There are many factors that contribute to to a website visitor’s behaviour. The following is a true story about the way visitors make their decisions online.

Judy the online shopper

Judy wanted to buy a baby carrier online for her sister. Judy was internet savvy but didn’t know much about babies or baby carriers. She visited mother’s forums and looked user reviews to research the features she was looking for, and which brands were the most popular.

Having decided that she wanted a specific carrier, she then Googled the brand name and looked for potential sellers. A list of results presented itself to her. She clicked on one, but it directed her to the home page of a site forcing her to search again for the product she wanted. Too hard. She clicked back. Judy then clicked onto a website where she was bombarded with banner ads. She clicked back. Another looked unprofessional, and a fourth made it very difficult for her to ask the sellers a question. Click. Back. Click. Back.

She finally found what she was looking for: a clean, well-presented website that looked like it was developed by a company she could trust and engage with, and she purchased the baby carrier off them. While most of the other websites stocked the product she was after, in similar price ranges, there were many other factors that affected her decision to purchase.

Landing page optimisation is about finding out specifically what these factors are, and how to use them to your best advantage. It is not nearly enough to simply be there for your your website visitors to find; the online world is very competitive, and online visitors can be easily swayed. Changes that may seem subtle to you, such as headline size and colour, and an easily visible phone number, can make a huge difference.