Rotating banners (sliders and carousels included) are in theory are a great idea, they allow you to show multiple calls to action with different messaging in one area without taking up additional prime real estate on your homepage. The idea is simple, use one area to try and engage multiple user personas with different goals. This practice has been tested many times and the findings have shown that more times than not, users skip over these banners and scroll down to the content below or navigate to an interior page through the top navigation.
Let The Data Decide
Motion does attract the attention of users, but in many cases it decreases readability. We tested a few ecommerce sites in very different industries to see which of these forces outweighed the other. We used the key performance indicator (KPI) of clicks on the banner graphics calls to action (CTA).
The results from one of our tests was for a client in the food production industry yielded an increase in overall click conversions by 29% on the static banner compared to a rotating banner. In another test we ran for a client in the pest service industry we found a static banner outperformed a rotating banner by increasing clicks by 24%.
Static banners don’t outperform in every industry though, we found that overall clicks on a rotating banner of 4 slides outperformed a static banner for a client in the health, wellness, and fitness industry. So don’t make the mistake of thinking this is a one size fits all answer to the question of rotating vs. static banners?
Why Does This Happen?
We’re now in an environment where we are constantly bombarded with advertisements online, and we’ve gotten to the point where we innately ignore anything that resembles an advertisement – including rotating banners. So the theory that movement wins attention while, true in most cases, doesn’t hold up for marketers. Data is revealing that users are increasingly ignoring the movement more often than not.
Think your rotating banner on your site is underperforming? Set up an A/B test and let the data decide for you. For more information on running a successful A/B test, check out this blog post: 4 Tips for Running a Successful A/B Test