the 7 principles of conversion centered design

Oli Gardner - Co-Founder, Unbounce

The 7 Principles of Conversion Centered Design

Dan McGaw - KISSmetrics - @danielmcgaw !Dan is the Director of Marketing at KISSmetrics, where he get’s the opportunity to help the best marketers in the world measure their marketing and business efforts. Prior to KISSmetrics, Dan was VP of growth at Code School, where he helped the company grow to over 500k users and $400k+ in monthly revenue.

Oli Garnder - Unbounce - @oligardner !As Creative Director (and inventor of the name Unbounce), Oli lives on a 30" whiteboard, pushing brand direction, wire framing conversion experiences, and developing marketing theories for conversion rate optimization. He’s the author of Unbounce's "big content" and has a perverse obsession with telling bad landing pages they suck.

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what is

Conversion Centered Design?

is better than

Red Button

Green Button

Conversion Centered Design is NOT…

is better than

CTA

CTA

Conversion Centered Design is NOT…

is better than

CTA

CTA

Conversion Centered Design is NOT…

7 PROVEN DESIGN PATTERNS YOU CAN USE TO INCREASE CONVERSIONS

CCD is

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

THE 7 PRINCIPLES

OF CCD

how is it different to

User Centered Design?

User Centered Design is…Designing flow, interaction, wayfinding and navigation to create usable systems and products.

Creating an experience where a visitor knows:

1. Where they are

2. Where they can go next

3. How to go back to a previous state

This is not ideal for maximum conversions.

CONVERSION is all about

ATTENTION

YOUR {AD} captures ATTENTION

YOUR {HEADLINE} holds ATTENTION

YOUR {DESIGN} focuses ATTENTION

What grabs your attention here?

How about now?

“Hey honey, can you text me a photo of the toothpaste we use?”

“If you want high conversions, stay away from peacocks and toothpaste!”!— Oli Gardner, Unbounce Co-Founder

CCD Principle #1ATTENTION RATIO…the ratio of interactive elements (links) on the page, to the number of campaign conversion goals (which is always one).

Homepage`

Landing page57:1 1:1

Homepage vs. Landing Page

ATTENTION RATIO Example A/B test hypothesis

By removing available options, people will be more inclined to click on the thing you want them to.

1:16:13.71% 5.28% +42.3%

Webinar recording page

AS ATTENTION RATIO GOES DOWN,

CONVERSION RATES GO UP

Why use landing pages?

Landing pages are the heart of CCD.

1. Attention

2. Coupling

3. Context

4. Congruence5. Clarity

6. Credibility

7. Continuance

One page, one purpose. Period.

Paid marketing Adwords

What should you use landing pages for?

Paid marketing Social ads

What should you use landing pages for?

Paid marketing Retargeting

What should you use landing pages for?

Paid marketing Display ads

What should you use landing pages for?

Content marketing Ebooks

What should you use landing pages for?

Content marketing Webinars

What should you use landing pages for?

Content marketing Blog subscription

What should you use landing pages for?

Content marketing Guest posts

What should you use landing pages for?

Events Google Hangouts

What should you use landing pages for?

Events Meetups

What should you use landing pages for?

Events Conferences

What should you use landing pages for?

Launches Company

What should you use landing pages for?

Launches Product

What should you use landing pages for?

Launches App

What should you use landing pages for?

Services Consultant

What should you use landing pages for?

Services Portfolio

What should you use landing pages for?

Services Quote request

What should you use landing pages for?

Services Appointments

What should you use landing pages for?

Ecommerce Product pages

What should you use landing pages for?

Ecommerce Long sales letters

What should you use landing pages for?

Ecommerce Pay walls

What should you use landing pages for?

Email marketing To all of the above

What should you use landing pages for?

QR code destinations

What should you use landing pages for?

Contests

What should you use landing pages for?

Surveys

What should you use landing pages for?

“Every marketing campaign needs a dedicated landing page” !!— Oli Gardner, Unbounce Co-Founder

CCD Principle #2CONVERSION COUPLING…the bond that exists between the pre-click experience and the corresponding post-click landing experience.

The Topher Grace effect - synergy

Conversion Couplingis comprised of one or more of:

1. Message Match 2. Design Match

Matching the copy of your ad to the headline of your landing page.

Easy right?

Of course it is. Unless you’re lazy or brain dead.

Message Match

Project Management Software Without Deadlines getitdone.com/whenever Remove the fear of deadlines from your projects, and start delivering as late as you want to. Deadlines are dead.

Consider an example PPC ad…

Footer

Call to Action

Your offer details and a bullet list of benefits. !1. Lorem 2. Ipsum 3. Otherum

Your offer details and a bullet list of benefits. !1. Lorem 2. Ipsum 3. Otherum

Your offer details and a bullet list of benefits. !1. Lorem 2. Ipsum 3. Otherum

Call to Action Call to Action

Call to Action

Get More Projects Done With Less Management

Doesn’t match. !Perhaps this is a homepage headline.

Your homepage is brand central station

Let’s try that again

Project Management Software Without Deadlines getitdone.com/whenever Remove the fear of deadlines from your projects, and start delivering as late as you want to. Deadlines are dead.

Social proof

Call to Action

Project Management Software Without Deadlines

Your offer details and a bullet list of benefits. !1. Lorem 2. Ipsum 3. Otherum

Form header

An exact match with the headline on the ad. !Bravo.

Quality Score goes up!

Matching the design of your display ad to ‘aspects’ of the design on your landing page.

This is even easier.

Design Match

A Facebook Ad

*may cause temporary blindness

The destination landing page*

Let’s try that again

A Facebook Ad

The destination landing page

That’s great design match

Conversion Coupling TakeawaysBy matching your landing page headlines and images with your ads, you’ll get: !

1. A lower cost-per-click 2. A higher ad position 3. A better ROI 4. Higher conversion rates!

CCD Principle #3CONTEXTUAL DESIGN…an experience that demonstrates awareness of a visitor’s environment and showcases the offering as it applies to it’s use in said environment.

Contextual Design In ActionWhat’s the experience on this page?

Contextual Design ResearchQuestion: What do you think of our

templates?

A: How much are they?

C: Can I use them in Wordpress?

B: Where can I download them?

D: NONE OF THE ABOVE

What’s wrong? The context is missing

The solution: Context of use

Show me how I would use this

The solution: Context of use

Pick from over 80 templates In the Unbounce template library

Edit and publish your landing page Inside the Unbounce page builder

The result?

+45% Lift in New Trial Starts

EPIC TEST WIN!!!

120 extra per month = 1,440 / year Average lifetime value of a customer = $706

Total impact on lifetime revenue, over the course of a year: $1,016,640

“High-converting landing pages create a conversation based on context” !!— Oli Gardner, Unbounce Co-Founder

…matching the style and context of the conversation* established prior to a click upon arrival on the landing page.

Conversation Context

*Which most often comes into play when linking to a landing page from a

blog post, online course or email.

An example click source The Smart Marketers Landing Page Conversion Course

*I get it wrong too

1

1 Super generic headline

The landing page*

Disrespecting the clickLosing interest as soon as you get the click. Abandoning your visitors.

LAME.

Let’s try that again

The click source The Smart Marketers Landing Page Conversion Course

Co-branding1

1

2

Contextual welcome

2

Author reinforcement

3

3

Conversion Lift +77%

*Full of contextual references

The landing page*

Great conversation momentum

Contextual Design Takeaways If you start a conversation with your visitors, make sure you finish it.

Use imagery and video to demonstrate how your offering will actually be used, in a context that is relatable by your prospects.

Let’s talk CCD analytics for a second…

Are we getting the right conversions?

Lots of A/B tests flat line. What then?

sometimes TOP-OF-FUNNEL CONVERSION DATA ISN’T ENOUGH

Homepage long vs. short A/B testThe results of the A/B test were inconclusive, so we were faced with making a choice between the two.

Looking at KISSmetrics funnel report, we were able to determine that customers from the long version achieved “activated” status 24% more often than those form the short version.

Measure the whole funnelnot just the top

Measure their retentionnot just first conversion

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Start Your Free KISSmetrics Trial

CCD Principle #4CONGRUENT DESIGN…aligning every element on your page so it works in concert to produce a single cohesive message.

Content Alignment Does your page tell a story?

Do this… Write down all of the copy for your page in

a single column. Read it out loud as you walk around the

room. As soon as something sounds wrong,

rewrite or remove. The goal is to remove any incongruent

messaging.

Incongruence Conversion killing copy Avoid mentioning negative suggestive words

Spam

Incongruence Conversion killing copy Avoid mentioning negative suggestive words

Gimmicks

CCD Principle #5CLARITY…creating delightful and easily digestible experiences that encourage conversion, and keep your brand top of mind for future opportunities.

White Space Designing for delight

Content Hierarchy Message before brand

Project Management Software Without Deadlines getitdone.com/whenever Remove the fear of deadlines from your projects, and start delivering as late as you want to. Deadlines are dead.

Project Management Software Without Deadlines

Project Management Software Without Deadlines

No Yes

Too much me Not enough you

Back to the analytics… Are my tests actually winning?

Can you always trust your test results?

“Improving” the clarity of a CTA Homepage call-to-action test >> CTA describes the desire-driven end goal

“Improving” the clarity of a CTA Homepage call-to-action test >> CTA describes what will happen on the next screen

New CTA increased click-throughs to the pricing page by +80%.

Looking further down the funnel with KISSmetrics, we uncovered surprising results.

Our ideal customer acquisition KPI ($99 plan) decreased by -22%.

Hooray! Not so fast.

CCD Principle #6CREDIBILITY …leveraging trust signals, transparency and verifiable social commentary to increase conversions.

Demonstrating credibility• Testimonials (case studies, quotes, tweets) • Reviews (customers, professionals) • Ratings (stars, scores) • Accreditations (industry associations) • Security badges (SSL) • Social interactions (likes, shares, followers)

Testimonials: Text vs. Video

vs.

Video: +25% increase in new trial starts

A/B test case study

“Will visitors respond better to a short description of benefits vs. social proof where third party’s are describing those same benefits?”

CLARITY VS. CREDIBILITYA/B test case study

Clarity vs. Credibility

IT ALL COMES BACK TO CONTEXT !The source of traffic was an email list with people familiar with the Unbounce brand. Therefore, one can assume they require less credibility and more clarity. It might be a different result for cold prospects.

Credibility reduced conversions by -6%

CLARITY VS. CREDIBILITYA/B test results

Pro Credibility Tip Ask people to trust you.

Research* has shown that by simply asking people to trust you, trust

indicators rise.

“You can trust us to do the job for you.”

Auto service firm customer ratings: Fair price +7% Caring +11%

Fair treatment +20% Quality + 30%

Competency + 33%

*Journal of advertising 35, no.4 (Winter 2006):101-112

CCD Principle #7

CONVERSION CONTINUANCE …leveraging the opportunity to ask fresh leads for a second conversion.

Please sir, I want some more

Webinar registration page

The confirmation page

The result2,500 Webinar registrants 1,100 New blog subscribers (40%)

The lessonDon’t be afraid to ask for a little extra.

Conversion Centered Design Lessons What have we learned?

1. Every marketing campaign needs a dedicated landing page 2. As Attention Ratio goes down, conversion rates go up 3. Coupling your landing page headline and images to your ads

creates a better experience and results in higher conversions 4. Context is king, and maintaining conversation momentum

leads to big wins 5. Incongruent writing can kill your conversion rates 6. Focus on message before brand 7. Always ask for a second conversion on your confirmation

pages 8. Dig deeper into your KISSmetrics analytics to verify test

results and performance

Questions

Oli Gardner Co-Founder, Unbounce

@oligardner

Dan McGaw DM, KISSmetrics

@danielmcgaw

THANK YOU!