Craft website increases e-mail capture by 22.3% on landing page form

Business:	Content Website and Newsletter Publishing
Sector:	Crafts
Optimized Conversion	E-Mail Capture
Test	A/B/n Test
Website	www.favecrafts.com
Case Study	Download Case Study PDF

Learn how FaveCrafts, a free content website aimed at crafters, used A/B/n split testing to increase e-mail address capture on its landing page form.

The Client: FaveCrafts – Prime Publishing

Prime Publishing was established in 1995 as a traditional niche book publisher. Recognizing the extraordinary marketing opportunities created by the web, Prime Publishing re-formulated its strategy to become a leading internet media and marketing company. It now operates a rapidly growing network of niche content websites, online stores, blogs and e-mail newsletters, all primarily aimed at female audiences. The ten online properties Prime Publishing launched in the past two years focus on niche lifestyle topics such as crafts, crochet, knitting recipes and healthy eating. Together, they are visited by over two million people every month. One of the company’s newest web properties is FaveCrafts.com, a premier online destination for the crafting enthusiast. It offers a wealth of free content such as patterns, seasonal craft ideas, product reviews and e-books.

The Business Need

FaveCrafts’ advertising-supported business model relies heavily on capturing e-mail addresses of first-time web visitors. The company has implemented an extensive demand-generation campaign, including paid search, to reach well-targeted audiences. It collects e-mail addresses via various mechanisms such as a newsletter sign-up form and members-only content. This newsletter sign-up form is Prime Publishing’s highest priority for conversion optimization. The original form was simple, containing only one input field (e-mail address). Its main value proposition was free access to crafting projects on the site. It was presented when a web visitor lands on the site. Although the form had a very respectable conversion rate by general industry standards, the management team believed that there was still room for improvement and wanted to maximize the return on their PPC marketing investment.

The Challenges

Over time, the company had made a few small adjustments to the FaveCrafts.com landing page form in an attempt to improve the conversion rate. They had seen some successes but none significant enough to meaningfully impact their bottom line. The management team recognized that they needed ‘a fresh pair of eyes’ to take the conversion rate to the next level. They knew that their in-house conversion optimization experience and resources were limited and felt that the best route would be to leverage the expertise of a specialized conversion optimization agency to come up with strong test hypotheses and designs.

The Solution

The Prime Publishing management team approached WiderFunnel to develop a testing strategy for their FaveCrafts.com ‘crochet’ landing page form. As a specialized full-service conversion optimization and analytics agency, WiderFunnel was equipped to handle the project in its entirety – from test planning to execution and results analysis. WiderFunnel developed the test plan, including hypotheses, wireframes, graphic design and copy, then customized test scripts and executed the test using Google Website Optimizer. Based on WiderFunnel’s LIFT Model™ analysis of the original form, WiderFunnel created four redesigned Variations to run in an A/B/n split test, as follows:

Variation A: ‘Speed’

This Variation was a dramatic change from the Control, with a different size, design and copy approach. The overarching hypothesis of this Variation is that simplicity will result in more e-mail addresses being collected since it is much less onerous for visitors to mentally process ‘less’ vs. ‘more’ content. Changes that were made:

• All imagery was removed to reduce clutter and distraction
• The amount of copy was reduced to improve clarity of the value proposition
• Ad copy keywords (free crochet patterns) were repeated in the headline to improve relevance
• Copy was left-aligned to improve eyeflow
• The Call-to-Action (CTA) button was rewritten and made more prominent
• The input field was enlarged and made more prominent
• Steps indicators were removed
• The size of the form was reduced to a minimum
• The color scheme was simplified
• The ‘close’ button was moved to reduce distraction

Variation B: ‘Patterns’

In this Variation, WiderFunnel once again bumped-up relevance to source media but rather than removing all imagery, it tested one high-quality crochet-focused image. Other changes included:

• An image caption with FaveCrafts’ positioning statement was added
• The amount of copy was reduced
• Ad copy keywords were repeated in the headline
• Benefit-oriented copy was written
• Copy was left-aligned to improve eyeflow
• The Call-to-Action (CTA) button was rewritten and made more prominent
• The input field was enlarged and made more prominent
• Steps indicators were removed
• The color scheme was simplified
• The ‘close’ button was moved to reduce distraction

Variation C: ‘Community’

The layout approach of this Variation was similar to Variation B ‘Patterns’ but the image and caption were replaced with a photo of a group of women with crocheted items and a customer testimonial. The benefit-oriented copy was also adjusted to emphasize the value of belonging to a community of like-minded individuals.

Variation D: ‘Speed Larger’

This Variation took the same approach as Variation A ‘Speed’ but tested the impact of the form size on moving the conversion rate dial. WiderFunnel added more white space around the content area and enlarged the lightbox frame.

THE RESULTS: 22.3% INCREASE IN CONVERSIONS

Three of the four Variations resonated positively with the FaveCrafts target audience and generated a conversion rate lift over the Control! The winning design, Variation A ‘Speed’, lifted conversions by 22.3%. It was followed closely by Variation D ‘Speed Larger’, which delivered an 18.7% lift over Control. With this first test of the FaveCrafts landing page form, the Prime Publishing management team uncovered that simplicity and relevance to ad copy were key factors in influencing conversions.

Fig. 1: Original (Control) Landing Page Form

Fig. 2: Winning Test Page: 22.3% Lift in E-Mail Acquisition!

FaveCrafts’ Testimonial

“WiderFunnel was extremely well organized, articulate and mindful of our team’s resources. They executed perfectly, never missed a deadline and had impeccable follow-up.We’re looking forward to launching the next test!”

Stuart Hochwert
President
Prime Publishing LLC Parent Company of FaveCrafts.com

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