Accelerating web optimization through psychology

At Webflow Conf 2024, Michael Harrington, Director of Web Strategy at Vanta, presented a novel approach to web optimization by integrating psychological principles and user intent data, as demonstrated in his work with SaaS companies like BILL and Divvy. Harrington emphasized the importance of psychology in conversion rate optimization, citing principles like Hick’s Law and cognitive load theory, which highlight the need for simplifying user decisions to enhance website performance. He illustrated this with a case study from Divvy, where aligning a credit product page with users’ psychological needs, by embedding a sign-up form in the header, resulted in a significant conversion rate increase from 3% to 17-20%. Harrington advised web teams to focus on demand capture, embrace experimentation, and leverage tools like Webflow to efficiently implement changes across websites, advocating for a shift from traditional fulfillment roles to performance-driven, growth-oriented functions.