What Does Your Order Button Say?
August 29th, 2008 by Mike Reining Read more about Copywriting, Split Testing, Website OptimizationHave you ever wondered what impact the language on your order button could have on the conversion rate of your site?
We did and we were shocked to find out what a huge impact such a tiny change could make to the conversion rate of our site.
Well, since we believe in continuously testing just about everything, we went to one of our web sites (www.SilvaUltraMindSystem.com) and we tested two versions of our order button.
Version A:
Version B:
Which one do you think performed better for us?
The winner is:
Even more surprising, the conversion rate was a whopping 39% greater when we used “Try it Now Risk Free” in our order button vs. “Order Now”
We also tested another version:
Again, we found out that the winning version was:
This time, the “Try It Now Risk Free” button performed about 10% better.
At the end of the day, this is a great example of the power of testing. We usually use the Google Web Site Optimizer to rapidly setup our A/B and multi-variate tests.
If you take only one thing away from this blog post, then it should be:
1) Always keep learning
2) Always keep trying new things
You might be surprised at what you find out. In this case, if our Order Now button would say “Order Now” instead of “Try it Now Risk Free” it would cost us over $20,000 in lost sales per month and that is only for one site alone!
Last 5 posts by
- Do you think SEO in other languages is easier? — September 18th, 2008
- Google Slap — How to recover from a Google Slap? — September 8th, 2008
- Will Knol Rule The Search Engines? First Analysis Indicates…It Just Might — July 23rd, 2008
- Are small businesses dropping out of AdWords? — July 23rd, 2008
- How I Got on The First Page of Google With My Last 4 Blog Posts in a Row — July 23rd, 2008
About the Author
Prior to MindValley Media, Mike was the Head of New Ventures Strategy at eBay where he conceived of the strategies that led to the investment in Craigslist, the launch of Kijiji.com and the acquisition of Skype.
Mike has an MBA from Stanford and previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He is also a certified Google AdWords Professional.
Check out other posts by Mike Reining
If you want to see what's in the private lab...
Ask yourself... which part of your business would you most like to improve?
I can send you 7 tactics related to your specific needs, if you like.
You don't have to buy anything, just take it as a backstage pass into our private course.
Will it give you the solution you've been waiting for?
There's only one way to find out.
Mike Reining
Vishen Lakhiani
The use of “try” in copy is almost always work when done right… interesting observation and thanks for confirming my own set of data.
This is a technique we described as using point of action assurances on buttons. Amazon was one of the first websites to do it, and many people stopped doing it after Amazon removed it. You can read about that evolution of Amazon’s add to buy area you can at http://www.grokdotcom.com/2008/02/26/amazon-shopping-cart/ .
Thanks for reminding people how these point of action assurances can positively impact conversion rates.
Bryan Eisenberg
Best selling author of Call to Action and Always Be Testing
Hi,
All links to button images are broken.
CJ
I am constantly amazed with all the great stuff that you come up with. I know that most of the things you mention was originally “invented” by someone else but I am just glad that you keep reminding us to never stop testing.
And I agree, the picture links are broken.
Regards,
Mikael
http://www.antphilosophy.com
Hi Mike,
What would you suggest using for a form ‘Submit’ button?
Thanks,
Ameet
WOW. I have done a lot of button testing but this tip was worth your weight in gold.
Thanks
Charles Kirkland
I have tried both the “Buy Now” and “Try it Risk Free” buttons.
If I am going to offer a guarantee for a product or service (which I usually do), I do like the “Try it Risk Free” as the conversion rates are higher.