One of the classic Web usability “best practices” is to put the call-to-action above the fold. I did a little research (thank you, Wikipedia) and apparently, the term dates back to the mid-90s – practically the Paleozoic era of Web marketing.

So, is above the fold still a best practice in 2013? Let’s take a look at a recent discovery from our lab …

Background: Sierra Tucson is an addiction and mental health rehabilitation facility

Goal: Increase the total number of leads captured

Primary Research Question: Which page will obtain the most form submissions?

Approach: Multi-factor split test

CONTROL

The control was an average, short-form page template with a rotating banner. The call-to-action was above the fold on the right-hand side of the landing page.

After analyzing the control landing page, the MECLABS team identified a few possible areas for optimization:

The page layout causes friction because elements of the value proposition are hidden within the navigation.

The lack of value proposition on the page does not encourage users to contact the facility.

Based on this analysis, the team crafted the following hypothesis …

Hypothesis: If we increase the value proposition throughout the copy on the homepage and decrease friction with a long-form page layout, then users will be more likely to convert.

TREATMENT

Navigation was omitted (“Web Usability: When should you avoid navigation?“) and a long-form format was used to include all of the information a visitor might want to know on the first page.

The value proposition was also emphasized in the headline and the body copy to boost exclusivity, appeal and credibility.

Essentially, this is a single-column, long-form structure with the call-to-action down at the bottom. The treatment is nearly twice the length of the control and the call-to-action is at the bottom of the page.

RESULTS