Understanding the MECLABS Conversion Heuristic supercharges your ability to make high converting decisions.
Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the practice of increasing the percentage of conversions from visitors to customers on a website or an app.
CRO involves testing different ideas to see which one has the strongest conversion rate for customers when it comes to purchasing products, registering for services or signing up for trials (to name a few). This can be done by experimenting with landing page designs, different versions of content, web design and overall UX. Digital conversion strategists play a critical role in the design process by ensuring that the latest, evidence-backed methods are used to guide the customer to convert.
When done effectively, CRO enables you to make the most of your site traffic. You gain brand visibility, strengthen return on ad spend, boost customer loyalty, increase sales, and ensure that customers don’t fall out of the funnel.
However – CRO is not about finding a quick fix. It often requires countless iterations of seemingly insignificant changes before you land on the one that will truly impact your conversions.
So – where does MECLABS come in?
Knowing what to optimise can be overwhelming.
The MECLABS Conversion Sequence Heuristic is a framework of five factors that provides guidance on where to focus your optimisation efforts. It looks like this:
But first – forget what you know about the funnel.
The MECLABS Heuristic drives people through the conversion funnel. However, the heuristic argues against the traditional concept of people falling into your funnel, and instead suggests that they are falling out.
So, we need to invert the funnel. People then move up the funnel by saying “yes” at each point on your website that requires them to make a decision. When they say no, the customer falls out of the funnel.
At each decision point, prospects weigh the perceived value of the action they’re asked to take versus the cost. Your role is to communicate value to the customer in the most effective way so that they are inclined to act.
Let’s get into it…
Equation Element #1 – Motivation
The motivation of the user refers to the degree and type of want from the prospect, and is the most important factor in the conversion. Ask yourself:
- Where is the customer in the thought sequence?
- Where is the traffic coming from?
- What conclusions do they need to make before buying?
- What are their pain points? What do they value?
The answer to these questions will inform how you structure your offer, which needs to be clear in order to convert. Ensure that all copy on your website is in line with that offering, and your UI enables your prospect to easily engage with your product. Select imagery that reflects the desired state of the customer, so that the post purchase feeling is tangible to them.
Equation Element #2 – Value Proposition
Your value proposition is the answer to the customer question:
“If I am your ideal prospect, why should I buy from you rather than your competitors?”.
Within this, there are four elements that the customer considers which will impact your value prop.
- Appeal – how do I desire this offer?
- Exclusivity – can I get this offer elsewhere?
- Credibility – can I trust that this offer is genuine?
- Clarity – do I understand what is being offered?
By establishing your appeal and exclusivity, you define your “only-factor” – i.e., something that customers can only get from you and no one else. Once defined, you can articulate your only-factor effectively in bullet points by covering off primary, prospect and product.
Equation Element #3 – Friction
Friction gets in the way of a customer completing the conversion goal, and usually consists of two components:
- Length – refers to fatigue, irritation or aggravation caused by what the customer feels is unnecessary red tape. Alleviate this by using single sign-on (SSO), remove unnecessary form fields and ensure that “add to cart” is an option from PLP.
- Difficulty – the result of web elements that cause confusion or require a disproportionate amount of effort to complete. Alleviate this by de-cluttering the content on your website, ensuring all copy is clear and providing live form error feedback.
Equation Element #4 – Incentive
Incentives are used to offset friction. The strongest incentives are the ones with a high “Perceived Value Differential”, which is the difference between the perceived value of the incentive and its actual cost. These include:
- Time based incentives: “Offer ends in X days…”
- Discount codes
- Initial incentives: “Sign up to access your first-time discount/free offering etc”
Equation Element #5 – Anxiety
Anxiety refers to the concern that customers experience when completing the checkout process, and can prevent a customer from completing a purchase. Luckily, there are ways to correct this:
- Specificity – understand the customer’s exact source of anxiety (this could be around quality, reliability, price or security) and address it.
- Proximity – figure out where to place the corrective measures – ideally where the customer will experience them simultaneously with the source of anxiety.
- Intensity – the level of corrective measures must address the depth of the concern.
For example, if your customer is feeling anxious around trust, you could introduce corrective measures such as demonstrating secure encryption of payment information, or providing specific arrival times (arriving on the “week commencing” is more comforting compared to “anywhere between three to six weeks”).
Key takeaway
Like all good things in life, conversion optimisation takes time. Understanding how your funnel addresses the fundamentals outlined in the MECLABS Heuristic is critical to making the right changes.
Requirements differ from website to website, and optimisation requires countless iterations before you land on the one that will impact your conversions. The most successful ecommerce companies are often the ones constantly experimenting to create a better UX and grow conversions.
Need some help?
At CROBAR, we conduct a website audit for you, and suggest DIY actions and implement changes in our own design studio. Learn how we kickstart your optimisation journey here, or book a call with one of our digital conversion strategists today.
