6 Examples of Data-Informed Site Changes that Increased Conversions

You're not one of those designers still resisting the use of data to inform site changes, are you?

If you are, I'll let you in on a little secret: I was too just a few short years ago. I would make prolific statements, like: "Who needs data? I'm a designer, dammit! I craft websites based on my intuition, design aesthetic and vast experience." Sound familiar?

In hindsight, I was not taking the time to understand site visitor behaviors, friction points they encountered or frustrations they harbored. I was far from being an advocate for the user. As a matter of fact, I didn't have a solid understanding of what was working and what wasn't, and certainly not 'why'. This resulted in a lopsided balance between user needs and business goals. The business almost always won.

Embracing Data
Fast forward to today: I'm growing my agency's client relationships and winning new business by evangelizing data-informed design. Of course, we don't let user data drive all of our design decisions. That could translate into emotionless, marketing-driven garble. But there is a happy place where a quantitative and qualitative approaches live harmoniously together! I've been there and have seen how it can result in delighted clients, satisfied users and an invigorated design team.

Success Stories
Let me share some quick examples of how we got to that happy place. Below are 6 challenges I faced with a few select clients. For each, I've listed the evidence we found within the analytics + survey data and the design changes that helped achieve dramatic increases in conversion:

Client Question #1: Are our visitors sufficiently motivated to start the checkout process?
Evidence: 10% of visitors abandoned before proceeding to checkout, although self-qualifying themselves as "ready to buy."
Result: Set expectations around checkout process length, as well as improving the visibility of shipping and return policy.

Client Question #2: Why is there a high abandonment rate so late in the checkout process?
Evidence: Nearly 20% of visitors never clicked "Checkout," but did click "Update Cart," possibly mistaking this button as a means of continuing.
Result: Designed clearer visual distinctions between calls-to-action.

Client Question #3: Within checkout, are visitors confused by our process?
Evidence: Multiple page views of billing and shipping pages, with a high rate of visitors clicking "Help" within them, then abandoning shortly thereafter.
Result: Improved error messaging and contextual instructional copy.

Client Question #4: Are we appropriately allocating page real estate to our features, such as gift card redemption?
Evidence: 90% of visitors never attempted to redeem a gift card during their session.
Result: Removed gift card feature and re-allocated page real estate to revenue-generating features.

Client Question #5: Why are our visitors making only single-item purchases?
Evidence: Only 30% of visitors scrolled down far enough on product pages to see cross-sell functionality. For those that did scroll to see the cross-sell functionality, less than 50% of them interacted with it.
Result: Moved the cross-selling functionality along the right rail and added explanation of why the products are "recommended."

Client Question #6: What are the optimal number of pages for our application process?
 Is our current long 1-page design optimal?
Evidence: A/B test showed that over 70% of visitors to the 1-page control application scrolled and then abandoned, without any other type of page interaction. The 2-page design showed higher interactivity and 10% higher conversions.
Result: Put 2-page application process in market and conducted further multivariate tests to lift conversions another 8%.

Summary
Of course I have to write the disclaimer: "your results may vary." We apply best practices to every site we build. But more often than not, we identify a multitude of distinct user behaviors that are specific to each of our clients. Hence the embracing of an iterative and data-informed design process.

(Note: this post was originally intended to run on Carsonified's Think Vitamin blog in the late summer. But since they procrastinated, I decided to post it here on my own blog.)

Data-Driven Design: Five Must-Haves for Online Retailers

During our economy's high times — oh yea, in case you forgot, that included careless consumer spending and huge credit card debt — online retailers neglected their websites' user experience. Heck, I might too if my site was generating hundreds of millions of dollars as-is!

It wasn't unusual for consumers to tolerate non-intuitive online product browsing, hunt for hidden calls-to-action, agonize over registration forms with too many or irrelevant questions, and endure shopping carts with more steps than the Philadelphia Museum of Art. But what I found interesting was that consumers were very often motivated to buy online, regardless of these faults. Eagerly spending on the latest cashmere sweater, cell phone or over-sized plasma tv, they only occasionally groaned about the user experience.

Consumers are now selectively spending every penny. Their tolerance for a poorly designed, untrustworthy, and "not-worth-the-hassle" online experience has completely diminished. Not to mention the still-lingering fears over site security and identity theft. Conversion rates have recently plummeted as much as 50-75% year over year for some of my clients. Suddenly, measurement and optimization are the topic of discussion, from board meetings to cocktail parties. Marketers are talking about web analytics tools like they're the latest Spring fashion that everyone's got to have! Organizations have hired - or are hiring - website analysts (go check the job boards if you don't believe me) to evaluate and maximize their online revenue. Well, at least that's the desired effect. The fact is that retailers are still lacking effective website optimization programs.

My prescription: Optimize your website right. Optimize now. And optimize often. While it's easy to look at an online retail experience and conclude that it needs work, without data that says so, it is particularly challenging to pinpoint the precise reasons that make it so bad. This in turn makes it difficult to embark upon site revisions.

What are the friction points within each page of your online shopping experience? A methodology needs to be in place that determines what is wrong, how to fix it and prioritize site changes. Studying actual visitor behavioral data is a crucial first step to understanding what is wrong with your website.

Interestingly enough, hardly retailers have access to within-page user behaviors. And sadly, most don't even have their web analytics tool installed properly. Regardless of what your vendor told you, professional installation is required (ie. this is not your IT team). I swear, I honestly see marketers staring at only high-level dashboards all day, just gleaning how users arrived and what page they droped-off from. Ahh yes, so very insightful.

To ensure future success, here are five must-haves for online retailers:

1) actionable within-page data
2) qualitative visitor attitudinal data
3) benchmarks that provide context to the data
4) best practices / design know-how
5) a method to easily test new page layouts and design elements

Once the above five tenets of data-informed design are mastered, consider targeting site content to visitors based on their geography. I also recommend huddling with your media team to match creative, messaging and offers featured in the campaigns that sent consumers to your site in the first place. Then, strategically plan and develop new site-side changes for each online and offline campaign throughout the year.

My rant is by no means a detailed instruction manual on how you should proceed. Putting together a custom-tailored website optimization program is not going to be easy. You may or may not even have all the right people on board to execute efficiently and effectively. If anything, I hope this is a wake-up call for retailers to take action.

My POV on Site Testing Tools

Last week I was asked by a colleague to recommend a site testing solution for a friend's tech product review site. The following is my response (edited to protect our agency's exclusive relationships, pricing, etc.):

In recent months, Tier I players like Optimost and Omniture Test & Target have dramatically reduced their prices. 1-year technology contracts are now half of what they were a year ago. But don't be fooled - they try to make up for these steep markdowns by trying to charge for costly services models. These solutions are only great values if you have a skilled site optimization expert or agency partner operating these tools.

A Tier II player like Widemile or SiteSpect incur minimal monthly charges, without an annual contract. They make it easy to scoop up their tool for just a few months with a low learning curve, and are very eager to compete with their larger rivals. As a result, these players will tend to be flexible on price and provide plenty of free education and technical support. Widemile in particular has a pretty sweet, Flash-based user interface, suitable for even a novice. Definitely gets high marks. SiteSpect's big advantage is that no tags need to be implemented on the page. But be wary of implementation at a DNS level. Your larger organizations' IT teams will be shaking in their boots!

Ah, and of course Google’s Site Optimizer tool. Free, free, free. I don’t believe this is any less or more turnkey than Tier I or II solutions. Speaking from first-hand experience, this tool nicely complements Google Analytics' free solution, and is currently running live tests on my site. I've only just implemented this, so will update with my long-term satisfaction.

A general working knowledge of HTML is necessary for most of the above solutions. So in the context of this prospect -- a simple tech review site, supported by ads with no ecommerce or clear conversion…. then, err, free is a nice way to start. I think Avinash Kaushik's logic can be applied: a free analytics solution is practical for starters, if only to get your feet wet.

Disclaimer: We’re not talking about “big client” millions of media budget at stake in the above scenario, so I’m being very liberal with my recommendations. I think it takes a very careful evaluation of a business' goals, objectives, dedicated staff and technical limitations to make a consultative recommendation.

Plugging The Leaks in Your Website

My conversations with clients are usually focused on "plugging the leaks" within their websites. By "leaks," I mean the alarming rate of high visitor abandonment at various points within a website.

It's funny, but not long ago this sort of talk would have lead to "...as a result, we need to redesign the site." Hold your horses. Tough economy or not, why jump the gun and march right into a total site redesign? Do you know exactly what's so terribly wrong with the site that it's gotta get new paint job, or flat-out gut renovation? Do you even care about alienating users that might "love" the site's current aesthetic?

Make a small investment of time and budget to understand precisely what is wrong with your website and why it's causing visitors to bounce. Only then can we have a constructive conversation about changes to the website. By implementing a dozen or so data-driven tactical recommendations, your visitors can expect a more efficient, easier-to-use website that's actually achieving (let's even say exceeding) it's intended business goals!