01 Oct Just Say No to Scrolling Sliders on Your Website
Scrolling sliders (also called carousels and rotating offers) are a huge no-no on your website – especially on the top of your home page. They are not cool, edge-y or useful.
In short, they’re a total waste. Here’s why:
People ignore scrolling sliders
Just like we ignore banner ads, we ignore scrolling sliders.
“Carousels are effective at being able to tell people in Marketing/Senior Management that their latest idea is now on the Home Page.
“They are next to useless for users and often ‘skipped’ because they look like advertisements. Hence, they are a good technique for getting useless information on a Home Page (see first sentence of this post).
“In summary, use them to put content that users will ignore on your Home Page. Or, if you prefer, don’t use them. Ever.
“Btw these views are not my own but are based upon observing thousands of tests with users.”
- Lee Duddell, in this CXL blog post
If we don’t ignore them, we don’t click on them: in a study conducted by Notre Dame University, only 1% of web visitors click on the first slide. As for the other slides? They get barely any to zero clicks.
Sliders take up valuable real estate
So now we’ve established that people routinely ignore sliders because they appear to be ads. If you have sliders at the top of your home page, you are wasting some valuable real estate.
It’s like buying beach front property – and never building a home, camping or even visiting. Why’d you buy it if you’re going to ignore it?
You are also missing the opportunity to grab a visitor’s attention and make a strong first impression. We’ll cover what you should put in place of a scrolling slider in a sec.
Sliders sow confusion
If you have three or five slides, which is the most important? Which one do you want website visitors to pay attention to? What do you want them to click on?
See – you just made someone very confused. They have no idea what to do, so they do nothing (see point No. 1 above).
Also, far too many carousels move so quickly you can’t even read what’s on them before the next one slides into view. Now your website visitors are confused AND annoyed.
What to put in place of those annoying sliders
As I’ve already mentioned, the top of your home page is the perfect place to grab someone’s attention. A static banner with ONE offer or ONE message is the way to go.
Let’s look at a couple of offers from big B2C companies.
Gap wants you to get excited for plaid:
Whole Foods wants you to shop for ready-made meals via Prime:
Now let’s look at headlines from two B2B companies I’m familiar with (and like).
The law firm that my small business attorney recently joined makes a bold statement about their brand values:
And my friend Kim, who is helping me with business development, tells you exactly what she does and for whom:
Those are a MUCH better use of that prime real estate on your website, aren’t they?
If you need help figuring out what to do on your home page, give us a shout. I’d love to chat and brainstorm some new ideas. Shoot me a note today.
No Comments