Hi Everyone,

 

Are there any User Experience Designers on here?

 

If so can anyone give me any tips on getting my visitors to sign up to my newsletter? Can you see anything fundamentally wrong with my design which might stop the visitor from signing up?

 

www.mothersday2012uk.co.uk

 

Cheers People

Edited December 6, 201114 yr by opensesame

first thing i notice is that the CTA button doesnt look like a button. plus the whole form area doesnt look like a form. i would work on the banner area. at the minute you have a little orange bar that says 'Sign Up for Saving Updates' and its competing with the actual CTA meaning people wont see the cta button. the rest of the site looks nice but i would rework the banner and form area as the form looks like part of the banner isnt recognisable.

first thing i notice is that the CTA button doesnt look like a button. plus the whole form area doesnt look like a form. i would work on the banner area. at the minute you have a little orange bar that says 'Sign Up for Saving Updates' and its competing with the actual CTA meaning people wont see the cta button. the rest of the site looks nice but i would rework the banner and form area as the form looks like part of the banner isnt recognisable.

 

Thanks very much, everything you just said all makes sense and ill go back to the drawing board with your advice in mind.

 

So just so I got it down, Because im using two orange buttons they are conflicting with each other, almost negativing each other out, so I need to change the colour of 'Sign Up for Saving Updates' to be darker (so it blends into the site more). I also need to make the CTA look more like a button so users know once they enter the email they need to click that rather then hitting 'return' or something.

 

Can you explain in more detail what you think is wrong with the signup form itself?

 

I do appreciate the advice as well, thank you.

"The hard fact is that they just don’t care.

 

Or more precisely, they don’t care yet. They’re interested, but they do not know enough to care. You have not given them enough of a reason to care. They are not ready to take that step."

 

 

Extract from:-

 

http://bokardo.com/archives/why-you-should-bury-your-sign-up-button/

"The hard fact is that they just don’t care.

 

Or more precisely, they don’t care yet. They’re interested, but they do not know enough to care. You have not given them enough of a reason to care. They are not ready to take that step."

 

 

Extract from:-

 

http://bokardo.com/archives/why-you-should-bury-your-sign-up-button/

 

This is not new to me and ive been thinking about solutions for your quote for a long time not only on this site but many of my sites.

 

As an example another site of mine www.ukbankholidays2012.co.uk gets 2000 visits a day, im an SEO so I sore the traffic volume and all logic such as 'what could I sell that is relevant to the traffic' went out the window and greed for just the 60,000 visits a month took over.

 

Guess the news, not 1 signup, I cant make the traffic convert because its so general you cant target the traffic with something relevant to the search.

 

Mothers Day is attempt 2.

This is not new to me and ive been thinking about solutions for your quote for a long time not only on this site but many of my sites.

 

 

I'm the same, I spend most of my time thinking about what goes on in the mind of the potential customer / sign-up / user.

 

Understanding the psyche of your target audience is an art in itself. From my experience having first come to your site I was immediately greeted with a sign-up but there was nothing to make me want to do that.

 

Having said that, I am possibly not your target market.

Edited December 6, 201114 yr by oakleaves

..there was nothing to make me want to do that.

 

Actually that's not strictly true - the info is there, but what I mean to say is it didn't do enough to convince me to sign-up and that is the art.

 

Perhaps taking the advice in the article and not having the sign-up so immediately in your face, rather you need to somehow lead them down the path that will make them sign-up. That's a better strategy imo.

Actually that's not strictly true - the info is there, but what I mean to say is it didn't do enough to convince me to sign-up and that is the art.

 

Perhaps taking the advice in the article and not having the sign-up so immediately in your face, rather you need to somehow lead them down the path that will make them sign-up. That's a better strategy imo.

 

Thanks for input, your advice also taken on board.

 

That's why I'm looking for a UX Designer to give me some tips.

 

You are definitely right though, I do need to direct the user to the signup and on the way build up reason/trust for them to signup.

 

The message that should come across clear as possible is:

 

'signup for discounts and offers on mothers day gifts which you will receive one week before mothers day'

 

If that message was not clear in 10 seconds then its back to the drawing board for me.

Edited December 6, 201114 yr by opensesame

Thanks for input, your advice also taken on board.

 

That's why I'm looking for a UX Designer to give me some tips.

 

 

No worries. I believe all good web designers need to be UX Designers to a large degree, but if you are looking for advice from someone who has that title for a job maybe you can get the attention of someone like Porkchops.

No worries. I believe all good web designers need to be UX Designers to a large degree, but if you are looking for advice from someone who has that title for a job maybe you can get the attention of someone like Porkchops.

 

I maybe wrong in saying this but I actually believe UX Designers and top of the food chain when it comes to web design. Don't get me wrong I can really appreciate good design and have respect for the creativity but I believe what's the point if the design does not aid the action you require from the user.

 

Its like having a site with no SEO, whats the point if know one sees it.

 

I'll get in contact with the dude you mentioned.

I maybe wrong in saying this but I actually believe UX Designers and top of the food chain when it comes to web design. Don't get me wrong I can really appreciate good design and have respect for the creativity but I believe what's the point if the design does not aid the action you require from the user.

 

Yeah, Porkshops Porkchops keeps telling me the same thing so it looks like a match made in heaven!

 

edit - must take mor ecare when typi ng

Edited December 6, 201114 yr by oakleaves

You have to really look for the form, make it stand out rather than blend in....Its a bit of a fine line between keeping your design looking good and drawing attention to something but as it is at the mo, I knew what I was looking for and still had to hunt a couple seconds.

 

The easiest way to get people to sign up is to give something away free..Something they want, something useful. I realize that this is what you are doing but you don't use the word FREE anywhere. If its free tell them its free.

 

I would also repeat the form somewhere near the bottom, maybe on the sidebar or something, but the first thing is really to make the form stand out a bit.

 

Ste

You have to really look for the form, make it stand out rather than blend in....Its a bit of a fine line between keeping your design looking good and drawing attention to something but as it is at the mo, I knew what I was looking for and still had to hunt a couple seconds.

 

The easiest way to get people to sign up is to give something away free..Something they want, something useful. I realize that this is what you are doing but you don't use the word FREE anywhere. If its free tell them its free.

 

I would also repeat the form somewhere near the bottom, maybe on the sidebar or something, but the first thing is really to make the form stand out a bit.

 

Ste

 

Thanks for the input Steve,

 

So you think the signup form blends into the design to much? I really need to look at the average time on site, that should indicate how much time I got to get the message across.

 

And that's a good Idea, I will repeat the signup somewhere else.

 

This has to be the hardest challenge I have ever done, it's a lot harder then even getting people to convert into sales.

No worries. I believe all good web designers need to be UX Designers to a large degree, but if you are looking for advice from someone who has that title for a job maybe you can get the attention of someone like Porkchops.

 

Can you message this dude with a link to this thread, I know it cheeky but I cant PM him as im to new. If you cant that's cool hopefully he finds the thread himself.

Don't worry, I found it!

 

I think your problem lies with a lack of visual prominence on the CTA. You have this orange thing that looks like a button right next to your CTA which is diluting the potency of your CTA. Things that aren't buttons shouldn't look like buttons. It's a good idea to have the CTA be one of the few things of that color and weight on the page. If you stare at the page it should be the first thing you notice.

 

Try removing the background of that left section that explains the CTA. If you put that text on the blue background (white, maybe?) with an arrow to draw the eye over to the CTA it might be more effective.

 

In this case I'm noticing those dark blue headers first. It's fine to have the dark blue header on the CTA section be prominent but the one beneath it just proves to be distracting.

 

Your social icons might be a little distracting. I can understand the importance of getting people to share this deal but if you get 200 more visitors to this page a day from social media it won't mean much if they aren't converting. Try decreasing their prominence or putting them in a place that doesn't distract from the CTA.

 

"Click Here" shouldn't be used in a CTA. Use something more powerful like "Sign up for FREE" or "Sign up Now"

 

I personally dislike the labels that are placeholder text inside of fields. In larger forms people can forget what field they are working on and any dissonance you cause in the conversion process can lead to a dropped visitor. I prefer putting labels above or to the left of the fields (above would be my first choice).

 

I think that should give you some stuff to think about. Keep in mind that my word is not gospel. The user is going to be the key factor in making changes so you should get this page in front of users and ask them questions to see if there are any trouble points. Or, you should A/B test changes against your current page to see if anything is more productive. It's ultimately about pleasing the user subconsciously, so even people who do this every day can't predict the behavior of some users.

 

Let us know how it goes, or if you learn something completely radically different through usability testing or A/B testing... I'm sure everyone else would like to know.

Don't worry, I found it!

 

I think your problem lies with a lack of visual prominence on the CTA. You have this orange thing that looks like a button right next to your CTA which is diluting the potency of your CTA. Things that aren't buttons shouldn't look like buttons. It's a good idea to have the CTA be one of the few things of that color and weight on the page. If you stare at the page it should be the first thing you notice.

 

Try removing the background of that left section that explains the CTA. If you put that text on the blue background (white, maybe?) with an arrow to draw the eye over to the CTA it might be more effective.

 

In this case I'm noticing those dark blue headers first. It's fine to have the dark blue header on the CTA section be prominent but the one beneath it just proves to be distracting.

 

Your social icons might be a little distracting. I can understand the importance of getting people to share this deal but if you get 200 more visitors to this page a day from social media it won't mean much if they aren't converting. Try decreasing their prominence or putting them in a place that doesn't distract from the CTA.

 

"Click Here" shouldn't be used in a CTA. Use something more powerful like "Sign up for FREE" or "Sign up Now"

 

I personally dislike the labels that are placeholder text inside of fields. In larger forms people can forget what field they are working on and any dissonance you cause in the conversion process can lead to a dropped visitor. I prefer putting labels above or to the left of the fields (above would be my first choice).

 

I think that should give you some stuff to think about. Keep in mind that my word is not gospel. The user is going to be the key factor in making changes so you should get this page in front of users and ask them questions to see if there are any trouble points. Or, you should A/B test changes against your current page to see if anything is more productive. It's ultimately about pleasing the user subconsciously, so even people who do this every day can't predict the behavior of some users.

 

Let us know how it goes, or if you learn something completely radically different through usability testing or A/B testing... I'm sure everyone else would like to know.

 

Thanks Dave for the great response. I know you say its not Gospel but a mechanic is more likely to find the problem then my nan.

 

This is what im going to do: When I get home im going to knock up a new design for the banner part and put it up as an image for you and others to see, ill take your advice along with others and integrate it into the design.

 

If it still is not right tell me and ill keep changing it till it is.

Right here goes, ive stripped the design down to its bare form and changed the colour a little,

 

image attached,

Right here goes, ive stripped the design down to its bare form and changed the colour a little,

 

image attached,

 

Ok its taken me a little time but I got the next image now, let me know what you think!

Ok its taken me a little time but I got the next image now, let me know what you think!

 

Ok this is as far as ive got with this, see attachment.

 

Can you let me know if you think its better, things you can see wrong etc.

 

Cheers

I'd say this is probably going to convert better than before. I'd ditch the top arrow, just have the arrow go to the signup form. However, if their eye does stray up there that little tail on the bubble thing will point them back down into the signup form, so that's good.

 

Get rid of the check mark and the green on the form input label... it doesn't need as much visual prominence. Oh, And left align it. When people are using a form their eye reads down the left edge.

 

I'm liking the visual design of the bulleted list section more than what you had before but I still feel that a background color similar to the background of the form (and larger) is too eye-grabbing. Maybe ditch the background altogether and make the bullet text white and larger? Something like that might help out.

 

It's definitely looking a lot more streamlined, I think removing the social icons from the top was a good move. If you are looking for a place to put the social icons, above the Discounts box in the right column of the main content section might work out well. It would still be near the CTA section, but you'd have to make sure the visual treatment of the icons doesn't distract the user.

 

That button looks a LOT better. I'd be wary about the dark blue of the form box header detracting from it's visual potency but it's definitely moving in the right direction.

 

Don't forget... Test this! If you run it in an A/B test against what you have now you can easily determine where you conversion bottleneck is. If it STILL doesn't perform well then it probably is a matter of driving the right kind of traffic to the site or finding some way to make the offers more engaging.

 

Let me know how it goes. I'm in the US so I can't really respond to forum communication from 9-5 EST because I'm at work!

I'd say this is probably going to convert better than before. I'd ditch the top arrow, just have the arrow go to the signup form. However, if their eye does stray up there that little tail on the bubble thing will point them back down into the signup form, so that's good.

 

Get rid of the check mark and the green on the form input label... it doesn't need as much visual prominence. Oh, And left align it. When people are using a form their eye reads down the left edge.

 

I'm liking the visual design of the bulleted list section more than what you had before but I still feel that a background color similar to the background of the form (and larger) is too eye-grabbing. Maybe ditch the background altogether and make the bullet text white and larger? Something like that might help out.

 

It's definitely looking a lot more streamlined, I think removing the social icons from the top was a good move. If you are looking for a place to put the social icons, above the Discounts box in the right column of the main content section might work out well. It would still be near the CTA section, but you'd have to make sure the visual treatment of the icons doesn't distract the user.

 

That button looks a LOT better. I'd be wary about the dark blue of the form box header detracting from it's visual potency but it's definitely moving in the right direction.

 

Don't forget... Test this! If you run it in an A/B test against what you have now you can easily determine where you conversion bottleneck is. If it STILL doesn't perform well then it probably is a matter of driving the right kind of traffic to the site or finding some way to make the offers more engaging.

 

Let me know how it goes. I'm in the US so I can't really respond to forum communication from 9-5 EST because I'm at work!

 

Ok ive done the next one, hopefully its looking better, but if its not then please say.

 

I will look into the split testing but I think I need to get the basics fixed first and hopefully this process is doing that.

 

I will multivariate test the text and button colours but need to get basics sorted first.

 

I have attached the next one, do you think the left side looks to plain, needs more colour?

Edited December 7, 201114 yr by opensesame

I just noticed you are using all caps just about everywhere. All caps is intimidating, imposing and pretty much connotes the exact opposite of what you should be conveying. Try playing with the typography a bit.

 

The contrast is REALLY low on the white text. Maybe darkening the background is the solution... maybe a text shadow, but something needs to change.

 

Other than that I think it would be prudent to start testing changes.