these ideas were a consistent theme amongst the panelists was good to hear, said Goward, because it means that people are maturing beyond using tools alone.

 

Goward then walked Zamora through what it looks like sitting down with a client, and explained that they use something called the Kaizen method which starts by looking at an analysis of the page and the website to develop a hypothesis and to try and structure a test that leads toward marketing insights. While a lot of companies just have their designers create dramatic variations of web pages to test, WiderFunnel Optimization designers don't get involved until step four or five of the seven-step process, Goward added. First there is an analysis of pages, then a hypothesis and wire frames are created, and then Goward said they get into design and copy-writing, and ultimately end with implementation and results analysis. People, according to Goward, are implementing the tactics before the strategy, and his organization is trying to get people to think about the marketing goals, business goals, website and optimization goals before getting into design variations.

 

Conversion optimization has been undersold, Goward said, adding the power lies in that you have statistically significant quantities of visitors coming to your website ready to tell you what works and what persuades them to act and there is even more power that can be amplified from those results by extracting the learning and feeding it into the marketing strategy.

 

Goward also talked about the newly-released Conversion Skills test that originated from conferences like Pubcon where people enjoy guessing which landing page variation will succeed in converting visitors, but serves to confirm that it's now possible to just guess when it comes to figuring out which variant will convert. The test allows people to go through and select which variant will win and then actually look at the case studies to see the context of the landing page, Goward concluded.

 

Watch Goward's full video from Pubcon Las Vegas 2011 now.