There is no such a thing as a perfect website. No designer, developer, or marketer can alone spot the entire range of problems on a website. Why? One direct reason is that only real users can identify some of these problems. The market nowadays is a fierce battlefield, as everyone is striving to provide the best they can for their users. At the frontline, marketers need techniques to better understand websites’ visitors and customers. There are many articles that tackle usability testing and its benefits. But most of these articles deal with usability as a broad and theoretical term. …

Technology and connectivity are rapidly changing. In an aggressively commoditized economy, businesses need to break out of commoditization to a more experience-based offering, if they want to succeed and outshine competitors. Many giants in the industry are recognizing this need, so they are trying to provide everlasting experiences for customers through omni-channel touchpoints. Online retailers have the challenge of turning the quite mundane experience of online shopping into a unique experience. Of course, on the website itself, distinguishing the experience from other online retailers is challenging enough. Most of the distinction happens at purchase, receipt of the product, …

Losses terrify us. The possibility of losing what is close to our heart, or wallet, impacts our decision-making process. Naturally, we avoid going through any losses, but our brains have mysterious ways of averting losses and falling into risky situations. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, old wisdom has taught us. Although that is not always how we process our decisions, especially when cognitive biases come into the picture. So, the central question is: can you help your customers in making decisions that will keep the bird/dollars in their hands, by minimizing their losses? The answer …

“Why do I need to learn about statistics in order to run an A/B testing?” You may be inclined to wonder, especially considering that the testing engine supplies you with data to make a judgement on the statistical significance of the test, correct? As a matter of fact, you have plenty of reasons to learn statistics. If you’re conducting A/B tests, you need to understand some basics about statistics to validate your tests and their results. Nobody wants to spend time, money and effort on something that will turn out useless at the end. To use A/B testing efficiently and effectively, …

Incentives are powerful. Even if your website is riddled with elements causing fears, uncertainties and doubts (FUDs), we have found that offering great incentives counter FUDs and persuade visitors to convert. We are not promoting the idea of having a site riddled with FUDs causing elements, however, remember that every visitor loves a bargain. Incentives come in different shapes and forms. They could be as simple as a free shipping offer, or a special discount on limited items, to more complex, unique approaches such as scarcity and urgency. Scarcity incentives point customer to the limited number of items available, while …

What to test next in your SaaS website? Great question. Increasing the conversion rates of a SaaS (software as a service) provider is part science, part art. That means, you need to take a look at the numbers and data from visitors’ behavior, while also looking for unique insights and solutions to some of the problems you uncover with the data. To help you out with inspiration for future testing, we compiled real-life examples and case studies of successful and surprising A/B tests on SaaS websites. But, first, a fundamental rule of thumb for A/B testing your way to higher conversion …

Does the process of conversion rate optimization frighten you a bit? Does it seem complicated to the point you don’t want to go through all of it? Well, you are not alone. Marketers fear CRO programs implementations for a variety of reasons. The first intention behind bringing this chapter to life is to encourage you on your CRO efforts, by changing the way you perceive, plan and implement your conversion optimization program. You wouldn’t want to miss the rewards of a well-implemented CRO program. As previous chapters led us through, the journey of conversion rate optimization starts by understanding the …