Conversion Optimization Case Study
Reducing the Business Risks of a Website Redesign While Increasing Conversions by 170%
The Client: Safe Software
Safe Software Inc. (www.safe.com) is the global leader in spatial ETL (extract, transform and load) technology solutions that help GIS professionals and organizations solve their data interoperability challenges. Safe Software’s FME platform makes it easy for users to efficiently use and leverage their spatial data in any format or application – while improving efficiency, reducing costs and lowering risks.
Safe Software solutions are used by thousands of customers in over 116 countries in a variety of industries. Most leading GIS and database vendors also rely on Safe Software to expand the capabilities of their applications to address their customers’ needs for true data interoperability.
Business Need
Safe Software’s business model relies heavily on its website to drive new business, and is the company’s primary lead-generation tool. Each month, thousands of GIS professionals, a tech-savvy audience, come to the site for a free download that lets them evaluate its flagship product, FME software. The inside sales team subsequently follows up to close business.
In 2007, the company decided it needed to redesign its website to:
- Update messaging and offering
- Increase the percentage of web visitors coming to the site who download the free evaluation version of FME software.
Challenges
Safe Software’s Director Marketing, Jaylene Crick, had to be careful about making any changes to the website that might negatively impact the free evaluation download rate – the key metric in their business model.
Based on analysis of web traffic, Safe Software had determined there were two critical web pages to the redesign: the Home Page and the Evaluation Download Page. In order to consider the web redesign a success, these two pages in the new website would have to perform better than in the current one.
“We were assuming people knew what spatial ETL was, and we assumed that people knew what FME was. So, when we decided to revamp the website, we wanted to make sure we did things that would actually increase the number of evaluations,” Crick says.
The challenge Safe Software faced was to launch the new website with a fully tested Home Page and Evaluation Download Page that would be certain to deliver higher conversion rates.
Solution
In parallel to initiating its website redesign, Safe Software hired WiderFunnel Marketing to run experiments on the Home Page and the Evaluation Download Page that would ensure the new website actually delivered a higher percentage of free evaluation downloads than was being currently generated.
WiderFunnel Marketing, using its proprietary Kaizen Method™ planning process, first took a macro view of all of safe.com conversion funnels, evaluated Safe Software’s business goals and delivered a plan identifying prioritized Funnel Experiment opportunities and outlining several hypotheses for how website changes might influence trial software download conversion rates.
Two primary concerns for Crick were to ensure that:
- The experiment would deliver results within a short period of time, well ahead of the web redesign schedule, and
- That the results would deliver learning that the web design firm could absorb into the site redesign.
This way, Safe Software would ensure the new Home Page and Evaluation Download Page would be ready on time to positively improve their business results.
Below are the four steps WiderFunnel Marketing took to put the hypotheses to the test:
Step #1. Develop valid Home Page content hypothesis
Safe and WiderFunnel worked together to develop hypotheses that would impact the conversion rate and narrowed them down to two for the initial experiment round. These were:
- Whether appealing to prospects’ familiarity with the FME product would influence their decision to download and evaluate it
- Whether appealing to prospects’ business needs would influence evaluation software downloads.
To get the answer, WiderFunnel Marketing created two approaches for Home Page copy and graphics:
- One geared toward the users’ familiarity with FME
- The other geared toward prospects’ software needs.
The first approach offered a range of content for prospects with different levels of experience with FME. They included text reiterating product basics, such as “The #1 Spatial ETL Tool,” then highlighted everything from a basic explanation of spatial ETL for novices, to key features and benefits available in the new version for those already familiar with the product.
Among the key site elements:
- New headline: “Ever wish FME worked with raster and vector data? Now it does.”
- An infographic describing spatial ETL
- Bullet points that highlighted improvements to the 2007 version of the software, such as:
- More than 1,800 enhancements
- More than 50 new transformers, 20 specifically for raster data
- Nine new raster formats
- 15 new vector formats
- Call to action: “Try it out,” with a large button labeled “Free FME 2007 Eval Download.”
The second approach focused on prospects’ specific software needs and the solutions FME offered. Key elements included:
- An overview of FME as “The #1 Spatial ETL tool.”
- Bolded text that listed tasks the software can complete:
- Translate spatial data to and from different formats
- Transform spatial data to meet your needs
- Distribute data over the Web
- “Try it out” call to action, with the large “Free FME 2007 Eval Download” button.
Step #2. Develop Home Page alternative layouts
In order to test how the page layout influenced conversions, WiderFunnel Marketing, a full-service company, developed all the wireframes, design work and HTML images for two formats to apply to the different copy approaches:
- Three-vertical column layout (very popular in high tech)
- Two-vertical column layout (a radical departure from the industry norm)
| Original Page | WiderFunnel’s Alternative |
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| Figure 1: Home Page Conversion Optimization Experiment | |
Step #3. Develop alternative copy and layout for Evaluation Download Page
Visitors who clicked the “Free FME 2007 Eval Download” button were taken to the software download landing page. Crick’s team wanted to test how different design and copy variations influenced conversions. See Figure 2.
The original page was “very technology-centric,” says Crick. Lots of text explained how to download the evaluation software. A gray button started the process. The team developed two variations with less text and more color.
Version 1:
- Simplified call to action, with one large box in center of the page that featured an orange “Download Now – Free” button
- Copy that highlighted the benefits of the trial period – “Download now and you’ll get 14 days of full-featured FME 2007, no restrictions”
- Testimonial quote from a client
Version 2:
- The same orange “Download Now – Free” button
- Hero shot of a young, engineer-type sitting with a laptop
- Customer testimonial
- Copy that reiterated the product’s key benefits, such as “Easily translate spatial data to and from different formats”
| Original Page | WiderFunnel’s Alternative |
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| Figure 2: Eval Download Page Conversion Optimization Experiment | |
Step #4. Run online page tests
Using Google Website Optimizer as the testing platform, WiderFunnel Marketing ran separate experiments on the Home Page and the Evaluation Download Page, always comparing results against the Control (i.e., the current website pages).
The Home Page experiment consisted of the Control and four page variations. Traffic was split evenly and randomly between the five versions (copy approach and two- or three-column format).
The Evaluation Download Page experiment consisted of the Control and the two page variations with new designs and traffic was split evenly and randomly between the three.
The experiments were designed to deliver results within a short period of time.
Results
“We are absolutely thrilled with the results,” Crick says. “It’s sparked a new interest in how we approach doing changes to the website going forward. Through ongoing testing and experimentation, we don’t have to wait four years to do another redesign.”
Home Page: increased conversions over the Control page by 125%.
Within just eight days, the Home Page experiment generated statistically significant data to declare the winning design: the copy approach that targeted prospects based on their familiarity with FME, but in a two-column layout, outperformed all other page variations, including the Control. The winning format required the Safe Software team to drop the spatial ETL infographic, and instead focus on new features of the latest version.
Crick and her team had expected the three-column layout to be the best performer. “We thought it wasn’t as visually pleasing as the [three-column] one. Also, our target audience is GIS professionals, and we felt they’d want a lot of detail and a wordy homepage.”
Jamey Gillis, Safe’s webmaster, adds: “Good thing we don’t go by feelings.”
Evaluation Download Page: increased conversions over the Control page by 20.2%.
Within thirteen days, the Evaluation Download Page experiment generated statistically significant data to declare the winning design: the version featuring a simplified call to action and minimal text. It had lifted the conversion rate by 15.5%.
Again, Crick and her team were surprised. “We would have bet that prospects needed to know more about FME and what it is to be convinced to download.”
WiderFunnel recommended a follow-up experiment for the Evaluation Download Page with the majority of traffic going to the winning page to confirm the findings. When the experiment completed, the more accurate results now showed an conversion rate increase of 20.2% for the winning page. The new Conversion Funnel had a 170% higher combined conversion ratei.
Crick and her team immediately put the winning Home Page and Evaluation Download Page designs in place while they continued with their website redesign.
Continuous Improvement Philosophy
Since the completion of the experiments, Safe Software launched the new website, incorporating the tested Home Page and Evaluation Download Page with slight modifications to integrate other design elements.
True to their new philosophy of non-stop improvement, Safe Software continues to work with WiderFunnel Marketing to run an ongoing series of multivariate experiments, testing the impact of new changes aimed at further improvements on the software evaluation download rate.
“We are absolutely thrilled with the results WiderFunnel Marketing continuous to deliver for us. The experiments sparked a new interest in how we approach doing changes to the website going forward. By working with them and carrying out ongoing testing and experimentation, we don’t have to wait four years to do another redesign – it’s an ongoing improvement process.”
Jaylene Crick, Director Marketing,Safe Software
Learn more about the services mentioned in this case study:
- Full service Website Conversion Optimization Agency
- The Kaizen Method
- A/B/n Split Testing
- Multivariate Testing
To find out how WiderFunnel can help you increase your conversion rate, contact a Conversion Rate Expert now.
Or, get our free conversion rate resources.
i.The combined conversion rate increase (CR) is calculated as follows: CR=(1+1.25)x(1+0.202)=2.7045=270.45%. The conversion rate increase (CRI) is calculated as CRI=CR-1=1.7045=170.45%.
