Conversion rate optimization is a serious business with a lot of tricks and tools in its arsenal.
Even small changes can make a big difference, so we try to learn the most we can about our users’ behavior by using automated scripts that show what people click on or how far down our website they scroll.
With the help of conversion optimization tools we create heatmaps to pin-point attention grabbing elements. Usability tests help us understand what people think about the information architecture and what their overall impressions are for our website.
Armed with all of this knowledge, we come up with small or big fixes, implement them, and then test to see if our conclusions were right.
Most of the aforementioned methods give you reports full of data to analyze. Data is great, but it doesn’t enlighten you about what your visitors are actually thinking and why they do what they do on your website.
What if I told you, that among the many testing options available, there is only one foolproof method for actually getting into your visitor’s shoes and seeing exactly what they see (and do)?
Would you like to know what it is?
It’s called visitor recording.
Visitor Recording – A method unlike any other
Recordings showed that the majority of visitors scrolled through the site rather quickly and very few engaged with this page. Based on this observation two hypotheses were formed:
- The pricing is confusing. People don’t understand all the icons and don’t bother looking for an explanation.
- There are no benefits shown. Therefore, users aren’t re-assured at this point that the offer is a good choice for them.
With this in mind, a new design was prepared and the website was tested again. Vocabla recorded a conversion rate increase and observed that visitors spent more time on the site in comparison to the previous version.
The results were promising, but the team wasn’t quite satisfied and decided to implement even more changes. The design was tweaked and a trust-building element was introduced for the payment method. The website was tested again.
Further analysis of the new visitor recordings caused researchers to realize that user engagement was still low, so they came up with new hypotheses:
- The target group is not engaged because the copy is too difficult to understand for someone learning English.
- The trust-building element is distracting and clutters the design.
- Adding social proof would make the message in the copy more convincing.
The final version with simplified language, social proof and clear benefits was created. Here’s what it looked like:
Throughout this entire process, visitor recordings were analyzed to develop the hypotheses that were used to redesign the pricing page. Instead of just analyzing data and making educated guesses based on the numbers, they used visitor recordings to learn from their actual visitors and to inform their testing decisions.
So what were the results?
After implementing the changes, the final design’s conversion rate jumped to 5.54%. In comparison to the first design, the final one notched an incredible 218% increase in conversions.
Pretty impressive, right?
Is visitor recording the right method for your business?
These results are impressive, but maybe you’re wondering if this is the right method for your business. Let me provide an answer.
Visitor recording is, in a sense, similar to in-house usability testing in that it makes it as if you’re sitting next to your users and seeing their every move. The difference is that you don’t get to ask questions, but you do get to see the most common obstacles that visitors face while watching them navigate your site.
It ends up being a budget-friendly method since it’s done online and doesn’t require bringing people into your office for live testing. It’s also very effective because users feel more comfortable without someone sitting next to them and don’t think about the right move—they just act on their first impressions.
If you’re getting started with conversion rate optimization and are not yet prepared to analyze big data sets, this method helps you see how real people are actually using your site. It’s also more cost effective and easier to carry out than live user testing, which makes it a great choice for businesses of all sizes.
So, in conclusion, there’s one thing I’d like to share: If you haven’t yet tried testing your website with visitor recordings, give it a try.
At first, you may feel weird because you’re looking at the screen and are not the one moving the mouse and clicking on different things. But this helps you see that not everyone uses your website the way you intended them to which provides invaluable knowledge when attempting to improve your website’s conversion rate and offers insights about your visitors that you can’t gain as easily any other way.
Would you like to boost conversions on your website? Give visitor recordings a try, and you should find your way to improving your conversion rate in no time.
Author
Sezgin Hergul is the marketing manager at UsabilityTools, a B2B SaaS company that provides tools for conversion optimization and user experience. He specializes in content marketing and website growth. Besides his love for marketing, he enjoys good design and music.