10 ms·
Ideas on how to improve customer conversion and ease of use
- eddieroger 13y agoIt's funny how these trends change. Once upon a time, a one column layout would have been boring, and we all ran to frames to give us columns. I guess I'm just old-timer enough now to start seeing the changes.
- eksith 13y agoMultiple columns still make sense for certain types of content. There's a reason news papers still use them centuries later. Single column only works on a single page/article/concept being shared. Beyond that, it gets a bit silly to get from point a to b, but there are times when multiple columns still work. Maybe when I'm done with reading, I like to check out related links on the side. I'd rather not scroll all the way to the bottom to do that. Or if I run an ad, I want to make sure the placement (though still outside the main body of the article to not be distracting) is still at prime real-estate. Do X for a better Y is always tricky business. It's sometimes not as simple as one column.
- kipple 13y agoFunny to think about. Like in the 80s/90s when digital graphic design got big and everything was stuffed full of heavy textures and raucous splashes of colors. Then we got a grip and started scaling back to minimal. Same thing happening with web design? Probably indicative of a larger trend too, as the web continues to intrude into all walks of life, we'll see a scaling back on all sorts of levels. Things like the Slow Web movement emerging (whatever happened to them?)
- pbhjpbhj 13y agoThat's probably why it says "try" one column. Boring is good in some contexts. In this case conversion rate optimisation. No distractions allowing you to focus on the call to action.
- k__ 13y ago2, 4, 7, 9 and 12 have nothing to do with UI. They are just marketing methods...
- acoyfellow 13y agoThis is a fair point, but marketing and a good UI have many things in common. The UI is how you interact with a product, and the marketing is how you communicate with your ideal viewer. Those numbers are marketing methods, that use the UI as a medium for communication. Without the UI, this marketing method would be useless and have no value. edit: I think that the blending of the marketing mind with the designer/developer mind is actually yielding awesome results. The author of the site has really come into a groove when combining successful marketing methods with bleeding edge UI techniques. This is a valuable idea and I'm excited to see if the author can keep producing this level of content.
- k__ 13y agoRight but the UI tips can be used in many applications, the marketing tips just apply to specific cases, like when talking to a potential customer.
- ape4 13y agoSeems alot like advertising instead of real nice UI. Recommending instead of showing equal choices is pretty bogus - how do they know me?
- macspoofing 13y ago>how to they know me? They know you're human. More than that, odds are you are an average human.
- acoyfellow 13y agoIt's not saying use some kind of development trick to ID your user. I believe the purpose of this tip is to make a stronger emotional connection with the users. By using a recommendation as opposed to just a list of choices, that lends itself to a more "personalized experience" -- even if that list is exactly the same
- aw3c2 13y agoBut how is that not psychological trickery?
- acoyfellow 13y agoBecause it's not intended to deceive. It's intended to provide additional value to the user.
- PavlovsCat 13y agothe purpose of this tip is to make a stronger emotional connection with the users Actually, the idea is to "make them" make an emotional connection with product. This is as nice as the Japanese using robot pets to keep the elderly company. This is not an emotional connection, this is playing tricks on fools to sell them shit they don't need. Whatever happened to the idea that maybe, just maybe, some people land on your page for whatever reasons, and not because they have any use for what you're selling? That you're not entitled to every single last one of them? If they see 5 products, and don't really want any of them, what's the problem with that? Why nudge and prod and leer ever which way?
- oinksoft 13y agoMeanwhile a distracting footer covers >25% of the page, and clicking the intuitive "down arrow"-looking thing does nothing, nor is there an obvious close button. You close it with that über-readable burnt-orange-on-charcoal link "Ok, enough already. Hide the footer." Either they assume the user scans for "Ok," when wanting to close something, or that they skim sentences from the inside-out. If you do close it and click it again, which usually means "reopen", you instead get scrolled down to the bottom of the page. Do you trust any advice they have about user interfaces?
- comatose_kid 13y agoDon't be so hard - I think their page looks really nice and the suggestions make sense. I'll be using them when we update our landing page.
- bgnm2000 13y agoTotally agree with this, although they didn't invent the tips they're giving out, so there is still some value to the content.
- Fpckalk 13y agoI can certainly see some valid points. It's a bit unfair to judge fair points on the (poor) design choices the website made.
- oinksoft 13y agoIf your domain name is goodui.org and you lead with "A Good User Interface ... is easy to use." you'd better be damned serious about user interfaces. That's my take.
- acoyfellow 13y agoYou are really harping on the footer.. I don't think that because you have 1 simple disagreement in his UI makes him "not dammed serious about user interfaces". The guy makes his life with UI.
- Jare 13y agoGood advice (heavier on presentation and marketing than true UI), but that footer bar is godawful and terribly intrusive IMHO.
- gamegoblin 13y agoAgreed on the footer. All I did was look for a way to close it. In general, I hate any part of a page that scrolls with me unless it is a tiny tiny header or tiny tiny sidebar. Also, it may just be my machine, but it seems like a lot of these characters need some antialiasing.
- ddebernardy 13y agoHis blog isn't much better: It blatantly ignores several of his own tips.
- workbench 13y agoMore marketing than UI
- kailuowang 13y agoAwesome page, it itself can be deemed as a good example of good UI design as I can learn the majority of the lessons by quickly scroll down and read just just the titles and pictures.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoTestimonials are one of the things that make me skip things right away. I would explain why, but I'm afraid that would at best be used to find ways to circumvent that, and deprive me of one of the litmus tests for mediocrity and needyness. Speaking of needy: Calls to action I accept from activists, but that's it. Just describe the service or product, name the price, instead of treating me like a moron who needs to pulled along the funnel. Keep your gifts, too. Well, all of that depends on your target audience I guess - I surely am not in it, phew.
- nhebb 13y agoIt's a list of things to try out in order to improve conversions. Individual items on the list may not appeal to you (or me, either), but that misses the point of the article.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoMy point is that this only works on people who should be educated to the point that it no longer works on them. Fuck "increasing conversions".
- Argorak 13y agoThis is a very cultural thing. In germany, no one uses testimonials, they are often seen as either fake or bragging and a sign that you don't want to talk about your product.
- PavlovsCat 13y agoIt's like "fake word of mouth".
- pbreit 13y agoBased on much experienced I can confidently say that testimonials are one of the most powerful promotional devices you can use. Perhaps the ones you are seeing have not been done properly. Even just displaying logos of some marquee customers is extremely powerful.
- 13y ago
- boothead 13y agoThis is a great list of resources! I'd be very interested to see how well it converted, as it would seem that the main idea is to get people to sign up to Jakub's email list (which I have done on the strength of the material). Jakub, would you be willing to share your conversion numbers from the influx of HN traffic based on this page? Maybe send it out in the newsletter I just signed up for :-) edit why the downvote?
- amac 13y agoI'm one of those who has signed up. I guess I'm probably one of the many developers who are also really bad at copy out there also. (As you can see at usehuman.com)
- wavefunction 13y agoI checked out your site. One quick suggestion is your list under "Reasons Companies Choose Prospect For Hiring" If you're going to break up a list into two columns, the numbered items should travel vertically before continuing in the second column, it's the natural reading style for people in the West. ie. (*edit HN is collapsing what should be vertical numbers on separate lines into one line) 1 2 3 (column 2) 4 5 6
- kcbanner 13y agoHeh, "Try Giving a Gift instead of closing a sale right away". I start to read this sentence and a giant email signup footer pops up, covering it.
- ThomPete 13y agoThe advice is the gift
- adamlj 13y agoI would say that this has more to do with making a good Landing Page than User Interfaces in general. All good and solid advices thou.
- revskill 13y agoOne interesting thing here: The less balanced design structure is, the more focus the reader gets to read all content. :)
- speeder 13y agoI loved this site, it has a so fucking huge footer that irritated me as I could not even see the images completely that I closed the tab in rage.
- RyanMcGreal 13y agoAs I scrolled down, reading each point, I began to notice something happening to the number of each item in the periphery of my vision. It took until point 5 before I figured out what it was: the circle around the number is dark grey until it gets to around the top quarter of the screen (on my screen, at least) at which point it becomes light grey. I'm still trying to decide if this is a good idea. Now that I have inferred it is functioning as a kind of visited-link visual effect, I can leave the page, return later, and quickly pick up where I left off. Then again, none of the points are long to read. Worse, I've left the page after finishing reading point 7 and have no real interest in returning now, let alone after enough time has passed that I've forgotten where I left off (in which case I would likely also have forgotten what I had already read). In other words, I'm inclined to think that this is mainly a needless visual distraction that actually disrupted me from reading the piece and has ever-so-slightly nudged me toward the decision not to bother returning to it. That would seem to fall under the category of Bad UI.
- ctdonath 13y agoThe concept of "Good UI" covers way more than "a few quick pointers for selling a product". Kinda like going to a page called "goodcuisine.com" and finding it's a dozen suggestions about cooking and topping hamburgers, with half the points dwelling mostly on arranging utensils, and a big persistent chunk of the page devoted to disposable plates. Great domain name, squandered.
- ebbv 13y agoSome of these are good ideas others are pure opinion and don't necessarily make sense in all contexts.
- wikwocket 13y agoBut all may be worth testing to see how they perform with your particular market/audience. The whole idea of A/B testing is to not rely on intuition or tradition, but on tested approaches.
- sethbannon 13y agoI like this, but what is the point of the "Looks like you have 16 unread ideas" part? A user is only going to see that when I first land on the page, and hence it's always going to read 16. When is a user ever going to scroll back up to the top to check the count after having scrolled part way down the page?
- cloverich 13y agoIts meant to be a list of ideas thats occasionally updated (hence the mailing list). If you go back to the page, it will instantly tell you if its been updated or not (assuming you kept the cookie).
- 3amOpsGuy 13y agoUndo's, yes! Power users aren't tripped up with an annoying confirmation. Novice users can revert. This seems a much better paradigm. Are there any cases where this doesn't make for good UX?
- nwh 13y agoLots of actions are destructive and can't work with an "undo" quite so well as in that example. I would prefer to see a confirm diglogue for deleting an account, changing a password, that sort of thing. I would tend to avoid it anyway, as an undo button isn't something users are going to be looking out for in a web context.
- gbl08ma 13y agoNot to mention, that for many of these destructive actions adding a undo function often incurs in higher storage costs. For example, in the case of deleting information, the easiest way to provide an undo function is to never really delete anything and just flag as deleted (something that doesn't free up storage, and if implemented without the users' knowledge, is abusive in terms of data privacy and ownership). As for users not expecting the existence of an undo button in a web context, well, Gmail for instance has an "undo" link for lots of actions (archiving, moving to trash, etc.). I'm sure other web services provide similar things too.
- fixedd 13y agoJust clean it up later... flag as "delete in 1 day" or something.
- woah 13y agoWhat about this- clicking "delete account" loads a screen where the account is removed from the frontend, along with an undo button. When the user leaves the page, the account is really deleted. Can you see any problems with this?
- 3amOpsGuy 13y ago
- giulianob 13y agoAny empirical evidence to show any of these things are actually good? Some "seem" to be common sense (e.g. less form fields to lower sign up friction) but a lot of the other things appear to be what one UX designer thinks it's a good idea rather than anything that might actually help you.
- borlak 13y agoYour target audience is going to heavily influence most of these. At a previous company our target audience was older women. We A-B tested every single element on our landing page, and I can tell you, using the advice on this site would be a complete disaster.
- hkyeti 13y agoAny examples? Would be interesting for many of us here
- borlak 13y agoI can give some examples but my point was basically you have to test for your specific desired user base, and these kinds of posts don't really mean much. Some things that we did: autoplaying videos. enormous graphics and big text. lots of "as seen on !". landing page was probably 6000-7000 pixels high and the form was near the bottom.
- kareemm 13y agoIt seems like these are more ideas to try than hard and fast recommendations. Think of it as 16 ideas to try that may improve conversion, rather than 16 things to do that will improve conversion.
- bencollier49 13y agoWhen the enormous advertisement appeared, I laughed, and assumed that the page was making a point about bad UI.
- seivan 13y agoAnother list of subjective suggestions. Meanwhile rendering it took a while.
- cldr 13y agoW.r.t idea 15, I don't see how numbering things suggests continuity. The one on the left looks just as false-bottomy as the righthand one to me. Unless you have something sticking halfway on the page, or an arrow that points down or something, numbering doesn't solve this.
- jezclaremurugan 13y ago> Try Fewer Form Fields instead of asking for too many. Asks for Full Name to subscribe.
- gvkv 13y agoThe suggestions themselves are decent but I have a hard time taking UI recommendations from someone who insists on using low contrast text: http://www.linowski.ca/ http://www.linowski.ca/. I can barely read his copy. Why and how anyone thinks that usability isn't made worse by using medium grey on white or light grey backgrounds is baffling to me. It's been a while but the next time I hire a design firm, my first test will be to see if they use low contrast text. EDIT: I just found this http://contrastrebellion.com/ http://contrastrebellion.com/.
- wavefunction 13y agoThere are a few good ideas in here, but a lot of questionable ones. For example: Turn your content into marked lists rather than have a gap? The list format is only really useful for indicating additional content if you're providing some sort of marking like 1/16, 2/16, etc. to indicate position relative to "the end." The whole thing about the visual gap is just as true with the gap between list items and other content formats.
- gojomo 13y agoMaybe people habitually search for a stronger end-of-list indicator, once a list starts, \ like a larger gap or return to un-numbered wider-columned text... so simply using a list helps immunize against short breaks causing problems. Also, perhaps you could decorate the bullets/numbers in some sort of boundary-escaping way that always helps hint there's a next item. (For example, using a diamond background where the top point always reaches to be alongside the previous item's body text.) Of course, these theories/ideas would need testing.
- wavefunction 13y agoThose are interesting suggestions. Cheers
- keithpeter 13y agoI found this an interesting read (I happen to use noscript and so saw a long scrolling page with no jumping footer). However, as the 'call to action' at the bottom of the page suggests more content to come, I have to wonder if the address of this page (http://goodui.org/ http://goodui.org/) will remain the same or if the new content will replace this content. There appears to be no easily discoverable 'permalink'. Is this a noscript artefact?
- bwy 13y agoAgree that the footer is annoying. The page also seems to break #15.
- jalfresi 13y agoI personally reject the notion that "...A Good User Interface has high conversion rates and is easy to use". I don't agree that it is a requirement that a good UI has high conversion rates. In fact I would argue that software can have a good UI and poor conversion rates. A good UI is responsible to the user only; it's not called a USER interface for nothing.
- Noxchi 13y agoIf a user experience designer designed a club, there would be plenty of space, bright lighting, comfortable furniture, the bathrooms would be clean, plenty of bartenders and the menu would be in 18 point sans serif font. Meanwhile, everyone would be at club Coyote Ugly pouring beer on each other.
- woah 13y agoGame designers for clubs, UX designers for the DMV :)
- ivankirigin 13y agoDear HN, just because someone makes a blog post about good UI elements, doesn't mean you need to shit on details big or small about the specific site (e.g. the big footer). For most people, this is a great way to understand the possibilities for different UIs to test. Instead of just copying others, you can think more abstractly about the UI ideas.
- pc86 13y agoIt's not just people's desire to shit on something in order to feel superior (although that's likely quite a bit of it). It's the fact that if you have a website dedicated to good user interface, and you want to be known as an authority on good user interfaces, and the site on which you intend to launch or grow this authority has a completely FUBARed user interface... I think it's fair to point that out. Orange text on dark background? Whatever, it's perfectly readable unless you have poor eyesight. Footer taking up a full third of the page with no quickly discernable way to close it? Definite problem and cause for concern regarding your purported authority on that very issue.
- ulisesrmzroche 13y agoI agree with everything you said, but would like to add that apart from having very poor contrast, which does affect readability, orange text on a dark background is also quite tacky. Halloween colors.
- dreamdu5t 13y agoUgh that condensed font is horrible!
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- SCAQTony 13y agoI was very impressed - I would have added no reversed-out type, or white type on a black background, if the text exceeds more than 12-words
- gesman 13y agoNow i have to go through all my sites and remove all funny cat videos!!!!
- asciimo 13y agoHere's a screenshot of the newsletter form occluding content in Android. https://www.dropbox.com/sc/jln36yrne8jzhbr/X_r8tldSXn https://www.dropbox.com/sc/jln36yrne8jzhbr/X_r8tldSXn Do you have to submit it to dismiss it? :)
- ulisesrmzroche 13y agoSee, this is a great find, and adds to the case against the sticky footer. It's almost a slap in the face when you come from an Android device.
- ulisesrmzroche 13y agoIf I may offer a little critique: I'm on the really-hates-the-footer camp. It's off-putting. See the thing about the footer is that you already broke rule #2, you're trying to close the sale(it's not a gift, I know you're trying to get me to sign up to your newsletter) So putting it out like that is just obnoxious, and no one likes an obnoxious salesman. You should have just put the offer at the very bottom, once I read your article and I'm liking what you're saying, when I'm half-sold, not the large black footer that cuts out 1/3 of my screen, and I'm on an old macbook air, so screen real-estate is important to me at all times. And as was noted by ascimo(sic?) in this thread, on an android device it literally blocks the content! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5996040 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5996040 The other thing is that it kinda doesn't sell you, which sucks because I'm sure you're a great dude, but you're telling me I should sign up because you're awesome, you're smarter, and you have way more fans than me. If you would have told me how it would have made my life easier, or the holy mantra (increase revenue, decrease costs) then it would have had a better shot. The other thing is the headline, then copy, then picture layout of the bullet points. This goes against how we scan things, which is picture then headline then body copy. Visual, then bold and big, then small print. When you scroll down, the first thing you see is the picture, and then I have to scan up real fast, and then read down. Watch yourself and you'll do the same thing. Also, that text is not organized in columns, so it makes it hard to read. Dividing it into two columns (like, say, a book, the epitome of the two column layout) would be so much easier to read and in turn, sell me more on what you're saying.
- woah 13y agoI agree on hating the footer, but I have no opinion on your criticism of the content, because I didn't even read it because I was straining to focus on the actual site through the tiny slot provided.
- ulisesrmzroche 13y agoThis is probably the majority opinion of people who come from smaller devices. I too had to strain to read it, but kept on. I'm 25 with good eyesight, but as you said, that tiny slot is just too much to bear.
- jwdunne 13y agoI love this guide and I love how it's presented. The ideas look easier to use and definitely look nicer. I would, however, be weary of implementing these ideas for the purposes of improving conversion because there aren't any numbers with each improvement. How does this author know for sure these ideas improve conversion? If they have been split-tested, this article provides a very good starting point of ideas for your own tests. I'm not urging against trying these ideas though, definitely not, but please do test these for yourself. There are loads of factors which may make these ideas less ideal, such as your market, your product or service, your branding; the factors are potentially unlimited. Use a good A/B testing tool and measure impact on your conversions when implementing these!
- tricolon 13y agoPrevious discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5526905 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5526905
- shyn3 13y agoHey your keyboard shortcut for N doesn't work. Infact M goes to next and P goes to previous. I think J/K are easier to use compared to N/P also.
- shyn3 13y agoSorry someone had replaced my N and M keys.
- bizodo 13y agoThe site needs a mobile friendly UI for newsletter sign up.
- dschiptsov 13y agoyeah, yeah, nice tutorial how to make a website for a new scam like MongoDB - Instead of having a decent product you have a "convincing design" (and "convincing blah-blah-blahs" from patio11). All ideas in themselves are nothing new.. Sparse is better than dense, subtle is better than direct, manipulation attempts are offensive, etc..)
- yaix 13y agoI liked the point about offering an "undo" instead of "confirm action". The rest was just basics on sales pitch UI design. And that anoying footer that covers 1/3 of my netbook screen?
- ziko 13y agoI thought these points are common sense.