Comparison Testing Using Crazy Egg

During a recent redesign of USA.gov, the resource on the site with the most traffic ("Government Agencies") was placed lower right at the fold of the homepage, causing complaints and a drop in traffic.

Case Study: USA.gov Homepage

USA.gov Baseline Test (Heatmap View)

The large green circle under the fold at lower right is the Government Agencies box traffic.

USA.gov Test 1 (Heatmap View)

The team added “Find a Government Agency” to the "Get It Done Online" box at top of page.

USA.gov Test 2 (Heatmap View)

They left the new task in the "Get It Done Online" box and moved the "Government Agencies" box above the "News and Features" box on the homepage, bringing it above the fold.

Note the red circle on the middle right side of the screen.

Our Goals

The team set moderate goals for improvement:

• Baseline: Document existing traffic patterns on USA.gov homepage
• Test 1: 5% increase in combined "Government Agencies" traffic in first week
• Test 2: 10% increase in combined "Government Agencies" traffic from baseline level during second week

Comparison Test Results

• WebTrends data shows "Government Agencies" traffic increased almost 40% after comparison test changes
• Crazy Egg data shows that by adding "Find Government Agencies" to the "Get It Done Online" box, Government Agencies traffic increased 23%
• Crazy Egg data shows that by adding "Find Gov Agencies" to "Get It Done Online" box and placing the "Government Agencies" box above the fold, Government Agencies traffic increased 58%

Recommendations

• Conduct follow-up test: remove “Find Government Agencies" from "Get It Done Online" box and place "Government Agencies" box above News and Features. This will improve position and eliminate redundant links from the Home Page.
• Do additional Crazy Egg analysis on Government Agencies links in the A–Z Index to validate specific government agencies' top tasks