Reducing options boosts conversions

Less is More: Reducing Options Boosts Conversion Rates

Do your landing pages have barriers to conversion? Although marketers may think offering more options on landing pages gives people additional ways to convert, they create confusion in the conversion pathway.

Visitors are more likely to leave the website than try to guess what comes next. Reducing the number of options on each page can increase your conversion rate and streamline the path to purchase.

Don't ask too many questions

Rather than enabling more choices, too many options causes friction on your website. Quick Sprout revealed that for every 100 conversions, if you ask visitors for a phone number, you will see a 5 percent decrease.

Asking for a street address causes a 4 percent drop and age contributes to a 3 percent drop. Your Landing Page may be driving people away instead of drawing them in, especially if these requests correspond to longer forms.

Removing unnecessary fields in your Contact Forms increases conversion. Quick Sprout found only requiring visitors to fill in three fields led to a 25 percent uptick in the conversion rate. Forms with more than six fields had a 15 percent conversion rate.

Although you may need more information, you should ask for only the essentials at first. Lengthy forms can be a conversion killer. Additionally, you should provide assurances as people fill out forms. Tell them how frequently you plan to contact them.

What do you think about this case? Hubspot includes several fields in its forms. As we always tell you, only ask for the information you need to reach out to a prospect in the future.

Landing Page mistakes

Single or multiple calls to action?

It is difficult to talk about reducing options without addressing multiple calls to action. While there is a time and a place for more than one button, it's crucial to conduct A/B testing to determine the impact on conversion.

Since most landing pages are designed with a single purpose in mind, you can streamline your efforts by using one call to action. A repeat call to action may work, but asking visitors to choose between two separate actions will only confuse them.
Reduce page clutter

Landing pages should have a clear layout. This makes it easier to give contextual cues to guide visitors. While visuals can strengthen the point you're trying to make, it's important not to overdo it. Cramming too many photos or multiple videos onto a single page can overwhelm viewers rather than make them feel at home. In addition to multiple options, visuals, forms and other design elements can make visitors feel a sense of friction.

It may also be a good idea to limit page navigation, especially with drop-down menus. While you want prospects to stay on your website, reducing these options increases your control over the direction they take. Offering limited options through a navigation bar helps reinforce the next step in the process.

In the example below, Shoe Boxed has used lots of calls to action above the fold: “enter to win,” “sign up,” “sign in with Google +” and “enter your email.” What do you think about that? Visitors probably will be overwhelming!

Landing Page mistakes

How many options are right for you?

The answer depends on your industry. For online retailers, displaying related items on product pages can hold customers' attention for longer, but they must limit the number of options. Quick Sprout pointed out that even Amazon caps its suggestions at six related products. This may vary depending on how specialized your online store is, so use A/B testing to find the right number.

For business-to-business companies, the right number of choices may be even smaller, especially when it comes to payment pricing plans. At this stage of the customer journey, buyers are already evaluating different vendor options, so there's still a chance they will select a different company.

What's the bottom line on reducing options? Although you may appeal to a smaller section of your target audience, you can increase the percentage of visitors who convert within this segment.

How many options do you give customers on a single page?