Maximizing the User Experience

Setting up Metrics

VKI Studios’ first step was to identify a conversion metric. As the sales process itself was long, and the service both complex and expensive, the page was intended simply generate leads: to coax a potential customer into contacting The Fertility Institutes. With the service being costly, and the sales team bragging a very strong conversion of submissions to patients, VKI Studios decided that a form submission, a simple button click, constituted a valuable and numerable metric.

Designing the Test

Without the opportunity for a full multivariate test, our usability staff applied a series of tests to determine what would likely perform best.

VKI performed the following tests

• A heuristic evaluation of the companies existing product page to determine whether it complied with established usability best practices.
• Interviews with the client about procedure, customers, and page intent.
• An analytics review to see what patterns of use could be determined from historic data.
• Informal user testing with two subjects.

VKI Studios established that the purchase of the service offered was rarely made lightly, instead it was a highly considered decision. The targeted customers wanted to know details about the procedure, and how the service works. However, in attempting to sate these desires the current page presented an intimidating amount of detail and scientific explanation that left the average user stranded in a sea of scientific discourse.

Thus VKI Studios set out to develop a page that more clearly stated the benefits of the service, provided a laypersons summary of how the service worked, and better coaxed the user to convert.

Test Hypotheses

VKI Studios predicted that the pages conversion rate could be improved through seven usability improvements.

1. The Removal of distractions

VKI Studios removed distractions to the intent of the page, including reducing the number of links off the page, and removing both the visitor location map and extraneous icons.

2. Affect and Impact

Big decisions require a sense of certainty and security, and nothing is a bigger decision than having a child. VKI Studios predicted that the current pages format and choice of imagery was too cold and aloof. While the baby image was good, VKI Studios decided that there needed by be imagery that enforced the concept of balanced family life. They also predicted that by testimonials from previous and current patients, expressing why they wanted to select the sex of their child and how The Fertility Institutes made it possible would have immensely positive effects.

3. Layout and Design

The previous layout was cluttered and lacked focus. VKI Studios predicted that by reworking headlines and explanations with bullet points and other visual cues to highlight the most important benefits of the procedure they could increase conversions. Also, they endorsed a classic essay style to the page, providing general introduction and summary at the top with more detailed information down below.

4. Typography

The page used too many text-faces in too many colors, with too many styles and weights, giving it a cluttered disorganized look. Also far too much text was in all caps, making it hard to read. Finally the body text was too small. VKI Studios predicted that by resolving these problems they could increase readership of the page, and thus increase conversions.

5. Communicating Benefit

Communication with the client reveled that when people sign up they receive an informational DVD and are contacted by a nurse who can answer whatever questions they may have. Yet this was never stated on the page. VKI predicted that this could greatly motivate users searching for more information to sign up.

6. Contact Form

While the contact form was quite good, VKI predicted that by using the introductory text to reduce anxiety, eliminating all unnecessary fields and adding reassuring statements next to the submit button, they could alleviate patient insecurities about the sign up process.

7. Anchors to the Contact Form

Given the immense page size VKI Studios predicted that the use of anchors—with motivating anchor-text—to lead users to the sign up form at various points through the page could increase sign ups.