Roasting the belcher button

. · 30th Jun 2016, 12:00 AM

I'm not going to start this thread by education, rather as an inquiry into your thoughts of improving what is the most tested button / "buy area" through the world and it's implementation on sales pages.

Ugly as sin, the belcher button has lived through being flamed as terrible for aesthetics, "it won't convert" mentality, and for the obvious: it just feels like we've time warped back into early 2000's.

Looking at a traditional Belcher button however, it ticks all the boxes for what we need as a visual sales point. A call to action, a big shiny button, a dashed border that separates it from content, pricing, payment proofing... the list goes on.

According to these guys, Perry Belcher who pioneered the Belcher Button tested and optimised this over 10,000 transactions.

Perry Belcher tested every design element of the button in over 10,000 transactions and was able to increase conversion rates by 35% to 320%.

In his explanation video (linked at bottom of this thread-starter) Perry mentioned:

- 100% increase in sales using "Add to Cart" instead of "buy now"
- Navy text that establishes trust
- Add to cart in standard blue, simply based on habit of persons
- 3-5% increase by using payment proofing (this is where you buy, this is where you pay)
- Using orange as the background color of the button (took influence from Amazon and notably orange is the second most noticeable color and doesn't trigger fear or danger mechanism in the brain like red)

One can only imagine now, after what would be an infinite quantity of "Sales a la Belcher", have we (as a community of hardcore IM'ers) continued to optimise and develop this further? Are there any variants you've been particularly fond of - and why?

Most importantly, in 2016 - How does the Belcher button stack up against a the "Buy Now" CTAs that are pleasant to the eye, and to an even further degree - why or why would you not use them together on the same sales page?

P.S. For those curious, here's a video by Perry Belcher who explains the psychology behind the belcher button:

The Original Belcher Button - YouTube

GuerrillaIM · 14th Jul 2016, 12:18 AM

It depends on your market. If you are selling to the "IM crowd" it's good. It is recognisable and shows people the offer.

If you are selling in a non-IM field it can kill conversions as people associate it with "scammy ebook" sites.

So, it depends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it really doesn't.

14th Jul 2016, 12:18 AM	#2
GuerrillaIM One Man Army War Room Member Join Date: 2008 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,939 Thanks: 109 Thanked 326 Times in 191 Posts	Re: Roasting the belcher button Share on: It depends on your market. If you are selling to the "IM crowd" it's good. It is recognisable and shows people the offer. If you are selling in a non-IM field it can kill conversions as people associate it with "scammy ebook" sites. So, it depends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it really doesn't.