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Written by Michel Fortin
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Website Redesign Pulls in More Sales?

Website Redesign Pulls in More Sales?

successchefscreenshot1 150x150 Website Redesign Pulls in More Sales?In an ear­lier blog post, I talked about the fact that lately I’ve been lean­ing a lot more towards test­ing the reduc­tion in bottlenecks.

Some of the results are staggering!

In short, the more I increase the sense of secu­rity and trust, bet­ter the flow and ease of order­ing, and project a more con­gru­ent and pro­fes­sional image, the more sales I make.

Since that post, some read­ers have asked me for some exam­ples. I pre­fer not to reveal mine as they are pro­pri­etary. But I can say this…

One of the things that I’m start­ing to really like are ecom­merce sites that are less “saleslet­ter­ish” — i.e., less long-​​scrolling copy in a direct-​​mail for­mat, and more clus­tered lay­outs that are reader-​​focused, commerce-​​centric, and action-​​driven.

They still use com­pelling copy and a solid response mech­a­nism. If the user needs more details, a “more info” link then sends them to a typ­i­cal, long copy saleslet­ter. But these sites’ front-​​end are more action-​​oriented than they are scrolling-​​oriented.

I’ve decided to test this with our main web­site at Suc­cess Chef. I still use long copy. But I’ve con­verted the front-​​end into an ecom­merce, multi-​​product, catalog-​​like format.

And the results are in…

Before I reveal them, let me explain some­thing. I’ve been pre­dict­ing the rise of such sites since The Death of The Saleslet­ter years ago. My argu­ment was and still is that the Inter­net is dif­fer­ent. Dif­fer­ent than TV, radio, and of course, direct mail.

When TV was first invented, we didn’t put direct-​​mail saleslet­ters on TV, forc­ing our eyes to squint to read direct-​​mail let­ters line-​​by-​​line. It would be fool­ish to do so. So instead, we put com­mer­cials and par­tic­u­larly infomer­cials on them. Why? Because we can.

Well, it’s ditto with the Internet.

When the Inter­net first began, it was easy to put up saleslet­ters online. The Inter­net was unlike TV. Text browsers with lim­ited graph­ics were the norm. The web was regarded as an elec­tronic ver­sion of the typ­i­cal, direct-​​response saleslet­ters we get in the mail.

But Web 2.0, mul­ti­me­dia, and social media have changed that, as they should.

The Inter­net is fast, dynamic, inter­ac­tive, and mul­ti­sen­so­r­ial. Sure, we can and should use long saleslet­ters, as this for­mat is more appro­pri­ate in some cases. Some­times, mul­ti­me­dia is bet­ter. Other times, long-​​scrolling text is bet­ter. But the dif­fer­ence is…

… The web is chang­ing the way we find, digest, and act upon sales messages.

Case in point. The other day, a reader pointed me to an amaz­ing weight­loss web­site. I imme­di­ately fell in love with it! It’s fresh, clean, pithy, and very action-​​focused. But while the design may be entic­ing, the ques­tion is, does this sucker sell?

Appar­ently, accord­ing to my stats and a lit­tle dig­ging, it does.

More and more Word­Press themes, for exam­ple, are com­ing out that have this prod­uct show­case fea­ture above the fold, with a more browse-​​and-​​buy look and feel. Take for exam­ple, this new theme from WooThemes​.com or “Adding­ton” from iThemes​.com.

Back to my results…

In less than a week after post­ing the new design and lay­out, with­out any adver­tis­ing, we’ve increased our con­ver­sions by nearly 400%. Granted, it’s still too early to tell. Plus, I’m still tweak­ing with the design and lay­out. Pre­ma­ture, but promis­ing nonetheless.

Now, don’t think for a moment I’m dis­count­ing the power of using long copy saleslet­ters, or sug­gest­ing that you should dump yours. Not at all. That wasn’t my intent with the “death of” white paper, and it cer­tainly isn’t with this blog post, either.

Keep in mind, I still have long-​​copy saleslet­ters for each indi­vid­ual prod­uct on sep­a­rate land­ing pages, which I pro­mote indi­vid­u­ally or if the user clicks on “more info.”

But this is the front page of the main web­site, which I’ve con­verted into a multi-​​product por­tal instead. And with it, I’m using this pithier, bullet-​​form, browse-​​and-​​buy ecom­merce for­mat with an above-​​the-​​fold show­case to fea­ture our flag­ship product.

I sim­ply wanted to share with you some cool ideas. The key is test­ing, because test­ing allows you to dis­cover what your mar­ket wants. Let your mar­ket tell you what’s best for them. Not me, and cer­tainly not you. They’ll tell you with their wal­lets, not their words.

What do you think? I’d love your feed­back. Click here to visit Suc­cess Chef University.

Sales are the best indi­ca­tors, of course. But in terms or read­abil­ity, com­pre­hen­sion, and flow, I want to know if you like the new for­mat. Does it con­fuse you or appeal to you? Is there some­thing that pushes you away or draws you in? I’m lis­ten­ing…

By the way, while I was typ­ing out this blog post, my beau­ti­ful wife, Sylvie Fortin, cre­ated this quick lit­tle video using this neat text-​​to-​​video web­site. It’s funny as heck! Enjoy…

If you can’t see the video, click here to go straight to the web­site instead.

About the Author

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker, and consultant. Visit his blog and signup free to get blog updates by email, along with response-boosting tips, tested conversion strategies, the latest news, free advice, additional resources, and a lot more! Go now to http://www.michelfortin.com. While you're at it, follow him on Twitter.

Like this blog post? Buy me a coffee or send me a tip!

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Category: News
Tags: above the fold, commercial, conversion, copy, feature, Internet, market, media, message, purchase, readability, response, sales, salesletter, success, Success Chef, testing, trust, usability, web 2.0, website, wordpress
This post was written on Monday, September 28th, 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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  • Michel, thanks a lot for sharing this. I have to admit, I'm kind of behind with my sites and still using the long-sales-letter format, not making use of any e-commerce browse&click fronts.

    I will try implementing this on some of my sites to see what it does.
  • HAHA - Love the video Michel! Brilliant advert - your wife should create TV ads for real.

    I also love this:

    "When TV was first invented, we didn’t put direct-​​mail saleslet­ters on TV, forc­ing our eyes to squint to read direct-​​mail let­ters line-​​by-​​line. It would be fool­ish to do so. So instead, we put com­mer­cials and par­tic­u­larly infomer­cials on them. Why? Because we can."

    That is so very true. Well said, great post.
  • Bluesaint73
    Cheers Michel, I think the fact that this site uses the key formula still like the old sales letter style but has a slightlly different appearance, which I think keeps visitors engaged slightly longer, and has the straight to the point e commerce twist. I like it cheers John
  • tonyrude
    I like your post. It makes sense because people are in a hurry and if you give them snip's of info to browse through they will click to get more info then you can turn on the copy.

    I don't agree with the themes you recommend because they don't seem to have the seo structure in place.

    I've been looking into this and I think the thesis theme's structure gives you the best results for serp's.
  • Er, I didn't say you should use these specific themes. I said that more and more themes use the "showcase" format, and wanted to show some examples of what I meant.
  • Daily Burn is the *rebirth* of the sales letter.

    They're using the same high-converting techniques, but in an interactive format -- making it easy to draw the reader's attention to the points that will convince them.

    If you're focused on the technique of sales letters, this is heresy. But think of it this way: let's say you're selling a diet tool through sales letters. You know some of your customers want to lose weight. Others want to build muscle. You'd write very different content to target these groups -- and that's exactly what Daily Burn does! One targeting technique would be to send a different letter to different lists; Daily Burn lets people 'sign up' to see content that targets them.

    When I read hundred year-old ads from infomarketingblog, I don't lament the lost era of long sales letters. I just imagine how much ass Gary Halbert would have kicked if he'd been using Wordpress.
  • WealthSecrets
    Hello Michel and Sylvie,

    You absolutely right. The site although an ecommerce site feels much more of an information based site and deffinately much easier on the eye as well.

    The mere fact that you're not 'selling' as soon as you arrive at the site makes you feel more comfortable.


    By the way I loved that Video - Made me laugh - Unfortunately there are way too many of these dumb people out there doing exactly that!.

    Take care
    Hamant
  • remarkablogger
    The problem with copywriters is that everything's a copy problem to them. :)

    You're now discovering the real power of conversion-oriented design combined with copywriting.

    I have doubled my sales for my services since I redesigned my site's front page.
  • terryemiddleton
    Michel,

    Nice fresh look and clean. There are three things that stood out the most when I first looked at the site.

    1.) Too many green check marks. My eye keeps focusing on the green check marks and not the items.
    2.) Too many product features. I would recommend (not based on data) to put 4-5 features and put some space between them for better readability.
    3.) On the About page the hero shot of you and your wife needs to be redone. Again, this is my opinion and I'm possibly overstepping my bounds with my next comment, but honesty is better than fluff.

    Your wife needs to change her dress and retake the shot. I think it's good with both of you in the shot, but the black dress looks like a trench coat which causes me to not trust you. Gangsters.

    I would not recommend going to your wife and telling her this as I would expect it to make her upset and that's not my intentions.

    I see the blue in her blouse that compliments your shirt and handkerchief, but maybe something more business like. Oh and one more thing (sorry). Face each other or in the same direction. Standing facing opposite directions makes it look like you don't agree with each other.

    Above all and beyond my opinions, I thank you for the great content you provide. I appreciate you.

    Hope my opinion helps,

    Terry
  • Terry, I do appreciate the comments. But I'm testing the front page for now, so I'll focus on those more. But I appreciate everything you've said. I'll test lesser features...
  • Terry, I reduced the copy and removed some of the features. I disagree with the checkmarks because they act as eye-gravity, pulling people INTO the bullets. But I do agree there too many of them. Check out the site now. And thank you so much for your feedback.
  • burchd
    That's a great video. I think it'd be even greater if you and Sylvia had role-played this yourselves. What do you think of making your successchef.com buy buttons change to a different image when you hover over them?
  • The video was just fun thing my wife played around with using this
    text-to-speech website. So we're limited here.

    As for the buy buttons, I do have plans to make them hoverable (see some of
    the order pages to see what I mean). I'm still in the process of tweaking
    it, but wanted to do put this out first to see if it pulls... and it does.
    ;)
  • The buy buttons are now "hoverable." Check it out. And thank you for the feedback.
  • burchd
    Beautiful! It's a subtle change but it really increases the feeling of interactivity. I like all the check marks by the way.
  • I checked out the new format of Success Chef and I really like the short punchy bullets up top. Really helps to understand what the site is all about without having to dig for it.

    Also, from this article, I think this is the most valuable paragraph: "...the more I increase the sense of secu­rity and trust, bet­ter the flow and ease of order­ing, and project a more con­gru­ent and pro­fes­sional image, the more sales I make."

    Ryan
  • Yup, seems like trust and security and ease of reading/ordering are getting more and more attention these days. Especially the look and feel, and with "feel" I also mean professionalism, brand, consistency, cleanliness, and credibility.

    Thanks, Ryan!
  • The new format actually places a greater emphasis on the value proposition of Success Chef (compared to other products), and from memory only the monthly subscription is now a little more obvious.

    Were increased sales across the board?
  • Some direct from that page, and some from the salesletter, preceded by that page (when people click on 'more info') instead of straight salesletter-to-order sales. The front page seems to boost sales both in the immediate and longer term sense. Perhaps because the new design communicates more credibility and professionalism? I think so. More testing needed, though...
  • Haha excellent video.
  • Love the video, I saw another post earlier today for a video from that website.... It was hilarious.

    Relates well to copywriting clients... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfprIxNfCjk&feat...

    And nice post on how dramatic a difference design means, and how many different media options we have available to us as marketers now.
  • I see the long sales letter technique more or less as a stepping stone to something more effective. Necessary, not sufficient.

    What you may be seeing is customers who would never buy from a long sales letter... without losing any that will.

    Thanks for posting your initial results. I bookmarked and will be back later to dig in deeper, follow all the links, etc.
  • 400%? Damn! That cannot be ignored. Thanks for sharing!

    What's strange about this is how it counteracts what marketers have been saying for decades: don't distract the prospect with options. I remember seeing critics where copywriters would instantly take down any menus someone had.

    I can see this catalog becoming the "big thing" next year. Other big marketers are doing it. I'm going to try and test it later this year.
  • You should check out some of the themes CyPrice posted in her comment below. This seems to be a growing trend. I think want more control and trustworthiness from the sites they buy. Salesletters still rock, but a pro design communicates so much more...
  • Hi Michel

    Apart from the fact Sylvie is clearly using Homer as the stool pigeon fore this video I'm impressed.

    Love the look of the site - results so far are outstanding. Is this the way of the future? Time will tell I guess but the site is easier on the eye that a traditional long copy sales page and if it works then I'm all for it.

    Thanks for sharing this

    The Anti Hype
  • Thank you, Anti-Hype. Sylvie loved your blog post, LOL!
  • This is really interesting stuff Michel.

    I notice that you seem to be testing different mthods for the follow-up long sales letters too - one I clicked on went to a normal one, the other opened in a sort of web 2.0 window.

    One thing I really like is the option for those who are already pre-sold to just click Order Now on the homepage. That really reduces bottlenecks for those who are already ready to buy. Those who need a bit more persuading can click through for the long copy.

    Just a question? Won't pointing your blog readers at the page distort your test? Or can you remove all the clicks that originate from here?

    Ian
  • Ian, thanks. And yes, I'm tracking sales per traffic source, so those coming
    from my blog, if any, are not counted in the results.
  • It was because of your special report on the Death of the Salesletter that I've done away with long sales pages and instead, adopted sbu-pages. See http://virtualeventlaunchsecrets.com as an example. I'll report on the metrics and let you know if my sub-pages sales letter outsells my long page sales letter. Thanks for the inspiration.
  • stephendean
    I wonder if Google Adwords might like your site design better as well? with a higher quality score?
  • Not sure with this one, but I know one site I have with this style has improved in the score... but to say this is true of all these types of similar layouts would be a bit premature. More testing needed...
  • lorrainegrula
    Hi Michael.

    That video Sylvie made had me laughing my arse off. I think if people knew how much the "fake expert" syndrome has affected all of the information we receive, they would be shocked. It's not just online. My favorite book explaining this is called "Toxic Sludge is Good for You." and it is all about how the PR industry ate whatever semblance of journalism used to actually exist. The same authors have another book called, "Trust Us, We're Experts."

    As always, I found this post thought provoking. You are absolutely correct about the need for variety based on the specific circumstances. Being a video oriented person, I think more and more text will go by the wayside online and be replaced with video. Especially this new interactive video.

    I read a prediction the other day saying by 2030, 90% of all info online would be video. I am really getting into video interactivity right now. it is a great way to offer people more information IF they want it. You give them the bare bones in the video itself, keeping it short, then add the details in links clickable to other site.

    I liked the format of your chef success page. Speaking as a person who NEVER reads all the way thru long sales copy, it was refreshing to have something be more direct and to the point. It comes across much more like a blog than a sales page.

    At first glance, I thought it was a big top-heavy though. There were so many bullet points up at the top it struck me as overwhelming at first. One thing I do like about standard sales pages is the big red headline. It is an easy way for a visitor to ease into all the info.

    Thanks Michael and Sylvie. I gotta go check out the website where she made that.
    Lorraine
  • Lorraine, I've reduced the top part. Removed about 6 bullets (2 in each column) and reduced the text a bit. I'm also going to be playing with "mini-boxes" of information within that large top showcase, a la WooThemes or like some of the themes CyPrice mentioned below (see her comment). Thanks a bunch for your feedback.
  • dan
    Michael, Thanks for the great post. Can you let me know which theme among the Woo themes you selected for the site which is an imitation of the weight loss site? I have browsed the Woo themes and can't seem to find the one you referred to in this post.
  • There is no theme specifically just like the site. It's just that the
    top-showcase style is becoming more and more prevalent. Check out Woothemes
    (the link in the post above), which shows the "fresh pitch" theme, as well
    as the Addington or Ecommerce theme from ithemes.com (link above as well).

    Heck, just check out Woothemes.com and iThemes.com themselves (their own
    front pages) for another excellent example.
  • JesseNano
    I like the design, but I think you need a tad bit more typography on the website. The layout is v.good, its just that it looks a little "dull" without a little typographic spice if you know what I mean.
  • AmeliaBrazell
    Laughing out loud at the video. Too many people try to take the short cut and fail. And, the funny thing is everyone has expertise and experience that is marketable. So why do so many people try to pretend?

    Thanks for sharing your results. I have been telling my clients there is much to learn from previous shifts in mainstream media, i.e. radio to tv. The possibilities seem endless for both businesses and media outlets.

    Love the new site.
  • girljocks
    I Michel,

    Great look with the new site. Very clean and user friendly. I felt like I was more being "informed" rather than "sold to" - and I liked it!

    The video is great! Great sense of humor, Sylvie :)
  • CyPrice
    Hi Michel & Sylvie,

    Success Chef looks great. The clean & sharp layout makes it inviting. Since it's so different from the majority of websites in the same market, I want to stay and investigate more. Please keep us updated on the stats.

    Regarding WP Themes...

    Here are a few more theme examples for your readers:

    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/productfoli...
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/ebook.html
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/eproduct.html
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/iproduct.html

    The SEO factor and wpthemes is really a non-issue. That's what plugins are for :)
  • Excellent examples. Yes, that's exactly the style I'm testing more and more these days.
  • Sylvie is having fun today. ;) She did a "follow-up" video to the one above...

    http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=2009092814014...
  • I like the Re-Design and I Love ... The Video Clip ... Sylvie, Made for you .. Different and well done ... She could do that for a living among her other talents ...
    Phil, B.
  • Hi Michel,

    Thanks a lot for sharing this article.

    I don't suppose I could talk you into disclosing what theme you used for the new Success Chef site, could I?

    Best,
    Doberman Dan
  • Oops! Please disregard my previous message. I just saw CyPrice's message.

    Thanks for shaking things up again. Now I gotta learn something new. I just wanted to rest on my laurels and keep doing what I've always done! :)

    Best,
    Dan
  • It was actually a typical blog style I heavily customized and modified. So there's no specific theme like this, but yes, the themes I mentioned in my article (from Woothemes and iThemes)...

    ... And the ones Cyrell (CyPrice) mentioned are exactly the style of theme I'm testing a lot with. To clarify her comment...

    Site selling and ebook
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/ebook.html

    Site selling a digital product (eproduct)
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/eproduct.html

    Site selling a membership site/service (iproduct)
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/iproduct.html

    And a site selling multiple products (arrows/gallery/portfolio)
    http://premiumthemes.net/cms-themes/productfoli...

    The last one is the one I want to swipe some code from or model it somehow, since it is for a multi-product site, just like Success Chef (the right and left arrows at the top help to navigate between products/offers).

    But most sites are single product/offer sites, and the previous ones should work out. I will be testing some more. I'll post about it ASAP.
  • Excellent article, I need to start testing this as well.

    As for your 'buy it now pop up' (on the success chef sales page), it would be interesting to know if it increases sales.

    Franck
  • ericgaluppo
    Interesting topic and that video is great.
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