Win Report: How showing a team member increased leads by 79%

Win Reports help you grow your business by showing our methodology at work. Each Win Report showcases a real-world test, sharing the research, insights, and techniques that led to the win.

In the next three minutes, we’ll show you how showing a real person on a landing page increased leads by 79% for a financial services client.

The original and variation versions of the calculator at the top of the landing page, side by side. The variation replaces the headline with a question and introduces a member of staff. — The control promises a number. The variation introduces a person.

Our client arranges equity release for homeowners in later life, working through partnerships with established consumer brands.

Research: A team that visitors never met

Releasing equity in your home is a big decision. Our research showed that many visitors to the site were unsure whether (or how) to proceed. The unspoken question most were asking was some version of “Is equity release right for me?”

Those who did take the next step spoke with the client’s information team and came away with a clear picture of the benefits and trade-offs of equity release. For many, that conversation turned the experience around—particularly the team’s empathetic, non-pushy approach. Here’s one customer’s comment that was typical of many:

“Very professional, quick decision, good financial adviser not at all pushy and everything is explained well.”

Based on the feedback we were seeing, the information team was the most persuasive asset the business had. The problem was that none of that empathy or experience registered on the landing page, which opened with a calculator.

How could we introduce the information team before a visitor had to pick up the phone to meet them?

The original page (or control)

Here’s the calculator at the top of the original page. It leads with what it can do for you, and asks for two pieces of information at once.

The original calculator, headlined “Instantly Calculate How Much You Could Release From Your Property”, with two empty fields side by side and a “Calculate Now” button. — The control: “Instantly Calculate How Much You Could Release From Your Property.”

If we read between the lines, the overriding assumption of this page is that the visitor has already decided this product is for them, and now just wants the number.

The tested page (or variation)

For the variation, we replaced the promise with the question that our research showed visitors were actually asking… and had a real member of the information team ask it for them.

The variation, headlined “Is equity release right for me?”, with a photograph of a member of the information team, a short introduction, and a single question with a dropdown. — The variation: a name, a face, and one question at a time.

Beneath the new headline—“Is equity release right for me?”—we added a photograph and an introduction:

I’m [name] from the Information Team at [brand]. We can tell you whether you can benefit from a lifetime mortgage in less time than it takes to make a cup of tea – just answer 3 questions.

Then a single question, with a dropdown in place of an empty box:

What is the age of the youngest homeowner?

The calculator still needed the same information. But the page now behaved the way the information team behaved on the phone. First, introduce yourself. Then say how you can help. Then ask one gentle question at a time.

Result: Leads increased by 79%

During the test, we observed a 79% increase in people completing the calculator and submitting their details.

Our client had spent years building a team that customers described as patient and empathetic. By making this persuasive resource more visible, we were following Step 5 of our methodology:

“Each of our clients has had elements within its business that would have been highly persuasive to its prospects but that the prospects never saw. The key is to identify all of these persuasion assets and then present them to the prospects at the right time in the buying process.”

We saw something similar with DiamondBack Covers, where the reassurance visitors were looking for already existed inside the business—it just wasn’t on the page they were looking at. It’s worth asking what your customers say they love about you, and then checking whether a new visitor could possibly know it.

What next?

As usual, we added the test to our proprietary Wins Database, then looked for ways to apply its lessons to other parts of the client’s business and then to other clients.

If you want us to grow your profits—quickly and efficiently—check if you qualify for a free one-on-one strategy session with one of our CRO consultants.

We’ll only work with you if we believe we can get amazing results together. Our success has come entirely from positive word of mouth, and we plan to keep it that way.

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