No. 94: Hey all,
Welcome to this week’s Commerce Lab newsletter.
Each Wednesday, you get actionable insights to boost conversions and site revenue based on our experiments on 8-and 9-figure brands.
It’s wild how fast 2024 is flying. Setting the clocks forward for daylight savings on Sunday was a bit of a buzzkill… but at least we’ll get more sun.
Today I want to walk through an often overlooked concept: the delicate balance between aesthetics and trust signals in design.
Everyone wants a pleasing design because a strong brand makes you stand out and drives the sale.
But it only gets you so far. Branding without trust is like a clock without gears – beautiful, but non-functional.
Your design may attract customers, but it won’t retain them.
Unfortunately, most brands spend months (or years) creating a luxury design to find out that it’s not converting as well as it should. But you can avoid that.
Here’s how.
In this 1-min read, you’ll learn:
- Win of the week: How to balance aesthetic appeal with trust and security signals.
- What else we’re reading: 3 forces that make it hard to acquire customers and how to narrow your focus for greater profits.
- News: How to stay competitive while inflation reshapes customer expectations.
Okay, let’s dive in.
– Allen
👉 Did someone forward you this newsletter? Head over here to subscribe and read past issues.
WIN OF THE WEEK
Balance luxury aesthetics with trust signals to boost conversions.
People buy with emotion and justify with logic.
Your luxury design catches their attention. But your proof silences their objections.
How do you blend and balance both to strengthen your credibility?
Below are three real (and simple) ways to do this.
#1 – Sitewide banner review stars
Notification bars only take up 5% of a page, but most don’t use them properly.
If you already have a beautiful, luxury design, the last thing you want to do is distract from it.
Instead, complement it. Sticky notification bars are the first thing visitors see. Use them wisely.
For an 8-figure jewelry brand, we used their best social proof (40k 5-star reviews) in a sitewide banner.
It added $500k in new revenue:
It’s barely there – but impacts every page and links to best-sellers right away.
#2 – Social proof next to a CTA like ‘Add-To-Cart’
Fact: you won’t sell anything if your product page doesn’t build trust.
One way to do this? Create a sense of urgency with real social data.
For a high-end electronics brand, we included a line of text before the ATC button showing how many visitors viewed their best-selling product.
This visitor data, “4,958 people are shopping this week” increased conversions by 42%.
Nobody likes missing out on what’s popular. Prove popularity and reduce perceived risk.
Or, in the same place, add a short customer review to share a transformation story.
For a CPG brand, conversions boosted by 5% with a review above the ATC button:
Small testimonials are anything but: they’re real, they’re believable, and they align with what the buyer actually wants.
Placing these security signals in the buy box balances out a great design.
#3 – Promotional message in icon lineup
Your customer will have questions about your product, process, and the perceived risk of a purchase.
Anticipate and address these 3 Ps and you’ll be more likely to convert first-time buyers.
Shipping, returns, warranties—anything that relates to the way you are going to deliver your product should be noted. Do this with design-friendly icons.
We saw a 39% lift in conversions for a niche brand that sells custom products when we replaced a value proposition icon on the Collections page with ‘FREE SHIPPING’.
Save your product attributes for the actual product page. Mention your process benefits to drive the sale, and do so without an unnecessary block of text.
Trust, clarity, and reliability should go hand-in-hand with aesthetics.
You CAN have both and turn prospects into happy customers.
Steps to Implement Today
Does your luxury design lack trust signals?
Use these test wins for yourself and enjoy better conversions.
Good luck!
📣 WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING
These 3 forces make it hard to acquire customers.
Narrow your focus for greater profits.
How to stay competitive while inflation reshapes customer expectations.
👀 LAST WEEK'S LETTER
This will kill conversions on your product page.
💡 TWEET OF THE WEEK
👊 STOUT SUCCESS
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“Very helpful. Allen was detail-oriented in the audit that he provided for us - showcasing areas of opportunity on our website specifically for mobile, checkout, etc. Really appreciate the time that Blue Stout took to walk us through the audit a few times with multiple members of our team. It was a very thorough and data-driven audit that provided us with good insight and valuable info.”
Melanie Bedwell, OliPop
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That's all for today!
If you enjoyed this, please consider forwarding it to a friend, founder, or fellow marketer.
And if you have any comments/questions, I'd love to hear them.
Until next time.
— Allen
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