How to Learn Why Visitors Aren't Converting. Part 1, fivesecondtest.com

Visitors to our websites "convert" when they become something else. They convert from lookers into customers. They convert from tire-kickers into leads. Website owners love to see conversions and seek to increase the rate at which those visitors convert.

So how do we do it? How do we learn where visitors are having trouble or hating our sites, and fix our sites accordingly? This is part 1 of a series on free (and almost free) tools that will help you learn why visitors aren't converting.

Our first tool is fivesecondtest.com. Usability experts often say that visitors will spend five seconds (or maybe less) with a new website before deciding to stay or leave. Because the visitor perceives that his time is so valuable, your site's landing pages (including, but not limited to, your home page) have to say "hello" very well. The visitor needs to know that she is in the right place immediately.

On fivesecondtest.com, you can post a screen shot of your landing page. Visitors who go to that testing site get five seconds to perform a test. Currently, fivesecondtest.com offers two kinds of tests:

1. Memory test. The visitor gets five seconds and then has to type what he can remember.
2. Click test. The visitor gets five seconds to click on areas of interest, and then must describe them.

You get a limited number of free responses. If you pay a small amount of money ($5 to $15), you get more responses and greater ability to customize your test.

The downside is that the people who respond will not necessarily be in your target demographic, so if your business is a very, very specialized one, this tool may not help you. On the other hand, it costs no money and almost no time. It is a wonderful way to start getting feedback on your site.

Here we see a screen shot from a company that makes reusable insulation for steam rooms. Look at the screen shot for five seconds.

Click here to see screen shot

Then see what individuals, after five seconds, were able to remember about the site:

Click here to see results

Even if you are not an industrial type, read the screenshot of the webpage well -- now that you have more than five seconds -- to understand what the company does, and see if you would have been able to write up different answers from the five second testers.

My company has found fivesecondtest.com to be a valuable and inexpensive way to get website evaluations to the customer while taking ourselves out of the feedback loop. We've also used it to choose alternative designs.

How could you use this tool to understand what visitors see on your webpage at first glance? You could get impressions from the users at the test site. Then take their feedback to redesign your page so your visitors can instantly tell what your site is about. Why don't you give fivesecondtest.com a try right now?

Robbin Steif is CEO of LunaMetrics, LLC. Her company is a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant and a Google Website Optimizer Authorized Consultant. She will be teaching a Google Analytics Seminar for Success in NYC on June 8-10. For more information, www.lunametrics.com/google-analytics-training