• Goal:
  • The best seller on BakingSteel.com is their Original Baking Steel product. Our marching orders were to increase sales of this top seller. Original Baking Steel was already driving 48% of overall sales so even a 10% lift was going to be a big deal for the client.
• Solution:
  • Our idea was to keep the page design the same so it would be consistent with their other product pages but to dramatically improve the product story.
• Outcome:
  • 46.42% improvement.

Backstory

We love inventors. In fact, most of our conversion optimizing work is done with inventors. When we were introduced to Andris Lagsdin we hit it off right away. Here was a man who had been baking pizzas for 24 years. After experimenting with dozens of ideas Andris found the secret to the perfect pie. He invented the Original Baking Steel, a 14″ by 16″ steel plate that dramatically improved pizza making.

Our Hypothesis

While the product description was efficient we knew it could tell a better product story.

Test Concept

We had a cursory understanding of what the product did but in the course of interrogating Andris, we discovered a whole bunch of things that were quite remarkable. For example, the weight of the steel plate is 16 pounds: this is not a random detail. Andris experimented with all sorts of weights and discovered that 16 pounds was what gave the pie the perfect crust. We also discovered the unique heat transfer properties of steel that make it the ideal baking material. These details were not new to Andris; he just wasn’t talking to his customers about them. All we did was shed light on this amazing story.

Here were the story angles we explored in our copy:

— We introduced a scientific equation to explain the heat transfer property of steel. We didn’t expect people to read the whole equation but just seeing it there would build credibility.

— We used a baking analogy that people would instantly be able to relate to to prove why BakingSteel works so well. Analogies help connect new concepts with things familiar to our brains. If a buyer is reading a pitch they can’t understand or relate to their conversion rate will be closer to 0%.

— We added tension into our product story: “The pizza we’re going for is crispy on the outside and soft and moist inside.”

— We accentuated the attributes. Instead of just saying the dimensions are 14″ by 16″, the thickness is ¼” and weight is 16 pounds. We went into great detail to explain those precise dimensions are intentional, which they are. This creates an air of expertise and gives the buyer the confidence to buy.

— People buying BakingSteel aren’t as interested in the steel surface as they are in what that steel surface can do for their taste buds so we added a whole bunch of pizza photos on the page. The goal was to show variety and whet appetites.

— It’s also worth noting what we didn’t talk about. We didn’t talk about our return policy or apply any discounting gimmick.

Outcome

We ran the test twice. The impact on sales was 46.42%.

Why Our Concept Won

Our idea won because we added a lot more dimension to the Original BakingSteel. We gave the product a chance to educate and entertain buyers. It’s like being in a fine dining restaurant and hearing the sommelier talk about the story of the wine while she’s holding the bottle.

There is a lot more work to do. We’re currently working on further improving the page, getting more people to the page, and converting people who are in research mode via email.

BTW, our test to increase product page visibility also won. We were able to improve visibility 6.9%: