Low conversion rates are a sharp pain point for any company doing business online. There seems to be a common obsession centered on simplifying the conversion funnel, eliminating all distractions that detract from the core offering, and basically persistently pushing the visitor through the conversion funnel. Simplicity is good, but simplicity at the expense of function and user experience is foolish. Companies that insist on oversimplifying the conversion funnel, e.g. by reducing the number of stages to a ridiculously low number (look at work-from-home, passive-income ebook web pages that ask for your credit card information on the landing page), will find that simplification at some point means simplifying away the essential elements that actually drive conversions.

When I was in school, my science teacher taught us to think of extreme cases if we wanted to determine the effect of A on B. For instance, if one is to determine the effect of varying the magnitude of the denominator of a fraction on the magnitude of the fraction itself, one should test said effect using a very, very large and small denominator, respectively, while keeping the numerator constant. In ecommerce, if one is to determine the effect of conversion funnel simplification on conversion rates, one should imagine an ultra-simple conversion funnel, say, a one-page website with the product title, product image, price, and buy button. The question to ask then is whether said page would reasonably be expected to convert better than a website with fluffy “extras,” such as social proof, detailed specifications, and multiple images. The answer is probably “no.”

There are Distractions, and There are Distractions

One of the problems associated with simplifying the conversion funnel is determining whether a given page element is a conversion-enhancing or conversion-suppressing element. Chances are there are several things on the website that can be eliminated without hurting conversions, some that can be eliminated to increase conversions, and others that, when eliminated, cause a decrease in conversions. For every argument tendered for keeping a page element, one could find a counter-argument of equal persuasiveness, so, naturally, one would end up conducting A/B testing to compare conversion rates across different versions of the website. The problem is that, for low-traffic websites, the tests take forever to reach statistical significance, and it becomes technically-challenging to conduct, manage, and interpret an increasingly-large number of multiple tests. It is just easier and much more tempting to remove elements based on gut-feel.

The other problem in simplifying the conversion funnel is that of oversimplifying the stages of the conversion funnel. One of the worst usability problems occurs when users feel like they are forced or rushed into acting or making a decision. For instance, no user would be charitable enough to fulfill a call-to-action without a clear benefit or sufficient information. Images, videos, live demos, full specifications, etc. go a long way in earning the trust and confidence of users.

Alas, the point of this article is not to propose specific methods for conversion funnel optimization, but to illustrate that there is such a thing as oversimplifying the conversion funnel to the point that it hurts conversions. I will leave you with a list of things to determine whether they fall into the “distraction” or “attraction” category: Facebook Like buttons, AddThis/ShareThis buttons, Google AdSense advertisements, live-chat widgets, Twitter streaming widgets, Twitter/Facebook icons, reviews/testimonials, currency converters, stock images, FAQs, and talking presenters.