Websites show a lot of different links allowing visitors to
go in a direction that best fits their needs.
Analyzing the amount of times a link was clicked and dividing it by the
number of times it was viewed gives a company the click-through rate of each
link (Reed College, 2015). This
information can be extremely helpful as companies try to understand their audience’s
behavior. In addition, a lot of websites
have links that drive towards a conversion page. In an effort to drive as much traffic towards
the conversion pages, companies could utilize A/B testing. When analyzing the test results, the click-through
rate is a key number.
A/B Testing
The use of call to action buttons
is one way companies try to drive traffic towards a conversion page. The color, text, and position of the call to
action button can have an effect on performance. A successful strategy related to these
factors will be different across websites due to the overall design and
audience. Therefore, it’s important that
each company does their own tests to optimize their website. An A/B test will allow the company to improve
their performance while making small changes.
Below are a few examples of website optimizations that companies have
tested and the results found.
Color Matters
ConversionXL
wrote an article that touched on the colors of buttons. The example used was the difference between a
green and red button. In this specific
example, the red button saw a 21% increase in clicks when compared to the green
button due to a higher click-through rate.
However, the author was quick to point out that green was used
throughout the page. Therefore, it
blended in a more with the overall design (Niggulis, 2013). This doesn’t mean red will outperform green
on every website but for this company it was an easy optimization that helped
drive additional traffic to the conversion page. The use of the click-through rate allowed the
company to put data toward this optimization.
Text Matters
Understanding the best way to talk with your audience can
have an effect on the overall performance.
Websites that try to generate leads tend to have a call to action button
on each page. In the example below the
website is trying to get people to give contact information for the pricing of
the company’s service. In an attempt to
drive more clicks on the call the action link, the company tested the wording
of the link. The result was a 161%
increase in the click-through rate allowing the company to gain more
conversions (Deswal, 2012).
Position Matters
A lot of companies have call to action buttons in the top
right hand corner of their website.
However, this doesn’t mean every company should go with this approach. Again the answer to understanding the best
approach is to do an A/B test. The test
can be looked at from a click-through rate perspective allowing the company to
understand what position drew more visitors to click on the submit button. In this case it was the position at the
bottom of the page that saw the best results (Aagaard, 2013).
Conclusion
A/B testing is vital to a website and a company’s
success. As companies setup these tests
they have to understand what metrics to evaluate. If a company looks at clicks alone, the
results could be incorrect depending on the number of impressions each test version
received. Therefore, the click-through
rate takes this issue out of the equation.
It’s a simple metric that can help companies understand the actions a
visitor takes on the website.
References:
Aagaard, M. (2013, March 25). 10 Call-to-Action Case Studies
with Examples from Real Button Tests. Retrieved November 1, 2015, from
http://contentverve.com/10-call-to-action-case-studies-examples-from-button-tests/
Deswal, S. (2012, October 4). How changing a single word
increased click through rate by 161% - VWO Blog. Retrieved November 1, 2015,
from https://vwo.com/blog/increase-click-through-rate/
Niggulis, O. (2013, January 16). Which Color Converts The
Best? Retrieved October 31, 2015, from
http://conversionxl.com/which-color-converts-the-best/
Reed College of Media. (2015, October 19). Lesson 2: Basic
Web Analytics. WVU. Retrieved October 31, 2015 from http://www.ecampus.wvu.edu
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