learn to optimize your website for optimal conversion rates using eye tracking, usability, web analytics, and behavioral targeting.

1. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION:
TUNING FOR CONVERSIONS
Jacob L. Orquin, Ph.D.
Department of Business Administration
Aarhus University
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2. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WHY OPTIMIZE WEBSITES?
Increase turnover Reduce costs
Conversion rate Support costs
Turnover OR Advertising costs
Sales leads
CPA
Page views
Avg. sales value
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3. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
REDUCE ATTRITION
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4. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
OPTIMIZATION METHODS
• Usability testing
• Web analytics
• A/B- and multivariate testing
• Eye tracking
• Behavioral targeting
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5. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
THE WEB EXPERIENCE
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6. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR THE WEB EXPERIENCE
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7. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
USABILITY
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8. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
COMMERCIAL USABILITY
Focus on:
Conversion
Pageviews and engagement
Satisfaction
Loyalty
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9. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
DON’T MAKE ME THINK
• ”Usability isn’t rocket surgery”
• Typical user questions:
• How do this function work?
• Where is the ______?
• Why did they call it that?
• Where am I?
• What happens when I click here?
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10. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
USABILITY DEFINITIONS I
"[Usability refers to] the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve
specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of user.“
ISO 9241-11
"Human-centered design is characterized by: the active involvement of users and a clear
understanding of user and task requirements; an appropriate allocation of function between
users and technology; the iteration of design solutions; multi-disciplinary design.”
ISO 13407
Ease of learning
Efficiency of use
Memorability
Error frequency and severity
Subjective satisfaction
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11. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
USABILITY DEFINITIONS II
A comparison of different usability definitions from Seffah et al. (2006).
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12. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
USER EXPERIENCE PROCES
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13. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
USABILITY BUSINESS CASE
A usability test costs from 25.000 up to 75.000 DKK and usually improves
conversion rates around 20 – 50 % (sometimes as high as 200 – 500 %).
An e-shop has the following data:
Annual turnover: ~ 2,5 million DKK
Unique visitors: ~ 225.000
Annual sales: ~ 4.500
Is it worth investing in a usability test if it costs 50.000 DKK and improves
conversion rate with 10 %?
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14. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
USABILITY METHODS
Think aloud and prototype tests are among the more common methods
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15. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
THINK ALOUD PROTOCOL
1. Select website (or section of site) for testing
2. Define target group
3. Define tasks
4. Define areas of attention
5. Recruit respondents
6. Run test sessions
7. Analyze data and identify problems
8. Present and solve problems with stakeholders
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16. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
COMMUNICATING THE RESULTS
vs.
usability report workshop
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17. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
A WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE 1
Purpose of the optimization:
• Increase average visit duration
• Increase conversion rate
• Increase user activity
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18. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
A WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE 2
Methods used:
• Focus groups
• Think-aloud usability tests
To the left is the entry page before
(upper) and after the optimization.
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19. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
A WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION CASE 3
The effect of the optimization :
Increase in average visit duration: 21%
Increase in conversion rate: 72 %
Increase in user activity: 16 %
To the left: some of the optimizations
that lead to an increase in user activity
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20. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WEB ANALYTICS TECHNOLOGY
WA is all about tracking and data collection. The page tag technology is
the most common.
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21. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WEB ANALYTICS PROCESS
Visualisation of the web analytics process from Waisberg and Kaushik
(2009).
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22. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
KPI’S AND WEB METRICS
The business objectives are translated into measurable
succes/performance indicators
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23. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Visualisation of the conversion funnel from Waisberg and Kaushik (2009).
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24. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Bounce rates on top landing pages
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25. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WHAT TO MEASURE?
Bounce rates on top keywords
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26. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WEB ANALYTICS LINGO
Building Block Terms:
Page, Page Views, Visits, Unique Visitors, New
Visitor, Repeat Visitor, Repeat Visitor &
Returning Visitor
Visit Characterization:
Entry Page, Landing Page, Exit Page, Visit
Duration, Referrer, Internal Referrer, External
Referrer, Search Referrer, Visit Referrer, Original
Referrer, Click-through, Click-through
Rate/Ratio, Page Views per Visit
Content Characterization:
Page Exit Ratio, Single-Page Visits, Single Page
View Visits (Bounces), Bounce Rate
Conversion Metrics:
Event, Conversion
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27. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
A/B TESTING
Website optimization using A/B split testing is very stong method for
increasing conversions. A very basic experimental design. Borrowed from
Kohavi et al (2007):
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28. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
TESTING FOR THE OPTIMAL PRICE
Initial price and four treatments were tested in a simple A/B design.
Experiment reported at marketingexperiments.com (2008).
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29. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
TESTING FOR THE OPTIMAL PRICE
Results of the test. marketingexperiments.com (2008).
Remember that it’s not only a matter of price vs. orders there is also
the LTV to take into accout.
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30. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
WHAT ELSE TO OPTIMIZE?
www.conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/101-google-website-optimizer-tips/
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31. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
QUESTIONS FOR EYE TRACKING
• Are users looking where you want them to look?
• What important call-to-action does not receive attention?
• What is looked at but not clicked at?
• How well do symbols describe what the user is looking for?
• Where should important content be placed?
• What distracts web site visitors?
• How does the decision making process look like during problem
solving?
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32. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
EYE TRACKING PROCESS
Website optimization using eye tracking;
1. Define website goals
2. Prioritize design elements and desired actions
3. Measure visual attention
4. Measure click rate
5. Identify poor performing elements of the website
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33. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
OUTPUT - HEATMAP
berlingske.dk/Heatmap
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34. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
OUTPUT – GAZE PLOT
berlingske.dk/Gaze plot
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35. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
REAL TIME INSPECTION
Video of eye tracking
youtube.com/watch?v=m58MG_aua_Q&feature=channel_page
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36. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
AREA OF INTEREST (AOI)
berlingske.dk/Area of interest (AOI)
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37. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
FIXATION COUNT ON AOI
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38. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
CATCHINESS TABLE
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39. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
VISUAL VALUE
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40. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
DISTRIBUTION OF ATTENTION
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41. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
AN EYE TRACKING CASE
The purpose of the eye tracking anlysis:
• Optimize attention to ”call-to-actions”
• Optimize attention to banners
The case is in Danish … sorry about that!
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UNIVERSITY
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43. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
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44. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
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45. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
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UNIVERSITY
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47. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
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48. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
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49. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
BEHAVIORAL TARGETING
Behavioral targeting is about getting the right message to the right person
at the right time.
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50. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
ADSPEND WORLDWIDE
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51. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
BEHAVIORAL TARGETING IS GROWING
Behavioral tageting spend is 5,687 % of total spend on internet advertising
in 2008 and growing …
Rasmus Himmelstrup Jørgensen (2007)
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52. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND
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53. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
TARGETING IN ACTION
Targeted ad Targeted promotion?
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54. AARHUS
UNIVERSITY
CONTACT
Jacob L Orquin, Ph.D.
Department of Business Administration
Aarhus University
E-mail: jalo@asb.dk
Check out my company:
www.userpilot.dk
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