Comments on: You Gotta Know When To Fold Em

By: Linda Bustos

Linda Bustos — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:52:52 +0000

@Karl, the purpose of this post is that it shouldn’t be a design “best practice” to cram everything “above the fold” because people are somehow scrollophobic (as once thought), and that a cluttered above-the-fold design and design elements like solid, hard bars can influence whether people scroll.

The key word is “can.”

I didn’t feel the CX Partners article ever suggested that you don’t have to take the fold into consideration anymore. Through their observation they noted with eye tracking that page design had an influence. I found that very intriguing.

I’m glad that companies like CX Partners and your blog are doing research and sharing your findings.

By: Karl Gilis

Karl Gilis — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:59:48 +0000

Think this article uses too much of the cxpartners content. Our research shows that whether users want to scroll or not depends on the type of page and the type of website

On the Web Usability Blog there’s an article “Page Fold: Myth or Reality?” that goes deeper into this. And even Jakob Nielsen reacted on that article.
http://webusability-blog.com/page-fold-myth-or-reality/

By: Alyse Speyee

Alyse Speyee — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:01:49 +0000

Great article, it’s been featured on our blog network: http://www.onlinemarketingconnect.com/website-usability/

Usability is key when engaging viewers. I hesitate with: “showing less stuff ‘above the fold’ encourages exploration below the fold.” The action may have been caused by a lack of information or reader confusion, in which leaving quality content and better design above the fold could lead to a click to a new page rather than a scroll down. It’s important to look at all aspects and possibilities of tested results.

By: Best of the Blogosphere: Are You Ready?

Best of the Blogosphere: Are You Ready? — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:41:31 +0000

[...] Bustos reviews case studies and provides advice on how to optimize the above the fold section of websites. Could her advice warrant testing for email as [...]

By: Alex Fisken

Alex Fisken — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:30:43 +0000

I am always leery about articles like this one from CX Partners for a couple of reasons. First, it really fails to address the real issue – “What action do you want the user to take on the page?” rather than just judging what a user saw and their ability to scroll. A user & business goal is the sole basis of any page design. I am a big fan of eyetracking, but more for it’s ability to determine the subtractibility and heierachy of page elements. Second, these are the types of articles that can lead to bad decisions and organizational misinformation rather than relying on A/B and multivariate testing of your specific pages by your actual users on your site (check out Bob Sutton’s “Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense” for a deeper dive on this). I’ve performed dozens of tests where scrolling & page length affected conversion & abandonment as well as vice-versa. Just as Chris pointed out, context is critical of how “scrolly” a page or site should be. Just as I have scrolled through 6-7 screens of test to leave this comment, that typically should not be the case for users who are trying to perform a different type of task on a different type of site.

By: Kayan Mott

Kayan Mott — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:39:14 +0000

Great post indeed! What is really interesting is the facts about creating/not creating a hard horizontal bar across your webpage. I will definitely start to test these “strong darker bars” against other designs…and implements some bigger pictures to get a feel for the new reactions.

Kayvan Mott
http://www.infinitecomm.net

By: Tessa Carroll

Tessa Carroll — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:23:17 +0000

Thanks for the great post, Linda. As marketers, we’re always told to make sure everything needs to be above the fold in order to be effective. It’s refreshing to see quantitative results that show the contrary. It also takes some of the stress out of trying to get all pertinent information above the fold to avoid customer abandonment. Thanks again!

Tessa Carroll
VBP OutSourcing
http://www.blogs.vbpoutsourcing.com

By: Chris Goward

Chris Goward — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:30:01 +0000

Great post, Linda. The fold is often not the most important consideration for conversion effectiveness.

However, user testing like in the CX Partners article, does not give solid evidence. A controlled test is needed before drawing conclusions.

Interestingly, we have run many A/B/n & MVT tests that provide evidence for both sides of the debate. We’ve seen long pages lift ecommerce sales by up to 20% and we’ve seen above-the-fold buttons lift conversions too. What we’ve found is that (as in most of these issues) context is important.

Here’s an example of a long-page ecommerce winner that we just posted yesterday:
http://www.widerfunnel.com/case-study/how-conversion-optimization-addresses-the-challenge-of-a-single-product-ecommerce-site-and-lifts-conversions-by-50

Chris

By: Jamie, Baymard Institute

Jamie, Baymard Institute — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:32:22 +0000

Why suddenly start talking about “hiding pricing and the cart button inside a strong bar”? I would’ve loved an entire article just about the fold and all its myths

But it’s true, scrolling really isn’t a concern anymore, and even when (if?) it was having well-designed elements above and below the fold still mattered way more..

Thanks for a great blog, Linda.