Conversion Diagnosis: ACS Creative – Please Help Me Decide Where to Click!

In our October 28 web clinic, we discussed how to use color, shape, location, size, and motion to help guide our website visitors to where they should click. We all know designing web pages is somewhat of an art, especially for companies like ACS Creative. But designing the most effective webpages is also a science. You have to assess every element on the page to determine whether or not it:

• Helps guide the visitor to the primary objective
• Distracts the visitor from the primary objective
• Neither hurts nor helps conversion

I would like to thank ACS Creative for attending the webinar and also for submitting their page for expert review; it definitely takes a certain degree of bravery. Of course, our goal is not to tear you down, but to help you implement the most effective page possible.

Below is the page ACS Creative submitted for live optimization.

[click to enlarge]

First, we see that ACS Creative has designed a very clean and professional website. But I have to ask, where do you want your visitors to click?

This task, surprisingly, is not that easy to determine to the untrained eye. Here’s why:

1. The main “Web Services” image is moving visitors towards incorrect “implied” direction. If you notice, only one of the eight arrows is pointing towards the main objective. The others are pointing towards the supplementary blue image, the top navigation, the footer, and also towards that big red “X” that contributes negatively to your bounce rate.
2. The screen shot of the Stratford University website is bright blue and the footer is bright red, and both are drawing the eyepath away from the “gray” buttons.
3. Multiple objectives! Let’s say I do ignore the elements with more emphasis than the primary objective or I quickly scan them then revert back to the gray buttons, I still have to make a decision. And yes, the decision is not that difficult, but it is a decision nonetheless. It takes extra time. It is an extra step between deciding to act and acting. What should I click on? Web Services or Contact Us? I may want web services but I may also want to contact you for more information. It can become confusing.

If I were designing a version of this page to test, I would reconsider the percentage of width of the page dedicated to the primary web services objective. It should definitely be more than 50%, thus de-emphasizing the “size” of the bright blue secondary objective that is the Stratford University screenshot.

I would also create some space between the buttons and the footer. Show the visitors that the bright red footer is not that important by using a lower “position” on the page.

And finally, the buttons need to be a “color” that stands out from the page as a whole, the footer, and the secondary images. You may consider making the footer gray and the buttons red. Also regarding the buttons, the one which has the most importance to conversion should be a red button and the other one should be a simple text link… easy to see, but not overshadowing where you want most visitors to click.

Good luck!  Let us know if you decide to test this strategy and what your results are.