Simplifying User Experience To Drive Higher Conversions

Every visitor arrives on your site with one of exactly two goals, but most sites serve neither. After 16+ years optimizing websites for companies like Adobe, Nike, and Xerox, I've seen the same pattern everywhere. Visitors come to research or convert. That's it. They either want to understand if your product solves their problem, or they're ready to buy and want the process to be effortless. Yet most enterprise websites try to serve dozens of vague objectives: ↳ Brand storytelling ↳ Company history ↳ Mission statements ↳ Blog content ↳ Resource libraries ↳ Partnership announcements ...all while the visitor just wants to know if you sell what they need and how much it costs. The companies that win focus ruthlessly on those two paths. Make research effortless: clear value propositions, detailed specifications, honest comparisons. Make purchasing effortless: streamlined checkout, visible pricing, trust signals. Everything else is friction. I've watched conversion rates quickly grow when companies eliminate features that don't directly support research or purchase goals. The paradox is simple: when you try to serve every possible visitor intention, you serve none of them well. Your website visitors aren't confused about what they want. You're confused about what they want. Pick these two goals. Optimize for those. Watch conversions climb.

When I was head of growth, our team reached 40% activation rates, and onboarded hundreds of thousands of new users. Without knowing it, we discovered a framework. Here are the 6 steps we followed. 1. Define value: Successful onboarding is typically judged by new user activation rates. But what is activation? The moment users receive value. Reaching it should lead to higher retention & conversion to paid plans. First define it. Then get new users there. 2. Deliver value, quickly Revisit your flow and make sure it gets users to the activation moment fast. Remove unnecessary steps, complexity, and distractions along the way. Not sure how to start? Try reducing time (or steps) to activate by 50%. 3. Motivate users to action: Don't settle for simple. Look for sticking points in the user experience you can solve with microcopy, empty states, tours, email flows, etc. Then remind users what to do next with on-demand checklists, progress bars, & milestone celebrations. 4. Customize the experience: Ditch the one-size fits all approach. Learn about your different use cases. Then, create different product "recipes" to help users achieve their specific goals. 5. Start in the middle: Solve for the biggest user pain points stopping users from starting. Lean on customizable templates and pre-made playbooks to help people go 0-1 faster. 6. Build momentum pre-signup: Create ways for website visitors to start interacting with the product - and building momentum, before they fill out any forms. This means that you'll deliver value sooner, and to more people. Keep it simple. Learn what's valuable to users. Then deliver value on their terms.

373 B2B users voted. Nearly 1 in 3 said THIS is what makes them bounce (after no pricing): No real product pictures or product demos. I was surprised because the other options were: - Buzzwords  - Gated content They can tolerate those 2 sins if they can just SEE the product. Here are some comments from the poll: "That moment you visit the product page and see everything else but the product..." "Real pics (even better videos) and demos! I want to see how it works before I even consider engaging in a conversation." "and then you submit a 12 page form to book a demo, only for the call to be an SDR doing discovery who also won't be showing you the product 🙅🏻♀️ " “If I can’t see your product, I’m not sticking around.” And yet… most landing pages still rely on: – Cropped screenshots that hide functionality – Vague UI mockups that don’t mean anything – Or worse: stock imagery that 12 other sites use Some fixes aren't complicated. Some solutions are just as simple as: Show the buyer what you're selling. If you want to take it to the next level...let them interact with the product beforehand. It's like when Amazon launched the Try Before You Buy option for clothing. The B2B version is interactive demos. Now as the consumption queen, I'm all about anything that will make people engage but we also need data to convince the higher powers. I asked Storylane to send them to me and lookie: - Website conversion rates improve by 7.9x - Deal conversion rates go up by 3.2x - Sales cycles reduce from 33 to 27 days *based on 110k web sessions and 150 deals. VERY intriguing. Qualitatively, I asked a client of mine who uses interactive demos on her website (through Storylane) about her experience and she said this: "The rationale behind it is so that people get to the 'aha, magic moment' quicker than signing up for a demo. Right now I think about it in terms of delivering a good user experience on our site" So now the next steps for my own work: - Add it to landing pages  - Marry that with search intent  - Watch that consumption magic happen I'll share more first-hand data soon. Do you use interactive demos? What have you seen?

Your users aren't dumb - your UX is fighting their brain's natural instincts. Ever wonder why that "perfectly designed" feature gets ignored? Or why users keep making the same "mistakes" over and over? Listen founder, you're probably making these costly cognitive bias mistakes in your UX: Avoid: • Assuming users remember where everything is (they don't - it's called the Serial Position Effect) • Cramming too many choices on one screen (Analysis Paralysis is killing your conversions) • Making users think too hard about next steps (Mental fatigue is real) • Hiding important info "just three clicks away" (Out of sight = doesn't exist) Instead, here's how to work WITH your users' brains: 1. Put your most important actions at the beginning or end of lists (users remember these best) 2. Limit options to 3-5 choices per screen (users actually buy more when they have fewer choices) 3. Use visual hierarchies that match real-world patterns (we process familiar patterns 60% faster) 4. Keep important actions visible and consistent across all pages (our brains love predictability) Great UX isn't about being clever. It's about being obvious. Your users' brains are lazy - and that's okay. Design for how they actually think, not how you wish they would think. --- PS: What's the most counterintuitive UX decision that actually improved your conversions? Follow me, John Balboa. I swear I'm friendly and I won't detach your components.

People overcomplicate growth strategy. Listen, if you're below $1,000,000 a year: Avoid: - Testing 10 new ads per week - Tweaking sales script every call - Changing your landing page monthly Instead: - Clearly map your customer journey - Start collecting data on every step - Research industry 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 - Spot your biggest bottleneck - Fix it, then do a new one Focus on this until you get big enough so you have specific teams and departments. Here's how you can do it: 𝟭/ 𝗠𝗮𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 ↳ List all major steps people take from their first interaction with your business. 💡 Pro tip: Add steps after the sale, like activation, retention, referrals, etc. 𝟮/ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 ↳ Gather all metrics in a simple Google Sheet this will help you understand what's up. 💡 Pro tip: alongside conversion rates, track the time it takes to pass each stage. 𝟯/ 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀 ↳ Ask chat GPT, talk to people, spy on competitors, read industry reports, listen to podcasts... Find the data! You need to know what's considered a good CTR, good contact rate, good close rate in your space, for businesses of similar size and services. 𝟰/ 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸 ↳ Compare the success of your user journey with industry 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝘀. Find the most lagging. 💁♂️ Example: Your contact rate is 40%, the industry average is 60% while your close rate is 10%, the industry average is 30%. Your contact rate is 1.5 times smaller than 'average.' Your close rate is 3 times smaller than the 'average.' Rank all your bottlenecks like that and work on what sucks the most. 💡 Pro tip: sometimes your close rate is bad because you don't qualify prospects enough. Keep in mind that each stage affects the next one. 𝟱/ 𝗙𝗶𝘅 𝗶𝘁, 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 ↳ Now, when you lined up your bottlenecks, analyzed probable causes, and picked one to fix. Dive into tactics if you don't know how to do it. 💁♂️ Example: You figured that your close rate sucks, so this is your target to solve. Why tho? • Google how to increase close rate • Read a chapter from a book • Watch a YouTube video 1. Close the knowledge gap. 2. Come up with the hypothesis. 3. Implement the change and watch. Worked? — Great. ↳ Move to the next problem to solve. Didn't? — Great. ↳ Lesson learned. Try another way. This is about as complex as it should be before $1M. Good luck! P.S. Do you use benchmarks in your strategy? ♻️ Repost if this was helpful. ➕ Follow Lian for more like this.

In my work with B2Bs, I've noticed 4 key areas that often make or break website conversion rates. It's not always the traffic. Most of the time, it's your UX. Let's break it down 1) Navigation -The silent conversion killer -Most look like subway maps -Yours should be a GPS to solving your buyer's problems. -Ask yourself: Does your nav prioritize the buyers' journey 2) Home Page Above the fold, answer: -What do you do? -What's in it for me? -How do I take the next step? 3) Landing Pages Be crystal clear: -What happens when I submit? -Does it align with my goals? -Is this a no-brainer value exchange? 4) Overall Messaging -Is the buyer the hero, or you? -Are you the guide with a plan? -Show don't tell your expertise Fix these, and you'll squeeze more conversions from your existing traffic. No new spend required. Just clarity. Agree? Disagree? What's your take?

Imagine walking into a store and getting hit with 9 questions before you see anything… That’s what most ecommerce sites feel like today... You land on a homepage and immediately get: - A popup  - A cookies notice  - A sale banner  - A floating chat with us! bubble  - A take our quiz prompt  - A get 10% off squeeze All before you’ve even scrolled. That’s like a retail employee hitting you with 9 questions before you walk 3 feet. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗵𝗮𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. We don’t talk enough about how 𝗨𝗫 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. When a customer’s already had a long day, their brain isn’t craving more decisions... it’s craving clarity. So simplify your landing experience: → Kill the popups (or delay them) → Show one clear CTA → Limit top nav to 3-5 items → Don’t stack 3 promos at once → Start with ONE hero action and build from there Fewer choices = faster action.

I audited 20 high-traffic websites on Heatmap.com 🔥 and 75% of them got the same thing wrong. Their above-the-fold section. Some stats: - 7% of your customers on average make it to the bottom of your landing page. - Your customers are also on your site - no matter how many pages deep <1 minute. So focus your energy here if you really want to make an impact on your conversion numbers. Why? 100% of your traffic sees this section of your site. NO OTHER PART OF YOUR SITE CAN GUARANTEE YOU THIS. The problem? Most of the important information is past your above the fold and you are losing mindshare with those original customers with every inch they scroll down your landing experience. How to fix it? - Compress your images -> too many brands have massive images that have lots of negative space in their hero image - Design for mobile -> most designers look at their designs on desktop only and the experience for the consumer isn’t great once it optimizes for mobile. - Add Social Proof to your hero image in the form of a badge or a small quote. - Ensure you have a CTA that’s visible so your prospective customer can take action. Goal: this section can drive purchase conversion velocity. What else have you done to fix your above the fold?