Came across a great eBook on CCD – conversion centered design – and thought I would post a link and give you the summary.  The full details and eBook can be found at unbound.com here.

  1. Design: Encapsulation
    This is a classic technique used to hijack your visitors eyes and create a tunnel vision effect. You can think of it like creating a window on your landing page where your CTA is the view.
  2. Design: Contrast & Color
    Some say button color is important, but this a falsehood. In reality, it’s the contrast of the color that you need to focus on. A green CTA may well outperform red in some circumstances, but if the page is dominantly green, that green button is going to get hidden among other page elements. If you focus on contrasting colors you will be much more successful at making it stand out. In the case of the green page, a red button would be suitable.  
  3. Design: Directional Cues
    Call attention to the most important page elements by using strangely placed and angled arrows. Tie a sequence of arrows together to define a path for the visitor to follow, ending at your CTA.
  4. Design: Whitespace
    Give your page elements breathing room to produce a calming effect and allow your CTA to stand out from the rest of your design.
  5. Psychology: Urgency & Scarcity
    Common psychological motivators are the use of urgency (limited time) and scarcity (limited supply).
  6. Psychology: Try Before You Buy
    By opening your product to scrutiny before the purchase you appear confident. This increases trust and is an important factor in boosting conversions.
  7. Psychology: Social Proof
    Social proof is created by the statistics and actions of a particular crowd and it can greatly enhance the “me too” factor. The major benefit is a level of authentic believability.

There is also a list of 36 examples of how this design philosophy would impact a landing page- link.