The 7 Levels of Conversion by Web Arts | Steps to Evaluate a Website

If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.

W. Edwards Deming, US business advisor & author (1900–1993)

Best learnings from www.cxl.com

The 7 Levels of Conversion by Web Arts

1. Relevance. Does my perception fit my expectations?
2. Trust. Can I trust this provider?
3. Orientation. Where should I click? What do I have to do?
4. Stimulants. Why should I do it right here and right now?
5. Security. Is it secure here? What if…?
6. Convenience. How complicated will it be?
7. Confirmation. Did I do the right thing?

Relevancy: While evaluating the web page,

Ask questions like:

• Does the headline match the page content?
• Do call to action buttons match the value they’re going to get?
• Are the images on the page relevant to the content?
• If the user came from an external site (Google search, PPC, referral etc), will they recognize that it’s a continuation of their journey?

Evaluating clarity

There’s design clarity and content clarity.

The best way to go about content clarity is to assess whether you could *instantly* answer the following questions on any page (especially if it’s a page where a lot of people land on via search or other sites):

• Where am I? What is this page about?
• What can I do here?
• How is it useful to me? Why should I do it?
• Can I understand what the product/service is, and how it works (in a reasonable amount of time)?
• Are there supporting images and/or videos that help me understand it?
• Is the product information adequate / sufficiently thorough for making a decision?
• Are all important associated pieces of information clear (pricing, shipping info, warranty, return policy etc)?
• Is it clear what I have to do next?

Evaluating design clarity:

• Is there a strong visual hierarchy in place? Does it follow a most wanted action?
• Are less important things also less important design-wise?
• Is there enough white space to draw attention to what matters?
• Are the visuals in place that support the content?
• Does call to action stand out enough?
• How much top priority information is below the fold?
• If there’s more information below the fold, is it clear that they should scroll? Any logical breaks that stop the eye flow?
• Is the eye path clear?
• Is the body copy font size large enough for easy reading? In most cases, the optimal size is 16px, but that depends on the fon

Friction

Friction is anything that slows people down or refrains people from taking action. Minimizing friction is one of your most important jobs.

Potential sources of friction

Long and complicated processes.

Asking for sensitive information

Slow loading pages

Difficult to find features or content.

Design of the website. If it looks spammy, scammy or amateur, it will turn people away.

Privacy and security concerns.

Cheesy & fake stock images

Complicated language, jargon and hype

Typos and poor spelling

Usability problems

Technical errors, cross-browser and cross-device issues

Low contrast between text and background colours, poor readability

Distraction

Everything that does not contribute to people taking that particular action might serve as a distraction, and you’re probably better off either removing those completely or minimizing them.

• Are there any moving, blinking elements such as banners, automatic sliders?
• Which elements on the page are NOT contributing to people taking most wanted action? How many of them could be distracting?
• What could we remove from the page without compromising its performance?
• In the checkout (conversion funnel) pages, are there navigation elements that could be removed?
• Is the top header compact, or is taking up too much valuable screen space?
• Are there visual elements of lesser importance high in the visual hierarchy?
• Is there copy that is not about the specific action we want people to take?

Motivation and Incentives

Key questions for evaluating motivation & incentives on a page:

• Is there a clear, benefit-driven offer?
• Do I understand WHY I should take action?
• Are features translated into benefits?
• Is it clear what people are getting when they click a button / fill a form? Is it something that’s desirable/useful for the target audience?
• Is there enough product information?
• Is the content interesting? Does it use simple language?
• Is the sales copy persuasive?
• Could we apply some persuasion principles here that would be a good match, such as social proof, urgency or scarcity?