Make Them Click Where You Want Them To
Tags: create account, link emphasis test, sign in
Test idea
Emphasize the links/buttons you want visitors to click on, based on the user type (i.e. user with accounts VS user without accounts)
Test KPI
The clickthrough rate on the emphasized link/button and CTR on the non-highlighted ones.
Test details
First, you have to be able to segment your visitors based on the following:
1. visitor with account VS visitor without account
2. first time visitor VS returning visitor (with or w/o account)
3. opt-in for autlogin or not (for visitors with accounts)
Once you are able to do the above you can assign visitors to the segment they belong to, and do some customized testing (you will only display certain elements to certain segments).
It’s good to help visitors find the link they want as fast as possible., i.e. if you want visitors without an account to find the create account link very fast, one test you run is to emphasize the registration link for such visitors. So, they will see the registration link in bold (use size, position and/or color to emphasize page elements) while the users with accounts (but not logged in) will see the login link in bold (while they will see the register link in normal weight).
youtube.com is using something similar, but it’s applied in a wrong way. While I do have an account with them, they are putting more weight on the Create Account link. For account holders, they should add weight to the Sing In link instead. Or are they not capable or recognizing that I am a returning visitor, belonging to the “have an account” segment?
Youtube Wrong Link is Highlighted
In the image above, my attention is drawn to Create Account link, while I should be able to scan and fix my eyes on Sign In (since I already have an account).
As a note, keep in mind that you will be identify if a user has an account or not based on cookies and some guys are deleting their cookies. In that case you will probably put them into the “doesn’t have account” segment.
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