Website Optimization: Tuning for Conversions

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UNIVERSITY

ASB AU MAPP

WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION:

TUNING FOR CONVERSIONS

Jacob L. Orquin, Ph.D.

Department of Business Administration

Aarhus University

AARHUS

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ASB AU MAPP

WHY OPTIMIZE WEBSITES?

Increase turnover

Conversion rate

Turnover

Sales leads

Page views

Avg. sales value

Reduce costs

Support costs

Advertising costs

CPA

OR

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REDUCE ATTRITION

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OPTIMIZATION METHODS

• Usability testing

• Web analytics

• A/B- and multivariate testing

• Eye tracking

• Behavioral targeting

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THE WEB EXPERIENCE

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BUILDING BLOCKS FOR THE WEB EXPERIENCE

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USABILITY

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COMMERCIAL USABILITY

Focus on:

Conversion

Pageviews and engagement

Satisfaction

Loyalty

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DON’T MAKE ME THINK

• ”Usability isn’t rocket surgery”

• Typical user questions:

• How do this function work?

• Where is the ______?

• Why did they call it that?

• Where am I?

• What happens when I click here?

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USABILITY DEFINITIONS I

"[Usability refers to] the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve

specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of user.“

ISO 9241-11

"Human-centered design is characterized by: the active involvement of users and a clear

understanding of user and task requirements; an appropriate allocation of function between

users and technology; the iteration of design solutions; multi-disciplinary design.”

ISO 13407

Ease of learning

Efficiency of use

Memorability

Error frequency and severity

Subjective satisfaction

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USABILITY DEFINITIONS II

A comparison of different usability definitions from Seffah et al. (2006).

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USER EXPERIENCE PROCES

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USABILITY BUSINESS CASE

A usability test costs from 25.000 up to 75.000 DKK and usually improves

conversion rates around 20 – 50 % (sometimes as high as 200 – 500 %).

An e-shop has the following data:

Annual turnover: ~ 2,5 million DKK

Unique visitors: ~ 225.000

Annual sales: ~ 4.500

Is it worth investing in a usability test if it costs 50.000 DKK and improves

conversion rate with 10 %?

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USABILITY METHODS

Think aloud and prototype tests are among the more common methods

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THINK ALOUD PROTOCOL

1. Select website (or section of site) for testing

2. Define target group

3. Define tasks

4. Define areas of attention

5. Recruit respondents

6. Run test sessions

7. Analyze data and identify problems

8. Present and solve problems with stakeholders

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COMMUNICATING THE RESULTS

vs.

usability report workshop

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A WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE 1

Purpose of the optimization:

• Increase average visit duration

• Increase conversion rate

• Increase user activity

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A WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE 2

Methods used:

• Focus groups

• Think-aloud usability tests

To the left is the entry page before

(upper) and after the optimization.

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A WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE 3

The effect of the optimization :

Increase in average visit duration: 21%

Increase in conversion rate: 72 %

Increase in user activity: 16 %

To the left: some of the optimizations

that lead to an increase in user activity

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WEB ANALYTICS TECHNOLOGY

WA is all about tracking and data collection. The page tag technology is

the most common.

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WEB ANALYTICS PROCESS

Visualisation of the web analytics process from Waisberg and Kaushik

(2009).

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KPI’S AND WEB METRICS

The business objectives are translated into measurable

succes/performance indicators

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WHAT TO MEASURE?

Visualisation of the conversion funnel from Waisberg and Kaushik (2009).

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WHAT TO MEASURE?

Bounce rates on top landing pages

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WHAT TO MEASURE?

Bounce rates on top keywords

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WEB ANALYTICS LINGO Building Block Terms:

Page, Page Views, Visits, Unique Visitors, New

Visitor, Repeat Visitor, Repeat Visitor &

Returning Visitor

Visit Characterization:

Entry Page, Landing Page, Exit Page, Visit

Duration, Referrer, Internal Referrer, External

Referrer, Search Referrer, Visit Referrer, Original

Referrer, Click-through, Click-through

Rate/Ratio, Page Views per Visit

Content Characterization:

Page Exit Ratio, Single-Page Visits, Single Page

View Visits (Bounces), Bounce Rate

Conversion Metrics:

Event, Conversion

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A/B TESTING

Website optimization using A/B split testing is very stong method for

increasing conversions. A very basic experimental design. Borrowed from

Kohavi et al (2007):

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TESTING FOR THE OPTIMAL PRICE

Initial price and four treatments were tested in a simple A/B design.

Experiment reported at marketingexperiments.com (2008).

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TESTING FOR THE OPTIMAL PRICE

Results of the test. marketingexperiments.com (2008).

Remember that it’s not only a matter of price vs. orders there is also

the LTV to take into accout.

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WHAT ELSE TO OPTIMIZE?

www.conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/101-google-website-optimizer-tips/

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QUESTIONS FOR EYE TRACKING

• Are users looking where you want them to look?

• What important call-to-action does not receive attention?

• What is looked at but not clicked at?

• How well do symbols describe what the user is looking for?

• Where should important content be placed?

• What distracts web site visitors?

• How does the decision making process look like during problem

solving?

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EYE TRACKING PROCESS

Website optimization using eye tracking;

1. Define website goals

2. Prioritize design elements and desired actions

3. Measure visual attention

4. Measure click rate

5. Identify poor performing elements of the website

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OUTPUT - HEATMAP

berlingske.dk/Heatmap

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OUTPUT – GAZE PLOT

berlingske.dk/Gaze plot

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REAL TIME INSPECTION

Video of eye tracking

youtube.com/watch?v=m58MG_aua_Q&feature=channel_page

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AREA OF INTEREST (AOI)

berlingske.dk/Area of interest (AOI)

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FIXATION COUNT ON AOI

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CATCHINESS TABLE

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VISUAL VALUE

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DISTRIBUTION OF ATTENTION

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AN EYE TRACKING CASE

The purpose of the eye tracking anlysis:

• Optimize attention to ”call-to-actions”

• Optimize attention to banners

The case is in Danish … sorry about that!

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BEHAVIORAL TARGETING

Behavioral targeting is about getting the right message to the right person

at the right time.

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ADSPEND WORLDWIDE

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BEHAVIORAL TARGETING IS GROWING

Behavioral tageting spend is 5,687 % of total spend on internet advertising

in 2008 and growing …

Rasmus Himmelstrup Jørgensen (2007)

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THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND

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TARGETING IN ACTION

Targeted ad Targeted promotion?

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CONTACT

Jacob L Orquin, Ph.D.

Department of Business Administration

Aarhus University

E-mail: jalo@asb.dk

Check out my company:

www.userpilot.dk