A research done at a university brought forward the 7/11 rule. That research has shown that within the initial 7 seconds, people will form 11 impressions of you. Those impressions are based on non-verbal cues and they highly depend upon the experiences and background of the person who you are in front of or starting to interact with.

The internet is full of quotes about first impressions:

First impressions LAST

First impressions are important, you only make one of them!

First impressions are the most lasting

…and so on.

Just like business people clad in shiny suits try to make the best of their first impressions while trying to ink a deal, UX Designers and Digital marketers prepare their Design / artwork for a visitors’ great first impression of their landing pages.

In a matter of seconds, website visitors make a decision whether to stay or leave. In that short amount of time (usually 5 seconds) visitors either start to explore your website or bounce out. Therefore, UX Designers consider First impression testing highly crucial in order to optimize a landing page. Also called 5 Second Test, a landing page design and its options are shown to the participants for a limited time duration. That duration can be varied from 5  (or sometimes 12 seconds) depending upon the UX Designer and the Design in question.

The landing page terminology and the First impression testing is not limited to websites. It is applicable to a mobile app or social media Ads, where product teams use a landing screen to promote their app. Same holds true for websites in which landing pages are web pages thereby, not limiting its importance to a website.

What is Landing Page First Impression Testing? 

The technique of assessing a visitor’s first impression of a landing page is known as first impression testing. It allows you to establish design preference and perhaps a few obvious usability issues that can prevent your visitors from navigating the site or completing their tasks. In first impressions of digital interface designs, the visual aesthetic elements such as images, colors, style of fonts and icons play a significant role.

First Impression Testing for Landing Pages has various advantages, including:

• Design with confidence to drive user engagement, and Increase conversion rates.
• Early detection of obvious design issues

The Landing page testing using the First Impression Testing or 5 Second Test, is a Usability test. However, this usability testing method must not be used to find usability problems because the time limited feedback from participants is heavily biased due to the Aesthetic-Usability Effect. At the same time due to this effect, the participants would be able to tell which design option of the landing pages is perceivably more usable.

Benefits of doing a First impression test for Landing pages

• Design selection: Based on the outcome and qualitative responses, UX designers or marketers confidently decide which design they want to go with and why.
• Higher time on page: This reveals how long a user stays on the landing page. A longer time on page can suggest that the user is interested in the content, whilst a shorter time on page might suggest that the user is not drawn in by it.
• Lower Bounce rate: The percentage of visitors that leave a landing page without taking any action, such as clicking a CTA button or subscribing to a service. The landing page may not be successfully grabbing the user’s attention if the bounce rate is high.
• Higher Click-through rate (CTR): Measures the percentage of users who click on a CTA button or link. A high CTR may indicate that the CTA is compelling and effective.
• Higher User satisfaction:The level of user satisfaction with the landing page. This can be measured through surveys or user interviews, and can provide valuable insights into areas for improvement.
• Higher Conversion rate: The percentage of users who complete a desired action, such as signing up for a product or making a purchase. This is the ultimate goal of a landing page and can indicate whether the landing page is effectively converting visitors into customers.

So, how should a landing page impression testing be done?

Check out this use case that we made below.

Challenge: EduBuddy, An edutech company has recently launched a flagship UX course and wants to improve their website landing page to increase conversions.

Goals: EduBuddy wants to increase the number of sign-ups for their new online course. The goal is to increase the conversion rate by 15% within the next three months.

Target audience: The target audience for the landing page is people who are interested in UX, including early career professionals and career-shifters. The company recruits 10 participants who fit this demographic and have never seen the landing page before.

Test Environment: EduBuddy uses UXArmy, to conduct the unmoderated test remotely. The participants are instructed to use their own devices and web browsers to access the landing page.

Tools: Unmoderated Research and uses the 5-second tasks with UXArmy. Their Design of landing pages is in Figma.

During the test: The participants are instructed to visit the landing page and provide feedback on their initial impressions. They are asked to complete tasks, such as signing up for the product or finding more information about the features. The following tasks and questions were made:

Tasks:

1. Warm up Task (to mentally prepare user for the Test) – Inform the user that what the Task is going to be and design will be shown for a limited time
2. Show Landing Page Design A
3. Show Landing Page Design B
4. Task to pick a Design from A and B

Follow Up survey questions (shown after each Design option):

1. What is your initial impression of the landing page? Open Text 
2. How appealing was the Design to you? 5-pt Likert Scale
3. What words would you use for describing the Design you saw? Open Text 
4. Do you have any additional feedback on the aesthetics of the landing page? Open Text 

After both Design options have been shown:

1. Which page do you prefer? Single Select
2. Why did you select that page design? Open Text 

Analysis: EduBuddy analyzes the results to identify the most preferred design option. With UXArmy unmoderated testing and the heatmaps feature, the company was able to see how users navigate their landing page.

Implementation: Based on the results of the test, EduBuddy implements changes to the landing page to improve the user experience and are hopeful to increase conversions. They continue to monitor the performance of the landing page and make additional changes as highlighted in followup usability tests on the UXArmy platform.