Exhibition World Issue 5 | Page 19

Insight

How to make your show website a year-round attendee growth factory

Website specialists ASP reveals how conversion rate optimisation can give you a competitive edge in the online marketplace
id you know that

D conversion rate optimisation ( CRO ) can help event organisers improve their cost per visitor and get a better return on PPC while converting more web traffic into leads , sales and registrations ?

Here is our lowdown of how you can make the most out of your event website .
What is CRO ? The purpose of CRO is to improve the likelihood of visitors taking a desired action on a webpage . This typically involves A / B testing elements like colour , wording , content and navigational elements of your website to see what gets the best results .
True colours In a recent A / B testing we carried out with Informa Tech ’ s Ai Summit , we found that if the organiser changed their CTA button from black to orange , they would get over a 25 % increase of visitors clicking through to their ticketing page . A massive uplift .
What colour is right for your show ? While high-contrast colours will pop , low-contrast analogous colours ( ones with a more subtle tonal change ) may prove more eyecatching .
The only way of really knowing is by using an event marketer ’ s secret weapon ; conversion rate optimisation ( CRO ).
Picture perfect - subliminal stimuli We often make decisions in our everyday lives because of subliminal stimuli . When it comes to events , how many times have you gone onto a show website and seen an image of a busy bustling show floor ?
But ask yourself this ; is it a good image to make someone want to go to your trade show ? For an exhibitor , the likely subliminal message they receive from this picture is big crowds = a successful show . However , for a visitor , an image of exciting show floor content is more likely to subliminally make them more eager to buy that ticket and attend .
UX appeal At ASP , our research on UX found that potential visitors make up their mind on whether they like that show or not in 2.6 seconds . Clearly first impressions count . Potential visitors and exhibitors demand an easy , efficient , and fast user experience of your event website . Therefore , good UX is a key cornerstone to converting web traffic into money on the bottom line .
Use the Gutenberg Diagram The Gutenberg Diagram is a visualisation of how Latin-alphabet readers — those of us who read from left-to-right , top-to-bottom , process information presented on a webpage .
The theory is that , on average , most of us start looking at a website page from the top left and move right and then zig down . This creates an uneven distribution of attention on certain parts of the page , meaning some areas hold more value .
Gutenberg divides the page into quadrants . Readers spend the most time looking at the top-left and bottom-right . For better conversion , we recommend putting your logo and key information in the top left of the page and then using the bottom or top right for your CTA .
Remember , if your show is based in the Middle East , your audience will mostly use the Arabic Alphabet , so the Gutenberg Diagram is reversed .
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