Simplicity Sells!

This is a good article I found on Sitepoint that was
written by Brendon Sinclair

I booked my wife some plane tickets online last week and it was a very frustrating experience. I would enter the date she wanted to travel, select a timeframe in which she wanted to fly, check the availability of a flight and, when the date I wanted was sold out, I’d have to hit the Back button and start all over again.

Each time, I had to input in every single bit of information again. I was so frustrated with the process after the fourth or fifth time that I was ready to leave the site and try the competition.
It was only then that I realized that I didn’t have to go back each time: my details were being saved below the fold, at the bottom of the page. But I didn’t see that the first few times I tried to use the booking service.

I’d love to know just how many people give up on that site because they become frustrated with the process, and don’t realize their details are being saved to the form. With an average air ticket sale being around $500, a 1% shift in conversion rates would add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars per month.

Testing every aspect of your business is essential. After all, you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on ineffective advertisements, or waste the opportunities that each visitor to your site presents.

Test and measure. Test and measure. Just because huge companies don’t bother to do it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t!

Brendon Sinclairtribune @ sitepoint.com