Growth hacking tips that work for every web site*

Karl Gilis

@agconsult

* Almost every web site. It depends. Sometimes they don't do sh*t. Or fail completely.

Part 1Less marketing, more action

Sliders suck. Always. *

* Except when they are just image slides. Without separate messages.

Suzuki had a slider on their homepage with 4 different slides/messages in it.

We removed the slider and placed the 4 messages on the homepage as static images, using the same screen real estate.The result: 28% more clicks

Less is more. Make it easier to choose by reducing the number of choices.That's why this version, with only 2 static images, saw a lift of 55%.

This websites that sells children’s furniture had a carousel with 13 slides. Hell yeah!

We removed the slider and replaced it with the 6 most popularproduct categories. Popular means that most visitors are looking forthese 6 product categories.Make it easy for the user to find what he is looking for!The result: 188% more clicks and 75% more sales from homepage visitors.

Karl, did you just giveme a free bonus tip?

Yes, I did.

Yes. This is me (as a persona ).

Kill your stock photos. Now.

Push product categoriesinstead of products?*

* This really depends from site to site. But most of the time it works. Of course, use your most popular categories.

This is the bonus tip!

Kill big headers & useless photos*

* Focus on your message. That will always result in more conversions.

I hate this design trend, where a page starts with an over the top image. This is an article page on a news website. You can't even seethe news title without scrolling.

There’s nothing wrong with big images as long as you make surevisitors know where they are. Apple does a pretty good job on thispage.

I'm sorry, but this client doesn't allow me to show the real page andhis brand name. So I made a mock-up.

• 27,2% more clicks on the red contact buttons.

• 46,0% more clicks on the blue button.

12,2% more clicks on these boxes

6,6% more clicks below the page fold.

Integrate first steps of interactionsin your pages*

* I recently learned that Ton from @OnlineDialogue calls this the 'foot-between-the-door-trick‘.

This is a manufacturer of doors, windows and terraces. Main goal of the website: send visitors to a dealer/reseller.

23 times more people use the dealer locator after we replaced the button pointing to the dealer locatorwith the dealor locater itself.

Main goal of this blog article: look for (and go to) a Suzuki dealer.

64,8% more dealer searches.

Use bullet lists*

* Especially on category pages and above the fold on product and landing pages.

Another blog article. Main goal: send users to product pages. That's why there are these links in the tekst.

If that's your goal, make the links more obvious. We rewrote the tekst, introduced a bullet list and wham:

• 159,79% more clicks to product pages

• 76,3% more end-of-the-funnelconversions

Another landing page. Where a copywriter did what copywriters liketo do: write fluffy copy.

By replacing the blurbs of text with to-the-point bullet lists, 78% more visitors visited a detail page. This resulted in an increase of more than 150% requests for quotes and test drives (the main goals of the Suzuki web site).

A typical list of tags as you see them on many news, blog or product pages.I know they’re there for SEO-reasons, but I think theyalso serve another goal: to engage the visitor.

325% more clicks when we placed thosetags in a bullet list.Never forget that microconversions are important too!

Remove clutter*

* Consider everything that doesn't result in more conversion as clutter.

11,3% more sales.Remove everything that doesn't add to your conversion. In your shopping cart, you should focus on the one thingthat really matters: moving the user to the next step.

Similar example: 11,4% more sales. Focus on the one button that mattters.The next step would be to remove the coupon code stuff at the left. Or replace it with a tiny link.

This is a listing page of the Belgian Yellow Pages.Restaurant owners are paying for these grey boxes withtheir logo, extra information and button.

When removing the grey background this extra information isn't seperated from the rest of the listing.Result: 12,2% more clicks on these buttons

Part 2Little things that can make a big difference

Tell users what (you want them) to do*

* These tests always surprise me. But this little trick seems to work on every web site.

A typical category page on an e-commerce website. Main goal: send users to the product pages of the products theylike.As web-savvy people we all know we can click on the product photos or titles to go to such a product page.

Apparantely your visitors are not always aware of this. Adding the link 'More details' resulted in 72,3% more clicks to product pages.

I wanted to test this on another website. This is part of a landing page of Suzuki. The heading of this part of the page reads 'Choose the Suzuki that suits you best‘.

Even with such a clear instruction, adding a link 'Discover the [model name]' resulted in 13,1% more clicks to product pages.

Make it easy to compare/choose*

* Make sure you use the main decision criteria and emotional triggers of your users.

On a list page you want visitors to go to a detail page. But in order to do so you have to help people choose.This implies you need to know the main decision criteria of your audience.This page is not bad. Suzuki shows the model, price, average consumption and CO2 emissions.

We did user research and discovered 2 other main criteria:• Petrol or diesel• Manual or automatic

We added these. It made the page less beautiful but it resulted in 7,5% extra clicks to model pages. And even a much higher rise in conversion at the end of the funnel.

Put a reassuring message nearyour call-to-action*

* Make sure you use positive words. You don't want to frighten the visitor.

This is the add-to-cart box on a website that sells homeopathic solutions.There are 2 messages in this box that are supposed to help convince the visitor:

• Free shipment from €60 onwards• Immediately deliverable

23,2% more conversion19,4% more conversion

We thought that placing one of these reassuring messages near the call-to-action would help reduce friction.And it did. In this case ‘immediately deliverable' was the winner.

Repeat your CTA at the end of your page*

* Or even repeat it several times throughout the page.

43,8% more clicksWhy does this always work?A user who scrolls to the end of your page is probably pretty interested in what you have to offer. You just have to reel him in at the end.

In forms, explain why you want certain information*

* Once again, make sure you use positive words and be polite.

35,4% more forms submitted

Another example of reducing friction. Explain why you want certain information.

Part 3You should test that

Green check marks always work!*

* Apparently not always. I still believe they work in 99%. But as always: you should test that.

Remember this one? The winner of a previous test.See what's missing? Green checkmarks!

And because green checkmarks always work according to some experts, we added them.We even added extra reassuring messages, because 3 checkmarks always work best.

Nothing. Zilch. Nada. -5,1% -5,9%

Apparently not.I'm not saying green checkmarks suck.I only want to make clear that you should always be testing. Even best practices that you've seen in cases over and over again.

CTA copywriting*

* Most of the time changing words will have more impact than changing colour or position.

Words on buttons can make a big difference.This one reads ‘Look for a dealer‘.

Changing this to 'Find a dealer' resulted in 14,3% more searches.That's because the goal of your visitor is to find something, not to search for something.

Part 4The grand finale

Combine these tips for better results*

* You can always backtrack to see which changes had the biggest impact.

Remember this landing page type? This one shows all 4x4 vehicles Suzuki has.

Adding the link and the extra decision criteria resulted in a lift of 22,1% more clicks to model pages.

A page on the web site of the Belgian Yellow Pages, where you can buy contact data of Belgian businesses.

34% more orders thanks to:- Removing the useless intro image- Rewriting the copy- Adding green checkmarks- Better copy on the cta- A reassuring message underneath the cta

Attack the whole funnel!

The funnel on most websites

The goal of conversion optimization

Attack the whole funnel, not just the end of it (check-out, forms, …).

35,4% more forms submitted

Remember this one?It was the first test we did for Suzuki.Yes, at the end of the funnel. And we were proud.

In real numbers

From 6 to 8 requests for quotes

per dayUntil we noticed the real impact on business…

That's why we started to examine the funnel. Where were users coming from? What were their main paths in the web site. Where did we loose visitors?That's why I showed you so many cases of one single web site. Because there are always a lot of opportunities!

The result of this funnel optimization

From 6 to 84requests for quotes

per dayDuring the Belgian Car Trade Show all this work resulted in a whopping increase of 1.300% request for quotes.Because we studied the user needs, we found the holes in the web site and attacked the whole funnel.

Thx.

Follow me on Twitter @agconsultMail me at karl@agconsult.comI will make your website better!

But wait…I have one free bonus tip.

Download my ebook (only in Dutch)

10 conversion tips that work on everywebsite

15 cases from the real world

6 best practices from top 10 sites

http://www.agconsult.com/10-conversietips.html

Already more than 2.357 downloads

What about these growth hacking tips that you can findeverywhere? Such as this agressive exit overlay?Most of them work. So test them on your web site too.

Thx again!