Why You Shouldn’t Sleep on Conversion Rate Optimization: How a 3Q Team Improved CVR by 35.60% via Research & Testing
Published: November 25, 2019
Author: Aislinn Bryan
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a lesser-known area of opportunity for brands ready to take the next step in increasing ROI. Many of today’s companies are already allocating a significant portion of their marketing budgets to paid media (which brings traffic), but then neglect to consider how they cater to users once they’re actually on-site. This leaves potential profit on the table – what’s the value of getting users to your site if your site’s experience hinders or deters them from converting?
Recently, our CRO team designed a research-and-testing program for a travel industry client that produced a major 35.60% conversion rate (CVR) boost! Read on for more details on these results and to find out how you can add CRO into your marketing program.
Understanding the Challenge
The client for this project was a U.S.-based river cruise line with destinations across North America. Their cruises offer on-vessel dining and entertainment, along with planned shore excursions. Their conversion funnel hinged on customers reviewing one of their brochures – which can be either downloaded or physically mailed to a user. Because of this, brochure downloads and mailing requests were the main conversion goals and KPIs used for their CRO testing program. The two main issues the CRO team wanted to focus on were:
- How to overcome user anxiety created by asking visitors to: A) download the brochure file to their device; or B) enter their own personal information for a mailed copy.
- How to best exhibit the value of the brochures on the landing page without adding a significant amount of text to the page.
Engaging the Research Component
Before implementing any site changes, our team focused on securing data about users’ activity and usage of the brochure landing page, using tools like intent polls, heatmaps, and user testing. Through these investigations, we were able to gain some invaluable insights:
- User testing sessions conducted for the landing page noted that visitors desired more information on pricing, dates, and cruise destinations. This information was already a main topic in each of the brochures but was not being highlighted as part of their content. The same test participants also felt that some portions of the page were already appearing text-heavy, which would inform how the team implemented the solution to this challenge.
- Results from the intent poll strongly supported the information we learned above – that users desired information about pricing and destinations. However, we also learned through the poll that a noticeable number of respondents were looking for clarification on wheelchair and accessibility features for cruises – details that were already included in each of the brochures, but not noted anywhere on the landing page.
Crafting the Solution
Now armed with the specific points that would motivate the client’s site visitors, we set out to design a solution that addressed the conversion goals. Using a non-biased A/B test, we created a landing page variation that added a clear headline and a set of icons above the brochures section, which signaled the key content inside the brochures – catering to the information research had shown users were most interested in. In this way, the landing page previewed and solidified the value of the brochures, creating enough motivation to overcome anxiety about entering personal information or downloading a file.
CONTROL:
VARIATION:
This Test Produced a Clear Winner
Just as our hypothesis predicted, the variation of the landing page that included the “View Brochures” headline and iconography produced a 35.60% increase in requests for mailed brochures at 99% statistical significance For a client whose latency period from first acquisition to booked trip can be several weeks or months, these brochure requests constitute a major source of leads for nurturing via email and mailers (and a significant profit opportunity).
Ready to make your site or landing page a key-player in your funnel strategy? Get in touch with our CRO team to learn how we’ve helped shape some of today’s great web experiences. Vital research and testing await you on the other side.
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