The longer I look at conversion funnels, the more I realize that users inherently want to ‘go with the flow’. This goes against the long held belief that marketers need to successfully trick users into following their funnel. In reality, all we need to do is get the user to the platform, and then NOT SCREW IT UP. You can call these screw-ups ‘insertions of cognitive dissonance’, ‘distractions’ or even ‘bad UI implementation’, but conversion always seemingly comes down to optimizing problematic elements.
What follows is a story of how I optimized a problematic element within the Staance Mobile-Web account creation process, and increased conversion by 18%.
Whilst looking at conversions on a mobile web login funnel, I was perplexed by the incredibly large drop-off in user interaction after clicking the Facebook log-in button. Only 52% of users who pressed “Connect with Facebook” completed the account creation process… let me say that again… 52%… THATS HORRIBLE! I brought them to the site, created engaging content on the page, inserted a wall which convinced them to create a profile, and did it soo successfully that the user pressed a button signifying the beginning of an creation process… Yet, only 52% of them completed the process! Why?
Going with my theory on Cognitive Dissonance, I decided iteration was needed to address some problematic elements. Que troubleshooting:
Iteration 1.
Hypothesis: The users are spooked by leaving our site and need confirmation that this redirect process is normal.
Implementation: To address this, lets change the page text to address their privacy. That should do it!
Result: Clicks on the login button decreased, but overall conversions increased (+3) to 55%. We’re moving in the right direction!
Iteration 2.
Hypothesis: The transition is too abrupt. We have to address this redirect transition ourselves before Facebook opens a second window.
Implementation: After clicking the Facebook ‘Log-In’ button, we will launch a prompt that informs the user that they are leaving our site.
Result: Clicks stayed the same and conversions (miraculously) stayed the same as well! We had proven that adding an extra step didn’t negatively affect conversion! This is a big deal.
Iteration 3.
Hypothesis: We can cohort test language + elements on the secondary prompt to view which emotional trigger best addresses the user’s concerns.
Implementation: 25 different cohort selections were created that addressed every issue we could think of. Pitches on additional site features, up-selling content, color changes, Facebook button verbiage changes.. ect.
Result: One of the language selections increased our conversion from the current 55% to 70%! That is a 15% conversion increase by simply creating an engaging page that addresses the user’s concerns!
The final solution and why it worked:
You’re probably wondering what the wall looked like, so here’s a visualization of the flow that ended up working the best. As you now know, the user hits our primary login wall, clicks “Connect with Facebook”, and then is greeted with this ‘Your Privacy’ wall before redirecting to Facebook to complete the sign-up process. We eliminated the abrupt transition caused by Facebook’s redirect, addressed the privacy concerns of the user, and then gave them a smooth transition into Facebook’s account creation process.
Main Takeaway: If you address your user concerns before causing cognitive dissonance, you can eliminate leaks in your funnel while creating a better experience.