Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Whether you’re looking to increase revenue, sign-ups, social shares, or engagement, A/B testing and optimization can help you get there.But for many marketers out there, the tough part about A/B testing is often finding the right test to drive the biggest impact — especially when you’re just getting started.
So, what’s the recipe for high-impact success?
Truthfully, there is no one-size-fits-all recipe. What works for one business won’t work for another — and vice versa.
But just because you can’t replicate the same test and expect the same result doesn’t mean you can’t get inspired by other companies’ tests.
In this post, let’s review how an hypothesis will get you started with your testing, and review excellent examples from real businesses using A/B testing. While the same tests may not get you the same results, they can get you inspired to run creative tests of your own.

A/B Testing Hypothesis Examples
A hypothesis can make or break your experiment, especially when it comes to A/B testing. When creating your hypothesis, you want to make sure that it is: 

Focused on one specific problem you want to solve or understand
Able to be proven or disproven
Focused on making an impact (bringing higher conversion rates, lower bounce rate, etc.)

When creating a hypothesis, following the “If, then” structure can be helpful, where if you changed a specific variable, then a particular result would happen. Here are some examples of what that would look like in an A/B Testing Hypothesis: 

Shortening contact submission forms to only contain required fields would increase the number of sign-ups. 
Changing the call-to-action text from “Download now” to “Download this free guide” would increase the number of downloads. 
Reducing the frequency of mobile app notifications from 5 times per day to 2 times per day will increase mobile app retention rates.
Using featured images that are more contextually related to our blog posts will contribute to a lower bounce rate. 
Greeting customers by name in emails will increase the total number of clicks.  

Let’s go over some real-life examples of A/B testing to prepare you for your own. 

1. HubSpot’s Site Search
Most websites contain a search bar at the top of the page that gives users the ability to search for a specific topic or term.
Based on previous data, HubSpot found that non-bounce desktop users who engage with search have a 163.8% higher blog lead conversion rate than those who do not. However, only a very small percent of blog traffic interacts with the search bar. That’s why HubSpot decided to test the visual prominence and functionality of the site search bar.
HubSpot used three variants for this test, using offer thank you page views as the primary metric.
For variant A, the site search bar increased visual prominence and altered the placeholder text to “search by topic.”

For variant B, the search bar had increased visual prominence, the placeholder text was altered to “search by topic,” and the search function searched the blog, rather than the whole site.
For variant C, the search bar had increased visual prominence, the placeholder text was changed to “search the blog,” and the search function searched the blog, rather than the whole site.

As a result, HubSpot found that all three variants increased the conversion rate. However, variant C showed a 3.4% increase in conversion rate and a 6.46% increase in users who engage in the search bar.
2. Groove’s Landing Page Design

Every marketer will have to build a landing page at some point. But building a landing page that’ll convert is hard.
Groove experienced that first hand when the company learned one of its landing pages was only converting at 2.3%.
However, Groove wasn’t sure why the page wasn’t converting. To figure it out, its team went on a journey. They looked up resources and talked to marketing experts to figure out why their site wasn’t working.
That’s when the company learned that the messaging was all wrong. To figure out how to appeal to its customers, Groove decided to reach out and actually talk to real users.
Then, when the team rebuilt their landing page, they focused on copy first, and design second. Only when the copy was completely finished and approved did they start the visual aspect of designing.
Overall, the tweaks to messaging ultimately doubled their conversions to 4.7%.

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3. Csek Creative Homepage Design

The copy on your homepage is important because it helps users decide whether they want to continue looking deeper into your site.
In this example, a digital agency decided to test the tagline on its homepage. Ultimately, the goal was to decrease the bounce rate.
Before the A/B test, Csek’s tagline read: “Csek Creative is a Kelowna based digital agency that delivers the results that make business sense.”

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To make the copy less vague and more explanatory of the services it offered, Csek Creative changed the verbiage to: “Csek Creative is a digital agency that helps companies with their online and offline marketing needs.”

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Expecting minor results, this change actually resulted in an 8.2% increase in click-throughs to other pages on the site.
4. Humana’s Site Banners

Many landing pages showcase large banners at the top of the page. That’s valuable real estate, and if the banner isn’t optimal, it could end up doing more harm than good.
That’s why Humana, a healthcare insurance provider, decided to test its landing page banners.
In the control, Humana had been using a banner that displayed a lot of copy, a weak CTA, and no clear and concise message.

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However, for variation B the company decided to simplify the message. This variation ended up receiving 433% more clickthroughs than the control.

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Humana didn’t stop there. Once variant B became successful, the company decided to make it the new control and wanted to test the CTA.
With variation C, Humana switched the CTA language to include language that was a harder sell, such as “Shop.” The company decided this would be a good approach because customers signing up for Medicare have a limited window to make a decision.

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The change in language resulted in a 192% increase in clickthrough.
Email A/B Testing Example
5. HubSpot’s Email vs. In-App Notification Center
Gathering reviews from users isn’t always an easy task. That’s why HubSpot decided to A/B test ways to reach out to customers. The methods tested? In-app notifications versus email.
HubSpot decided to send an in-app notification and email alerting users that they were the champion user of the month and would receive a $10 gift card if they left a review on the Capterra site.
For variant A, HubSpot sent a plain text email to users.
For variant B, HubSpot used a certification, templated email.

For variant C, HubSpot sent an in-app notification.

HubSpot found that unlike with emails, in-app notifications are often overlooked or missed by users. The emails outperformed in-app notifications by 1.4x. From both emails, 24.9% of those who opened the email left a review, compared to 10.3% of those who opened the in-app notification.
6. Unbounce’s Tweet vs. Email CTA

On most landing pages, marketers typically ask users for an email address to deliver their content offers.
However, Unbounce decided to test whether customers would rather give an email address or just tweet about a product.
Both options have pros and cons for the company. Asking for an email address means your company can build a list of potential prospects while asking people to tweet can build viral momentum and increase social exposure.
The first landing page in this A/B test asked users to give their email address in exchange for an ebook.

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The second landing page asked users to send a tweet in exchange for the ebook.

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Overall, people far preferred giving out an email address. In the end, the email landing page had a 24% conversion lift.
Mobile A/B Testing Example
7. HubSpot’s Mobile Calls-to-Action
HubSpot uses several different calls-to-action in its blog posts. For instance, on this blog, you’ll notice anchor text in the introduction, a graphic CTA at the bottom, and a slide-in CTA when you scroll through the post.
However, on mobile, these CTAs might seem intrusive. That’s why HubSpot tested mobile CTAs.
Previous A/B tests revealed that HubSpot’s mobile audience was 44% more likely to click through to an offer landing page and 18% more likely to convert on the offer if all CTAs were stripped from blog posts and there was only one CTA bar at the bottom of the page with no ability to exit.
So, HubSpot decided to test different versions of the bottom-of-the-page CTA bar, using thank you page views as the primary metric and CTA clicks as the secondary metric.
HubSpot used four variants for this test.
For variant A, the control, the traditional placement of CTAs remained unchanged.
For variant B, the CTA had a maximize/minimize option so readers could dismiss the CTA. This could be accomplished by an up/down caret.

For variant C, the CTA had an X that would completely dismiss the CTA from the post. At this point, there would be no formal CTA on the blog.

For variant D, the CTA had no X or minimize/maximize option.

Overall, variant B saw a 7.9% increase, variant C saw an 11.4% decrease, and variant D saw a 14.6% increase.
From those numbers, HubSpot was able to project that using variant D on mobile would lead to about 1,300 additional submissions each month.
8. Houseparty’s Mobile Onboarding Design

Houseparty is a social app where users can have face-to-face conversations with their close friends. The business had a goal to incrementally improve the functionality and design of the app without causing significant dips in metrics, so it opted to use multiple A/B tests. 
One of the things Houseparty aimed to improve was the onboarding funnel and how users are prompted to add friends through push notifications. Originally, users received permission requests to access their phone contacts with little context, and most users clicked “Don’t Allow” (as shown in the image below), making it difficult to connect with friends on the app. 

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After running A/B tests to improve this experience for customers, Houseparty notifies users of pop-up notifications and their context before they occur to understand why giving access is important (as shown in the image below). 

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The final version, which was A/B tested, found that users sent 2X more friend requests on their first day, and there was a 15% increase in permissions to access contacts. 
9. HelloFresh Menu Display

HelloFresh is a meal kit subscription service that delivers recipes to global users. As its user base grew, its recipe count grew, but it became more difficult for users to navigate through the app and find what they needed. 
The business set out to redesign its menu pages for a seamless user experience while also drawing attention to upselling opportunities. HelloFresh ran an experiment that compared the impact of the original control menu display to a new version. The image below shows the control menu display. 

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And the image below displays the variant and final version, which contributed to a 7% increase in upselling revenue. 

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A/B Testing Takeaways for Marketers
A lot of different factors can go into A/B testing, depending on your business needs. However, there are a few key things to keep in mind: 

Every A/B test should start with a hypothesis focused on one specific problem that you can test. 
Ensure you’re testing a control variable (your original version) and a treatment variable (a new version that you think will perform better). 
You can test various things, like landing pages, CTAs, emails, or mobile app designs. 
The best way to understand if your results mean something is to determine statistical significance once the experiment is over. 
There are a variety of goals to focus on for A/B testing (increased site traffic, lower bounce rates, etc.), but they should be testable and able to be supported or disproven. 
When testing, ensure you’re splitting your sample groups equally and randomly, so your data is viable and not due to chance. 
Take action based on the results you obtain.

These companies all saw these amazing results because they started testing. If you want to get the same results, you’ve got to get started, too. For more information, be sure to check out the on-demand webinar “Optimize Your Online Marketing Channels,” hosted by Optimizely and HubSpot.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Even if you aren’t completely sure what a pre roll ad is, odds are you’ve seen a few of them.
Click on any YouTube video and, more often than not, a short advert will automatically play before the video. This is known as a pre roll ad. Here’s an example: 

For consumers, these ads can feel like a digital thorn in the side. But for marketers, these short adverts can pack a powerful punch in terms of brand awareness and ad recall.

Let’s learn more about pre rolls ads, how to get these ads on YouTube, and look at some effective examples in action.

There are three main types of pre roll ads on YouTube:

Bumper: Available in select markets, bump ads are non-skippable, six-second ads.

Skippable: In a skippable video ad, viewers are given a choice to skip the ad after the initial five seconds. In order to work, these ads must be more than 12 seconds long.

Non-skippable: In a non-skippable video ad, viewers are not given a choice to skip the ad. These ads can be a maximum of 15 seconds.

There are many benefits to incorporating pre roll ads in your digital marketing strategy. To start, let’s look at the medium — YouTube.
YouTube is the second most popular website in the world (behind Google, which owns YouTube). In fact, users worldwide collectively consume 1 billion hours worth of videos on it each day.
Yes, you read that right — 1 billion hours in a single day.
With so many people watching, it’s the perfect opportunity to engage with potential customers. Just a handful of seconds is enough to expose viewers to a brand and create an impression — making it a great addition to your “top of the funnel” marketing strategy.
Second, one of the biggest hurdles for marketers is reaching the right people at the right time. YouTube makes this process easy with targeting. Powered by Google Ads, you can target your audience by interests, topics, demographics, geography, keywords, and language.
For example, suppose you own a yoga studio and you currently offer a free yoga class for new members. You could target your audience by their location and demographics, and select categories that mirror their interests, such as “Health & Fitness” or “Yoga Lovers” (psst: these are actual categories from Google Adwords).
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to pre roll adverts is, well, making them. Here are nine examples to help you brainstorm the best way to delight your YouTube viewers without getting in the way of their chosen video.
9 Exceptional Pre Roll Ads on YouTube
1. Lyft
Campaign: #HowtoHuman

If you’re like me, you’ve fumbled through a few post-lockdown conversations in your day-to-day life. Lyft decided to showcase these awkward encounters under a humorous lens for their campaign #HowtoHuman.
In this ad, we hear the internal monologue of a man who isn’t sure how to talk to his Lyft driver after a year in hibernation (“Just say hello! Maybe wassup? Or howdy there?”).
The advert is not only funny, but it also leans into the category of “how to” videos that are popular on YouTube. But what really makes this advert shine is its relatability. We’ve all felt out of practice with day-to-day interactions — so why not laugh about it.
2. The General
Campaign: Driving Without Insurance is a Bad Idea

What happens if you get a tattoo with a cold? Watch this six-second advert to find out (hint: it’s not pretty).
Just like getting a tattoo with a cold is a bad idea, so is driving without insurance. The General does a stellar job in conveying this message with humor and a touch of absurdity. If you have a few more seconds to spare, check out the extended version of this ad featuring the legend himself, Shaq.
3. Dove
Campaign: #WashtoCare

Many call-to-actions ask you to click a button, subscribe to a newsletter, or visit a website. But have you ever been called to wash your hands?
Dove’s #WashtoCare campaign conveys a poignant message: the act of washing your hands is actually an act of compassion for yourself, your loved ones, and the world.
Dove’s ad is not only timely, but also hits at a simple truth about today’s consumers: they are belief-driven. Increasingly, consumers want to see brands improve the world along with making a profit. Dove aligns with this shift, stating, “Washing your hands is the best way to show you care. No matter what soap you use.”
4. Domino’s Pizza
Campaign: #FreesNotFees

We all know giveaways are a great way to delight customers and increase engagement, and Domino’s does just that for its #FreeNotFees campaign.
The ad pinpoints a common pain point for customers — ordering food, navigating to the checkout, and feeling slighted by all of the hidden fees. By flipping the experience on its head (offering surprise freebies instead), viewers are enticed to order from Domino’s the next time dinner rolls around.
Of course, the close-up of the gooey chocolate lava cake doesn’t hurt, either. 
5. Sketchers
Campaign: You’ll Never Want to Stop Walking

Imagine walking for days upon days and… enjoying it. According to Sketchers, that dream could become a reality with their GO WALK 6 shoes.
Viewers are left with one question: could the shoes really be that comfortable? It’s the sense of intrigue that makes the advert so engaging. Of course, the distressed husband, the oblivious wife, and the tumbleweed rolling in the background make for a funny lasting impression, too.
6. Vistaprint
Campaign: Ready for Anything

Small business owners are often warned to “be ready for anything.” But what if that “anything” was a large asteroid about to hit the Earth? That’s the premise of Vistaprint’s Ready for Anything advert.
The ad starts with a business owner opening a package of brochures and stickers for her new yoga studio. Before you know it, the asteroid scorches right through the studio.
In an extreme act of adaptability, the business owner buys a new batch of marketing materials from Vistaprint — this time for a hot yoga studio.
While funny and ludicrous, the ad also reflects on the importance of adaptability and resilience in business. Vistaprint wants you to know that it will be a steadfast partner in times of uncertainty, and such honesty signals confidence and builds trust.
7. Chewy
Campaign: All the moments

Do you know the saying, “Look good, feel good?” That extends to our pets, too.
While videos of cute, soapy dogs in the bathtub play on screen, Chewy artfully narrates its breadth of products, from shampoos and toothbrushes to grooming tools. In the last few seconds, we shuffle through a variety of homes, all of which have a blue Chewy box sitting on the front stoop.
Sure, there’s some psychology to adding animals to ads. But where Chewy exceeds is capturing both the excitement of getting a package delivered with the love we have for our pets. Sounds like a winning combo.
8. H&M
Campaign: #HMConscious

What makes H&M different from other fashion brands at the mall? All it takes is one listen to this ad to find out.
This ad is effective because it shines a light on H&M’s unique selling proposition (USP): to create great fashion in a sustainable way. And in the age of fast fashion, this USP certainly takes a loud stance.
Remember, some of the most effective ads don’t push consumers to buy or do something. Sometimes, simply sharing your brand story and what makes you different from the rest can be just as powerful.
9. Mercedes-Benz
Campaign: Mercedes-AMG GT S

Mercedes-Benz targets the Singapore market in this bumper ad for a new two-door sports car. The video uses swift video cuts and a roaring engine to engage its viewers’ senses. This way, its audience can actually see and hear the intensity of reaching 60 MPH in only 3.8 seconds.
Pre roll ad rates
How much does a pre roll ad cost? Like most other types of online advertising, it depends. 
The cost of YouTube ads is based on views. Each view can cost between $0.10 and $0.30, depending on your industry and target keywords.
You set yourself a budget of what you are willing to spend per day, which can be as little or as much as you want. For instance, a business may allot $10 per day for its YouTube advertising budget, and then raise or lower this rate according to its goals.
YouTube will also ask you to set a maximum figure you are willing to pay per day. This means you can avoid any surprises should you find more people watching your ad than anticipated.
And remember, you only pay when somebody engages with your ad. For example, a viewer may watch your skippable ad for 30 seconds, or click on your website. If no action is taken, you don’t pay. Not a bad deal, right?
How to Get Pre Roll Ads on YouTube
By now, you probably have a few ideas for a pre roll ad. Now let’s outline the steps to bring your idea to YouTube.
1. Shoot a video and upload it to YouTube.
To state the obvious, you first need to create a video that will become the pre roll ad. Once the video is shot and edited, upload it to your YouTube channel (not your personal account).
2. Create a new campaign in Google Ads.
Now you’re ready to create a new campaign in Google Ads. First, go to your Google Ads account. If you don’t have one, you can sign up through Gmail.
In the dashboard, select “+New Campaign.”
Next, you will be prompted to select a goal, such as leads or website traffic. Choose whatever goal you’d prefer.
Under campaign type, select video. Now you have the option to choose a campaign subtype, including a bumper ad, a skippable ad, or a non-skippable ad.

Lastly, enter a name for your campaign.
3. Define your budget.
It’s time to crunch the numbers. You can set your budget per day or for the entire campaign. Setting a daily budget can help ensure you have an even distribution of your ad spend throughout your campaign.
Then, input the start and end date. Some marketers leave the end date open and stop the campaign manually when needed.
4. Select where your pre roll ad will (and will not) play
Now it’s time to decide where your pre roll ad will (and will not) play. These options are known as networks. Since we want the ad to appear in videos on YouTube, select “YouTube videos.”
Next, choose the locations of the users you want to target. You can also exclude certain locations.
Lastly, choose the languages that your target audience speaks.
5. Choose your targets.
Here comes the fun part — choosing your targets.
In this step, you have the opportunity to target your audience based on demographics, including gender, age, parental status, and household income.
Further refine your audience using the Audiences section. Here you can choose the type of videos most relevant to your ad by inputting keywords and topics, such as Finance, Health, or Food & Drink.
As in our earlier example, if you are the owner of a yoga studio running a new membership deal, you could choose Health or Beauty & Fitness as a topic.
You can also choose specific Placements for where you want your ad to play. This means you can target specific videos and channels on YouTube, such as those that feature yoga workouts.
It’s a good idea to run multiple campaigns to target different groups of users to see who is most engaged, rather than including everyone you want to target in one single campaign.
6. Place a bid
Next, determine the max price you will pay for each view. On YouTube, a view is when someone watches your ad for at least 30 seconds (or in its entirety for videos under 30 seconds). You can always increase or decrease this figure later.
7. Create the Pre Roll Ad
At last, your ad is ready to run. Well, almost.
Remember the video you created in step one? Now it’s time to copy and paste its URL into Google Adwords. Then, select the video ad format, such as a bumper ad or skippable in-stream ad.
Next, input the URL where you want people to go when they click your ad. This could be a custom landing page or the homepage of your website.
Finally, you have the option to create a call-to-action button that appears over your pre roll ad, and a companion banner that appears to the right of the YouTube video.
Once you’re satisfied with your ad, click Create Campaign.
Final Thoughts
As a part of a video marketing campaign, pre roll ads are effective vehicles to boost brand awareness and ad recall. And, when done correctly, you can provide an interesting or entertaining break to viewers, who may convert to customers.

We all know the importance of customer service for retaining customers and scaling a business — and it’s only increasing in value over time.
Consider, for instance, what happened when I called CorePower Yoga’s customer service team last week to complain about an incorrect charge to my account. What could’ve been a stressful and frustrating experience turned into me actually upgrading my membership.

That’s the power of good customer service — it’s where your customers’ loyalty starts, or ends.

Unfortunately, the past two years have been anything but easy on customer service teams. While customers’ expectations for customer service hit an all-time high, customer service reps simultaneously saw more difficult calls and increased escalations in 2020.
HubSpot’s Industry Data, for instance, shows a consistent rise in support tickets since the beginning of the pandemic — from 6% in March of 2020 to over 90% as of August 2021:

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However, as customers’ challenges and requests increased exponentially as a result of the pandemic, most service teams were still struggling to adjust to a fully remote setup. (Imagine the stress of a conversation with an unhappy customer from your kitchen table, where you might lack a strong phone connection or easy access to peers for help. Yikes.)
All of which is to say: COVID-19 had a strong impact on customer service, and in 2022 and beyond we’ll continue to see the ramifications of the pandemic on what customers expect from customer service, and how service reps will need to adjust to handle those new expectations.
Here, I spoke with six experts in the customer service industry to gather insights into the future of customer service. Let’s dive in.

How COVID-19 Impacted Customer Service
1. Service reps needed to adjust business offerings to meet new customer demands.
Microsoft’s Worldwide Support Leader Kirsten Gudmundson told me it’s vital service teams learn to adjust to their customers’ unique needs, which might be different than they were pre-pandemic.
“Listen, learn, evolve — quickly,” Gudmundson told me. “During the pandemic, our customers’ needs were evolving at warp speed as many had to quickly go through a digital transformation to stay relevant.”
Gudmundson adds, “It was imperative that we actively listened and adjusted our offerings to meet new customer demands and identified innovative ways to engage with customers.”
The pandemic required all businesses to re-route existing strategies and refocus their efforts. If you work for a B2B customer service team, then, it’s important to keep in-mind that part of your job is exhibiting patience and empathy when working with your customers.

Additionally, the ‘rule book’ you followed pre-pandemic might not work anymore. Part of the challenge of the service industry today is having the flexibility to alter your approach — and your business offerings — as you identify better ways to serve your customers.
As Gudmundson points out, “By making it easy for customers to get support and proactively providing services, we gave customers peace of mind, which allowed them to focus on this critical pivot point for their business.”
2. Burnout across service organizations increased.
According to a 2020 Gallup report, 76% of employees experience burnout on the job at least sometimes, and 28% say they are burned out ‘very often’ or ‘always’ at work.
Burnout has increased dramatically as a result of the pandemic. Work-life balance has blurred significantly. Additionally, some employees feel pressure to remain online to prove their working to their managers — and still others need to adjust to working from home while also taking care of their children or dealing with other household responsibilities.
Unfortunately, service employees are particularly at-risk of burnout. As researcher Kristina Hultgren writes, “call centre jobs are notorious worldwide for their high levels of turnover, absenteeism, employee burnout and emotional exhaustion.”
Kevan Gammage, Global Director of Customer Support at Brandwatch, told me he’s seen burnout increase for his own team after joining Brandwatch at the beginning of 2021.
“For us, the pandemic has been a bit of a ride,” Gammage says. “It seems like customers have been reasonable in understanding that our team is also impacted by COVID, but that only carries so far.”

“Our reps have certainly had to work under more pressure in general, and burnout has been a constant threat in our world. For example, our team has seen the type of tickets we get become much more technical in nature and subject.”

To deal with burnout, Gammage told me he’s needed to become more intentional about how he creates a connected environment for the team, even if that environment is fully remote.
Additionally, he told me, “We do our best to avoid burnout by encouraging our folks to take advantage of unlimited vacation. We also like to give the team specific self-development time to work on things that are more personal, like self-development or mentoring from teams they aspire to work in. So far, so good — but we have to continue to be creative for the team.”

3. Customers became more familiar with communication tools like Zoom and Google Meets.
Fatima Sbeih, Beautiful.ai’s Director of Customer Success, told me her team’s customer support requests nearly doubled at the beginning of the pandemic.
Sbeih says, “As a remote collaboration tool, new users adopted Beautiful.ai early in the pandemic as they transitioned to working from home. As a result, [our] customer support requests nearly doubled, leading to longer response times and adjusting priority levels for support tickets. This — coupled with the inherent collaboration challenges of remote work — resulted in a backlog of tasks.”

Sbeih told me, “Clear and concise internal communication became an even higher priority than before, as did the mental health of my team to ensure everyone felt supported.”

To ensure strong internal communication on your own support team, consider investing in powerful customer service tools, such as HubSpot for help desk software or JIRA for bug reporting.
Sbeih told me one of the most notable improvements to customer service that she’s seen has been a more geographically diverse talent pool that aligns with customers’ timezones. She notes that this has decreased wait times for first-time responses, and allowed for calls to be scheduled within business hours for each team.
As your team became more comfortable with remote software in 2020, so did your customers. This is a major benefit for remote support teams, as customers are more efficient at submitting and responding to requests on communication platforms outside of traditional phone calls. 
As Sbeih puts it, “customers became more comfortable with communication tools like Zoom and Google Meets, enabling easier assistance.”
4. Remote support coaching became a requirement.  
As people adjusted to this ‘new normal’, tensions were high. Along with the daily challenges they faced at their companies, customers also dealt with the extreme pressures of a global pandemic.
All of which is to say: 2020 wasn’t an easy year for anyone in a customer-facing role.
As HubSpot’s Team Lead of Customer Support in Berlin Takeaki Fujita puts it, “customer-facing teams were on the frontline for managing customer frustrations — which can be stressful for customer support teams to manage.”
Additionally, Fujita points out that the loneliness and isolation of a remote lifestyle can also impact the productivity of support reps. “Without teammates ‘on the floor’ for guidance, support escalations can increase if the rep feels stuck with no one to turn to for help … and this can slow down how quickly we can manage customer queries as a result.”

To mitigate the loneliness and frustration for your team, you might consider offering remote coaching for your support reps. As Fujita told me, championing collaboration within and across teams, encouraging transparency, and keeping communication channels open is vital for enabling reps to share knowledge and learn from one another.
Fujita adds, “Empowering reps with recurring virtual support and proactive coaching can lay the foundations for effective, personalized support interactions, which can only help our customers to grow better.”
5. Service reps needed to develop or nurture a stronger sense of empathy in their customer interactions.
When a customer is calling a customer service representative, they’re usually facing a challenging, frustrating, or disruptive situation. In 2020, it became increasingly important for service reps to lead with empathy in their conversations with customers.
As Moz’s Customer Support Lead Natalie Alexis puts it, “Early on, we saw an increase in customers seeking help for their businesses to survive. To better assist those dealing with the impact of the pandemic, our services had to evolve so we aimed to lead with more empathy in our interactions — this brought a sense of camaraderie with our customers.”
“But as the pandemic has persisted,” Alexis adds, “we’ve seen the impacts of the sustained stress on our customers. We’ve continued to focus on providing empathic service while acknowledging the increasingly stressful times we live in.”

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. This is particularly critical for customer support reps. To help your team develop empathy, consider how you might show them what your customers experience on a daily basis.
If you sell software, for instance, you’ll want to ensure your customer support reps have all been trained in how to use your software — the challenges they experience as they learn how to use your tools will help them understand and relate to your customers’ challenges, as well. 
Alnaica Augustave, an EMEA Customer Specialist at HubSpot, agrees that empathy has never been more critical in the support industry. She says, “COVID-19 has had an impact on customer service — particularly in the way of working and interacting with customers to have open communication and listening.”
Augustave adds, “We have seen an increase in customer service volume shifts with COVID-19, and in order to reduce customer frustration and anxiety, we have adjusted our infrastructure and focused on listening, increasing our empathy during this period.”
So … What’s Next?
Gammage told me that the pandemic has forced his support organization to learn how to roll with the punches — and this flexibility is going to remain necessary moving forward.
As Gammage puts it, “Going forward, I think that the expectations of customers will still be high, but reps should expect to have even more touchpoints with customers.”
You’ll want to ensure your customers are offered diverse options when it comes to getting in touch with your support team — for instance, perhaps you offer live chat, Messenger on Facebook or Instagram, SMS text messages, and a phone line. To streamline these processes, consider a tool like MobileMonkey, which enables you to see all customer messages in one place.
Additionally, as the remote customer support world continues to evolve, it’s vital you remain open to change and willing to adjust your team’s processes to fit the new needs of your customers.
As Sbeih told me, “Customer service has been, and will continue to be, successful in remote and hybrid environments. Work-from-home flexibility, retention, productivity, and work-life balance will continue to see improvements. However, the adjustment will remain a challenge for those who aren’t self-starters and may require extra support.”
Ultimately, it’s imperative your team listen to your customers and iterate over time to continue providing reliable, helpful solutions to their problems.
Remember: Your business’ success starts and ends with good support, so it’s vital you invest in your support team for the long-haul, particularly as the world adjusts to a world post-pandemic. 

Think about the last time you flipped through a confusing instruction manual. Where does that piece go? How do these parts fit together? If the instructions are subpar, you get frustrated and wind up looking for an explainer video some random person posted online.
If we can follow the storyline, we understand. If not, we get lost in the chaos. Information design aims to avoid confusion by presenting data in a way that’s easy to understand.
As a marketer, information design makes it simpler to share complex ideas — whether you’re distributing an annual report or getting buy-in for a new campaign. In this post, we’ll walk through the basics of information design, how to put it to use, and the tools you need to start applying it to your work.

Information design is integral to everyday life. For example, we follow a recipe to whip up a meal or navigate a museum using signs and exhibit explanations. When used effectively, it can help people complete a task, solve a problem, understand complex data, or follow a set of directions.
You may be thinking that information design sounds a lot like data visualization. While both are tied to graphic design and a core set of design principles, key differences set them apart.

information design
data visualization

Tells a story, which gives the data purpose.
Presents raw data in a visually appealing way but doesn’t provide purpose.

Uses logic and patterns that are easily understood by an audience.
Allows viewers to make their own conclusions, and aims to spark a specific reaction.

Provides conclusions, so the viewer doesn’t have to make their own assumptions.
Constantly evolves as new data becomes available.

Examples: How-to infographics, instruction manuals, or analytics reports that provide conclusions or predictions.

Examples: Analytics dashboards, demographic graphs, or performance charts.

Confused? You’re not the only one. The nuances between the two can be challenging to discern. The main thing to remember is that information design is about effectiveness and function, while data visualization is more about visual appeal and aesthetics. Both enhance a viewer’s ability to comprehend data, but only information design weaves storytelling into the mix.
Luckily, a set of principles exists that will help you turn complex information into attractive, coherent content.
Information Design Principles
Most fields have a set of guidelines to keep processes clear and consistent. For example, writers follow style guides, engineers adhere to code standards, and information designers practice design thinking.
Design thinking is a process for creative problem solving that puts people first. Like UX design, which considers the users’ needs above all else, information design principles are human-centered and give designers a process to follow. The goal is to ensure people don’t feel overwhelmed or confused as they navigate information.
While the principles are listed in a particular order below, know that this process isn’t always linear. You may have to repeat a step or jump back and forth between two to clarify information. Like all guidelines, you have to find what works for your situation and intention.
1. Empathize.
It’s essential to understand a problem before creating the solution. That’s why the first step in information design is about setting aside any assumptions so you can focus on users and their needs.
Start by getting curious. Ask questions, observe your audience’s behaviors, engage people in conversation, and empathize to understand their true motivations or problems. Use interviews, surveys, focus groups, or polls to learn what solution people really need. The aim is to understand how people may interact with the final design to make it as effective as possible — but know the design will only be as good as the information you collect.
2. Define the core problem.
Once you’ve collected information from your target audience, you need to synthesize it and define the core problem to be solved. Ideally, you center it around the people you’re aiming to help instead of your own needs.
For example, say you want to create a product page for a new portable speaker that your company will release. You may say, “We want to hit our sales goal, so we need to make a product page that’s focused on converting people into customers.” Instead, think about your customers and redefine the problem as, “People are looking for a speaker that can go anywhere, have great sound, and last for years.”
Defining the problem with your audience in mind changes the way designers, writers, and marketers approach the solution. And it often sparks creative ideas, which leads right into the next stage.
3. Ideate and brainstorm.
Not all ideas have the same impact. That’s why it’s essential to encourage everyone involved in the information design process to flex their creativity in this phase.
Give your tried-and-true brainstorming techniques a go, but don’t be afraid to experiment with new methods. Techniques like mind-mapping, brainwriting, free association, S.C.A.M.P.E.R, and storyboarding can stimulate ideas. Get as many ideas as you can for both the design and the story right from the start.
Once you’ve condensed your ideas down to a carefully curated list, map out your story outline to get a feel for how people will interact with and understand your design. This outline will serve as the foundation for the first iterations.
4. Prototype your ideas.
You likely landed on one or two strong ideas for the story and design. The prototype phase is where you expand upon those ideas to identify the best possible solution.
Prototypes are typically low-cost, simplified iterations, so don’t spend all of your resources perfecting the first version. Instead, focus on the visual hierarchy to make your story stand out. Then, before moving on to the next step, share the prototype with people involved in the project to make sure the information is accurate, precise, engaging, and easily understood.
5. Test your designs.
When your design is robust enough to explain your idea, it’s time to share it and collect feedback. Send it to teammates within your company who may provide insight or gather a group of people in your audience.
Take note of everyone’s reactions. Are they confused by the storyline or design? Do they know what steps to take? Is the information clear and accurate? Do people read or watch to the end?
Give people a few days to sit with the prototype and gather feedback. When you feel you have enough information, make any necessary tweaks. You may have to repeat this step multiple times because, often, the feedback inspires you to redefine the problem and rethink your story.
Information Design Examples
While there’s a particular way to approach information design, the design possibilities are near endless. Let’s look at some ways it’s used in business and marketing to help spark your ideas.
1. Media Economy Report Vol.13, Bureau Oberhaeuser

Industry trends don’t have to be a bore. This report from MAGNA GLOBAL acts as a thought leadership piece to share insights on where the eCommerce industry is heading and how the customer experience is changing. A blend of copy and well-designed graphics gives an overview of forces affecting the industry, highlights key takeaways, and provides predictions on how eCommerce will evolve.

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2. Advanced Keyword Research Tutorial, Brian Dean

Information design can go beyond written content. This explainer video from Backlinko gives life to the standard “how-to” post with a visually appealing design, animation, and clear instructions. If you want to experiment with content beyond blog posts, infographics, or reports, a video may be just the content for your next information design project.

 
3. The Deal Machine, Elisabetta Calabritto

Mergers and acquisitions require a lot of research, but this design makes reading about the challenges companies face downright enjoyable. It’s an excellent example of how information design isn’t just about interpreting charts and visualizing studies—it also incorporates graphic elements that delight the eyes. Large quote blocks, relevant images, and color influence how people comprehend information, so make sure to consider the visual flow when creating your design.

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4. Not Another State of Marketing Report, HubSpot

Marketing is constantly evolving, and people need to keep up with the latest trends, strategies, and stats. HubSpot knows this. Their annual report reflects their industry expertise, with chapters dedicated to each marketing niche. Need to know the latest SEO strategies? Skip to Chapter Four. This example is a lesson in knowing your audience, providing the data they need, and packaging it up in a design that’s easy on the eyes.
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5. Click & Collect: Reinventing Online Grocery Experience, Netguru

Case studies are necessary for educating your audience and providing proof that your product or service works. Netguru did a great job creating a case study that’s simple to scan and fun to scroll through. Interactive graphics catch your eye and explain how the product works. But my favorite moment had to be learning how the automated guided vehicles work.

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Information Design Tools
Everyone has their favorite tools, whether it be for note-taking, project management, graphic design, or content management. If your specialty is marketing, the following tools can help you put together cohesive, attractive content — without having to learn complex software.
Certain tools are more intricate than others, though, so loop in your design team if necessary. They are the experts, after all! Here are some valuable tools to consider:

Canva: A graphic design platform that is simple for non-designers to quickly get the hang of to create presentations, infographics, reports, and more.

Visme: Ideal for both experienced designers and newbies, this graphic design platform gives a variety of templates so you can create videos, infographics, documents, charts, and graphics.

Crello: Full of trendy templates, Crello is a graphic design tool with layouts for social media posts, marketing materials, presentations, and more. It also features a collection of royalty-free photos so you can spice up your information design documents.

Adobe Creative Cloud: A must-have for creatives, Adobe CC offers supreme control over your creations. Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Premiere provide powerful tools for starting a design entirely from scratch.

Procreate: This app is for artists who create digital paintings (think animations, graphics, and more). It’s more for designers than for marketers, but it’s perfect for those who prefer to work by hand before converting their work into programs like Adobe CC.

In a world where people are constantly bombarded with information, focusing on clear communication can improve conversions, increase customer satisfaction, and help you hit your goals. Effective information design makes it easy for people to gain insights and learn about your company. With the right data, story, and tools in hand, you can design content that’s just right for your audience—and hopefully prevent the frustration that comes from an incomprehensible set of instructions.

If you could improve your website’s performance by 10%, would you?
Site performance scoring is a complex web of metrics, and First Contentful Paint (FCP) is just one factor Google considers when evaluating page load speed. Responsible for 10% of a website’s overall performance score, FCP plays an important role in creating a positive user experience for visitors.
A site’s First Contentful Paint (FCP) is the total time it takes a page to load from the moment the request is sent to the point that any content is rendered on the screen.

The higher the FCP score, the slower the content loads. When visitors think a page takes too long to load, it can be a major red flag. In a study by Top Designs Firms, 42% of people said they would leave a poorly functioning website.
But a low FCP score shows that the page is loading quickly, which means content will be delivered sooner. And fast-loading content is one way to keep visitors scrolling your site. In fact, Deloitte found that a 0.1-second improvement in load time increased conversions by 8.4% for retail sites and 10.1% for travel sites.
When a millisecond makes a difference, it’s best to do whatever you can to improve your site speed. So let’s take a look at how to lower FCP to make your site as fast and user-friendly as possible.
What is First Contentful Paint?
First Contentful Paint (FCP) is the amount of time it takes for a user to see the first content on a website, whether it’s images, text, logos, background graphics, or non-white <canvas> elements. FCP evaluates how users experience a website’s page load speed by measuring what people actually perceive, rather than the results of a speed test tool.
In the timeline below, you can see FCP play out in the second frame when the first text and image elements appear on the screen.

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First Contentful Paint is one of six metrics tracked in the Google Lighthouse Performance report, along with Time to Interactive, Speed Index, Total Blocking Time, Largest Contentful Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift. Each metric measures an aspect of page load speed.

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First Contentful Paint is an important metric for judging the page load timeline because it marks the point where a user can see that something is happening on the screen. Without this reassurance, a user might leave the page to browse a faster website.
First Contentful Paint differs from the Core Web Vitals Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) because LCP measures the time it takes for the largest element on a website to become visible. On the other hand, FCP measures the first element to load, which isn’t necessarily the largest element.
A quick LCP helps assure people that the main content is useful to them. But a fast FCP reassures people that something is happening on the page, which can keep them around long enough for the rest of the page to load.
How to Test First Contentful Paint
FCP can be measured in the lab (pre-release) and in the field (real-world users).
Testing FCP in the lab is a good way to work out issues before your site goes live, but it isn’t the most accurate way to evaluate performance. That’s where field testing comes in, showing you how people interact with your site when there are differences in devices, network connections, and user interactions.
You can use the following tools to test First Contentful Paint:
Field Tools

PageSpeed Insights
Chrome User Experience Report
Search Console (Speed Report)
web-vitals JavaScript library

Lab Tools

Lighthouse
Chrome DevTools
PageSpeed Insights

For this article, let’s walk through what it looks like to run a test with Lighthouse – an open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages. (If you’ve never run this audit before, follow the link for easy step-by-step instructions).
Once you run the test for a given URL, Lighthouse opens a new tab to share the site performance overview. In the example below, the site is performing well in SEO and Accessibility but needs work on Performance and Best Practices.

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Going deeper, the audit also gives scores for each of the six performance metrics, including First Contentful Paint (FCP). In the test shown below, the FCP score is 2.5 seconds – a time that “needs improvement.”

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But you need to know what makes a “good” score in order to improve FCP.
The Ideal First Contentful Paint Speed
Google recommends a First Contentful Paint scoring of 1.8 seconds or less in order to provide your site visitors with a good browsing experience.

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But what determines your FCP score?
Like all things Google, there’s a method to the metric. Your FCP score is determined by comparing your site’s FCP time to FCP times for real sites, using data from the HTTP Archive. You can dive deeper to see how Lighthouse determines thresholds and metric scores.
When evaluating your FCP score, Google says “a good threshold to measure is the 75th percentile of page loads, segmented across mobile and desktop devices.” This helps get an accurate representation of the user experience.
If your site has a poor FCP score, there are steps you can take to shave off seconds and create a faster site that visitors want to scroll through. But first, let’s explore what leads to a poor score.
What Causes High First Contentful Paint
Large text files, slow server response time, and multiple page redirects can all contribute to a high First Contentful Paint score. If you have a high First Contentful Paint (FCP), it’s likely due to one of these factors:

Slow font load time
Slow server response times (TTFB)
High request counts and large transfer sizes
Render-blocking resources
Unused or inefficient CSS
Script-based elements above the fold
Lazy loading above the fold
Not inlining images above the fold
Excessive DOM size
Multiple page redirects

But keep in mind, the Lighthouse Performance score is a weighted average of all the metric scores – and the FCP makes up 10% of that total. As a result, the heavily weighted scores will have a larger impact on your overall Performance scoring. Here’s a look at how the other Lighthouse metrics are weighted:

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If your overall Performance score needs improvement, it can be best to spend time optimizing for Total Blocking Time or Largest Contentful Paint before tackling First Contentful Paint. As you implement good development practices across the site, it’s likely your FCP score will lower.
But if you want to improve FCP, you can take a few targeted steps to move from a red to a green score.
How to Improve First Contentful Paint
It’s not always simple to improve a First Contentful Paint (FCP) score. But with the right action plan in place, it’s easier to prioritize the major errors that have the greatest impact. Let’s break down how to go about it.
1. Create a list of high-priority issues.
The first step to lowering the FCP score for any site is to run the list of lab and field tests shared above to understand exactly what you need to work on.
Let’s hop back into the Lighthouse performance report from earlier. If the FCP score “needs improvement,” it’s best to reference the opportunities or diagnostics recommendations in the report. To see all of the recommendations, toggle to the “All” tab. Or for recommendations specific to the First Contentful Paint (FCP) score, toggle to the “FCP” tab.

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The above test shares two opportunities to improve FCP: eliminate render-blocking resources and ensure text remains visible during the Webfont load.
By learning the top issues affecting FCP, you’ll have a list of where to focus and what to fix.
2. Learn what to ignore.
Another helpful feature of the Lighthouse performance report is letting you know what you don’t need to focus on. This list is generated under the “Passed audits” section of the performance report.

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While it’s okay to ignore these non-issues, know that Google constantly updates the metrics used to evaluate page load speed. It’s good practice to routinely run tests to ensure site performance is on track – you may need to prioritize a “passed audit” one day.
3. Work with your web team to fix issues.
Once you know what issues to pay attention to, it’s simply a matter of taking action to improve the ones impacting First Contentful Paint (FCP).
This post won’t get into the weeds of web development. But these detailed guides from Google are excellent resources for understanding each factor that affects page speed and performance. If one is impacting your FCP score, you can take a look to learn how to fix the issue.

Eliminate render-blocking resources
Minify CSS
Remove unused CSS
Pre-connect to required origins
Reduce server response times (TTFB)
Avoid multiple page redirects
Preload key requests
Avoid enormous network payloads
Serve static assets with an efficient cache policy
Avoid an excessive DOM size
Minimize critical request depth
Ensure text remains visible during Webfont load
Keep request counts low and transfer sizes small

Whether your First Contentful Paint (FCP) score is showing red, yellow, or green, there are always improvements to be made. It’s the fun – and sometimes, frustrating – part of web development.
But remember, small changes can have a big impact. Reducing server response times, compressing images, and being aware of the elements above the fold can lower your FCP score, speed up your site, and ensure site visitors have a faster, longer browsing experience.

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