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Is scrolling outdated?

by Leigh Burke
11 replies
Seriously....

I am working on a theory...and it is just a hunch for now, I am going to be doing some testing over the next week.

The main reason I think that long sales pages, and information packed blogs with heaps of links might be getting outdated is that personally I am getting sick of them.

Now I might be alone in this, and my tests may prove this, but I believe that if people goto a website, they want the product or service they think that website will have. Nothing else. They don't care about your upsells, cross sells, what you did on the weekend, or photos from your latest function. All they want is tghe product or service.

And people don't want to scroll! Seriously. Too much information! I find myself scrollinng and not even reading what is on the site, it's insane! Now a different approach, and one I like is the chunking of information....small bite sized chunks of information for my mind to process.

Take Google Chrome's information page: Google Chrome

There is a simple menu on the side, and a video on the right for each feature. I ate this up! If there was a long information page, or even a longer video with all of the information, i would not have watched it. The Google guys are on the cutting edge, and rarely get things wrong. I reckon the page above may be the best format for selling products - that is what I am going to be testing. You can still have a bit more info below the links and video like they do, but for the main part, it is an easy, intuitive interface with a minamalistic feel.

Has anybody attempted this short format for their sales pages yet?
#outdated #scrolling
  • Profile picture of the author Mac Wheeler
    A very valid point.

    Also consider the fact that the average desktop resolution is much higher these days, meaning people have more space in their browser window. It might be an interesting excercise to try and fit an entire sales page in a single 1024x768 browser window.
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    • Profile picture of the author Leigh Burke
      I'll let you know how it goes, but still interested in hearing from anybody who has had success with this and the format they followed!
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      • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
        I'm a relative newbie - but I HATE those long pages with a passion. I don't read them. I try to make sure all the most important info, plus buy link, are immediately on view. I put less important info further down for those that can be bothered to scroll.

        I teach beginners - and you would be amazed how many people don't even know they can scroll. And even if they do know, they don't - if you see what I mean.

        A few months ago I was feeling ill one day. As a joke I sat and wrote what I thought was the worst kind of web page - although it does just about fit one screen. Then I realised I'd actually had an idea and wrote the matching product. I now sell it on Clickbank!!

        Oh - and is it just me. Google Chrome will scroll down but not up.
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        • Profile picture of the author Midas3 Consulting
          I am also beginning to wonder this, the big names will still tell you long copy beats short BUT , in one of the niches I work in, there is a product which sells like crazy, I mean insane, the product itself is crap, but man does it convert and it is made up of 5 / 6 short pages, not one long page.

          They don't have a left hand menu, but they do have a "next" button at the bottom of each page and it seems to dam work.

          The problem is always with these things that you have stop seeing it from a marketers pov, pretty much every long copy site I come to makes my head hurt but that's because we know it's a sale, to the tens of thousands of newcomers to the Internet every day it's brand new.
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          • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
            >>personally I am getting sick of them.

            I'm sure you know that's not really relevant in this big ol' numbers game.

            If it converts, use it, while testing against new ones to get better conversion (or visitor value).

            I remember all those years ago when new to the Internet, I used to love reading long salesletters. And if I was hungry for the information, the longer the better.

            Cheers,

            Neil
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  • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
    If scrolling is outdated then this forum won't last much longer

    If it is INTERESTING then people will read as much info as you can possibly give them.
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  • Profile picture of the author oic800
    I must confess...I usually skim over very long salesletters and my decision is usually made above the fold. If its software, I'm looking for features...in an ebook or video I'm looking for specifics about the contents. Stories may captivate some, but they bore me to death. I'm a firm believer that "it's whats up front that counts."
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    • Profile picture of the author sparrow
      I guess it depends on who's shoes your standing in.

      I think both models have merits and I think magchick you are on to something.

      I also think SimonHarrison may have a better alternative for a long sales letter in a different form

      All of these points of view have merits

      As far as the forum not lasting, we really don't have any other alternative to read all this good info.

      But being bombarded these days especially in markets that are so overwhelmed with this launch and the next launch I be willing to bet if someone is creative enough and makes available to a reader long form or to the point they might have something that will break the standard of long form.

      We have the technology today with the computers, with direct mail you don't

      Ed
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    • Profile picture of the author crufin
      If i position myself as a buyer, i'll read as much as i can from the top to bottom of the salespage before i consider to buy a product for instance an ebook. I'll read what the product benefits, what others said about it, etc..

      But for a software i don't think i want to scroll down and read the long salespage. I'll just read the features.

      So in my perspective, for information products like ebook, you'll lose much money on the table if your salespage does not convert better. But i look forward to hearing your success story about this. :-)


      Cheers,
      Christo
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      • Profile picture of the author Ricter
        Some products sell themselves. But for a product like "How To Enlarge Your Doohickey With Hypnosis!", you better write long, hypnotic, copy. And hope you've got a fish on the other end. And have no scruples.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ted Kopelli
          I ran into a multi-page sales letter the other day and I would have to say, that is more bothersome than scrolling. You can scan a long page and get to the heart of the matter quickly. Havign to muddle through many pages to get to the buy button would kill conversions more than the multi page checkout.

          A long believer in the one click cart, I prefer to not make the prospect jump through hoops. I know wtih a multi page cart, conversions go down. Asking the customer if they are really really sure they want to make the purchase will lose sales.

          Trying to get your sales pitch above the fold in 50 lines of text would require some very seductive verbiage.

          Ted
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