Landing Page Optimization and Conversion Research — Review

This is the part 5/12 in my series reviewing the Conversion Optimization Minidegree, provided by CXL Institute.

Over the past week, I had the opportunity to delve into three other courses that make up the Conversion Optimization Minidegree: Landing Page Optimization, taught by Michael Aagaard, and Conversion Research, taught by Peep Laja.

Here is a brief compilation of my main lessons!

Landing Page Optimization

What to do when the landing page you’ve built so hard doesn’t work? If the answer was “optimize”, we come to the second question: where to start?

During the “Landing page optimization” course, Michael Aagaard compiles over ten years of experience and reveals his framework for increasing landing page conversion rates.

Introductory Aspects:
In the first module, he explains what a landing page is. Basically, it is the first page where users “land on”. Furthermore, a landing page is a page that works independently from the rest of the site and is focused on a conversion goal.

According to Michael, an effective landing page has the following characteristics:

• Shorten the journey from click to conversion;
• Follows up on “promises” made in ad source;
• Speaks to user motivation and addresses fear and objections;
• Answers important questions;
• Creates a clear path to the conversion goal.

Another point discussed by Michael concerns the factors that influence the landing page experience. We need to understand that the landing page is part of a larger experience.

Image presented by Michael.

Analyzing the landing page in isolation is not enough, as this way the page will be displaced from its original context. It is necessary to understand what was the promise made in the ad, for example.

In addition to context, other processes also affect the landing page result:

Image presented by Michael.

According to the professor, we should dedicate a good part of our time to research and use the experiments to validate what we have already found in the previous steps. Testing takes time, so it’s much smarter to invest in the research step and ensure that the tests are really assertive.

Generally speaking, the optimization process follows the following outline:
1. Heuristic walkthrough: empathy and understanding
2. Quantitative research: what and where?
3. Qualitative research: why?

Background information:

Understanding psychology and neuroscience is not necessarily a step in the optimization process, but it is critical to getting better results. Therefore, Michael presents some concepts that need to be understood before we start the optimization framework.

Fast and slow thinking:
The first concept presented by Michael is that of fast and slow thinking. According to Daniel Kahneman, human beings have two different ways of processing thought:

• Intuitive thinking (or system 1): fast, automatic, emotional, subconscious;
• Analytical thinking (or system 2): slower, effortful, conscious, planning.

As optimizers, we need to ensure that the landing page experience is fluid and doesn’t require as much mental effort.

Cognitive biases:
To avoid spending too much time with system two, the brain uses some shortcuts when deciding. These mental shortcuts are cognitive biases and are directly related to optimizing a landing page.

Three of these biases are explained by Michael:

• Priming: the idea that exposure to one stimulus influences response to a subsequent stimulus. For example, Michael shows a print of Unbounce. The platform offered a free trial on all pages but asked for the card data in the cart, which generated a breach of expectations on the part of the user. This example shows how important it is for a match to occur between the messages on the landing page itself and the ads.
• Framing: the way you deliver a message has a direct impact on how it is perceived. The same offer or information can be transmitted in different ways — and each one of them will be perceived differently depending on the framing.
• YSIATI: “What You See Is All There Is”. Basically, this concept reminds us that we cannot assume that the user has the same background as us.

Brain chemicals
Another aspect discussed by Michael is how the different chemicals present in the brain, especially dopamine and cortisol, influence the conversion of the landing page.

Dopamine is partly responsible for driving us to the reward, the offering. It produces the joy of finding things that meet our needs and provides the momentary sensation of pleasure and happiness.

The chart below, presented by Michael, shows the dopamine peaks according to different scenarios:

• Positive error, when an unusual reward is offered;
• No error: when you receive what you expect to receive;
• Negative error: when you believe you will receive an incentive, but you don’t.

Image presented by Michael.

Disappointment occurs when there is a negative prediction error and our expectations of reality don’t match the experience.

On the landing page, we need to be careful not to promise what we won’t deliver and disappoint our users.

Very large disappointments lead to the release of cortisol, known as the stress hormone.

Cortisol is capable of setting off a kind of alarm that tells you that the pain will be latent if you don’t act. Increased cortisol causes fear. Cortisol drop causes stress/anxiety.

This is why Michael suggests some cortisol triggers to watch out for:

• Violating expectations;
• Ambiguity and lack of clarity;
• Disempowerment (feeling that the user is not in control);
• Multi-tasking;
• Too much pressure to forced to make a decision;
• Stop words (SPAM, for example).

Information hierarchy:

Continuing the course, Michael shows that the information hierarchy is essential to answering two extremely important questions:

• Which information is the most important?
• How much information is necessary?

To build your information hierarchy in practice, Michael recommends that you start by investigating 3 questions:

1. Who are you communicating with? → Target
2. What do you want them to do? → Goal
3. Where is the traffic coming from? → Source

The first question will reveal who your target audience is and what their level of awareness is about your solution. The more aware, the less information is needed.

Another aspect that influences the amount of information needed is the risk inherent in the transaction. Encouraging the free download of an app requires much less effort and information than encouraging a high ticket sale, for example.

After reviewing the above questions, start investigating what the user’s questions, motivations, and barriers might be.

Finally, start using wireframing to rank information. In addition to making the landing page easier to see, it helps prioritize content and helps align copy and design.

Research

Starting the optimization process, Aagaard explains the two types of research you should conduct: quantitative and qualitative.

For quantitative, it is recommended to use Google Analytics. Aargaard also explains that not all sites have enough traffic to perform A/B testing and points to the CXL Institute calculator as an additional resource.

While quantitative research aims to answer “what” and “where”, qualitative research aims to understand why.

Below are some possibilities:

Heuristic full-funnel walkthrough

Objective: identify the weakest points in the page experience.

What to analyze:

• First impression and emotional reaction;
• Credibility/trust;
• Clarity;
• Information hierarchy criticize;
• Copy/content criticize;
• Bugs and UX Issues.

Tips:

• Do it before becoming familiar with the site;
• Use insights to define the questions you want to answer with Google Analytics;
• Take screenshots and annotate;
• Form your first hypotheses.

Customer review sites
Objective: find out what customers are saying after buying the product or service.

What to analyze:

• When customers use really emotional language;
• What makes customers happy after a purchase;
• What makes customers frustrated;
• Terms used frequently.

Tips:

• If you don’t have reviews about your product or service, look for similar ones;
• Use reviews as a source of suggestions for improvements;
• Write down (and use in the copy) specific words and expressions that are repeated.

Interviews (customers, CS, and sales):
Objective: to get to know the audience better (and/or the people who spend the day talking to the audience, such as the Customer Success team).

What to ask for customers:

• What is your opinion about the product or service?
• What problem were you trying to solve when you purchased the product or service?
• Did the product/service solve the problem? Like?
• What would you change about the product, service, or company?
• How was the purchase process? Was there anyone else involved?
• What could have made you not buy?

What to ask for support:

• What are the 3 most common questions? How do you respond?
• Are there any aspects of the product or service that people don’t understand?
• What aspects of the product or service do people like best? And the ones they like least?
• What are the main triggers? And objections?

What to ask for the sales team:

• What is the main problem you are trying to solve with the product?
• How is the decision process you usually see?
• What are the 3 most frequently asked questions?
• At what point do you realize that the product or service is right or wrong for the prospect?
• What are the main triggers? And objections?

Session recording:
Objective: Use screen recording tools to better understand the user experience.

Notes and recommendations:

• Before using the feature, find a funnel step that is not working well;
• Take advantage of the feature to find bugs.

Heat maps:
Objective: Identify where users click and scroll the page based on heat maps.

Notes and recommendations:

• Choose tools that allow device-based segmentation;
• Use as a guide.
• Look for patterns, even when users are clicking on non-clickable icons.

Feedback polls:
Objective: get clear and actionable insights and bother users as little as possible.

Notes and recommendations:

• Ask one question at a time;
• Don’t give too many options (between 2 and 5);
• Get at least 100 responses;
• Wait between 10–15 seconds before applying the quiz.
• Ask clear and specific questions.

Good polls examples provided by Michael.

Usability testing and tools:

There are several tools available on the internet, such as UsabilityHub.com and Usertesting.com.

Notes and recommendations:

• When hiring a test remotely, ensure you are not hiring “professional testers” who do this to make money;
• Focus on recruiting people compatible with your target, including from a socio-demographic point of view;
• Drive as little as possible;
• Ensure testing will be done on the most relevant devices in terms of the percentage of users.

Copywriting and design:

The 5 most important landing page copy and elements are:

1. Headline: message match, capture attention, and trigger dopamine.
2. Benefits/features: present information and emphasize the value of your offer. Can have different formats (body copy, bulleted list, headline, testimonials, images, videos, etc).
3. Credibility: make the content trustworthy. Can be relevant facts, social proof, relevant FAQ, etc.
4. Expectation manager: ensure users know what to expect. Some examples of unanswered questions are:
   - When will you contact me?
   - How will you contact me?
   - Who will contact me?
   - What is the price?
   - Will I get spammed?
   - How much is shipping?
5. Call-to-action: make users click. Should be dopamine trigger, give a clear idea of ​​what happens next, be relevant to your conversion goal, start with a verb and focused on what users get.

Headline formulas:

• (Do something difficult) in (short amount of time) without (problem).
• (Do something difficult) in (short amount of time) and get (something valuable)
• Avoid (something frustrating) by (doing something difficult) in a (short amount of time) with (Product X).

Call-to-action formula:

• When I click the button, I’d like to (get a free quote).

5 most relevant aspects of the visual hierarchy:

While the visual hierarchy purports to answer what information is most important and how much information is needed, the visual hierarchy answers “what elements are most important?” and “where should I look first?”.

To define the visual hierarchy, the 5 most important elements are:

1. Size: the main element must be larger than the secondary elements.
2. Space: space and breath between elements favors the user experience and helps guide the gaze. Spaces also help to lessen the feeling of “overwhelming”.
3. Font: the typography needs to be legible. In general, it is preferable to opt for sans serif fonts as they are easier to read. As for size, Michael recommends following the recommendations:
   - Primary headline: 32–40 px;
   - Section header: 20–24 px;
   - Body copy: 16 px;
   - Bullet points: 16–18 px.
4. Color and Contrast: Highlight relevant elements (such as call-to-actions) with colors that offer contrast to the background color.
5. Direction: Ensure that images, icons, arrows, and other visual elements always point towards the most relevant information.

Form design:

As forms represent an important part of any landing page that is dedicated to lead generation, Michael dedicates a module of the course to the topic.

The first tip he brings is that we must think of the form in such a way that it makes sense in isolation. As many call-to-actions end up leading to the form, it is important that the form is also concerned with managing expectations, allaying fears, and making it clear what will be the benefit received.

An additional tip is to avoid using negative words (such as spam), as seen earlier in the course.

In general, Michael also recommends that form fields be top-aligned to point in one direction and make it easier to read.

Additional tip: analyze how the form behaves on different devices.

Putting it all together:

After discussing research, wireframing, visual hierarchy, copywriting, and design, Michael Aargaard compiles all the knowledge covered in the course into a properly structured optimization process.

1. Research:
✅ Hotjar implemented on the page;
✅ Heuristic walkthrough;
✅ Google Analytics;
✅ 5-second test of original;
✅ Interviews with sales and CS;
✅ Read reviews;
✅ Interview with audience;
✅ Implement feedback tools;
✅ Do the who, what, where exercise: who are my users, what they know and where they are coming from!

2. Audit:
✅ Funnel and LP experience;
✅ Information hierarchy;
✅ Visual hierarchy;
✅ Copy design.

3. Wireframe:
✅ Start building wireframe;
✅ Write rough copy outline;
✅ Start building the visual hierarchy;
✅ Work on rough design elements.

4. Copy and design:
✅ Creative Brief;
✅ Go into depth with the copy;
✅ Go deeper into the design;
✅ Show it to customer success and/or Sales;
✅ Get approval from stakeholders.

5. Implement:
✅ Test on various devices;
✅ Test in various browsers;
✅ Test functionality and bugs;
✅ Test page speed.

6. Test & optimize:
✅ A/B test or compare periods;
✅ Keep analyzing;
✅ Answer new questions;
✅ New ideas.

Conversion Research:

Throughout the “Conversion Research” course, Peep Laja provides valuable tips and frameworks to assist in the research process. Here are the main points.

ResearchXL: the 6-step framework:

1. Website Walkthrough and Heuristic Analysis:

The first step in the framework offered by Peep is to navigate the site to understand what the customer experience would be like. Some questions to keep in mind during this step are:

• Does the site work with every major browser?
• Does the site work with every device?
• What’s the user experience like with every device?

A good tip is to create custom reports in Google Analytics to understand conversion rates across different devices and browsers.

After this first contact with the site, it’s time to move on to Heuristic Analysis, “an expert based analysis that uses experience-based techniques for problem-solving, learning, and discovery”.

As this step is very empirical, ideally you have a clear framework to guide your work. Peep mentions some models and reveals the framework used in CXL.

According to the professor, each page is analyzed based on 6 criteria:

• Clarity: there is clarity of content and design. In either case, you need to understand that the information is clear and that people understand what’s on the site.
• Relevancy: Is the page relevant to the user? Is there consistency between the page and what the user intended to find? Do pre-click and post-click messages and visuals align? Peep tells you to go through these three steps:
  1. Map out all the key sources of traffic, and identify the top landing pages for each; 2. Compare pre-click and post-click messaging and visuals; and 3. Identify any mismatch between what people think they’re going to get and what they’re actually getting in terms of the offer and the wording of the offer.
• Friction: friction is anything that makes it difficult for the user to make a decision, such as with very large forms, requests for sensitive information, slow page loading, difficulty finding information, etc.
• Distraction points: every page on the website must have a desired action. Anything that diverts the user’s attention and takes him further away from that desired action should be avoided.
• Motivation and incentives: as a conversion professional, it’s your mission to make sure people know exactly why they should buy. Is there a clear, benefit-driven offer? Do I understand why I should take action? Is it clear what people are getting when they click a button or fill a form? Could we apply some persuasion principles here that would be a good match, such as social proof, urgency, or scarcity?
• Buying stage: it is important to remember that the buying journey has different stages. Therefore, some of your website users will be having contact with your product for the first time (awareness), while other users will already be ready to make the purchase (purchase). There are also those users who are pondering whether or not they want to buy (consideration). Therefore, it is essential that your website is also concerned with people who are not yet ready to buy, offering information to help in the decision-making process. Another good tip is to capture email to nourish the user with information that facilitates the purchase.

2. Technical Analysis:
After completing step 1, it’s time to ensure that everything on the site is working fine from a technical standpoint. The best copy in the world is not capable of converting to a website that doesn’t work properly on a certain device or browser.

In addition to looking for bugs, in this step, it is also important to analyze the site load time and investigate if there are any usability issues. According to Nielsen, usability permeates 5 factors:

• Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
• Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
• Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
• Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
• Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

The “User Focus” website provides an extremely complete checklist. You can access it by clicking here.

3. Digital Analytics:
The thrid step is use digital analytics tools to identify where money is leaking from your website.

The idea is to use this stage of the process to validate the insights and hypotheses that emerged in the two previous phases. The data must confirm or deny the hypotheses that emerged during the heuristic analysis.

In addition to understanding conversion rates for different devices and browsers, it is also interesting to understand patterns that present themselves among shoppers and find out at which stage of the funnel the greatest loss of users is occurring.

Note: it is pretty common to find Analytics accounts that have insufficient tracking, or broken configurations. This is why you should always do a health check at the beginning of the project. Items to review:

• Profile setup (configuration and admin)
• Filtering of traffic (agency, office, data cleaning)
• Goal and funnel configuration (key reports)
• Code review (onpage analytics code)
• Bolt-ons : Inpage, Outbound, Scroll reach, Viewport, Other
• Page and process instrumentation (funnels, steps, forms)
• Any issues that would prevent insight!

4. Qualitative research
This step is essential for understanding users’ main motivations and objections, as well as identifying friction points on the site.

Costumer surveys via email:

• Objective: identify customers motivation, objections and “a-ha moments”.
• Whom to survey: your recent first-time customers (who have no previous relationship or experience with you that might affect their responses). Filter out repeat buyers or people who bought a long time ago.
• When to survey: up to one week after purchase.
• How many people to survey: between 100 and 200.
• Questions to get inspired: What can you tell us about yourself? What are you using [your product] for? How is your life better thanks to it? What made you sign up for our product/buy from us? Which doubts and hesitations did you have before completing the purchase? What made you buy this product? What doubts or hesitations did you have? What questions could you not find answers to? How many websites do you visit? Which ones? What’s the one thing that nearly stopped you from buying from us?What’s the one thing that nearly stopped you from buying from us?

“Make sure the information you collect is actionable. Once you have written your questions, go through them and ask yourself: What am I going to do with this information once I have it?”, says Peep Laja.

Once you’ve collected the answers, it’s time to go into analysis. Peep recommends following the steps below:

• Understand your goals and what you are looking for;
• Do an initial review to become familiar with the data;
• Code the data in a form or table: create a numerical scale or compile similar responses into groups, for example;
• Write a report with your main findings.

Remember to preserve the words used by customers.

Survey visitors with website polls:

• Objective: identify customers motivation, objections and “a-ha moments”.
• Whom to survey: qualified visitors (someone who is actually considering to buy something).
• When to survey: it is important to ask the right question at the right time. Look at your average time on site and pageviews per person metrics and ask question from people who have above average engagement. It is also important to ask the right question at the right page (don’t ask about NOT buying on the home page, for example).
• Questions to get inspired: What’s the purpose of your visit today? Why are you here today? Were you able to find the information you were looking for? What made you not complete the purchase today? Is there anything holding you back from completing a purchase? Y/N (+ ask for explanation). Do you have any questions you haven’t been able to find answers to? Were you able to complete your tasks on this website today?
• Tools to use: Qualaroo, HotJar and Webengage.

5. User testing:
When Digital Analytics tells you which pages have issues, user testing is helpful to figuring out “why”. During the test, you have to observe how real users use and interact with your website and try to spot patterns.

• Objective: observe real users and improve your website experience.
• Whom to survey: the best test outcomes are from people who match your ideal customer profile. Participants can’t be familiar with your website. Ideally, they’re seeing your site for the first time during the test.
• When to survey: whenever you start to optimizing the site or change a critical part of it.
• How many people to survey: between 5 and 15.

Image credit

• How to run user test: 1. Over the shoulder test, where you need an empty room, a working computer with screen recording turned on and a pen for writing down your observations. You give the test subjects a list of tasks you want them to do on the site and observe them do it. Testers have to comment everything they do and think out loud; 2. unmoderated remote testing, which is remotely via online tools like UserTesting.com, OpenHallway, TryMyUI or Loop11; and 3. moderated remote testing, which still remote, but you can clarify the task if the tester don’t get it.
• What to observe: How well people understand what the site is about? Which path will they go down once on the site? How easy is it for them to find a product? How easy is it to compare and choose a product? Will they encounter any issues during the checkout/signup process?
• Questions to get inspired:
  >> What is this website about as far as you can tell?: this is about the clarity of the value proposition.
  >> Shop around for a dress you like: this type of question gives them free space to go about the task. Is it easy to find a product they like? What’s missing?
  >> Find a pair of green pants in size 36, under $50: give some highly specific tasks to see whether people are able to use filters, search, and other features.
  >> Find 3 suitable air purifiers. Evaluate them and pick the best one for you: how do users compare items? How hard is it to compare items?
  >> Find the product Canon EOS 5D Mark II 21.1MP: how do they go about finding it? Via search, product categories, etc? Any challenges?
  >> Start and complete the checkout process: is there any friction in the checkout process? Provide testers with dummy credit card numbers, 100% off coupons or use real credit cards if there’s no other option and refund later.

6. Mouse Tracking Analysis:

• Objective: identifying where people click and where they don’t and how far down they scroll on any given page (scroll maps).
• When to do: as soon as possible.
• How many people to survey: at least 300, but it is better to have more than 1.000.

Image credit

• Tools: Hotjar, SessionCam, Clicktale, Inspectlet, CrazyEgg, Mouseflow, and Ghostrec.

This article was originally posted on fefy.com. It is part of a series of 12 posts sharing my main learnings during the Conversion Optimization Minidegree, provided by CXL Institute.

You can read the previous articles on the links below.

• Week 01: 5 conversion rate optimization best practices to increase your results
• Week 02: The (almost) mathematical formula behind millionaire salespages
• Week 03: Neuromarketing, emotional content strategy and influence design
• Week 04: Google Analytics for Beginners: an almost illustrated guide
• Week 05: Landing Page Optimization and Conversion Research
• Week 06: Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager
• Week 07: User Research and Fast and Rigorous User Personas
• Week 08: Heuristic Analysis, Google Analytics Audit and Voice of Customer Data
• Week 09: A/B Testing Foundations, How to Run Tests, and Testing Strategies