Website Optimiser (beta)

Dr. Gary Berger improved conversions 225% with Google Website Optimiser

Company

For women who've had a tubal ligation to prevent pregnancy and then decided to become pregnant, there used to be few uncomplicated, inexpensive options for reversing the procedure. But reproductive surgeon Gary Berger and his staff at the Chapel Hill Tubal Reversal Center have changed that. Dr. Berger developed a low-cost, 45-minute outpatient procedure that successfully reverses tubal ligation in 98% of women. Two-thirds of Dr. Berger's patients become pregnant within a year of their reversal surgery.

Dr. Berger has performed his unique operation over 5,000 times and received more than 650 glowing testimonials for his work, all of which are posted on his site. He is passionate about capturing data and analysing it to continuously improve. "I've compiled a database with details on all 5,000 operations," he says. "It has helped me tremendously in fine-tuning my procedure."

Approach

Dr. Berger brings the same zest for data and analysis to his website, and for good reason-99% of patients come to him through the site. He suspected he might be overwhelming potential patients by providing more than 650 testimonials online, and he needed to determine which ones to bring to the fore. That's when Dr. Berger learned about Google Website Optimiser, a free multivariate testing application that had the potential to help him continually test different combinations of site content. He immediately saw how Website Optimiser could increase visitor satisfaction and conversion rates. "When I heard about Website Optimiser, I knew it was a great opportunity," recalls Dr. Berger. "I believe strongly in evidence-based medicine, so I was keenly interested in evidence-based site design."

He decided to set up Website Optimiser to test his landing page, the place where visitors find themselves when they click on a Google AdWords™ ad. The findings from the initial experiment would be applied site-wide. Working with his agency, ROI Revolution, Dr. Berger tested three different elements of his landing page, including types of testimonials, headlines, and call to action.

The original testimonial on his site featured a photo of a toddler with a ribbon in her hair. Dr. Berger and ROI Revolution decided to test two other testimonials, both highlighting a picture of a new-born. They also tested two new headlines: "With tubal reversal you can get pregnant again," and "You can get more information from the special report," alongside the original headline, "Find out if Tubal Reversal is right for you." They also tested five buttons, each with a different call to action-a change Dr. Berger anticipated would prompt little or no change to visitors' behaviour.

Result

Data from Website Optimiser immediately began flowing in. Dr. Berger found that the photos of the new-borns each performed 10% better than the photo of the toddler in prompting visitors to ask for more information. The headline "You can get pregnant again" performed 15.4% better than the other headlines. "I had a hunch that site visitors would connect with younger babies, and it proved true," says Dr. Berger. "Now all the banner photos that link to testimonials feature young babies."

There was also a radical difference in the way the call-to-action buttons performed. "Yes, I want to receive this report" received optimal visitor response-13% better than the original button, while "Please email me the special report" was 11% worse than the original. Giving the visitor a call to action containing the words, "I want to receive" garnered more conversions than the more passive phrase "Please email me."

What surprised everyone was the impact of all the potential changes put together. The best combination improved conversions by an impressive 225%, and Dr. Berger is now in the process of making the necessary changes to his site to achieve this new conversion rate long-term. "Visitors are now twice as likely to ask for more information. The ability to measure performance improvements with Website Optimiser is extremely valuable," says Dr. Berger.

When patients find the site, they are presented with extensive visuals, follow-up data and more, and Dr. Berger sees an important parallel. "I pride myself on eliminating confusion and guesswork for my patients," concludes Dr. Berger. "With Website Optimiser, Google has given me a methodology and a tool that takes the confusion and guesswork out of site design. Website Optimiser is a phenomenal tool that will guide the way I present information from now on."

About Google Website Optimiser

Google Website Optimiser offers free A/B and multivariate testing that helps you take action to convert visitors to customers. Graphical reports show which content engages your audience and results in the highest conversions. The Website Optimiser is integrated into Google AdWords, but it tests all traffic to your site - including traffic from your AdWords ads, Google search results and any other source of traffic to your site. For more information visit http://services.google.com/en_AU/websiteoptimizer.