18.93% More Leads – From One Simple Website Tweak
In my previous post, I shared JB Fogg’s model for persuasive design – and how the two tools for effective sales and marketing online are:
Simplicity, and;
Motivation
In a recent case study, we found one particularly simple change that led to a 18.93% increase in the number of leads captured via a free trial offer.
Just by removing a “Phone” field in a signup webform for this large education provider’s offer, 18.93% more people signed up for the free trial.
It seems odd that something so trivially simple could have such a huge impact on the behaviour of customers.
After all – it’s not a particularly difficult question. (We all know our phone numbers by-heart, right?)
And it’s not a difficult request to complete. (It only takes 3 extra seconds to fill in your phone details.)
But there are two factors at play here:
1. The Risk of Future Inconvenience
Do you want to receive more phone calls from pushy salespeople?
Of course, you don’t! And it’s almost certainly a concern that people completing this form have.
These concerns could be alleviated by the addition of some disclaimer text, (perhaps discussing the use and protection of phone numbers).
But even still, requesting a phone number is another barrier to completion of the Target Behaviour here (a successful signup).
2. Increase in “Mental Load”
Small additional requests that a customer must comply with do often lead to big drops in conversions.
Other trivial changes have led to massive increases in sales have included:
Removal of links in a navigation sidebar led to a 417.67% increase in online orders for Nando’s Australia;
And removal of a single logo from e-commerce product pages led to a 16.07% increase in sales for a large consumer goods retailer.
In all three cases (including the phone number field case study above), the changes reduced the amount of information the customer needed to process or consider before taking action.
When they didn’t need to process a distracting logo – sales jumped 16.07%
When they didn’t need to process additional purchasing options – sales jumped 417.67%
And when they didn’t need to process phone number details – signups jumped 18.93%
Just like computers, human beings can only process a limited amount of information at once. The less information customers need to process, the faster and more effective they become at making decisions.
Take-Aways
The lesson here is that if you’re not using a field effectively – there’s no point requesting that information from a customer.
Do you really need to know the customer’s order specifications on an enquiry form?
Do you need to know the company they’re enquiring from?
Are you using the customer’s last name? Could you stop asking for it? Could you stop asking for their name altogether?
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If you’re interested in increasing your influence (as a leader, marketer, or salesperson) using quality, make sure you’re subscribed to receive the next part of this series: