Our clients Chris and Alan of sunshine.co.uk kindly share exactly how their company overcame the worst recession the travel industry has ever faced and added almost £14m to its balance sheet in 2010. How did the company grow so fast while its competition was shrinking? In three words: conversion rate optimization.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term “conversion rate optimization” (CRO), it is the science of turning more website visitors into customers.
Q&A with Chris Clarkson, Marketing Director, and Alan Gilmour, Technical Director, from sunshine.co.uk
Q. So before we get into the behind-the-scenes questions of the project, can you paint a picture of how sunshine.co.uk approached marketing previously?
Chris: In the beginning we were selling holidays as cheaply as we possibly could. We were working on low margins and hoping for high volumes. Our original marketing approach was based on SEO and affiliate marketing.
Q. Why did you choose to work with Conversion Rate Experts?
Chris: Because of our work with SEO and affiliates we were looking for other ways to improve the website. We already had the traffic and CRO is about making better use of it—essentially more sales without more advertising costs.
Q. Were there any downsides to implementing CRO in your business? What were some of the major challenges you faced during the project?
Chris: Mostly the requirements on the development team as you get used to this new process where everything is tested. The actual changes we made and the surveys and stuff like that brought up a lot of issues. So creating content to combat these issues took time.
Alan: Every time we did a new test the results meant we would have to make changes to the site. So it’s not only the initial test that you have, you also have the results of the test that you then have to verify before you can start the next test. So as Chris said, there is quite a lot of development involved.
Q. Anything else you can think of, challenges, etc.?
Chris: Everything else we were quite up for. We were fairly committed from the start, which I think you have to be. We had other projects in line for development and they kind of got pushed aside with the time this was taking. But we got good results pretty much from the start so we knew it was a worthwhile sacrifice to make.
Q. How long was it before you saw the positive results from the project?
Chris: It was about 8 or 10 weeks after we started—that’s when we implemented the first changes based on surveying and testing.
Q. So how did things get broken down so that the project was more manageable? Where exactly did you start?
Chris: The very first thing we did was a customer survey that asked 8 or 10 questions and we got a lot of feedback from that. This helped us decide which direction we should take.
Alan: I would just say usability issues were where we spent quite a bit of time, making sure the customer could easily get from the initial search stage right through to the final booking stages. We’d find any hiccups then spend quite a lot of time getting user testing done by other users to improve the things we assumed were working but which were causing problems.
Q. What were some of the major lessons you learned along the way?
Chris: Test everything, that’s probably the main thing. Any changes are split tested to make sure they get a positive result. User testing is an extension of that and is something that gave us the biggest “face-palm” moments. You see something that seems pretty obvious to you, but when you see an actual customer using it… well, it is something everybody should do.
Q. So if you were talking to a business owner who has never conducted a usability test before, what would you say to them or what information would you pass along?
Chris: They really, really should do usability testing; it’s quite an eye-opener.
Alan: And be open to try anything and not to take anything personally because there have been a few suggestions in the past where we said, “That’s just never going to work,” and it has. So you just have to be open to anything.
Q. So what were some of the “worth their weight in gold” findings from the usability studies that you did?
Chris: This one doesn’t directly relate to conversion rates, but a high majority of contact you have with customers on a day-to-day basis is when people have issues and complaints. We did the survey and one of the first questions we asked was “How would you rate sunshine.co.uk?” A massive number of customers were giving us 10, 9, or 8, and they were the silent majority. But of course in your day-to-day dealings, you tend to speak with the small number of people who have had problems, so you forget that 96% or 99% of your customers had really good service, and it all went well for them. So that was quite an eye-opener, if you like.
Alan: We saw that and realized we needed a testimonial section on the site to share all the good feedback we had.
Q. What is the influx in revenue going to enable you to do?
Chris: We’ll be reinvesting and taking our profits and buying geo-domains to create smaller sites in particular areas. We are also going to apply the lessons we’ve learned from Conversion Rate Experts across those sites as well. One of the really good things about using them is they don’t do everything for you; they’re teaching you. So it has been a good learning experience.
Q. So I know that a lot of experiments and split tests were done during the project. Is there one that really stands out for you and what was learned?
Chris: I think one of the first ones we did was with the deals on our home page and it essentially gave you a rundown of the flight: where it was going and how many nights, price, etc. From the feedback again it was pointed out that it seemed too cheap and didn’t actually explain what was included. So we added more information. I think simply adding another sentence to the box got us a 19% conversion rate increase. That was when I realized that this is a good thing.
Q. What software and online tools did you use during the project?
Alan: The main thing that we were working with was Google Website Optimizer and that’s enabled us to do all our split testing. It’s not really affecting the site dramatically and just operates in the background so that when customers arrive at the site they’re not aware that anything is being tested in any way. And Google Website Optimizer has extensive stats so you can log in and see how many bookings you’ve received or how many users have converted. I think that’s been the basis of all our testing so far.
But we have used other software that was recommended like KISSinsights for asking the customer questions when they arrive on the page, and Kampyle, which is another one where you get feedback from the customers.
Chris: Yeah, and we used Survey Monkey quite extensively as well.
Q. One of the things that I found most interesting was how you were able to turn a negative page element into a positive without changing your business. Can you talk about how testing not having a phone number listed on your site played out?
Chris: We never really had the phone number in the first place and we just didn’t make anything of it. But through user testing from the customers we found it was an issue. Some people seemed to think it caused trust issues, so Conversion Rate Experts suggested we take a different view of it and explain why we don’t have a phone number. The testing showed a positive result. In fact, most people seemed to quite like the explanation behind it.
Alan: And on a similar topic, recently on our booking pages we added the booking phone number for anyone who has a question when they are actually in the booking process. We noticed that even without people phoning in, just having the number there seems to be increasing the conversion.
Q. So to wrap things up, would you say the project affected your business philosophy and the way you run things?
Alan: Yeah, I think so. A lot of the time when we’re thinking of new things to add to the site, the first thing we do is try to think of it from a user’s point of view and how we can make it work in a similar fashion with all the improvements we’ve had with Conversion Rate Experts. So we want to use those things and just get it right from the start rather than just putting it up and hoping we’ve got it right and worrying about it later.
Chris: Yeah, measure, always measure.
Feel free to spin through sunshine.co.uk to see how everything came together after six months of testing.
Curious for more information?
If you want even more strategies to grow your business, check out the sunshine.co.uk case study, which shows how we made an extra £14m for the company. The case study gives a complete breakdown of the experiments we ran. As an added bonus, at the end of the case study you can download several free PDFs packed with even more quick wins and pro tips you can take to the bank. As with all of our case studies, this article is subject to our Testimonial Protocol, which is described here.
All I can say is you guys are best when it comes to direct and online marketing. test test test until you get it right.
We found the issue related to not showing the phone number super interesting. The solution to explain why there is no phone number in the same location of the page where customers expect to see a phone number, in my opinion, was fantastic. Sunshine.co.uk managed to turn a point of friction into a positive statement that gave more credibility to the site.
We’ve done a lot of split testing and have found that in the end, its only really valuable when its based on customer feedback and usability testing.
A lot of CRO sites like to post % increases related to some specific tests like changing CTA color. Its natural to do this because its catchy. However, what works for one site might not work for your site. In the end, its not about what color the button has, or where an element is placed, or what specific copy you write. Its all about REDUCING FRICTION – and this varies from site to site.
Congrats to Conversion Rate Experts and to Sunshine.co.uk. The whole case study on Sunshine.co.uk is probably one of the best examples of good CRO practice we’ve seen.
All the best!
Great example of what works online and offline – ask your customers what they want, test and measure everything that you can change, focus on ROI, and there are no stupid ideas – just add them to the test schedule. I am constantly amazed at how many businesses that are otherwise run professionally and rationally, fail to use the same logic, process and discipline in their online marketing – relying instead on airy-fairy hand wavey guesswork dressed up as “marketing”, “branding” or “SEO” without any reference to ROI.
Hello. I am almost finished with my MS in Human Factors and Ergonomics. I also own and operate a web-based business. One of my areas of study is usability testing. It is so great to hear non-human factors folks talking about usability testing. Business are often reluctant to do it in the beginning bc it takes time, thought, and forces you to be open. As a business owner, I know how hard it can be to let go of an idea or plan and go with what the users say. I can deflate the ego, but it a very, very good thing professionally and personally to be open. Thanks guys!
Another sensational case study! Thanks guys
Hi there. I just like to agree that CRO or website optimization might be the big savior for usability-testing – or rather, be the thing that really kicks it over the top. Its been around for decades, but now the strong incentive (the user buying something) has been strengthened by a general understanding of usage as the real creator of value. Finally.
Very interesting read.
Quick question: What do you use as your conversion page?
eg. the deals on your home page – did you measure conversions as clicking through to the next page of the purchase funnel or when they reached the purchase confirmation page?
@Jared
Conversion was measured on sales, once the customer hit the confirmation page. The home page deals test showed an increase on our previous conversion rate of 19%.
Great insight – the point about the phone number I found very interesting as this is something we’ve deliberated over in the past.
Great interview, very inspiring!
Wow- what a great read, It’s good to see some people profiting out of the doom and gloom of the current economy, and this all shows that Testing and Measuring is so important to your business.