150 Conversion Optimization Case Studies

150

Conversion

Optimization CASE STUDIES

KISSMETRICS.COM

There are millions of tests being run on the internet right now. If you recently visited 10 separate websites, chances are at least 3 of them were running a test. This means that you, as a visitor, were subjected to some sort of experiment. What was tested is unknown. But, just by visiting a website, your actions were recorded and tallied against other visitors.

Websites are testing for the purpose of optimization, whether to obtain more customers, encourage someone to click on a headline, or move someone to perform another action. When you visited one of the sites, you automatically were included in the experiment. Many of the tests resulted in some type of a business outcome, such as acquiring more customers, leads, or increasing sales. And, lucky for us, many of these tests were released.

This guide has 150 separate case studies, each with an explanation of how the website was optimized. Everything from landing pages to headlines to forms and buttons are in this guide. I’ve organized these tests into categories.

Table of Contents These case studies serve only to give you an idea of what you can test. No performance improvement is guaranteed.

Button Tests 4 Call-to-Action Tests 9 Copy Tests 44 Design Tests 72 Headline Tests 171 Image Tests 186 Removing Elements Tests 212 Reviews & Testimonials Tests 245 Trust & Security Tests 256 Video Tests 274 Misc Tests 286

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Button Tests These tests include changing button colors and changing button sizes. Tests that change button copy will be found under the Copy section.

#1: Changing Button Color to Red Increases Conversions 21% Overview and Results Achieved: Performable tested their homepage with two buttons: One was green, and the other was red. They kept the text (Get Started Now!) the same.

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They found that 21% more people clicked on the red button than the green button.

Key Findings: As the article mentions, button color is easy to test. Experiment and you may be surprised with your results.

Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/20566/The-Button-Color-A-B-Test-Red-Beats-Green.aspx

#2: Bigger Button Makes For Bigger Conversion Rate Overview and Results Achieved: SAP BusinessObjects originally had a small blue text link for its add to cart option.

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They added a big orange button on the test:

And increased their conversions 32%.

Key Findings: Making a CTA will almost undoubtedly increase conversion rates.

Source: http://www.widerfunnel.com/proof/case-studies/sap-landingpage-optimization

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#3: Bigger Button Reduces Conversions 10.56% Overview and Results Achieved: WriteWork tested whether increasing the size of their CTA button would increase conversions. It didn’t. A decrease of 10.56% in their conversions was achieved.

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Key Findings: It’s not just the copy of a button that has an impact on conversions, but also the size of the button. Bigger does not mean better; in this case it means worse.

Source: http://contentverve.com/case-study-31-03-increase-in-sales-bytweaking-the-call-to-action-copy-on-a-payment-page/

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Call-To-Action Tests In this section, you’ll find tests that include changing the color of a CTA, altering its placement, and changing its copy.

#4: Making Call to Action More Prominent Increases Conversions 591% Overview and Results Achieved: Nature Air had 17 separate landing pages. They did a single A/B test on each landing page. The control did not make the CTA prominent:

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Then they put the CTA in the content area:

Conversions went from 2.78% to about 19%, meaning their conversions improved 591%!

Key Findings: No matter how compelling your offer, if you don’t make it easy for visitors to click on something, they’ll never know. Make your CTA prominent, part of the content area, and easy to find. You’ll preferably want to keep it above the fold.

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Source: http://www.blastam.com/blog/index.php/2009/06/google-website-optimizer-increases-conversion-591/

#5: Red Color on CTA Increases Conversions 2.5% Overview and Results Achieved: UK airline BMI had an urgent CTA that read “Hurry! Only XX seats left.” When they added a red background to the CTA, they increased their conversions 2.5%.

Key Findings: Colors that coordinate with the message may increase conversions. Consistency among text and colors can help reinforce the message you want to instill in visitors.

Source: http://blog.sendblaster.com/2011/07/25/designing-a-call-to-action-that-customers-can%E2%80%99t-resist/#more-3936

#6: 22% Increase in Sales by Making CTA Less Generic Overview and Results Achieved: Kaya Skin Clinic is a beauty clinic. They had the goal of driving more booked appointments and sales via their website.

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Control:

Variation 1:

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Variation 2: As you can see from variation 1 and 2, the CTA is moved to just above the form. And what results did that produce?

Variation 1 performed 137.5% better than the control, the CTA change increased sales by 22%, and adding social proof further increased the conversion rate 70%.

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Key Findings: Being less generic and more specific will increase conversion rates. What sounds more intriguing: For Skin Consultation, Register Here: or I want an expert opinion. Sign me up!

I’d guess you would choose the latter. Your copy should be dynamic and intriguing, and you can see how just a small change like this can have such a big impact on sales and your bottom line.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/call-to-action-increase-sales/#

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#7: Making CTA More Prominent Increases Conversions 32.12% Overview and Results Achieved: The Vineyard is a luxury hotel in London. On their website, the CTA “Book Hotel” was at the bottom of the page, barely visible:

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They added a new button to make the CTA more prominent:

The CTA button achieved a 32.12% improvement.

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It should not be a surprise that making the CTA clear improves conversion rates.

Key Findings: What is your goal for a page? Make it clear to the users. If you want them to sign up, make your signup CTA clear.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testingto-convince-stakeholders/

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#8: Below the Fold CTA Outperforms Above the Fold CTA Overview and Results Achieved: An anonymous Danish company runs a subscription food service.

Their goal was to get people to fill in their contact form. As you’ll see in the control and test, they adjusted more than just the contact form.

The control:

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The test:

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The results:

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Key Findings: The “above the fold myth” has been discussed before on this blog. This case study proves that customers can scroll to the bottom of a page to sign up. When they land on a page, they may not immediately want to be presented with a contact form.

It may make them put their guard up and be less willing to enter their information. That doesn’t mean above the fold is ineffective, but it helps to test.

Source: http://contentverve.com/how-moving-the-call-to-action-belowthe-fold-generated-a-304-lift/

#9: Homepage Change Sends 9.6% More Visitors to Pricing Page Overview and Results Achieved: Visual Website Optimizer noticed their top right “Free Trial” button was getting four times the clicks of the “Try it For Free” button.

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They theorized this was due to many sites placing their Settings and/or Login details on the top right of a page. Facebook, Google, Twitter, and many others place these buttons at the top right.

With the fact that their secondary CTA was getting four times the clicks of their primary CTA, they decided to adjust some things with the primary.

Here is the control:

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This is the test – they added the heat maps in the headline due to the fact that many customers use this tool: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/headlinetest-increases-clickthroughs/ The test yielded no significant change in signups or revenue. One thing that did change was visits to the pricing page, yielding a 9.6% improvement.

Key Findings: Many headlines are very succinct, which is good for some visitors.

But testing longer headlines that include a lot of the features of your product may be helpful. It may intrigue enough people to check out your pricing page.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/headlinetest-increases-clickthroughs/

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#10: 14.5% Conversion Rate Increase by Emphasizing a Free Trial Overview and Results Achieved: MuscleandMotion’s original homepage had very few details on the product and no mention of a free product:

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The second version included many more details and included the free mention:

With the goal of increasing viewer downloads of the free trial, the

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second version achieved a 14.5% improvement over the original with a conversion rate of 51.3%.

Key Findings: Their previous homepage was pretty barebones, so it’s not too surprising that adding information about a product improved conversions. However, a 44.8% conversion rate (for the original) isn’t too bad either.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/248001/homepage-for-muscleandmotion

#11: 37.6% Improvement on Home Page Overview and Results Achieved: TextMagic had the goal of sending people from their homepage to view their pricing page.

Their control page had the CTA copy of “Buy SMS Credits”. They changed the copy to “View SMS Credits” and improved conversions to 20.9%, a 37.6% improvement over “Buy SMS Credits”.

A few other changes:

• Money Back Guarantee icon • Customer testimonials • Added “SMS Solutions Since 2011″ text • Added site stats: “messages sent” and “active customers”

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• Rotating customer testimonial box Key Findings: If your homepage CTA says “Buy ____,” people may think that if they click on the button, they’ll be charged. Be clear in what your CTA says.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/275002/homepage-for-textmagichomepage-ab-test

#12: Less Accounting Improves Conversion Rate by Flipping the Side of Call to Action Overview and Results Achieved: Less Accounting switched their green “Try Less Accounting Free” button from the left side of the “See the Tour” link to the right.

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Page A (Conversion Rate 12.3%):

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Page B (Conversion Rate 13.8%):

It should be noted, however, that this test did not specify how many visitors were in the test and whether or not it reached statistical significance.

Key Findings: Perhaps putting the CTA closer to the image of your product may mean a higher conversion rate.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/19012/homepage-for-less-accounting

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#13: Free Trial Button Increases Free Trial Signups by 158% While Not Decreasing Paid Signups Overview and Results Achieved: Email marketing provider GetResponse had a Free Trial plan, but the problem was few people knew about it because it wasn’t showcased on the homepage. The biggest call to action was the “Buy Now” button, no mention of a free signup.

Here is the original:

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The test puts Free Trial next to Buy Now:

By adding the Free Trial button, free signups increased 158.60%.

It had no effect on paid signups.

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Key Findings: If there’s a free trial option, visitors will want to know. Don’t make them hunt for it, put it out there and welcome them to trying your product.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/a-b-testingfree-trial-button/

#14: One Letter Increases Sales 20% Overview and Results Achieved: Aarhus Teater is an old theater in Denmark. They sell their tickets online. On their homepage, in the top right corner, you can buy those tickets. They tested a little copy on the page and got huge results. The original copy read “Buy Ticket”:

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Their variation changed the copy to “Buy Tickets”:

The test ran for over 20 days on 10,000 visitors. When they changed the copy to “Buy Tickets,” they got a 20% increase in sales.

Key Findings: They were more specific in copy. Without the plural, it seemed like visitors couldn’t buy more than one ticket.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/adding-single-letter-increases-sales/

#15: Conversion Rate Increase 36.3% by Changing a Few Words Overview and Results Achieved: Streamline Metrics had a button on a page that read “Submit.”

They changed it to “Get Quote Now,” and their conversion rate improved 36.3%.

The original (Submit button) had 854 visitors with 64 conversions, equaling a 7.49% conversion rate.

The test version had 842 visitors with 86 conversions, equaling a conversion rate of 10.2%.

Key Findings: This test proves that a small adjustment can create a substantial change in the business. Remember, no test is too small.

Source: http://streamlinemetrics.com/blog/one-simple-way-to-increaseyour-conversion-rate-by-363.php

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#16: Changing One Word Increases CTR 161.66% Overview and Results Achieved: Veeam Software asked visitors who visited their product page what other information they’d like to see. Visitors said they wanted to see pricing. Veeam Software couldn’t do that because they sell their software through partners and those prices may vary.

They did, however, put up a “Request a Quote” link that led to a sales inquiry form. The goal was to increase CTR to the sales inquiry page. They tested two different messages. One was “Request a quote,” and the other was “Request pricing.”

Control:

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Variation:

Conversions went from .54% to 1.40%, equal to a 161.66% increase in click-through rate.

Key Findings: As the article mentions, Veeam Software did it the right way.

They surveyed users and learned their objections. Then they experimented with tactics to overcome the objections and successfully earned a higher conversion rate because of it.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increaseclick-through-rate/

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#17: Changing One Word on a CTA Button Changes Conversions 38.26% Overview and Results Achieved: An anonymous Danish company had the goal of increasing its click-through rate on its CTA. Any extra clicks beyond that is a bonus.

The author theorizes that the more value you can convey via your button copy, the more conversions you’ll get. With this information in mind, the authors changed the format from “Order Information” to “Get Information.” The thinking behind this was “Order” makes it sound like something the visitor has to do. “Get” means that they are receiving and sounds much more appealing.

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The results:

Key Findings: The CTA is so important that it’s likely the tipping point between conversion and bounce rate.

Take out words that make visitors think they have to do something. Think about the difference between the words “Order” and “Get” and the variation it causes in conversion rate.

Source: http://contentverve.com/how-changing-1-word-in-the-call-toaction-generated-a-38-26-lift-in-conversions/

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#18: ADT Changes One Word and Increases Leads by 60% Overview and Results Achieved: ADT wanted to increase the number of visitors who submitted an inquiry form. They tested two variations. The control had the copy “Book a Free Survey.” The first variation had the copy “Book an ADT Survey.”

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The second variation changed the button copy to “Get a Free Quote.”

The test ran for 14 days and was targeted to 50% of new visitors and traffic was split equally.

Variation 2 “Get a Free Quote” won the test, earning a 60% increase in conversion rates.

Key Findings: Mentioning “Free” may increase conversions.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/cta-copychange-increased-leads/

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#19: CTA Test Increases Clickthroughs 600% Overview and results achieved: Price Charting tested their CTAs: Variation A:

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Variation B:

Variation B won by increasing click-throughs 600%.

Key Findings: I would have thought variation A would win. This is why we always test our assumptions.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increaserelevance-to-boost-conversions/

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Copy Tests Here you’ll find tests where copy was altered. This does not include headline change or call to action changes, but rather broad copy changes and changes to button copy.

#20: Making Copy Action Oriented Causes 93% More People to Click Overview and Results Achieved: L’Axelle wanted to get more people to click on their add to cart button.

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This was their original homepage:

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This was the test:

L’Axelle describes the original copy as being comfort oriented.

They sell on the basis of people feeling relieved and relaxed.

The test copy is action oriented. It is about solving a problem.

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The action oriented headline and copy earned a 38.3% conversion rate, 93% better than the original.

Key Findings: “Put an end to sweat marks” is action oriented and assures some relief for customers. Adding the word “end” makes it sound like they won’t get sweat marks ever again. If the headline read “Reduce Sweat Marks,” the copy might not have performed well.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/125001/landing-for-laxelle Improved Value Proposition Causes 128% More Visitors to Register for Games

#21: Improved Value Proposition Causes 128% More Visitors to Register for Games Overview and Results Achieved: The Sims 3 wanted to get more people to register. They tested their value proposition.

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The original page:

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The test:

The test increased game registrations 128%.

Key Findings: As you can see, the test emphasizes “free.” If your product is free or offers a free trial, don’t hide it. Let people know, because most are willing to try something that is free.

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Source: http://www.widerfunnel.com/proof/case-studies/the-sims-3-doubles-game-registrations-by-identifying-the-most-compellingoffer

#22: Changing Button Copy Increases Conversions 83.4% Overview and Results Achieved: GamesForLanguage had the goal of visitors playing a demo on their homepage.

Control:

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Test:

The control achieved a 21.2% conversion rate, while the test achieved a 38.8% conversion rate.

“Play Right Now” may make people think they have to pay, while “Instant Demo” makes visitors think it’s free to try. This could explain the increase in conversions.

Key Findings: If something is free, people need to know. The button “Play Right

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Now” doesn’t tell visitors that it’s free and may make some believe that it will lead to a signup form, whether it’s free or not.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/240003/homepage-for-gamesforlanguage-com

#23: 144.1% Improvement by Focusing on User Needs Overview and Results Achieved: WriteWork sells academic papers for a fee. They wanted to sell more essays. The goal was to get users to buy the essay through the “Read Full Essay Now” button, but a conversion only counted if they converted on the first page they visited because it was paid traffic.

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Here’s the original version (6.2% conversion rate):

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Here’s the test version (15.1% conversion rate):

In the test version, benefits and social proof were more clearly communicated.

Key Findings: Have a focus on user needs and overcome objections.

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Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/257001/landing-for-writework

#24: Making Features Bullet-Pointed Increases Membership Signups 15.9% Overview and Results Achieved: Swedish Company Unionen wanted to get visitors to signup for a membership. They A/B tested and this is version A:

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The copy: Unionen makes work life enjoyable.

With nearly half a million members, we are the largest union for the private sector. Unionen is widely represented, from large multinational corporations to small family-owned businesses. Our vision is to create job security, success and satisfaction. Do you want to join?

Version B:

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The copy: 3 strong reasons to become a member As a member, you get, among other things:

• Income insurance that guarantees you 80% of your salary • Career coaching, salary and development talks • Advice, legal and negotiation help Become a member Version B had a 5.3% conversion rate, 15.9% improvement over version A. Key Findings: Bullet points make text easier to read, so it’s best to use them in key spots (such as where you list your benefits). Always choose bullet points over paragraphs of text.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/38003/other-for-unionen-wwwunionen-se

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#25: Dustin Curtis’ Twitter Experiment Overview and Results Achieved: Dustin Curtis has a blog he links to his Twitter account at the bottom of every post. He tested the wording of a few statements.

Conversions were measured in click-through rates. Here are his headlines: I’m on twitter (4.70% click-through) Follow me on twitter (7.31% click-through) You should follow me on twitter (10.09% click-through) You should follow me on Twitter here (12.81% click-through) Key Findings: Forcefulness and talking to the reader directly increased Curtis’s click-through rates. Using words like “you,” “should,” and “follow me on Twitter” is direct and forceful. Adding the “here” link gives the reader an exact place to click. Curtis says that using the word “please” in place of “should” did not perform as well. Quoting Curtis: “At the very least, the data show that users seem to have less control over their actions than they might think, and that web designers and developers have huge leeway for using language to nudge users through an experience.”

Source: http://dustincurtis.com/you_should_follow_me_on_twitter.html

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#26: Change in Copy Increases Followers Overview and Results Achieved: A blogger had a typical bio asking people to follow him on Twitter. The copy: If you liked this article, you should follow me on Twitter.

He changed it and made it customized to the topic. So, if someone was reading a blog post on Java, the message would change to this: I usually post about Java stuff on Google+ – you can follow me there.

He tested it for his Google+ account for a time period of two weeks before and two weeks after making the change. For the two weeks before, he gained 29 new followers. For the two weeks after making the change, he gained 43 new followers.

Key Findings: Relevancy is key here. If you can make your CTA more relevant to the topic, you can improve conversions.

Source: http://meta.baeldung.com/how-i-contextualized-my-end-of-article-call-to-action-messages

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#27: Changing Button Text Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: A landing page had two variations of button copy.

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And:

Tell me more! button copy beat notify me by 30%.

Key Findings: Her audience was interested in hearing more about what the landing page was offering. The urge for more information is greater than the urge to be notified the minute something launches.

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Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/split-test-call-to-action-button-text/

#28: Changing Copy Increases Downloads by 18.59% Overview and Results Achieved: Content Verve had a free ebook. Their landing page included a bullet point that read: Insights and experience from 4 years of research and over 350 A/B tests distilled into one 26-page free ebook

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They changed the copy to this: Read the book in just 25 minutes and get insights from 4 years of research and over 350 A/B tests The test ran for 20 days and reached a statistical confidence level of 98%. The treatment beat the control with 18.59% more downloads.

Key Findings: Making a claim to readers about how long it takes to read an article or book may make them more likely to read it.

Source: http://contentverve.com/case-study-increase-in-downloadstweaking-bullet-point/

#29: Button Copy Change Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Billund Airport has five calls to action on their homepage. Under their Shopping category, they had the copy “Shop Online”:

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They changed that copy to “Buy Tax Free”:

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The “Buy Tax Free” variation resulted in a 49.85% increase in click-throughs with a 99% chance to beat the original.

Key Findings: “Buy Tax Free” shows a benefit; “Shop Online” really doesn’t when people already know they can shop online.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testingvalue-proposition/

#30: One Copy Change Increases Leads by 9.52% Overview and Results Achieved: imsider.ru helps people start online stores. The landing page below asks people to sign up for their mailing list. After getting on the mailing list, they are sent the email download link to an eBook.

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Here is the landing page with their original headline:

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The variation changed the headline to mention the amount of time it will take to open a store:

The variation increased leads by 9.52% with a 99% chance to beat the original.

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Key Findings: In the variation, the benefit (opening an online store) is clear as well as the amount of time it will take (one evening). Most people likely think it would take weeks to open an online store, and this headline changed that perception.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/headline-abtest-time-is-money/

#31: Button Copy Change Improves Conversions 8.39% Overview and Results Achieved: Famous in Five wanted to get more names and email addresses.

This was their original landing page:

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They changed it to make it more relevant to the page and campaign:

And increased opt-ins by 8.39%.

Key Findings: Relevancy is important when building these types of things. To give you some context, the campaign’s goal was to realize that people can make a mark in the online world in just five days.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/call-to-action-button-text-boosts-conversion/

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#32: Removing “My” on CTA Buttons Increases Conversions 31.03% Overview and Results Achieved: WriteWork wanted to increase the number of subscriptions sold.

Their payment page was the focus of the test.

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As you can see, the control CTA reads “Create My Account.” This button was tested against this:

Key Findings: The author says that in all of his tests, ‘’Your” consistently outperforms “My.” Adding urgency can increase CTA. Source: http://contentverve.com/case-study-31-03-increase-in-sales-bytweaking-the-call-to-action-copy-on-a-payment-page/

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Design Tests This section includes navigation changes, background changes, and full-on redesigns.

#33: Updated Design Increases Conversions 33% Overview and Results Achieved: CloudSponge had an outdated website design:

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This is the redesign:

The new design achieved a 33% conversion increase.

Key Findings: You can see the difference between the two designs. One is boring, has one call to action, and gives no good reasons why anyone should choose CloudSponge. The new website lets visitors view a demo and also gives them reasons to try CloudSponge.

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If your website looks like the original CloudSponge, get a new design. It’ll pay for itself once you see a conversion bump.

Source: http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2010/10/26/how-cloudsponge-increased-conversions-33-using-99designs-case-study/

#34: Clear Homepage Helps Weather Channel Increase Conversions 225% Overview and Results Achieved: The Weather Channel wanted to turn people into premium subscribers. They decluttered their homepage and had a single action. These changes increased conversions 225%.

Key Findings: When in doubt, simplify. Simplicity is difficult and requires restraint, but it’s much easier for visitors and helps them make decisions.

Source: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/how-to-convert-225-more

#35: Redesigning Pricing Page Brings 25% More Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: BaseKit wanted to get more performance out of their pricing page.

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This was the old design:

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This is the new design:

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BaseKit calls this new version “Bolder, brighter, clearer pricing, nicer design, testimonial, more obvious currency selection.” The new design achieved a 25% higher conversion rate.

Key Findings: Your pricing page is just as important as your pricing. The way you present your pricing and the information surrounding it can play a big role in whether the visitor becomes a customer.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increaseconversions-pricing/

#36: Conversions Increase 2.20% When Website Flow is Redesigned Overview and Results Achieved: Zen Windows had a conversion rate of .75%. They hired a firm that redesigned the visitor flow.

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Old design:

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New design:

As a result of the redesign, their conversion rate increased to 2.95%.

Key Findings: The redesign made it easier for visitors to navigate the website. If your visitors are struggling to navigate your site, you can bet it’s having a negative effect on your conversions. If you’d like to learn what visitors think of your website, check out User Testing.

Source: http://www.marketingadept.com/blog/2011/01/zen-windowscase-study/

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#37: 21% Improvement in 30 Days with a Website Redesign Overview and Results Achieved: Crazy Egg got a website redesign and in 30 days improved their conversions 21%. They highlighted a few of their key changes:

• Let visitors try before they buy – the old design • Align the brand with the audience • Pay attention to the details • Test, learn, and never be satisfied Source: http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/design/get-more-conversionswebsite

#38: Reduced Shopping Cart Abandonment 26% Overview and Results Achieved: One company had shopping cart abandonment rates of around 80%. They had the goal of getting it down to 70%, hoping they’d see a 50% increase in sales. Down to 60% and maybe their sales would double. When they factored this in, they knew they had to redesign their shopping cart experience.

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Here’s a comparison of their redesign compared to the old design:

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As you can see, the new design is greatly improved. There is a little help section along with guarantees on the right, live customer support, customer testimonials, backend improvements, and they shortened and categorized the form.

This resulted in an abandonment rate that went down from 80% to 54%.

Key Findings: If you have an abandonment rate in the 80% class or above, it’s time to put some focus into a redesign. Changing a struggling homepage while ignoring the checkout experience will keep you stagnant. Find what the problems are (big or small) and work to fix them. You’ll see improved conversion rates and more income for your business.

Source: http://experienceblogger.com/post/1081389180/design-for-conversion-checkout-page-redesign

#39: Mortgage Company Earns Hundreds More Applicants a Month by Adding a Checkbox to the Homepage Overview and Results Achieved: A mortgage company wanted to increase the number of applications received online.

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They added this checkbox to the homepage:

If visitors checked that box, then they’d have to enter their first name and email to begin the refinance process.

The checkbox increased their successful application conversion by 11%.

Key Findings: Other mortgage company websites likely have a pretty daunting online application process. Visitors who arrived at this mortgage website first were asked to make a small, positive commitment to filling out the application. It reinforced their commitment to filling out the form. This is known as a commitment checkbox. Try it on your site and see the results you get.

Source: http://www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2010/07/11-conversion-rate-increase-with-a-%E2%80%9Ccommitmentcheckbox%E2%80%9D/

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#40: Improved Navigation Earns a 7.74% Increase in Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: The Olympic Store wanted visitors to click on a product.

The original:

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Variation A:

A) Introduced a vertical menu that shows all subcategories for easier access to other products B) Provided color thumbnails to products that have alternative colors

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Variation B:

C) With help of recommendation engine (cross-sell), showed most popular products from that specific category to increase revenue from top selling items D) Introduced a minor face-lift to filtered navigation to improve

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usability.

Variation A earned a 7.74% improvement over the original.

Key Findings: Showing popular products seems to work better.

Improved navigation also helps Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/245001/product-for-the-olympicstore

#41: Server Density Increases Revenue 114% by A/B Testing Pricing Pages Overview and Results Achieved: Server Density is a website monitoring service. They were inspired by reading an article that saw one company increase revenue by increasing prices. They formed two hypotheses: 1. Increasing prices will reduce free signups 2. Increasing prices will increase revenue in spite of fewer signups The two goals were Free Trial Signups and an Upgrade.

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This is their initial page:

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The test:

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The results:

Key Findings: Never leave money on the table. Even things like your pricing aren’t untouchable and static. They can be tested.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/saas-pricing-ab-test/

#42: Short Landing Page Increases Signups 13% Overview and Results Achieved: DesignBoost provides online courses that teach students how to design mobile apps, landing pages, and more with photoshop.

They had the goal of increasing signups.

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Long version:

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Short version:

The short version had a 13% increase in signups over the long version. It also achieved 25% more click throughs to the courses page.

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Key Findings: As you’ll see in these case studies, in some cases, long pages convert better than shorter pages, and vice versa. Nothing is set in stone, so it’s always best to test. Never rule out anything.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/short-landing-pages/

#43: CarWoo! Increases Homepage Conversions 25% Overview and Results Achieved: CarWoo! made a “refresh” of their homepage.

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New design vs old design:

The new design achieved a 25% increase in conversions.

They changed many things in their new design, so it’s tough to say which one (or a combination) caused the increase in conversion. But there are lessons to learn from these changes made:

• Fewer words: Previous design had 1000 words on the “How

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it Works” page. The new “How it Works” page features 125 words and 4 enhanced screenshots.

• Wrote more about benefits and less about features • Sign up from any page • Visual design looks better in IE Key Findings: CarWoo! lists their lessons learned as:

• ”Don’t forget common sense: cut down on word count, put benefits before features, polish your visual design, and make it cross-browser compatible.

• Make it easy to sign up from any part of your brochure, not just the home page or the header.

• Try VideoGenie to experiment with more authentic user testimonials.

• Analyze conversion rates from your brochure holistically.”

Source: http://carwoo.com/blog/design-tips/

#44: Long Page Homepage Improves Conversion Rates 30% Overview and Results Achieved: Conversion Rate Experts and Crazy Egg worked together to increase conversions of their homepage. They found four objections visitors had:

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• Visitors were not sure what heat maps were.

• They were not sure the value justified the price.

• Some thought it was no different than overlay reports in Google Analytics.

• Some thought it had fewer features than competitors’ products.

This is the control:

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This is the test:

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The test page outperformed the control by 30%.

They also included a short video to explain Crazy Egg. The video achieved a 64% increase in conversion rate.

They also optimized the checkout after finding that visitors didn’t want to enter their credit card number for a free trial. Crazy Egg added an explanation that they would not be charged for the free trial.

They overcame another objection by explaining the billing process in the new checkout.

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Control:

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Test:

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This resulted in 116% more signups.

Key Findings: Long pages seem counterintuitive to people who focus on maintaining user attention; but this test shows you can maintain user attention and get them to sign up with a long page. It’s a break from the ordinary.

Source: http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/crazy-egg-case-study/

#45: Understanding Your Audience Proves More Valuable Than Just Good Design Overview and Results Achieved: Uncommon Knowledge had a product launch on the way and wanted to expand their reach prior to the launch. They had the goal of getting people on their email list.

They spread the word with a free three-video set which would be available after users entered their name and email address.

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Control:

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Test:

The new design is more modern and appealing. Uncommon Knowledge also let people know that they would be able to unsubscribe to their emails at anytime, something that was not mentioned in the control. It is possible that users (who were shown the control) were not aware they would receive any follow up emails beyond the videos. This could explain the better results.

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Their demographics:

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Their demo shows they attract an older audience, which could explain why they liked the more conventional control design better. Older demographic groups may be more hesitant to give their email address, so letting users know (like they did with the test design) that there would be follow up emails likely made them more cautious about giving an email address.

Key Findings: In some cases, it may be better to know your users and explain your value than just keeping things too simple.

Headshot adds a personal touch and may increase conversions.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/good-design-bad-conversion-rate/

#46: Improved Page Design Yields 201% Increase Overview and Results Achieved: UK-based Majestic Wine is an online store that sells wines. They had the goal of increasing conversions (fill out enquiry form) via their Weddings page. To start with the changes to their landing page, they first talked to their customers and garnered feedback from them. They also had discussions with their own staff.

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The control:

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The team wanted to reduce distractions, improve communication and clarity of their unique selling proposition, and feature a video that explains their services. This is what they came up with (the test):

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The results:

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Key Findings: Simplicity is much better than clutter.

Emphasizing points is better than not emphasizing anything.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/websiteredesign-increased-conversions/

#47: Adjustments to Landing Page Results in 232% Increase in Lead Generation Conversion Overview and Results Achieved: Open Mile wanted to increase the lead generation rate for their landing page.

Original page:

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Test page:

You can see one difference between the two is the test page has a much clearer, more focused value proposition. Also, the CTA button is clearer and more prominent, and the word “free” is mentioned three times above the fold with the test page.

Key Findings: Color contrast matters and can improve conversion rates.

Removing distractions and limiting options makes users more prone to convert.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/abtestingincreases-lead-generation-rate/

#48: 189% Increase in Donations for a Non-Profit Think Tank Overview and Results Achieved: Conservative non-profit think tank, The Heritage Foundation, wanted to increase donations with its landing page.

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The control:

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The test (note the donation form sitting at the bottom):

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The test page achieved a 189% increase in donations, and the conversion rate increased 74%. These two factors combined to create a 274% lift in revenue over the original.

Key Findings:

• In this case, it appears that the value prop is far more important than the placement of donations. The value prop of “Join the growing movement….” makes the visitors feel that this is a cause greater than self and they must donate to preserve freedom, limited government, and America’s Founding Principles.

• This new landing page affects a visitor’s emotional side. Politics is partly emotional, and if you exploit that, you can get people to be willing to give up money in favor of a cause.

• As the authors note: • “What we have concluded is that when you convey a strong value proposition, and you communicate that value proposition with a tremendous force throughout the landing page, not only do people say “yes” more often, they say “yes” on a much higher level – they don’t just donate, they donate more dollars.”

Source: http://contentverve.com/conversion-optimization-helped-a-nonprofit-increase-donations-274/

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#49: Changing Placement Increases CTA Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Foliekniven.dk makes customized stickers and vinyl advertising for store windows and cars. As Visual Website Optimizer notes, “the hypothesis was that placing the description box above the fold and before the calculator would help users notice it more and influence their decision, which will increase conversions.”

Here is the original:

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And the variation:

The change increased their sales 79.34%.

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Key Findings: Reinforcing and influencing their decision appears to have worked in this case.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/change-ineye-flow-improved-sales/

#50: 3% Conversion Rate Improvement Overview and Results Achieved: The 2010 Vancouver Canucks Olympic Store underwent testing to see what could convert sales better.

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The control:

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Variation A:

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Variation B:

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After 2400 transactions, Variation A was chosen due to its 3% improvement over the control. It also achieved lower bounce rates.

Key Findings:

• Reducing the number of banner ads and making the banner ads you have more prominent can help.

• Increasing the sizes of images may be beneficial.

• Fewer options + better organization = better conversion rate.

Source: http://www.getelastic.com/ab-test-case-study-homepage/

#51: 20% Spike in Conversion Rate Overview and Results Achieved: For most companies in the daily deal space, the landing page is the same. It’s just a copied version of the Groupon landing page.

Bloomspot took a different spin on the landing page. Instead of copying everyone else, they made landing pages where the text matched the images in the background. Examples:

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This consistency of text and background resulted in a 20% spike in conversion rate.

Key Takeaway: Pair intent with landing page content.

What works for your mainstream competitor doesn’t necessarily work for you.

Source: http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-top-strategies-for-conversion-optimization

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#52: Adding Sidebar Improves Conversions 34% Overview and Results Achieved: Slideshop wanted visitors to add products to their cart. They tested ways to achieve this.

The original:

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The test – with sidebar:

The test made 34% more people add a product to their cart.

Key Findings: The improvement can likely be attributed to the improved navigation. The test looks much more like an eCommerce site that helps the visitor find and select products they are looking for.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/228001/homepage-for-slideshop

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#53: Adding Product Filter Increases Conversions 26% and Revenues 76% Overview and Results Achieved: BuyaKilt sells kilts online. They wanted to test if adding product filters would increase conversions.

The original:

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The test:

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Adding the left handed “shop by” tool had a significant impact on their bottom line. They experienced a 76.1% increase in revenue, 26% increase in conversions, and 19.76% increase in shopping cart visits.

Key Findings: This is another test that proves how aiding the visitor and helping them make decisions can help improve conversions. When designing your website, have them in mind and build your site around them.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/productfilter-ecommerce-ab-testing-revenue/

#54: Landing Page Design Change Impacts Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: A website called Leah4Sci tested two variations of a landing page.

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Variation A:

Variation B:

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And the winner is: Variation A with a 102% boost in response. The probability was 95.28%.

Key Findings: Emphasized free Shorter text on CTA button Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/webinar-registration-page-winningsimple-split-test/

#55: Design Change Improves Responses 39.5% Overview and Results Achieved: These two variations of a landing page had the same copy and same form, the only change was the background image.

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Variation A:

Variation B:

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Variation A got a 24.97% response rate, while Variation B got a 34.85% response rate.

Key Findings: Variation A almost looks like the Windows XP background. Variation B (concert) may have fit better with the “internet millionaire” theme.

Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/ab-split-testing-change-your-background-change-your-response/

#56: Aquasoft Testing Conversions on Product Overview Homepage Overview and Results Achieved: Aquasoft had the goal of increasing conversions on the product overview page.

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This was the original design:

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The new overview page:

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The new overview page resulted in a 20% increase in sales.

Key Findings: As told by the creators:

• Clearer design • “Trust building” wording describing our shopping process • Adding an explicit guarantee that people can download the software lifelong • Our concrete test shows that a clear modern design improves sales. Especially in the sales process, trust building is very important.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/howaquasoft-increased-their-sales-by-20-doing-ab-split-tests-in-multiple-phases/

#57: Skype Aims to Increase New Users Overview and Results Achieved: Skype had the goal of increasing new users through its homepage. Their main metric is measured in new visitors downloading the application. Their main goals were: 1. Make it easy to download Skype right from the homepage.

2. “Remove consideration messages and a detailed product image to force users still in consideration to download the free ap-

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plication to find out more about Skype.”

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The control

Variation 1 (2% increase in downloads over control) Variation 2 (5% increase in downloads over control) Key Findings: The control didn’t have a clear headline. The new design made the headline clear and emphasized the benefit.

Source: http://www.optimizeandprophesize.com/jonathan_mendezs_ blog/2007/05/skype_boosts_ho_1.html

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#58: SaaS Company Changes Pricing Page and Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: This was RJMetrics’ old pricing page:

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RJMetrics’ pricing is built around how many customers a client has, so they made a couple iterations on their pricing page. The first iteration was this:

62.5% of customers interacted with the input field (the calculator) but only 1.2% of them were clicking the signup button. This test was no improvement over the old pricing page.

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Here’s the second variation:

This beat the original by 310%.

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They created another variation:

This variation didn’t perform as well. Users preferred the input field over the three column layout.

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Key Findings Visitors may appreciate an input method of pricing rather than a static, non-changing pricing page.

Source: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2014/03/18/pricing-page-optimization/

#59: Adding An Extra Step Improves Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: This is what the Morninghead order page looked like:

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You can see above the CTA button there is a dropdown where the visitor selected how many Morningheads they wanted. In a test, they removed this dropdown and instead had the visitor go to a new page where they selected the quantity:

This change resulted in a 43.54% lift in conversions and an average cost per visitor up from $0.16 to $0.23 a visitor.

Key Findings: In this case, breaking an order funnel down into smaller steps improves conversions. They also removed a form field that made the process a little smoother.

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Source: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2014/01/01/conversion-rate-optimization-case-studies-2/

#60: Buffer Increases Landing Page Conversion by 16% Overview and Results Achieved: Buffer’s product designer Brian Lovin was tasked with creating a new landing page. The changes he made resulted in a 16% increase in conversions (meaning new user signups).

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The old Buffer landing page:

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The redesigned landing page:

The test ran for 24 hours, with 50% of visitors seeing the old page and the other 50% seeing the new page. The old landing page converted 5.23% of visitors. The new page converted 6.05% of visitors.

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Key Findings: Better imagery More focus on login buttons Source: http://blog.bufferapp.com/lessons-learned-from-redesigning-thebuffer-home-page

#61: Lyyti Increases Click-throughs by 93.71% on Pricing Page Overview and Results Achieved: Finland based Lyyti felt their pricing page wasn’t clearly communicating the product features.

Here is the page:

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They tested it with the conversions being click-throughs to the lead generation form.

The variation page made the features a little more clear:

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The test ran for 5 months and was served evenly between visitors. The variation increased click-throughs by 93.71%.

Key Findings: Helping visitors understand your product offering may increase conversions.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/pricingpage-redesign-increases-clickthroughs/

#62: Strange Test Improves Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: WorkZone is a SaaS project management tool. They tested their lead generation page in an effort to increase demo requests. This was the original page:

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They tested it against a greyscale version:

The original outperformed the variation with a 33.93% increase in lead form submissions. The test ran for 22 days.

Key Findings: In this case, color outperformed greyscale.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/testimonials-can-overshadow-website-goal/

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#63: One Test Increases Conversions 336% Overview and Results Achieved: Career Point College needed to get more leads. Here is a comparison of their original lead generation page and the newly redesigned one:

The original was converting at 3.12%. You’ll see that the new lead generation page removed the primary navigation and brought the form field to above the fold. All traffic for the test was from Google AdWords. The variation won by 336% with the confidence percentage being 95.2%:

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Key Findings: The original button copy was “Get Started.” This signals that the visitor is starting something that will continue; that the form is only the first step. The variation changed the copy to “Request Information,” meaning the visitor just fills out a few fields and they are done. This could have helped them increase those conversions.

Source: http://unbounce.com/a-b-testing/how-a-single-a-b-test-increased-conversions/ ^^much more info and insights here^^^

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#64: Copy and Design Change Equals a 40.81% Increase in Sales Overview and results achieved: Underwater Audio had a product comparison page:

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They changed it to this variation, which rearranged some copy and reduced CTAs, among other things:

The changes they made increased their sales 40.18%.

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Key Findings: Removing clutter and giving visitors the information they need can improve conversions.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/split-testincreased-website-sales/

#65: Three Designs, One Winner on a Landing Page Overview and Results Achieved: This landing page tested three background designs.

Variation 1:

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Variation 2:

Variation 3:

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Can you guess the winner?

Variation 2 was the winner.

Key Findings: The sunset, the cloud, and a glass of wine in the background.

What could be better?

Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/minor-background-change-boostedresponse-204/

#66: Moving Testimonials on a Landing Page Increases Downloads Overview and Results Achieved: Content Verve was offering an ebook for download. This is the landing page they initially used:

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They made a variation that made the quotes a little closer to the fold:

The variation got a 64.53% increase in downloads over the original.

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Key Findings: Including quotes may improve landing page downloads. The quotes may work only if they are relevant to the audience. For example, using a quote from an unknown person is unlikely to improve conversions.

Source: http://contentverve.com/case-study-testimonials-landing-page/

#67: Form Change Increases Opt-Ins Over 200% Overview and Results Achieved: One test was giving away an eBook. Here’s what the original form looked like:

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The new form:

This simple change in design brought conversions from .37% to 1.22%.

Key Findings: Fresher design that is more appealing to the eye can help improve conversions

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Source: http://meta.baeldung.com/improve-optin-conversions-with-newbook-cover

#68: Blogger Makes Visual Tweak and Increases Signups over 700% Overview and results achieved: A blogger wanted to increase email signups. He tested his email form by making it scroll with the page. This made it more visible no matter where the visitor was on the page. It resulted in a 763% increase in signups.

Key Findings: If you’d like to test this yourself on WordPress, you can check it out here: http://wordpress.org/plugins/q2w3-fixed-widget/ Source: http://meta.baeldung.com/visual-trick-increased-my-email-signups

#69: Small Changes Lead to 55% Increase in Conversions Overview and results achieved: Formisimo wanted to improve sign-up rates. This was their signup form:

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They changed some things around in their variation:

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These changes added 56.3% in overall conversions.

Key Findings: The big difference was removing the number on the top left (signaling multiple sign-up steps) and headline change to “Start Tracking Your Forms.”

Source: http://www.formisimo.com/blog/case-study-small-changes-leadto-a-55-increase-in-conversions/

#70: Resume Firm Improves Conversions Overview and results achieved: Loft Resumes turns bland resumes into beautiful documents. This was their homepage, before the test:

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They redesigned it (and included a much better headline):

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Doing this increased sales 64.8%.

Key Findings: The headline was a great improvement. “Style-conscious resumes for the standout job seeker” doesn’t tell me much. The headline change to “Stop Employers in their Tracks...Get Your Resume Noticed & Get Interviewed” makes the benefit clear.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increasewebsite-sales/

#71: 37Signals Tests Homepage of Basecamp Overview and Results Achieved: 37Signals tested the homepage of their Basecamp product. They wanted to test clickthroughs to the signup page. Actual signups were not tested.

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Here was the “old” version:

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And the new version:

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The new design sent 14% more people to the signup page.

Key Findings: Clean design -­it guides the visitor to the Plans & Pricing page.

Source: http://signalvnoise.com/posts/2431-basecamp-home-page-redesign

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Headline Tests This section contains tests where multiple headlines went headto-head in an A/B test. These headlines can be the main headline on the homepage, headlines on a sign-up form, or headlines in advertisements.

#72: Communicating Value Increases Email Signups by 31.54% Overview and Results Achieved: Betting Expert wanted to increase the conversions on their email signup form.

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Here is the homepage, where the email signup form is located:

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The problem was that it didn’t communicate any unique value the visitor will be receiving if they add themselves to the email list.

The new form copy sought to answer the question “Why should I fill out this form?”

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After 13,560 visitors, the treatment achieved a conversion rate of 31.54%.

Key Findings:

• Find out the reason visitors are at your site, understand their motivations, and target your messaging toward that.

• Be clear and succinct in your value prop for email signup • The benefit is also made clear in this new headline.

Source: http://contentverve.com/case-study-31-54-more-conversionssignup-form-copy/

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#73: Birchbox Doubles Social Sharing by Adding Seasonal Message Overview and Results Achieved: Birchbox is a monthly subscription company that sends out beauty and lifestyle samples to their customers every month. At the end of checkout, they offer customers a way to share their purchase via social media. Here are the two options they tested: This is the typical sharing widget:

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This is what they used during the Holiday season:

Referral traffic from newsfeeds more than doubled, while referral conversions doubled.

Key Findings: -Helping people may help. Some people out there may have been looking for a gift from a different company they hadn’t previously heard of, so Birchbox appearing to them with the words “The Perfect Holiday Gift” may have promoted interest.

Source: https://www.friendbuy.com/blog/a-simple-ab-test-to-optimizesocial-sharing-and-referral-performance/

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#74: 90% Improvement Conversion Rate over the Original Overview and Results Achieved: CityCliq, a business which provides webpages for small businesses, tested different headlines for their homepage. The conversion goal was a click on their pricing page. The test was run for two weeks. These four headlines were tested: Businesses grow faster online! (25.3% conversion rate – original) Create a webpage for your business (47.8% conversion rate) Get found faster! (31.8% conversion rate) Online advertising that works! (20.2% conversion rate) Key Findings: The winner, Create a webpage for your business, shows that prospective customers already are aware of the benefits of having a website.

Every headline had an exclamation point except for the winner.

The winner tells visitors exactly what CityCliq does.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/using-absplit-testing-to-refine-your-startups-positioning-90-increase-inconversion-rate/

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#75: 30% Improvement with a Headline Adjustment Overview and Results Achieved: 37signals tested the five headlines and sub headline on the Highrise signup page.

5th place (the original):

4th place (7% better conversion than the original):

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3rd place (15% better conversion than the original):

2nd place (27% better conversion than the original):

1st place (30% better conversion than the original):

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Key Findings: The winner put the emphasis on the 30 day free trial and mentioned that signup takes less than 60 seconds. The winner was the only one to combine these two. Second place had “30-Day Free Trial on All Accounts” as the headline but made no mention of the short signup process. Fourth place also mentioned the 30 day free trial. The no-nonsense headline won.

Source: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1525-writing-decisions-headlinetests-on-the-highrise-signup-page

#76: Three Experiments Improve Conversion Rates by a Combined 72% Overview and Results Achieved: Three experiments were run by the CareLogger team.

Homepage Headline (signup goal): At the first launch of the website, this was their headline: The team realized that people weren’t looking at the CareLogger software because it was easier than what they currently do. What

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they wanted was better insight so they could maintain optimal wellness. So they changed their headline to this:

The headline change resulted in a 31% increase in conversions after 1000 trials.

Changing Signup Button Color: CareLogger changed their signup button from green to red:

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After 600 participants, the conversion rate increased by 34%. The homepage had a lot of green, so the red button stuck out a little more. As they say, “it’s all about contrast.”

Changing button text: CareLogger changed the signup button text from “Signup for Free” to “Get Started Now.” After 1000 trials, this button text adjustment resulted in a 7% increase in conversions. It’s theorized that the increase in conversions was due to “Get Started Now” sounding easier.

Key Takeaway:

• Contrast is key. Make sure people see your call-to-action.

• Little things like button colors (but not exclusively colors) can make a difference. It’s not necessarily true: smaller the change = bigger the increase or decrease. And vice versa.

• Make things sound easy and risk-free for the user or visitor.

Source: http://dmix.ca/2010/05/how-we-increased-our-conversion-rateby-72/

#77: Need for Speed Advertisements Tested Overview and Results Achieved: The Need for Speed video game tested ads on Plenty of Fish.

Each ad got 15,000 impressions.

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Ad one:

Ad two:

The first ad achieved a 0.049% CTR. The second ad achieved a 0.137% CTR. Key Findings: “Every idea that you have is worth testing, no matter how crappy you think it is.”

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Source: http://blog.ads.pof.com/2012/04/03/throw-everything-youknow-about-ads-out-the-window-pics-inside/

#78: Headline Change Boosts Response Over 300% Overview and Results Achieved: Author Amanda Stevens ran a split test to see if changing the headline on a landing page would increase conversions on her two-step opt-in page. This was the original headline:

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And the challenger:

With 99.98% probability, the challenger beat the original with 307.77% more opt-ins.

Key Findings: The original headline didn’t make much sense. Not many people know what the author means by “Rescue Remedies”. The challenger headline made the benefit clearer by stating the audience (retailers) and the benefits of the book (fresh ideas and proven growth strategies).

Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/slight-headline-tweak-boosted-response-307-percent/

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Image Tests This section contains tests that involved images. This can include testing the size of an image, the placement of an image, or changing the entire image.

#79: Adding a Picture of a Person Increases Highrise Signups by 102.5% Overview and Results Achieved: 37signals changed the design of their Highrise product page.

While they’ve done many tests, we’ll feature one where they had a white background and tested it against a background of a customer.

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Here is the test and results:

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And they tried a long page with the same background vs a short page. The long page performed worse:

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Key Findings: -As you can see, the type of background with the person really sticks out from most of the other pages on the internet. It may signal to the visitor the importance of the website and make them want to read more of the offering.

Source: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2991-behind-the-scenes-ab-testing-part-3-final

#80: Bigger Product Images Increase Sales 9% Overview and Results Achieved: MALL.CZ is the Czech Republic’s second largest ecommerce retailer. They sell a variety of products, much like Amazon. Their goal was to increase sales.

There are two types of tests, one with larger images and the other with large images with product description over a mouseover.

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Control – original size of product image with text description:

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Variation 1 – Large product images with text:

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Variation 2 – Large product images with text description viewable on mouseover:

Variation 2 was the winner with a 9.46% increase in sales.

Key Findings: -We’ve seen cases where bigger buttons decrease conversions, so it’s interesting to see bigger product images increasing sales.

There’s a reason why cereal manufacturers make their product

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images on the box bigger (i.e., enlarged to show detail). They have undoubtedly done the same research and found that bigger product images increase sales.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/larger-product-images-increase-conversion-rate/

#81: 70.9% Increase in Video Plays by Reducing Detail of Product Overview and Results Achieved: Yobongo tested two screencaps for their video.

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Control:

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Test:

The control focuses primarily on the app and nothing else. The test shows it in a different context. The app is not the entire focus

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of the shot and it appears to be someone on the app in a coffee shop.

Key Findings: Showing a close-up of your product is not always the best. It may help to show it in a familiar environment. The test shows a relaxed scene and the app is a part of it. This also may be true for images, as you can see from Square’s old home page:

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/248002/homepage-for-yobongo

#82: Changing Photo Improves Registrations Overview and Results Achieved: Erich Andreas tested photos on his webcast sign-up page. This was his original:

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This was his challenger:

The smiling photo of Andreas boosted conversions 42% with 98.7% certainty.

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Key Findings: Watch tv advertisements or look at print and online advertisements, and you’ll see smiling faces. Perhaps smiling faces make people more susceptible to buying. http://swoba.hhs.se/hastba/papers/hastba2003_007.pdf Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/photo-increased-webinar-registrations42-split-test/

#83: Bigger Product Image Increased Conversion Rates by 63% Overview and Results Achieved: Skinner Auctions ran an A/B test that increased their product images by 28%, an increase totaling 350 pixels across. The big image meant that a lot of the content was pushed below the fold. Note: Images are from WhichTestWon and are protected by Copyright.

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The larger image made 63% more people click to start bidding.

However, this only started the bidding process. An additional 329% who started bidding filled out the online forms that were required to place the bid.

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Key Findings: Enlarged to show detail works. If you have physical products that you’re selling (and possibly even virtual products), you may want to try showing the details of your product through up-close images.

Source: http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/62391-do-bigger-images-meanimproved-conversion-rates-three-case-studies

#84: 112.5% Increase in Conversions By Having a Specific and Relatable Demonstration Overview and Results Achieved: Performable A/B tested their landing page with the goal of getting visitors to click the free trial button.

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The original:

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The test:

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As you can see, the variation used iTunes to demonstrate a part of Performable. This earned a conversion rate 112.5% better than the original.

Key Findings: The variation is much more of an eye catcher. It’s something people can easily spot and relate to versus another product mockup.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/236001/landing-for-performable

#85: Showing Humans Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Visual Website Optimizer did some research to see if using human faces (as opposed to paintings or other images) increased conversions. Here is an example from Medalia Art, who sells paintings online:

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Here is the test:

The variation showed pictures of the artists. This got 95% more people to click to view the paintings with a rate of 17.2% of people clicking.

In another test, a face went up against a generic picture. The original:

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The test:

Once again, the photo of the human got more clicks by a margin of 48% with 5.5% of people clicking.

Key Findings: This shows that using humans in pictures increases the chances that they’ll be clicked on. It’s much more natural than seeing a painting or a generic picture, so when possible use pictures of people (and not stock photos).

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/humanlanding-page-increase-conversion-rate/

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#86: ExactTarget Changes Images In Hopes of an Improved Conversion Rate Overview and Results Achieved: ExactTarget tested whether changing images would improve conversion rates. The original:

The variation:

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Over 11k visitors were tested with each variation. The variation beat the original 40.18%.

Key Findings: The image is better matched with the content of the landing page. It’s a conference, so it makes sense to show a picture of it.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/choosingimages-that-improve-conversions/

#87: Adding Images to Tweets Increases Leads Overview and Results Achieved: HubSpot wanted to know if adding images to tweets would increase leads. Here is a typical tweet with no images:

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And one with an image:

They found that adding images to tweets increased leads by 55%. They also found a 36% increase in clicks, a 41% increase in retweets, and an increase in a lot of other engagement metrics.

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Key Findings: Using images correctly on Twitter can be correlated with more engagement and possibly more leads.

Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/tweet-images-improve-leadgen-ht

#88: Removing Stock Photos and Adding Real Photos Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Harrington Movers is a moving company. Their moving services page shows a generic stock photo:

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They created two variations:

Both variations beat the control with 98% statistical confidence.

Both are pretty close when the two variations are pitted against each other. Variation 1 showed a percentage improvement of 45.55% over the original, while variation 2 (truck image) showed a 45.05% improvement over the original.

Key Findings: Real, authentic images make your site look better and improve conversions.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/stock-photos-reduce-conversions/

#89: Showing Images in Site Search Box Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Online retailer BrickHouse Security added product images to their drop down search menu. So when visitors typed in a product they had in mind, a drop down menu would appear showing products specific to those search terms.

BrickHouse says they get a 100% conversion lift by using these product images in the dropdown menu.

Key Findings: -Adding images makes the site more elegant and more importantly helps the visitor. Today, Facebook and Twitter feature a drop down menu and profile pictures when the user is searching.

They do this to help the user find what they’re looking for and to help the usability and efficiency of the site.

Source: http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/04/29/product-imagessite-search-window-boosts-conversions

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Removing Elements Tests Less is more? In these tests, marketers tried removing certain elements of their pages in hopes of increasing conversion rates.

#90: Removing Signup Button From Homepage Increases Signups 350% Overview and Results Achieved: An anonymous company had a Signup button on their homepage. As a test, they removed it in place of another button.

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This is a mockup of the changes:

Surprising to some, removing the Signup button from the homepage actually resulted in a 350% increase in signups.

Key Findings: Asking for a signup too soon (right when a visitor lands on the homepage) may be too soon.

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Source: http://zurb.com/article/816/why-burying-sign-up-buttons-helpsget-mor

#91: Removing Headline Improves Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: The Foundation tested whether removing a headline would improve conversions.

With a headline:

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Without:

Removing the headline boosted conversions by 28%.

Key Findings: Removing the headline may have put more focus on the CTA button.

Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/ab-testing-make-headline-disappearboost-response/

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#92: Removing Social Proof Increased Engagement Overview and Results Achieved: Calpont wanted to know if having social media signals on their pages increased engagement. They removed social media icons at the tops of their pages. Eleven different goals were tracked.

Without social sharing:

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With social sharing:

After three weeks, three of the eleven goals had reached statistical significance. Many of the other goals also were showing positive trends. Their key goal, sending a sale inquiry, showed a “massive improvement.”

The two goals that showed a decline were Debian Downloads and Engagement. They attribute this to the placement or possibly the low number of Likes.

Key Findings: Visitors may become discouraged if you integrate social media buttons on your website and they show low numbers of Tweets, Likes, or +1’s.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/social-proofdecreases-conversions/

#93: Testing Removing Elements on a Home Page JellyTelly tested their homepage. This was the original:

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The variation, where elements of the page were removed:

The variation increased visits to the signup page by 105% and signups by 5%.

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Key Findings: Reducing distractions once again proves to help conversions Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/removingdistractions-increased-conversion-rate/

#94: Testing Removing The Product Description on eCommerce Site Overview and Results Achieved: FreestyleXtreme wanted to see if removing product descriptions would increase conversions.

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The original (with description):

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The variation (without):

More than 7000 visitors saw each. The variation beat the original by 31.38% with 96% confidence.

Key Findings:

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The variation may not have won because of the absence of product description, but because of it’s poor placement. It’s rare (for a good reason) to see product descriptions above images.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/removingecommerce-product-description-improved-conversion-rate/

#95: Removing Social Buttons Improves Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Taloon is a Finland-based eCommerce store that sells hardware materials. Here is what their product pages looked like: They made a variation that removed the social buttons: This change increased “Add to Carts” by 11.9%.

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Key Findings: Removing the unnecessary can help the page look cleaner. Having social buttons can work against you if you’re not getting a lot of social shares. You can put a Tweet and Like button on a page, but what if they each have only one tweet and one like? This may negatively impact the perception of that product.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/removingsocial-sharing-buttons-from-ecommerce-product-page-increaseconversions/

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#96: Removing Social Proof Increases Signup Form Conversion Overview and Results Achieved: Derek Halpern tested his signup form for DIYthemes.

Control, Variation 2, and Variation 1 The results, with 2,068 visits:

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Removing social proof actually increased conversion rates.

Key Findings: This test doesn’t prove that social proof isn’t effective at improving conversion rates. It does, however, show that nothing is set in stone. Everything can be challenged and tested.

Source: http://diythemes.com/thesis/increase-conversions-split-testing/

#97: eCommerce Site Removes a Filter and Increases Site Engagement by 27% Overview and Results Achieved: UK Tool Centre thought that having an extra product filter on their website was reducing visitor engagement. The filter was a brand of wood care products called Cuprinol.

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This is the control:

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In the variation, the filter menu was removed:

The variation resulted in an increase of 27% engagement in the product pages. This was due to visitors being less distracted.

Key Findings: Don’t distract visitors with unnecessary options.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/removeproduct-filter-increase-site-engagement/

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#98: Removing Some Content From Landing Page Increases Sales 62% Overview and Results Achieved: Assessment Day (part of WikiJob) A/B tested their website. Here is the original:

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They tested it against a couple variations. Here’s one variation:

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And here’s the other:

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The first variation, which removed the FAQ, saw a 62% increase in sales. The second variation, which removed the screenshots, saw a 56% increase in sales.

The next step they took was removing both the screenshots and the FAQ:

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That actually reduced sales by 3%.

Key Findings: Find the optimal amount. More is not necessarily better and less is not necessarily better either. Give users information, but don’t overload them.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increasesales-landing-page/

#99: 400% Conversion Rate Improvement by Removing One Image Overview and Results Achieved: Bradley Spencer had this big secure image on a website:

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And without the secure image:

The results were surprising – a 400% increase in conversions over 3 days. Four times more people clicked the coupon link.

Key Findings: Conventional wisdom says that adding security badges on your site would increase conversions, and 8 or 9 out of 10 times it would. This is one of those rare times when it didn’t. Always be experimenting, you’ll never know what you can remove to increase users.

Source: http://www.bradleyspencer.com/2010/5-surprising-lessons-fromuser-testing/

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#100: Eliminating One Field Increases Expedia’s Profit by $12 million Overview and Results Achieved: This is a mockup of what Expedia’s registration process looked like:

Simply eliminating “Company Name” (and thus visitor confusion) led to a large increase in profit.

Key Findings: Removing the unnecessary clears the way for users to complete registration and order a product. Adding the unnecessary clogs

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up the registration process and needlessly adds time and confusion for the visitor.

Source: http://www.conversionvoodoo.com/blog/2011/11/expedia-deletesone-field-from-their-registration-process-increases-profit-12m/

#101: 60% Landing Page Improvement by Removing Signup Form Overview and Results Achieved: Vendio has one landing page that embedded the signup form into the page.

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They removed it in a test:

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This led to a 60% increase in visitor signups.

The “Signup Now” button leads to the signup form.

Key Findings: It’s quite possible that adding steps to signup increases conversions.

Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/258001/landing-for-vendio

#102: Reducing Questions Increases Conversions by 35% Overview and Results Achieved: Flying Scot provides airport parking in Edinburgh. They had the goal of increasing conversions through their website.

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This is their original details page:

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They redesigned it and reduced the amount of forms:

The result was a 45.45% increase in visitors moving to the next step and a 35% increase in form submissions.

Key Findings: Don’t make the user work too hard or make it look difficult on their end. Filling out a form should not be a task.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/career-advice-and-ab-testing/

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#103: 20% Increase in Homepage Conversion Rate Overview and Results Achieved: Gyminee tested their homepage. Their old homepage had a myriad of options:

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The new homepage reduced the number of options from 25 to 5.

A drastically simplified homepage:

With this new design, the signup button became much more visible.

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Key Findings: Reducing the number of options increases the signup rate by an average of 20.45%.

Results: Test 1 Conversion Rates: Original (24.4%), Simplified (29.6%), Observed Improvement (21.1%) Test 2 Conversion Rates: Original (18.9%), Simplified (22.7%), Observed Improvement (19.8%) Source: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/08/12/googlewebsite-optimizer-case-study/

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Reviews & Testimonials Tests Does adding reviews increase conversions? It has been tested, and in this section, you’ll see some of those tests.

#104: FigLeaves Adds Reviews Overview and Results Achieved: FigLeaves sells women’s apparel on their website. They added product reviews to the site, and this change made customers 35% more likely to purchase.

Key Findings: Helping the visitor navigate and make decisions proves once again to be helpful at increasing conversions and making the visitor more likely to buy.

Source: http://blog.arhg.net/2010/02/reflections-on-bryan-eisenbergskeynote.html

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#105: Adding Testimonials Increases Conversions 34% Overview and Results Achieved: WikiJob had three testimonials on their homepage. They had a couple of problems with these testimonials, though. The testimonials weren’t attributed to any specific customers and no one even knew if they were testimonials. They were just quotes placed on the homepage. WikiJob did have testimonials, but they were at the bottom of the page. WikiJob decided to A/B test and move the testimonials to the top of the page.

What they experienced was a 34% increase in conversion rates.

Key Findings: Testimonials can give visitors assurance that previous people had success with you, thus ensuring your reputability.

Source: http://www.salesnexus.com/blog/sales/the-importance-of-usingtestimonials-2/

#106: WikiJob Achieves 34.0% Improvement Overview and Results Achieved: WikiJob wanted visitors to click through to the PayPal checkout and buy something and complete the checkout.

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Original page:

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Variation page:

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The variation page achieved a 34.0% improvement over the original due to the testimonials.

Key Findings: Testimonials placed near the fold (not at the bottom) may have a positive impact on conversions. Try using a picture of a human next to the testimonial.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/customertestimonials-increase-sales/

#107: Dutch eCommerce Store Increases Sales 36% Overview and Results Achieved: fietspunt is a Dutch eCommerce store that sells bicycling gear.

Their product pages had the highest bounce rate.

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Here’s what they looked like:

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In their first test, they added the Facebook widget:

No noticeable change. Bounce rate remained high. They tried changing the placement of the widget, but there still was no change.

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Then, they inserted a widget where product reviews were shown:

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The test ran for 15 days on about 16,000 visitors. The review widget increased orders by 36.73%.

Key Findings: It was not a lack of trust that was the hurdle for fietspunt. Instead, they were missing what nearly all other ecommerce sites now have – a reviews section. It’s something that helps visitors decide whether they want to buy the product. The product pages already had plenty of information about the product, and trust was established. fietspunt just lacked a factor that helps shoppers decide whether to buy.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/adding-customer-reviews-increases-sales/

#108: Removing 3 Form Fields on a Registration Form Increases Conversions 10.48% Overview and Results Achieved: BliVakker.no is a Norway-based online beauty shop. Their registration process was complicated and they wanted to simplify.

The original (control) had 17 form fields.

The second version (Skjema-light) had the original 17, minus 3.

Account number, phone number, and evening phone number were eliminated.

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The third version (Skjema-uberlight) had far fewer fields and less navigational elements.

This shows version two:

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As you can see version 2 outperformed the control and the third version.

Key Findings: It shouldn’t be too surprising that reducing workload for visitors increases conversions. In everything you do, always look at things from a customer perspective. See everything from their point of view. Have respect for their time, make things easy for them, and you’re more likely to get them as a customer.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testingform-fields-increase-conversions/

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Trust & Security Tests In this section, you’ll see tests where various elements of security assurances were tested, such as putting a security seal on a website, making various security assurances (i.e., we’re safe, buy from us), and/or adding various guarantees.

#109: Watch Store Implements Authenticity to Improve Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Express Watches is a UK based online seller of Seiko watches. A big customer anxiety is the fear of getting counterfeit watches.

Express Watches A/B tested on whether customers cared more about price or authenticity.

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The control – competing on price point:

The variation – assuring authenticity:

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The variation increased sales 107% over the original.

Key Findings: This result is likely industry specific. In industries where a lot of fraud exists, it certainly helps to prove you’re authentic. This can be applied to other industries as well. Placing badges like “Certified __ Partner” may increase sales.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increase-insales/

#110: Showing Price on Landing Page Doubles Lead Generation Overview and Results Achieved: SafeSoft Solutions develops products for customer contact centers. They A/B tested to see if leaving pricing on a landing page increased or decreased conversions.

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The control:

The variation:

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The variation brought a 100% boost in leads generated over the control. In this case, showing the price did have a positive impact.

Key Findings: People have a notion in their head that if a company doesn’t display pricing, it’s likely an expensive product. To get pricing, you have to talk to one of their salesmen and hear a sales pitch first.

The variation removes this question and tells the visitor up front what the price is.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/prominentprice-display-increases-leads-generated-by-100/

#111: Adding a Guarantee Improves Ecommerce Sales 41% Overview and Results Achieved: Horloges.nl is a Netherlands based webstore that sells watches.

Their landing page for the Casio G-Shock line of watches had this banner just above product images:

The text translates to:

• Official G-Shock dealer

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• Free shipping • Tomorrow at home (aka “Delivered the next day”) They made the banner in the test version smaller. It also included a 2 year guarantee:

• Free shipping – Familiar with PostNL (aka “reliably with PostNL”) • Tomorrow at home – Order before 16:00 • Official Dealer – 2 year guarantee on watches

The variation generated 41% more turnover on visitors that visited the G-Shock page. Additionally, the average order value improved 6%.

Key Findings: Including a guarantee on your ads or headlines may improve sales.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increasetrust-to-increase-sales/

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#112: Trust Badge Increases Conversion by 72.05% Overview and Results Achieved: Bag Servant, an ecommerce site that sells all kinds of bags, wanted to increase conversions. Their control page featured their Twitter followers:

The variation page featured a WOW badge – a respected badge given to them by Jacqueline Gold:

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Comparison:

The three tracked goals and their results:

• Visits to affiliate partners’ sites marked a 72.05% improvement • Site engagement – 10.27% boost • Product exploration – 60.42% increase Key Findings: We’ve discussed before how you create a trustworthy website. It comes as no surprise that adding a certificate showing your credibility boosts engagement. This can be especially helpful if you own a smaller website that people may not trust as much.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/increaseconversion-rate-with-trust-badges/

#113: Site Built Around Credibility Increases Conversions 48% Overview and Results Achieved: An American Express travel representative, Cook, A/B tested their website.

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Here is the original:

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And this is one of the variations they tested it against:

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The variation was built around Cook establishing their credibility.

This credibility variation earned Cook a 48% increase in conversions of the original.

Key Findings: We have a lot of case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of establishing your credibility. The internet is a big place with lots of fraudulent sites and there are a lot of scared consumers, so establishing your credibility is a priority, especially if you’re in the travel industry.

Source: http://www.widerfunnel.com/proof/case-studies/travel-agencygets-48-more-phone-calls-each-day-after-conversion-optimization-ab-testing

#114: Trust Badges Increase Sales 32% Overview and Results Achieved: Understand Quran Academy teaches Islamic religious text to people.

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Here is their sign-up page:

And the test that included trust buttons:

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Adding these buttons increased sales 32.57%.

Key Findings: Some sort of trust and/or security badges can help to improve conversions on eCommerce sites.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/addingtrust-badge-increases-sales/

#115: Protecting Purchases with Bonds Improves Conversions 10.4% Overview and Results Achieved: BellaCor offered bonds from Buy Safe to a select group of visitors. They tested this against a group that was not given an option of bonds. The group that was offered bonds had a 10.4% better conversion rate than the control.

Key Findings: Consumers want to protect their transactions. They need assurances and security.

Source: http://www.internetretailer.com/2010/08/26/bellacorcomboosts-conversions-bonds

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#116: Security Seal Increases Conversions 7.6% Overview and Results Achieved: Oriental Furniture added a Buy Safe seal to their website. They checked this against the control that didn’t have the seal. After a couple of months of testing, Oriental Furniture experienced a 7.6% bump in conversion rate.

Key Findings: Assurances are almost always beneficial for websites and customers.

Source: http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/01/05/orientalfurniturecomdrives-conversion-76-security

#117: Changing Homepage Makes Visitors 2-3x More Likely to Buy Overview and Results Achieved: Hawk Host A/B tested their homepage.

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This is the control:

This is the test, with the prominent padlock:

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The padlock converted 2-3x better than the original. No official percentage was given.

Key Findings: -I’m not sure what purpose the globe served, so it shouldn’t be too surprising that a padlock increased conversion rates. It gives a subliminal message of security and assures visitors. Aim to have your images link with your unique value proposition and main message.

Source: http://blog.hawkhost.com/2010/02/21/multivariate-testing-areal-life-example/

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Video Tests Does adding video increase conversions? Tests in this section were run on videos, but keep in mind that the results are not conclusive, as there are a lot of factors with video that can affect conversions (video quality, length, thumbnail, etc.).

#118: Image Slider Outperforms Video by 30% Overview and Results Achieved: Device Magic wanted to test if video or an image slider converted better.

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The original – with video:

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The variation – with image slider:

The image slider increased conversions from homepage to signup page by 35% and subsequent signups by 31%.

Key Findings: Every website is different, so it cannot be surprising that an image slider outperformed video. Unfortunately, this video is too long (visitors know they’ll be sitting there for over 4 minutes to watch) and the screencap doesn’t make the video seem too interesting.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/video-orimage-slider-ab-test/

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#119: Video Improves Email Signups by 100% Overview and Results Achieved: Vidyard wanted to improve email signups for their alpha product.

They tested a landing page with and without video:

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The results:

Challengers D and H used video in a light-box and an embedded i-frame. Challenger J did not include video.

J achieved a 6.5% conversion rate, H achieved an 11% conversion rate (69% boost), D achieved a 13% conversion rate (100% boost).

The content of the video showed a demo animation of the product as well as a voice over: Click here to watch video.

Key Findings:

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It wasn’t just about video. It was about the content in the video, too. Video alone won’t improve conversions. Just like written copy, video content matters just as much.

Source: http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/case-studyusing-video-to-lift-landing-page-conversion-rate-by-100/

#120: Product Video Increases Conversions by 247% Overview and Results Achieved: According to research from Treeopedia, adding a video to Jewelry sites increases conversions 247%. Here is their data: Raw Data:

Key Findings: There appears to be a benefit with adding video to a homepage or landing page. The key is in the details that make up the video.

This means the actual content of the video, the thumbnail for

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the video, the length of the video, and quality of the video. If the video has to buffer at all, it may have a negative impact on conversions.

Source: http://blog.treepodia.com/2011/11/product-videos-boost-jewleryconversions-by-247-case-study/

#121: Dropbox Video Boosts Conversions 10% Overview and Results Achieved: Most of us are aware of the video on the Dropbox homepage. It’s since been replaced, but it’s estimated that it’s been played a few million times. The real question is whether it increases signups.

It has, according to someone who has crunched the numbers.

It’s estimated that the referral page that people come to when a friend sends them to Dropbox has a 30.0% conversion rate when the video is not played. When the video is played, the conversion rate bumps up to approximately 33.2% Key Findings: Simply having a video on your homepage may not be enough.

There’s also the element of ensuring it gets played. You can help ensure this by keeping the video the main focus of the page and limiting any other content.

Source: http://www.commoncraft.com/common-craft-video-dropboxcom-effective

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#122: Video Underperforms Image Overview and Results Achieved: Brookdale Living offers housing for senior citizens. Their “Find a Community” page was minimalist, had little copy, and offered visitors little to no reason to use it:

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They tested one variation with an image:

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And another variation that included a video:

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The test ran for 2 months with over 30,000 visitors. Compared with the original, the image recorded a 3.92% increase in “Find a Community” searches. With the original pitted against video, the video got only a .85% increase.

Key Findings: The 3.92% increase in searches will result in $106k additional monthly revenue.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/image-outperforms-video-increases-monthly-revenue/

#123: InDinero Uses Video to Improve Conversion Overview and Results Achieved: InDinero tested their homepage with and without a video. This is the original homepage without a video:

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They changed it and included a video:

The original earned a 6.8% conversion rate. They tested it with video and earned an 11.2% conversion rate.

Key Findings: It’s important to note that the content of the video matters. In this case, using video helped conversions. Using a more poorly produced video may have reduced conversions.

Source: http://grumomedia.com/proof-that-demo-videos-increase-conversion-rates/

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Misc Tests Tests that don’t fit in any other category are here. These include tests where multiple changes were made (copy, button, headline) in one variation.

#124: Adding Google Site Search Increases Conversions 11% Overview and Results Achieved: WaterFilters.net needed a search for their website. They turned to Google Site search.

As a result of implementing the search, bounce rate decreased 4% and conversions increased 11%.

Key Findings: Aiding visitors in their navigation through your site is a good tactic for increasing conversions.

Source: http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_ dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/sitesearch/pdf/waterfilters.pdf

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#125: Intuit Increases Conversion Rates 211% by Implementing Proactive Chat Overview and Results Achieved: Intuit implemented proactive chat in different areas on their website.

Adding chat to the checkout process increased the average order value 43%. And there was a 20% increase in conversions compared with not using chat.

Using proactive chat on a product comparison page increased sales 211%:

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It also was included on their checks and supplies product page:

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And on the lead generation page:

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Key Findings: Introducing proactive chat, where the visitor can see the chat box, may improve conversions if placed in areas of your website where visitors have questions.

Source: http://www.proimpact7.com/ecommerce-blog/how-intuit-increased-conversion-rate-by-211-just-by-using-proactive-chat/

#126: AMD Increases Social Sharing 3600% Overview and Results Achieved: AMD used ShareThis for social sharing. They wanted to increase the amount of sharing among visitors. They tested six variations, with different icons and placement. They tested it on AMD’s Support & Drivers page.

AMD found the best place for your social buttons is the left-position chicklet version with dynamic adjustment based on browser window size:

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Key Findings: Experiment and learn the optimal place for your social media buttons. Many websites place them on the left-hand side, but only you can test to see what works best.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/amd3600-social-sharing-increase/

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#127: Voices.com Improves Conversion 400% Overview and Results Achieved: Voices.com improved their conversions 400% by implementing these tactics (as well as a few others not published): Social proof:

Segmenting visitors:

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Demonstration videos:

And learning what customer objections are and working to overcome them.

Source: http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/voices-case-study/

#128: One Company Makes up a Product, Increases Conversions 233% Overview and Results Achieved: One company became inspired by the book Predictably Irrational, which states that people tend to act irrationally in a predictable fashion. The book showcases a study on pricing for The Economist. The pricing looked like this:

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Of this pricing, 84% bought the print and web subscription while 16% bought the online version.

When the print only option was removed, 68% bought the web only option and 32% bought the web and print option. See the reversal?

One company decided to try the same for their business.

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This is the original page:

With this pricing, 40% bought the yearly plan and 60% purchased the monthly plan.

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This is the new page:

The company knew that customers wanted the first two features, so they included it in all plans.

The result was a 233% increase in conversions. Eighty-six percent purchased the $299 plan and 14% chose the monthly.

Key Findings: Read The Irresistible Offer and Predictably Irrational to learn

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more about consumer behavior and pricing tactics.

Source: http://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/made-upproduct-increased-conversions/

#129: One Hour of Work Equals 46% More Customers Overview and Results Achieved: ThetaBoard is a project management app. They wanted to get people to try their one click demo, so they put an offer for the one-click demo on every page. This simple tactic made 20-30% of visitors try the demo.

While they saw more visitors trying the demo, they didn’t see a big increase in visitors signing up for the free trial.

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They received advice from a fellow founder and added Bootstrap Tour to their demo. They thought this would help visitors to the demo become more acclimated to the product. They picked 7 steps to point out the features of ThetaBoard.

When a user completes the tour, they receive a final tip “Don’t forget to save this board!”

Adding these steps increased conversions of demo to free trial 46%.

Key Findings: In this case, one hour of work means 46% more customers. That’s quite an ROI, especially when no money was invested, only an hour of time. Many users can be a little discouraged to sign up for a free trial or even paid account after first seeing a demo. Things can look a little confusing if they don’t have the wow factor. This is why it’s helpful to show the different features of your product.

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It’ll help them warm up to the product and possibly agree to a free trial or paid account.

Source: http://www.thetaboard.com/blog/how-we-improved-our-conversion-rate-46-in-one-hour?r=400

#130: Discounts Bring Huge Returns for Meebox Overview and Results Achieved: Meebox is a Denmark based web hosting and cloud hosting company. They ran a test on the pricing page. The original had no discount, while the variation had discounts of 20% and 40% for the highest plan. These discounts applied only if customers locked in for a 2-year period.

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Original:

Variation:

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Meebox saw a 121.56% increase in revenue, a 46.24% increase in Average Order Value, and a 51.85% increase in conversions.

Key Findings: It shouldn’t be a surprise that Meebox saw an increase in conversions, but what is surprising is the increase in average order value. Perhaps customers were so happy to get the discount that they added more than they typically would to their order.

As the author points out, when offering discounts to potential customers, try to make it work for your company as well. It may not have been profitable for Meebox to offer a discount if they didn’t get customers locked in for 2 years. You can discount all you want, but if it’s not fiscally wise, you won’t be doing it for long as you’ll eventually be out of business with no money.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testingprice-discounts/

#131: Overcoming Objections Earned Flower Shop 44% Boost in Sales Overview and Results Achieved: daFlores is an online flower delivery shop in South America. They had the goal of increasing conversion rates. They (and Conversion Rate Experts) first started out learning what visitor objections were. The team:

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• Ran surveys using 4Q • Added Qualaroo exit surveys to certain pages • Read through thousands of lines of live chat transcripts to learn what the most common inquiries were • Emailed a SurveyMonkey survey to shopping cart abandoners • Received insights with ClickTale One of the highlighted changes was adding a sense of urgency.

Their research showed visitors were concerned that their flowers would not be delivered on time and were not aware daFlores offered same day delivery.

To add a sense of urgency, daFlores put on their website “Order in the next x hours for delivery today.”

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Control:

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Test (urgency):

This ended up giving daFlores a 27% boost in sales.

In another case, daFlores added social proof to their website because some users had not previously heard of daFlores and were understandably skeptical. daFlores had more Facebook likes than any competitor. They showed this off.

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Control:

Test:

The test showed three customer quotes in rotation. The control said only “Thanks to our 600,000+ Facebook fans.”

Replacing the static quote with rotating quotes earned daFlores a 44% uplift in sales.

Key Findings: -This is a crucial case study because it shows you cannot blindly follow tests and hope to receive the same results. You have to conduct research, learn about visitors, find out what their objections are, and work to overcome them. That’s exactly what daFlores did, and they earned a boost in sales because of it.

-Adding social proof may help if you have a low number of Likes

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or Followers. But again, it’s about overcoming objections so don’t embed social proof if it doesn’t serve a purpose.

Source: http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/daflores-case-study/

#132: 99.4% Increase in Landing Page Conversions by Adjusting Images, Copy, Removing Tabs, and Adding Trust Symbols Overview and Results Achieved: Forex Trading had the goal of increasing conversions from their landing page.

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This is the original landing page:

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This is the revised page:

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The four changes they made: 1) Copy tweaks convey value:

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2) More relevant image:

3) Tabs were removed:

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4) Trust symbols added:

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The results:

Key Findings: -You don’t have to totally reinvent the design to get significant gains in conversions. This case study shows you can adjust the content on the page to achieve a boost in conversions.

-Explain value on your landing page and you’ll increase conversions.

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Source: http://contentverve.com/99-4-lift-in-conversions-by-tweaking4-basic-elements-on-a-b2c-landing-page/

#133: 148.3% Improvement on Product Page Overview and Results Achieved: Corkscrew Wine gained a 148.3% boost in their conversions by highlighting their sale on a product.

Page A:

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Page B:

As you can see from the two, they made sure users knew it was 15% off that bottle of wine. Both were the same price, but adding the discount sticker resulted in more people putting the product in the cart. Page A had a 12.5% conversion rate, while Page B earned a 31.0% conversion rate.

Key Findings: What’s interesting about this is that the price was the same, but pointing out that it was 15% off sent conversions through the roof. I’m sure Corkscrew Wine isn’t the first to have success with this tactic. If you’re in ecommerce, look into trying it.

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Source: http://www.abtests.com/test/263001/product-for-the-corkscrewwine-merchants

#134: Homepage Increase by 106% Overview and Results Achieved: An unnamed website took HubSpot’s “12 Critical Elements Every Homepage Must Have” to heart. The images aren’t large, but you can see the overall changes highlighted:

How did they achieve such an increase? A few ways:

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Key Findings:

• As the images point out, their headline became less vague and clearly answered the who, what, where, and why.

• They also included an above the fold call to action.

• And they used meaningful graphics.

Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31104/ExtremeHomepage-Makeover-How-to-Increase-Your-ConversionRate-106.aspx

#135: Faster Firefox Landing Page Results in a 15% Increase in Downloads Overview and Results Achieved: Mozilla observed that their landing pages for Firefox loaded much slower than the Chrome and Opera pages. After some tweaks, Mozilla improved the Firefox landing page speed by 2.2 seconds. These seconds increased download conversions by 15.4%. This means an additional 10.28 million downloads per year.

Key Findings: -Speed has been shown to improve landing page downloads in many other tests. It also counts in other areas, such as Google’s search algorithm. To test your page speed and gain insights, check out Google’s PageSpeed Insights.

Source: http://blog.mozilla.org/metrics/2010/04/05/firefox-page-loadspeed-%E2%80%93-part-ii/

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#136: Visual Hierarchy Increases Sales by 35.6% Overview and Results Achieved: Underwater Audio implemented the concept known as visual hierarchy. It has been described as “how you utilize subtle visual cues so that your visitors process the information the way you want [them to and then] take your desired action unconsciously.”

This is the control page for their testing:

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Variation page:

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The two pages side by side with the changes highlighted:

The variation beat the control with a percentage increase of 35.6%. Imagine if you had a salesman who could do that – what would he be worth to you?

Key Takeaways: Ensure that what you want people to read is not hovering over a picture. You’ll notice that most memes and text in images get out of the focus of the picture and stay to the side and edges; make sure your design does the same.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/improvedvisual-hierarchy-increases-sales/

#137: Giving Up Freemium and Going to Free Trial Increases Conversions by 268.14% Overview and Results Achieved: Acuity Scheduling had a freemium plan, but many users ended up cancelling due to its reduced feature set. When they did have the plan, the key call to action was the freemium plan. Acuity changed their call to action to bring users a free 14 day trial of their professional plan, which cost $10 per month.

With this free trial, customers entered their credit card number right from the start, instead of entering it in the Accounts tab under the freemium tab.

The Acuity team tracked signups for the paid version of the professional plan and signups for their premium plan.

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The free trial had a 99.99% chance of beating the freemium offer.

What’s surprising is the 77.78% improvement for premium plan signups as well.

Key Takeaways: The freemium model has worked well for a lot of companies (namely Dropbox, Evernote, Buffer, Skype, etc.), but it’s not untouchable. Some companies, as the article points out, increase their revenue by eliminating freemium.

The success of this case study was largely achieved by listening to users and overcoming their objections. Blindly following any case study without first looking at underlying principles is misguided.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testingfree-trial-versus-freemium/

#138: Using Persuasion Principles to Increase Conversions by 7% Overview and Results Achieved: Betfair is an online betting exchange platform. The goal was CTR to their registration page and page engagement. They tried six persuasion techniques (reciprocity, scarcity, commitment and consistency, liking, authority, and social proof) described in the book, Persuasion.

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This is the control (red box not included):

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Reciprocity:

Scarcity:

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Social proof:

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A comparison of all four in one image:

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All of them achieved positive results, but statistical significance was achieved with only the social proof option. It achieved a 96% chance to beat the original and improved CTRs to the registration page by 7% over the original. It also beat the original with 4.18% page engagement over the original.

Key Findings:

• Never rule out the power of social proof.

• Study persuasion principles (pick up the book if interested) and see how it can apply to your marketing.

• Use a strength of yours (whatever it is) and show it off on your landing page. In this case, Betfair had hundreds of thousands of Facebook Likes but never fully took advantage of them until they showed them off to their landing page visitors.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/persuasionprinciples-increase-conversions/

#139: 258% Increase in Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: A performance marketing company (unnamed) wanted to find an alternative to telephone opt­in and improve a landing page conversion rate. The conversion goal was to have visitors download a white paper. The headlines:

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This landing page received a 25% opt­in rate from the checkbox option and a 36.4% conversion rate gain through white paper downloads.

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This landing page achieved a 258% increase in conversion over the original page.

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They also offered incentives of Amazon gift cards. The first one had 20 Amazon gift cards worth $25.

Against 10 $50 Amazon gift cards.

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The 10 $50 Amazon gift cards achieved a 31% higher conversion rate.

Key Findings: Mentioning “Free” may increase conversion rates.

Source: http://www.marketingexperiments.com/blog/research-topics/ response-capture-case-study.html

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#140: Adding Phone Number to Website Increased Conversions 1.8% Overview and Results Achieved: LessAccounting A/B tested to see whether having a phone number featured on their website would increase conversions. It did – by 1.8%.

Key Findings: The authors form a couple theories for why the phone number placement increased conversions:

• The phone number helped assure visitors that LessAccounting was there to help when needed.

• Showing support and a person side.

Source: http://lesseverything.com/blog/archives/2011/02/17/adding-aphone-number-to-lessaccounting-increased-our-paid-user-base/

#141: Mad Libs Style Increased Form Conversions 2540% Overview and Results Achieved: Vast.com put a new twist on forms.

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This is the before and after:

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And earned a 25-40% improvement in form completions and conversions.

Key Findings: These new forms are much more fun to fill out than the typical forms. People have to fill out hundreds of forms in their life, so add a little creativity and put a new twist on forms. You may end up with more customers because of it.

Source: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1007

#142: Truckers Report Tests Landing Pages Truckers Report is a network of professional truck drivers. One of the services they provide is helping truckers find better job opportunities. This landing page had the conversion goal of getting truckers to complete the form.

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This landing page was converting at around 12%.

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They first created a new design that worked on all devices:

The first test reduced form fields:

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Short forms typically improve conversion rates. In this case, the control beat the variation by 13.56%.

The second test changed the headline and some of the copy:

It made no difference in landing page opt-ins, but the control won by 21.7% in bottom of the funnel conversions.

Key Findings: What is sometimes viewed as a best practice (short forms) may not work in all cases.

Source: http://conversionxl.com/case-study-how-we-improved-landingpage-conversion/#/

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#143: Displaying Competitors Pricing Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: UK based ecommerce store Paperstone ran a test on their product page showing their prices compared with competitors. This was the original:

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Variation 1:

This test ran for 12,000 visitors with no conclusive results.

Then, they ran another variation on 12,122 visitors.

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This test beat the control by 10.67% in conversion rate. Increase on “Add to Basket” clicks was incomplete.

Key Findings: There is more analysis in the article; but, perhaps when you’re targeting budget consumers, comparing prices may work.

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Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ecommerceprice-comparison-increased-conversions/

#144: eCommerce Site Increases Engagement 105% Overview and Results Achieved: Bakker is a mail order company that sells plants and gardening accessories. They also had information about plants on their website. The problem is that visitors would leave shortly after visiting the site and never return to buy anything.

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This is what a typical information page looked like:

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In a variation, they added the banners displaying their top deals:

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This variation won by bringing 104.99% more people to the “Top Deals” page. The test ran for 12 days on 8,000 visitors.

Key Findings: A lot of websites have trouble converting visitors to customers.

Bakker faced the same issue and did the obvious by making their deals page more prominent. This resulted in more engagement as visitors were led to check out their deals. The sales numbers were not made public.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/adding-topdeals-banner-increases-site-engagement/

#145: Reducing Broadness Improves Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: MedienReich ComputerTrainings is a German company that provides software training courses. Their original homepage had three categories listed:

• Open Training • Individual In-house training • Individual Company training

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They replaced the three broad category types with one that had the 8 best selling courses:

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Listing the courses beat the original by 40.87%. Engagement was tracked.

Key Findings: Showing brand name instead of generic courses increases engagement (in this case).

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/split-teston-home-page-increased-engagement-by-40/

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#146: One Small Change Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: Royal Discount sells computer software. One advantage they have (and thus compete on) is price. They tested a change on their Microsoft Office product page. This was the original:

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They tested it against this page:

Notice what they changed?

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If you can’t see the difference, look at their price. The price is the same, but the variation uses a larger font.

The larger font beat the original by sending 36.54% more visitors into the conversion funnel for the “Add to Cart” goal.

The challenger increased revenue 10.21%, although this did not reach statistical significance by the time the test was published.

Key Findings: Royal Discount competes on price, so highlighting their competitive advantage appears to have helped.

Source: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/ab-testingsmall-change-increased-ecommerce-conversions/

#147: How Timing Changes Impact Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: A blogger ran a split test using video. This wasn’t your typical video test, however. His original landing page had a video and a lead generation form that appeared after only two minutes of the visitor watching the video.

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In his variation, the lead generation form appears immediately when the page is loaded:

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The instant lead generation box increased responses by 87%.

Key Findings: It shouldn’t be too surprising that the treatment won. The benefit was made clear to the visitor (getting free betting tips).

Source: http://blog.leadpages.net/how-timing-boosted-response-in-thissplit-test/

#148: Blogger Makes Change that Results in 2x More Email Signups Overview and Results Achieved: A blogger wanted to increase subscribership. A test he ran was showing a CTA at the top of a post. This CTA would show to new visitors and appear for only the first 3 posts they read. Here is the CTA:

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If they clicked it, a modal would pop up:

The conversion rate turned out to be 1.93%, which was higher than what he previously used (a sidebar).

Key Findings: Many think a short process and reducing steps increases conversions. In this case, making it two steps (click, enter email) improved conversions over just entering name and email.

Source: http://meta.baeldung.com/double-conversions-with-inline-optinand-leadpages

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#149: Removing Coupon Code Increases Conversions Overview and Results Achieved: An online retailer tested whether removing a coupon code in the shopping cart would increase conversions. The control had the coupon code, and the variation removed it. After about 25,000 visits each, they found that removing the coupon code increased conversions from 3.8% to 5.1%.

Key Findings: It seems counterintuitive that removing a coupon code from the shopping cart would increase conversions. But really, if you have the coupon code box, people think there is a coupon code out there they can use to save. If they don’t know of one, they’ll likely bounce and won’t complete their order. When you leave out a coupon code box, people know they’re getting the best deal.

Source: http://www.conversiondoctor.com/conversion-blog/couponcodes-increase-checkout-abandonment

#150: Form Test That Improved Lead Quality Overview and Results Achieved: Iron Mountain wanted to improve lead quality. They changed their lead generation form:

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The variation has a few changes:

• The variation removed the description above the field. They replaced it by having information located in the field.

• The headline changed from “Contact us today” to “Request a Quote”.

• Placement of button was changed to the other side The metric they used was the number of qualified leads generated. The variation improved the number of qualified leads by 140%.

Key Findings: A form field that is not left blank may bring more qualified buyers.

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Changing the headline to a more specific “Request a Quote” was likely the key reason Iron Mountain saw a boost in lead quality.

Source: http://blog.optimizely.com/2014/04/07/ab-test-improve-leadquality-b2b/

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Be Mindful of Your Tests and Don’t Lose Sight of the Big Picture There you have it, 150 examples of how websites have improved their conversions through testing. The important thing to remember when testing is to always have the customer in mind. Copying exactly what others have done or getting carried away by testing too many things at once is what causes sites to lose touch with the visitor.

It’s easy to lose sight of the big picture by focusing on too much on small tests. Small wins can be great for morale, but if they don’t improve the business in some measurable outcome than their effectiveness is null. Be sure to run your tests long enough to confidently conclude that you’ve make statistically significant gains. And always sanity check your math :).

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Run A/B and Get More Data with KISSmetrics You can start running AB tests today using KISSmetrics. We integrate with tools like:

• A/B Tasty • Convert • Optimizely • Unbounce • Visual Website Optimizer For example, you can run your tests in Optimizely and send the data into your KISSmetrics account. We even go farther than simply showing which test “won”. KISSmetrics shows you which test brought the most valuable customers. You can view metrics like lifetime value (LTV) and total revenue derived from each test variation.

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