Ditch your slider to increase conversions.

[lynxus]

Hi all,

I swear I commented on a post not long ago about sliders on the top of your webpage but cant find it.

Anyway,
I initially stated that as long as your slider was engaging, it should be ok..
Seems I was wrong.

I have since removed my slider at the top of my page, Replaced it with a static image and a conversion form to the left ( Ive found forms convert better on the left hand side... How odd?, Maybe its the way people read left to right. )

And yeah,
Since removing and replacing, I can confirm that conversions are up a good 300% minimum.

Id suggest anyone with a slider at the top maybe swap it out for a small marketing image and a conversion form. Be it a simply contact us now or a "sign up here now" form then give it a week.

Surprising just how many people must simply visit the site, see the slider and just move along.

 

[Simon.P]

hi,
I like your website - very clean and nicely laid out i think.
Yeah, from a customers perspective those sliders can be annoying; simply because they often move when there is something of relevance on them!
Cheers
H

 

[Ninja Commerce]

Yeh I'm not a big fan of sliders either, although I think their effectiveness varies depending on your niche. My advice would be to test it - assuming that one or the other is better is risky, but if you run a test you will know for sure.

Great post though, more people should be testing their assumptions.

 

[lynxus]

hi,
I like your website - very clean and nicely laid out i think.
Yeah, from a customers perspective those sliders can be annoying; simply because they often move when there is something of relevance on them!
Cheers
H

Hey, Thanks for the feedback.

Im not sure if its all completely related to a customer finding them annoying. I think its likely due to the distraction.

It may be something as simple as a potential client being distracted by it and diluting your marketing as a whole.
If the slider isnt there, it may simply help drive a user to the location on your site that they may of missed before hand ( no matter how obvious it is.. Simply because the slider initially distracted them maybe?

 

[ZeroDouble]

Interesting post, thanks for sharing your findings.

Just one question though, where was the contact form before, and could the fact that the form is now in a more prominent position not have contributed to the increased conversions?

Just as a side note, I normally like to set my sliders as static with a contact form or video as well, but I've never tried putting them on the left. Might give it a go.

 

[lynxus]

Interesting post, thanks for sharing your findings.

Just one question though, where was the contact form before, and could the fact that the form is now in a more prominent position not have contributed to the increased conversions?

Just as a side note, I normally like to set my sliders as static with a contact form or video as well, but I've never tried putting them on the left. Might give it a go.

The form was just below the slider.
Just below the "Reach new customers today, Start chatting now" section.

So it wasn't far away before, it was "just below the fold" i suppose.
The slider did contain "Click here to sign up" buttons, but clearly they wee not as effective as a form in its place.

In my eyes, This also helps re-enforce the idea that sliders are in general not as good as a half decent marketing image and a signup / register form.

I will admit, People have pointed this out to me before however I had not ever tested it properly before.
This has just emphasized that the fact that they are not as good as they appear.
Stylish , maybe... Functional? maybe not so much.

 

[Simon.P]

Im not sure if its all completely related to a customer finding them annoying. I think its likely due to the distraction.

Yeah, true. I've seen some good looking sliders (which look like images at first load up) although if there is text on them, sods law means it slides before having chance to read all of it!

 

[zigojacko]

I swear I commented on a post not long ago about sliders on the top of your webpage but cant find it.

Discussion on this a while back but don't think it is the on you commented on...

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/rotating-banners-yay-or-nay.314143/

 

[Annoying Donkey]

That fits with what I believe. Plain and simple with a strong clear message... No fancy graphics or other distractions...

Have never tested a signup form on the left - I seem to have an aversion to putting stuff, other than a menu, on the left. I think it'd be worth a test or three

 

[lynxus]

That fits with what I believe. Plain and simple with a strong clear message... No fancy graphics or other distractions...

Have never tested a signup form on the left - I seem to have an aversion to putting stuff, other than a menu, on the left. I think it'd be worth a test or three

@fisicx has suggested many time that Clear, meaningful messaging is what you should be doing.
Nothing "fancy"

And hes right. Ive followed a lot of his suggestions every time its proven to work well

These "funky" sites. dont do well converting.

Over the years ive worked hard at pulling a lot of rubbish off my sites and make them as simple as possible while still looking "nice" and full of content.

I think finally, I may of reached that sweet spot.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I think finally, I may of reached that sweet spot.

Nothing sweeter than that sweet spot

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

I was saying to a colleague the other day that I think sliders have kind of had their day. Especially the huge ones which take up most of the content above the page fold. But well designed ones still have their page and many clients like them. But it all comes down to your target market and split testing. Certain sliders can be quite elegant.

 

[babblemouth]

I guess the exception to the rule is always Lings Cars

I know she's been mentioned many times before on UKBF but what a rule-breaking site.

I'd love to see what would happen if she took the all singing and dancing stuff down and went for a "plain" design what the conversions would be like

 

[quikshop]

Has anyone done any split-testing on whether to have a slider or not?

Your 300% conversion increase could be influenced by other factors external to your site. Hmm, might try that on the martial arts site..

 

[andygambles]

Yes we split tested this over a period of 12 months

Results: https://blog.servertastic.com/dropping-image-sliders/

Basically without it customers spent more money. I am now working on a new front page layout to split test which will contain a static image that moves about (depending on the visitor).

 

[quikshop]

Yes we split tested this over a period of 12 months

Results: https://blog.servertastic.com/dropping-image-sliders/

Basically without it customers spent more money. I am now working on a new front page layout to split test which will contain a static image that moves about (depending on the visitor).

Impressive But I'll set up some split-testing on our home page and feed the results back in time...

 

[TrafficGenerationSecrets]

I guess the exception to the rule is always Lings Cars

I know she's been mentioned many times before on UKBF but what a rule-breaking site.

I'd love to see what would happen if she took the all singing and dancing stuff down and went for a "plain" design what the conversions would be like

This site is the stuff of legends

 

[Simon.P]

I guess the exception to the rule is always Lings Cars

That's genius!

 

[KayaIsmail]

Interesting to read that signup forms work better for you on the left. Mines of the right. Might dabble in some testing...

 

[lynxus]

Interesting to read that signup forms work better for you on the left. Mines of the right. Might dabble in some testing...

Yeah Its odd.
Let me know your results.

It could be any number of reasons for it, design, context etc..

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

Interesting to read that signup forms work better for you on the left. Mines of the right. Might dabble in some testing...

Hi, do you have a link to the research that shows this please?

 

[lynxus]

Hi, do you have a link to the research that shows this please?

Other than "What we have seen" No.
I simply initially stated that when it was on the right, Signups slowed down. When its on the left, it picks up again.
I'm positive there are other factors like site design, form design etc that make an impact, however this was just observations from myself.

 

[lynxus]

I agree with your suggestion to replace slider with call to action contact form and an enchanting image. But as Mark Johnson(Think Traffic) said above, it depends on niche.
If I am a professional photographer then It is not good to replace my portfolio photo sliders with a single image.

Oh yes, Completely agree.

This was simply a statement saying what ive found. It clearly wouldn't translate to everyone, However I do believe that a lot of sites could try removing their slider and see how well it performs after.

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

Other than "What we have seen" No.
I simply initially stated that when it was on the right, Signups slowed down. When its on the left, it picks up again.
I'm positive there are other factors like site design, form design etc that make an impact, however this was just observations from myself.

On right I see. There's nothing wrong with anecdotal. That's interesting thanks.

 

[North Kent Cleaning]

This is the second time I've read about this theory today. A Wordpress blog I read also said to ditch the slider.