Does moving a right rail lead form up the article lift clicks?
Our blog articles placed the lead form widget in the right rail, a spot readers tend to skip. We moved it higher into the main column of the article. Over 17 days, clicks on the widget rose 47.4%.
Won Responsive 17 days Called at 90%
The hypothesis
By moving the lead form widget out of the right rail and higher in the article, we will make it easier to notice, resulting in more clicks into the lead form.
The blog drew a good share of traffic, but most of it bounced. The lead form widget sat in the right rail, which readers often ignore as ad space.
An earlier round tested updates inside the right rail. This round moved the widget into the main column, higher on the page, where readers scan first.
What we changed
The lead form widget moved from the right rail up into the article
Var A moved the lead form widget out of the right rail and placed it higher in the main column of the article, in the path readers follow as they scan the page.
- Lead form moved out of the right rail
- Placed higher in the main column
The result
Moving the lead form up lifted widget clicks 47.4%
Over 17 days, clicks on the lead form widget rose 47.4%, and the result cleared our confidence bar. The bounce rate fell from 85.1% to 82.6%, and the exit rate fell from 31.6% to 25.0%. Email signups stayed flat, with too few to compare.
What we took from it
Readers used the form once it sat in their reading path
In the right rail, the widget looked like an ad and readers passed it by. Placed in the main column, it met readers where they were already looking. Fewer readers left the page, which gave the form more chances to earn a click.
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Read the article →Conversion Rate Optimization
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