1) The document discusses various methods for understanding website visitors' behaviors and motivations in order to better persuade them to convert, such as heatmaps, surveys, and usability testing. 2) It provides examples of tests focused on understanding visitors and optimizing websites, like an insurance company survey finding visitors left due to missing pricing or simplifying checkout carts. 3) The key is applying persuasion techniques thoughtfully based on good user research to unlock conversions.

1. How to persuade your
visitors to convert
Srikant Kotapalli
Head of Product @ VWO

2. About VWO
powered by SmartStats
2.5bn+
Users served per
month
Goals FunnelsTrack
Heatmaps Recordings Surveys FormsAnalyze
Test
Plan HypothesisObservation
5000+
Customers across
the globe
600k+
Experiments run on
our platform
91Countries
A/B Testing &
Conversion
Optimization
Platform

3. Understanding a conversion
A visitor coming to
a website has
intrinsic motivations
and expectations
A business tries to
match those
expectations and
persuade visitor to
buy from them and
not elsewhere
Identifying the pull Creating a push

4. An analogy for Persuasion

5. Uncovering Visitor’s
motivation (Gravity)

6. r
M o s t c o m m o n l y u s e d m e t h o d s t o u n d e r s t a n d v i s i t o r b e h a v i o r
Heatmaps
Session Replays
Customer interviews
Surveys
Web analytics
User Testing
Expert Reviews
Click testingFive second test
Card sorting/Tree testing
Form Analytics
Difficulty in generating insightsDifficult Easy
Valueofinsights
Low
High
*Size of the bubble indicates the popularity or usage of the method

7. Following visitors’ click
trail
Navigation bar distracting
users from the primary goal
of this page which is to
download the app

8. Decoding what they pay
attention to
A sharp drop-off of 40
%age points happens here
and content below this is
going to be ineffective.
Also acts as a in page
funnel representation
98% (103) views
58% (61) views

9. Asking visitors for their
intent
A leading tire company
conducted an exit intent
survey to understand why
visitors leave and found out
that non-availability of
Pricing is the biggest
reason
I prefer to buy tires in person
There was no pricing information available
I want more information about the tires
I cant buy the tires I want online
Other

10. Observing visitors
Session replays playback
your visitors actual page
interactions and how they
navigate through your
website without distracting
the visitor from their desired
goals
98% (103) views
58% (61) views

11. Understanding how
visitors provide
information
Form analytics tools help
you understand how visitors
interact with every form
field. It gives you insights
on where visitors hesitate
and drop off
98% (103) views
58% (61) views
27%
34%
of the visitors
submitted the form
20.5
seconds
Total time spent on
completing this field
10.3
seconds
Time spent by visitors
hesitating to give this
data
20%
of the visitors drop off
on this field
of the visitors refill
this field

12. Walking in the shoes
of visitors
Task Analysis or usability
testing helps you evaluate
how visitors would use the
website to achieve a
desired goal.
98% (103) views
58% (61) views

13. How visitors
classify information
Helps you understand how
your visitors would logically
group information into
categories.
98% (103) views
58% (61) views
Clear winners
Ambiguous
classification,
might need
follow up tests
Tests run using Optimal workshop

14. Expert feedback on
website
Evaluation of a website by
a usability expert against a
set heuristics to identify
potential conversion
barriers

15. Perception and
Messaging
Run a Five second test to
understand what visitors
make out of your landing
pages
98% (103) views
58% (61) views
What solution are they selling?
Tests run using Usabilityhub

16. Getting Visitor’s attention (Nudge)

17. “Fast Service” and “Reliability” were the two
factors that the visitors cared about most
More than 70% of visitors come to their site
after having looked at one of the competitor
offering
Aligning Value
proposition
Problem
A leading insurance provider
in Great Britain felt that their
Key USP’s were not being
communicated properly.
The company conducted an on-page survey
of website visitors that gave them two key
insights

18. Aligning Value
proposition
Based on these insights
they conducted A/B test to
highlight their key
competitive advantages in
their value proposition
+30%
Talks about Fast serviceTalks about reliability
A key differentiator when
compared to competition

19. What else can you test for?
Headlines
Banners
Buttons
Colors
Benefits/Features

20. Motivating visitors (Angle)

21. Tackling Visitor Abandonment
+24%
Challenge
An ecommerce company
wanted to ensure they keep
new visitors motivated
enough through the signup
process to complete a
purchase
Displaying the products
from the basket of the new
visitor during the signup
process creates a sense of
continuity

22. Increasing Availability of Information
+48%
Challenge
A lighting appliance
ecommerce website saw
low engagement with
product details on Product
pages
A color swatch was added
to help visitors visualize the
selection
Drop down options of Color
and model were changed to
radio options that are easily
available

23. Reducing choice
+32%
Challenge
A footwear ecommerce
website saw low
conversions on Product
views from Product listing
pages
Reducing the listings to
contain 3 instead of 4
products boosted the image
size and the details
provided and led to less
skimming and more clicks
Product views

24. Eliminating Friction

25. Reducing Cognitive load in Forms
Challenge
A SaaS provider for
builders observed problems
with their Request demo
forms
An open ended text box
field performed poorly
41%
Visitors drop off on this field
More than
50% (27 seconds)
Of the time spent on the form
was on filling this field alone
Drop off reduced to
1%
Total interaction time reduced to
<1 second

26. Simplifying Checkout Carts
+10%
Challenge
A leading Jewelry
ecommerce site noticed a
high rate of drop off on the
cart page and lesser
checkouts
Multiple offers mainly
focused around loyalty
were completely being
ignored but took up prime
space
Too many actions around
checkout button distracting
the visitors

27. Wrap up
A combination of good user research with
thoughtful application of persuasion
techniques can help you unlock
conversions

28. Thank You!
Q&A
A/B Testing &
Conversion
Optimization
Platform