I frequently talk to my clients about “energy” when I am asking them to define their target audience… and, frequently, I’m not 100% sure that they understand to what I am referring. So, I was delighted to find this blog post this morning that talks about the “energy” of a website…
The post, entitled “Flywheels, Kinetic Energy, and Friction”, is by Nick Usborne. Mr. Usborne uses a simple and familiar visual (the flywheel (see the Wikipedia definition)) to explain why less is more when you are serious about getting prospects to take action at your website.
In short, the flywheel is propelled by energy and stopped by friction, and, (under normal circumstances) experiences diminished energy before coming to a complete stop.
Equating that to your website:
- The text and design (graphics and photos) produces the energy.
- The process you define for completing the “call to action” produces the friction, and,
- The degree of difficulty of that process produces the diminished energy.
Mr. Usborne suggests that one can significantly increase the likelihood that prospects will complete the call to action by keeping the energy high and the friction low.
He cites two tests as evidence of success for the less is more strategy. Both tests were done at subscription service websites. At one website, the subscription process was reduced from 9 pages to 3, and at the other, the information requested was minimalized. The results? The services saw an increase of 293% and 500%, respectively. That is, 293% and 500% more prospects completed the call to action (subscribe) than prior to the changes.
To Do:
- Maximize the energy and build anticipation and excitement for the prospect by using text, graphics, and bonus incentives for completing your call to action.
- Minimize the friction by keeping the process you define for completing the call to action as easy as possible. The fewer hurdles you present, the less diminished committment to completing the call to action a prospect experiences.
Read the full blog post at the “A List Apart” blog.