Yup, that’s not a typo. 173%. And it underscores the importance of testing the copy, colours, images and layout you choose for your online efforts.
The 173% figure comes from an experiment carried out by Dustin Curtis, who played with the language that directed his website visitors to his Twitter account. He took his existing call to action: “I’m on Twitter” and played with the wording of the link, resulting in some extraordinary insights.
Dustin Curtis experiment
Through trial and error, he discovered that a move from “I’m on Twitter” to “You should follow me on Twitter here” resulted in the whopping increase in clicks. In his words:
As the forcefulness and personal identifiability of the phrase increased, the number of clicks likewise increased. “You” identifies the reader directly, “should” implies an obligation, and “follow me on twitter” is a direct command. Moving the link to a literal callout “here” provides a clear location for clicking. I tried other permutations that dulled the command, used the word “please” in place of “should” and made the whole sentence a link. None of them performed as well as the final sentence.
At the very least, the data show that users seem to have less control over their actions than they might think, and that web designers and developers have huge leeway for using language to nudge users through an experience.
Too often, we add words and images to something without a second thought about whether they are the right words and images. There’s only one way to find out, and that’s through testing. If the experiment above doesn’t convince you that it can be extremely worthwhile, then I don’t know what will.
Ask yourself: What are you trying to accomplish with your website or email campaign? Sign-ups? Click-throughs? Social media followers? Play with the variables around your particular call to action and see how a small change can score big results.
To get started, I’d highly recommend Smashing Magazine’s definitive guide to A/B Testing. It offers an excellent primer and practical advice, as well as top-notch tools, resources and examples, all in one spot. (It’s where I found this experiment.) Check out some of the other great case studies there too, like how 37 Signals increased sign-ups by 30% with a new headline or how Jason Thompson doubled the number of people contacting him by using his photo instead of a telephone icon.
