Win Report: +39% conversions by removing a prominent call-to-action

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 two minutes, we’ll show you how removing a call-to-action increased conversions by 39% for a global academic and professional editing service.

Our client is one of the world’s largest document editing services, working with researchers, academics, and businesses across dozens of countries.

Research: When the sale comes too soon

When we analyzed user journeys through the website, a pattern emerged. A typical visitor would land on the homepage, click the “Get Quote” button in the header, and move directly to a quote form.

That’s good, right?

Well, no. As it turned out, the quote form asked questions that some visitors weren’t ready to answer. These included:

The type of document they were submitting.
The service level they required. (E.g. “substantive editing” versus “copy editing.")
Their target word count.
Their desired turnaround time.

These were reasonable questions for someone who already understands the service, but they created friction for first-time visitors. For example, the form didn’t explain the difference between “substantive editing” and “copy editing.”

Without knowing more about the service, visitors had no frame of reference for the options in front of them. Faced with decisions they couldn’t confidently make, many left.

At least, that was our hypothesis. How could we test it?

The original page (or control)

Here’s a mockup of the original homepage, with the prominent “Get Quote” button in the header. Visitors who clicked it were taken straight to the quote form.

The tested page (or variation)

Here’s a mockup of the variation. As you can see, we went for the easiest way to robustly test our hypothesis… by removing the “Get Quote” button entirely.

This was a tiny change, but a bold test… because we were taking away the main above-the-fold purchase CTA. As we say on page 74 of our book, Making Websites Win:

Small improvements take ages to detect. So you should aim for bold, targeted changes, for the following reasons:
Each change gets you more profit (an 80% improvement gives four times the benefit of a 20% improvement, obviously).
It’s more fun and interesting.
It’s much quicker.

By removing the CTA, we radically changed the user journey for many visitors. Instead of jumping to the form, they were forced to find the thing that they wanted. In doing so, they encountered:

Clear descriptions of each service, including who it was for and what it included.
Credentials of the team doing the work, and the experts in each area.
Trust signals, including the big-name clients they served in each service area.
Quote CTAs on each service page, which felt like a more natural next step.

Result: Conversions increased by 39%

During the test, we observed a 39% increase in conversions. This is a huge win, but what does it suggest?

Although the “Get Quote” button worked well for existing customers, for everyone else it was a shortcut past the education and confidence they needed to convert. As we say in our article on the Safe Step Principle:

Visitors are more likely to continue when the next step feels safe, appropriate, and proportionate to what they already know.

Does that mean that the button should never return? Absolutely not, but this result suggests that we’d want to test some significant changes to the quote form before bringing it back.

Which is exactly what we did.

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 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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