Website Conversion Cheat Sheet
Qualifying Questions – Life is too short to work on lousy projects
- “Sell ability” – Does the offering have compelling competitive benefits?
- Morality – Will the world be a better place if I help this person succeed?
Logical Flow – Lead people through a logical sequence
- Is there a logical flow from traffic source, through landing page and into conversion?
- Will any page in the sequence confuse the user?
- Is the navigation and structure of the site easy to follow?
- Is the checkout process simple and logical
Basic Website Structure – Don’t renovate a site that is fundamentally flawed
- Can I exchange elements of the page to increase conversion or should I test against a complete new layout?
Expected Metaphors – Offer the best version of the site a user expects to find
- Do people have to stop and think before they can use this site (yes = bad!!)?
Market Segmentation – Match offers to customer segments
- What different customer segments exist? What is there relative value? Do they have different motivations?
- Can we split landing pages and sell with greater relevance?
- Can we increase or duplicate our best performing channels?
Clear Value Presentation – Simple, clear presentation of value is critical
- Is the key value proposition clear? Am I engaged even if I don’t play the video?
- Is headline punchy and believable?
- Are key benefits obvious (use great bullet points)
- Do graphics reinforce value claims or distract?
Specificity / Believability – Be specific
- Am I vague or specific? (specific numbers can be good)
- Are my claims ‘fluff & hot air’ or are they believable. (check headline & bullets)
Personality – People buy from people, not faceless websites
- Can we humanise the site? (intro video, about us, bio box, smiling face photo)
- Can we adopt the persona of someone they’d trust to buy from?
- Have we respectfully guided customers (without assuming industry knowledge, acronyms etc.)
Best Competitive Models – Learn from successful competitive models
- Can any great ideas be learned from competitors?
Skilled Sales People – Gain insight from those who sell this product most successfully
- Is there an awesome sales person who sells this stuff that I can talk to? I want to know what the customer is like, specifically ‘who makes the decision to buy and what are they really looking for?’
Scarcity / Urgency – People buy scarce resources for fear of loss
- Is there a legitimate (& believable!) scarcity tactic I can use like limited stock or time?
Social Proof – People feel comfortable following the crowd
- Can I add or make better use of social proof (testimonials, social media feeds)
Authority – Use Authority to legitimise your offering
- Are there authority figures that use this product? Can I use their logo? Can I get a testimonial?
Distractions / Friction – Don’t distract users as they’re doing what you want, don’t ask people to think
- Am I clear about the main purpose of the page (vs. the secondary and tertiary purposes)
- Will I confuse users of my site?
- Is the checkout process cluttered?
- Am I tempting my users with dancing cats on YouTube
Risk Reduction – Reducing Risk increases sales
- How can I take the risk of purchase away from my customer? (guarantee policy, guarantee seal)