10 Overlooked B2B Optimization Opportunities to Boost Your Website
We hear
the same advice about website optimization over and over again: A/B-test your main
call-to-action buttons, optimize your forms, and test different landing pages.
Here I'll
explain 10 lesser-known optimization methods that can make a huge impact on
your website.
Over the
past year, my team at Oribi examined more than 150 B2B sites, tracked their key
metrics, and analyzed which changes affected their conversion rates. These are
our findings—a list of proven optimization methods and ways to test each one.
1. Remove your website's main menu from some
pages
When
building a website, the top priorities are usually highlighting the brand,
creating the right flow, and maintaining consistent visual language. However,
in over 70% of the cases we analyzed, using a lighter version of the main
navigation bar—or completely removing it on strategic pages (such as features,
pricing, or whitepapers)—helped increase the number of signups and other main
objectives.
The
psychology behind this change is that focusing visitors on what you want them
to do helps prevent distraction and unwanted flows. For example, you don't want
a user who just completed the product tour to enter the blog instead of signing
up for a trial.
Measure it: To track the results of
this change, follow the conversions on the pages you've changed as well as the
overall number of conversions.
2. No one uses the "Contact Us" page
A common
belief across most industries is that the "Contact Us" page is one of
the most important pages of a website. It often gets a very attractive spot on
the site at the expense of other pages. But the reality is that very few
visitors actually use the "Contact Us" page, making it a wasted use
of space for most sites. It's much more beneficial to display another page and
offer an email address as a contact option instead.
Measure it: If you have a "Contact
Us" page, look at the page visits—and the quality of those visits—compared
with your overall page visits to see whether you really need it.
3. A/B-test your pricing page
More than
half (56%!) of site visitors who sign up for B2B services visit the pricing page
before converting. Most A/B tests focus on the homepage and landing pages, but
the pricing page remains relatively static. However, we found that changing the
pricing page had the highest impact.
Consider
the following parameters, which are likely to move the needle:
·
Focus on the main benefits per plan. Listing as many features as
possible can lead to messy pricing pages.
·
Try changing the default plan. UX recommends highlighting a
default plan, which is usually the midrange price. But changing the default
plan teaches you a lot about your users and may lead to surprising results.
·
Rename your plans. Plan names are usually drafted once and never
revisited again. Naming them differently may influence your visitors'
decisions.
Measure it: Compare a few days' results
of an updated pricing page with your standard numbers. If you keep your
changes, think about adding a cohort and tracking the churn as well. Don't
compare only the end-of-funnel results (paying users); also track how the
initial plan visitors interact with the modified pricing page. Measuring more
stats will help you understand the impact faster.
4. Use two main calls to action, side by side
The rule
of thumb is to always use one main call to action. But deciding which objective
will be the main call to action can be challenging. You may want your users to
sign up, but having them take a tour might be just as important.
We
analyzed a few dozen sites offering two main call to actions, such as these:
In 57% of
the cases, we found an increase in conversions for both buttons. In 20% there
was hardly any change, and in 23% the number of conversions decreased.
Measure it: The easiest way to measure
this change is to use any A/B testing tool (such as Optimizely). In addition,
you can track whether users who picked the secondary call to action were more
likely to convert during the same session or future visits.
5. Your blog's main call to action shouldn't
be "subscribe"
It's
reasonable to assume that your blog visitors want to stay connected and receive
future posts to their inbox. That's why most blogs use their main call to
action to get visitors to subscribe. However, another call to action probably
performs better.
Our
analysis found that "subscribe" leads to only a 0.1-0.5% conversion
rate, while a "download" or "sign up for trial" call to
action at the same spot results in a 2-4% conversion rate. If you are not ready
to give up your "subscribe" call to action, this is the time for you
to try two main calls to action (see tactic No. 4).
Measure it: Create a UTM link for your
call to action, then track the conversions you get from that link.
6. Test the layout and timing of popups
Popups
account for a significant number of leads. Their standard optimization paradigm
is to change the image, calls to action, and even the concept. However, the
highest impact we've identified is changing the layout and display method: Will
the popup appear on the entire screen or just part of it? The full-screen popup
usually leads to higher conversion rates.
In
addition, how many seconds or pages after the visitor entered the site does the
popup appear? Test a shorter threshold before displaying the popup. Real-world
data shows that displaying the popup after 15- 30 seconds often generates
better results.
Measure it: Simply measure the
conversions coming from a popup dialog and compare them with the previous
period. To separate the registrations coming from the popup and other
locations, you can use Oribi, a simple event tagging
tool that shows you where each contact comes from (or another tool). In
addition, you may want to create a cohort to test the quality of users the more
dominant popup accounts for.
7. Some people still like downloading PDFs
This
finding is straightforward and does not come with big changes, but it can still
be relevant for you. With information available online everywhere, PDFs don't
seem as relevant anymore. However, it might be the psychological effect of
actually receiving something that explains why 11% of visitors download PDFs
from a site. So if you have one on your site, keep it there.
8. Build a more aggressive blog
B2B
companies tend to keep their blog as nonpromotional as possible, worried that
people won't read it if they push the brand too much. One of the main queries
we ran on the batch of B2B sites was about the correlation between blog readers
and conversions. Unfortunately, there seems to be a very low correlation
between repeat blog visitors and their likelihood to sign up for the product.
People
may like your blog more if you don't highlight your brand, but that won't lead
to future conversions. Dialogs and banners that refer to your site will
probably lead to better content marketing results, even when measuring its
effect in the long term.
Measure it: Tag visitors coming from
the blog and keep track of those whose first touch is the blog. Do you have
more conversions over time? Also, keep track of the engagement metrics: time on
site compared with time on the blog, average number of posts read, and repeat
visitors to the blog.
9. Keep the funnel on the same site
This is a quick and easy change to a killer website: Try to keep
the funnel on the same site by avoiding subdomains. Instead of naming your
features page features.oribi.io,
make it a subdirectory (oribi.io/features).
There is
an ongoing discussion about which one is better, and, although there are
arguments supporting each approach, it seems your choice has no effect on SEO.
But it does affect your visitors: Using subdomains leads to more people
dropping off between switching pages as a result of longer loading times. Plus,
it's harder for you to track your traffic across different subdomains.
Measure it: A simple A/B test is enough
to measure the effect of subdomains versus subdirectories. Focus on the page
visits per session and the dropoffs when you're comparing versions.
10. Track your 'lost traffic'
Between
the point your visitors click a button and their arrival on the destination
page, 2% of your website traffic gets lost. If you see this loss, you might
have "old" pages on your site that lead to a 404 error. Although 2%
might not seem a lot, there's no point in losing visitors when you can easily
prevent it.
Measure it: First you have to know how
much traffic gets lost. With a website analysis tool, you can create a funnel
to detect your loss. Set up tracking to see how people get to a 404 page, and
then remove the errors.
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If you need help with your email, web site, video, or other presentation to promote your company, product, or service, please give me a call at 440-519-1500 or email me at john@x2media.us.
X2Media can help you target your content and get your message to the audience in a way that it not only seen and heard, but remembered.
Until next month. . . .remember. "you don't get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression."
Always make it a good one!!
From X2Media I would like to thank you for your time.
John E. Hornyak
X2Media, LLC
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you need help with your email, web site, video, or other presentation to promote your company, product, or service, please give me a call at 440-519-1500 or email me at john@x2media.us.
X2Media can help you target your content and get your message to the audience in a way that it not only seen and heard, but remembered.
Until next month. . . .remember. "you don't get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression."
Always make it a good one!!
From X2Media I would like to thank you for your time.
John E. Hornyak
X2Media, LLC
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