{"id":102237,"date":"2022-11-23T13:44:29","date_gmt":"2022-11-23T21:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/?post_type=insights&p=102237"},"modified":"2025-05-14T15:22:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T22:22:34","slug":"hierarchy-of-conversions","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/thegood.com\/insights\/hierarchy-of-conversions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hierarchy of Conversion Optimization: Q&A With Natalie Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our Director of UX and CRO Strategy, Natalie Thomas, built a model around the hierarchy of conversion optimization and discussed it with the team at Trends.co for a feature<\/a>. The idea was so good, we want to share the raw conversation with our readers.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does our team of expert conversion optimization strategists build a roadmap for clients?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lots of research, planning, and a deep understanding of each website\u2019s unique opportunities for improved conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One framework we use, created by our Director of CRO and UX Strategy Natalie Thomas, is called The Hierarchy of Conversion Optimization<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we sat down with Natalie for a candid Q&A on what the framework is and how to use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Conversation With Natalie Thomas on the Hierarchy of Conversion Levers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Hierarchy<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Tell me about the framework – what is it for and how is it structured?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of a pyramid. There are sections that represent themes from bottom to top. We use this pyramid as a way to assess the overall potential impact of the changes we could make, and it informs the order of a site\u2019s optimization roadmap. As we optimize a website, we progressively work our way up from the bottom to the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the bottom of the pyramid, you have the biggest opportunities that will impact the largest portion of your audience. As you work your way up the pyramid, the audience you\u2019re speaking to might get smaller, but the improvements you\u2019ve made below impact them too, so the efforts are compounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ok, so it\u2019s a pyramid shape, the opportunity audience gets smaller and smaller as you go up the pyramid, but the gains are cumulative. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\u2019s at the widest point of the pyramid? Where do you start optimizing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom of the pyramid is trust and authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tackle these issues first because they turn off both web-savvy shoppers and those with less experience buying online. Examples might be bugs or errors, low visibility of who\u2019s behind the company, or an unconventional checkout that just feels<\/strong> not secure for some reason. Anything that makes a user second guess your authenticity or security would fall under this category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tend to think this trust factor is the area where small business operators have the biggest blindspot since \u201ctrustworthiness\u201d in the eyes of the user tends to be based on a range of things from visual design to breaking from convention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Users might not be able to put into words what they mean when they are on a checkout page and they say the website \u201clooks sketchy\u201d but one of my strategists can look at the same checkout page and identify the parts that are a little off right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ll say \u201cwell of course they think it\u2019s sketchy, there is no order summary and the footer looks generic, not to mention the logo changed from the last page to this one, so I\u2019m not confident I\u2019m on the same website anymore.\u201d It takes a trained eye to know where a site could improve that trust factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Web design is a lot like writing in that you have to know the rules in order to break them. A lot of custom websites break the rules in a haphazard way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n