HOW TO

5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Boost your Site’s Conversion

Want to know the secret to making visitors sign up for your services, ask for a demo or better yet, add items in their cart? Start with these 5 tips based on the latest Behavioral Economics & Social Psychology Research Findings.

1. Limit their Options

   When people are overwhelmed with too many choices, they end up not making any decisions at all.

   • Navigate users toward the “Most Popular” option. This mid-range option from Kissmetrics.com helps people select a solution that’s already been proven.

     

   • How many options should you give? Are 4 options better than 2 or 3? There is no right answer (you will have to do some A/B testing to figure out what’s right for your business) but typically the more options you give, the harder it will be for people to make a decision.

   • Having trouble limiting the options? Include the most popular options front and center and then add a small link underneath that captures the folks who don’t fall into the popular plans. See the HighRise.com pricing page below, they have a small link underneath their standard plans that offers a “free plan” and a “solo plan”

     

2. Break Down Large Gains into Multiple Smaller Gains.

   • Hi-end French Restaurants do this well, they offer you multiple bit-size portions that keep you salivating for more.

   • So, how can you break down the gains associated with your service or product into multiple smaller gains? Sounds difficult, especially if the gains occurs at one time.

   • Here is how Progressive Car Insurance does it. Rather than showing you your savings in one lump sum, their friendly customer service agent Flo breaks it down for you into individual sources of joy. “New Car Discount”, “Multiple Policy Discount”, “Good Driver Discount”.

     

3. Tap into their Loss Aversion.

   • Research shows that the PAIN we feel from loosing something is TWICE as strong as the Reward from an equal GAIN.

   • Losing $100 hurts twice as much as winning $100.

     

   • How can we convince your visitors to think they’d be losing something valuable if they don’t take action?

   • Take a look at how Bluefly, a popular online retailer, taps into Loss Aversion in 3 Ways:
     
     1) They tell you they’re offering the 20% discount Today Only. (Oh, I really don’t want to miss out on this, designer shoes never go on sale)
     
     2) Then they tell you there are only 2 pairs of these designer shoes left. (Oh no, what if someone else buys them before me?)
     
     3) And finally they put a red timer on the right hand corner. Tic Toc Tic Toc (Too much loss to bear, guess I’ll just hit the checkout button)

     

4. Offer Social Proof.

   People look to others to help guide their decisions.

   • You’ve heard this in action in TV infomercials: “If operators are busy, please call again”. This shows that there’s a demand for your product. It’s much more effective than “Operators are standing by, please call now.”

   • You’ll also see this in Basecamp, a popular project management software. Each week they show how many people have joined. It lets you know you’re doing the right thing.

     

5. Cut the strings.

   Offer help to others in a way that’s unconditional - with no strings attached.

   • This type of giving is based on trust.

   • There’s a much higher chance of reciprocation.

   • Unconditional giving helps you foster longer-lasting relationships.

   • Don’t force clients into becoming long-term clients; if you are providing real value they will stay.

   • If you have a product or service, offer a free trial and let them take it for a test drive. Here is how Spotify & Salesforce do it.