Meet “Click!”: Encourage Clicks Without Shady Tricks

• 11 min read
• Business, Usability, Smashing Books
• Share on Twitter, LinkedIn

About The Author

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing, he’s most probably running front-end & UX … More about Vitaly ↬

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The web has become a noisy place with millions of companies trying to get users’ attention. No wonder many of them apply increasingly desperate techniques to encourage users to act on their websites. We’ve seen an explosion of dark patterns attempting to manipulate users into handing over personal data or make a purchase.

However, these manipulative techniques come with hidden costs in customer service, maintenance, support, return processing fees, and social media backlash. They cost a fortune and hurt business irrevocably.

How, then, do we encourage users to act? How do we increase clicks without shady techniques? By establishing trust with small commitments, at the right time, and in the right order. Click! explains how to do just that. Jump to table of contents and download a free PDF excerpt (1 MB).

About The Book

There is no shortage in books on marketing and user experience. But when it comes to bridging the gap between the two, many of us struggle to find the right balance. As businesses, we need to meet out targets — be it with install app prompts, newsletter overlays or infamous chat widgets. But as designers, we don't want to end up with a frustrating user experience. We really need both, and we need a strategy to get there.

That's why we've written Click! — a guide with practical strategies for improving conversion and retention while building user's loyalty and trust. The book explores how to effectively address user concerns, overcome scepticism and encourage users to act — helping you meet your business targets and KPIs along the way. Whether you are a designer, marketer, entrepreneur or product owner, this book will surely help you avoid hidden costs and drive sales.

Here's a short video message from Paul Boag, the author of Click!, explaining why he's written the book and what it's all about:

By reading this book, you will learn to:

• Measure and boost business KPIs effectively,
• Build a user-centric sales funnel,
• Reduce risks and address objections,
• Build trust and overcome skepticism,
• Persuade people without alienating them,
• Establish a strategy for higher conversion.
• Psst! A little surprise shipped with the first 500 books.
• Download a free PDF sample (23.7 MB) and get the book right away.

The book is split into 11 chapters. We'll start by exploring the psychology of decision making and how to measure conversion. Then we'll build a user-centric sales funnel and address user concerns effectively. Finally, we'll explore how to encourage users to act without alienating them.

“This is a great book on how to practically, and ethically, optimise website conversion rates. Before, I was roughly aware of what CRO was, but now I feel confident to start implementing these techniques in projects. As you would expect, Paul explains all of the concepts in an easy-to-follow and friendly manner.”

— Dave Smyth, Agency Owner

“I picked up a super simple testing idea, and saw a 42% lift in conversion rate. It was surprising to me, so I ran it again to significance with the same result. That equates to about 2.5 million USD/year in revenue at no additional cost. So I’d say I got my money’s worth!”

— Brandon Austin Kinney, Director of Lead Generation

368 pages. The eBook is already available (PDF, ePUB, Amazon Kindle). We’ll ship printed copies early June 2020. For designers, marketers, entrepreneurs and product owners. Written by Paul Boag. Designed by Veerle Pieters.

About the Author

Paul Boag is a leader in conversion rate optimisation and user experience design thinking. He has over 25 years experience working with clients such as Doctors Without Borders and PUMA. He is the author of six books and a well respected presenter.

Technical Details

• ISBN: 978-3-945749-83-8 (print)
• Quality hardcover, stitched binding, ribbon page marker.
• Free worldwide airmail shipping from Germany. (Check your delivery times). Due to Covid-19 and import restrictions, there could be some delays. But you can start reading the eBook right away.
• eBook is already available as PDF, ePUB, and Amazon Kindle.
• Get the book right away.

Community Matters ❤️

With Click!, we’ve tried to create a very focused handbook with pragmatic solutions to help everyone create a better digital product that doesn't get abandoned due to sheer number of pop-ups, install prompt and newsletter box overlays.

There is quite a bit of work to do on the web, but our hope is that with this book, you will be equipped with enough techniques to increase conversion and the number of happy customers.

Producing a book takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for their ongoing support in our adventures. As a result, the eBook is and always will be free for Smashing Members. Plus, Members get a friendly discount when purchasing their printed copy.

Stay smashing, and thank you for your ongoing support, everyone!

More Smashing Books

Promoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.

In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books that stand the test of time. Trine, Alla and Adam are some of these people. Have you checked out their books already?