Helium 10 Optimizes Their User Experience To Better Communicate Core Software Benefits

The Overview

Helium 10 is a software company for entrepreneurs looking to start, grow, and scale businesses on Amazon.

With more than 30 powerful Amazon tools, Helium 10 makes selling easier thanks to product research, keyword research, listing optimization, operations, and more.

The platform offers free and premium plans, making it accessible to over 2 million users ranging from new sellers to established enterprises.

The Challenge

Helium 10 came to The Good with a library of excellent tools and resources for Amazon sellers. But, they faced a challenge: prospective users didn’t understand their core benefit. The website wasn’t producing conversions to paid accounts, nor was it clearly demonstrating how signing up could help Amazon sellers.

With a main goal to increase paid accounts, our teams agreed to start with a Digital Experience Optimization Audit™. Diving into Helium 10’s on-site experience would give The Good insight into where the user experience fell short.

The Process

With the challenge in mind, we began our full-funnel analysis of the customer journey. The data sources for our audit included:

• Google Analytics data
• Heatmaps
• Session Recordings
• User Testing
• Our own expert analysis

In our analysis, we confirmed that users couldn’t understand the platform’s core benefits at a glance. A cluttered homepage, nondescript tool names, and unclear pricing structure were just a few of the barriers to registration.

1. Homepage

Our research found that users failed to see the value of an all-in-one tool on the homepage. Seeing all the tools available signaled to the more experienced user that Helium 10 may be better suited for someone not already using any tools.

The homepage also wasn’t showcasing the value of signing up for a paid account. “I’m not sure how different the tools get when you subscribe to them,” one user tester said. Users were unsure if the free account offered limited access to tools for free, full access for a limited amount of time, or a free trial only.

On the homepage, heatmaps showed little engagement below the fold. Excessive white space created the illusion of completeness, resulting in 50% of users dropping off after the hero area.

For each of these established challenges, we prioritized opportunity areas on their website. These included:

• Updating how tools were displayed to promote product discovery. Surface benefits of an all-encompassing platform in place of individual product features to serve as a tour of Helium 10 for new users.
• Featuring standout customer reviews in the hero area to increase the visibility of social proof and encourage scrolling.
• Highlighting key value propositions on the homepage in the form of a product tour.

2. Menu

User testing and session recordings showed that users relied on short product headlines to understand tool differences. Displaying only tool names strained users’ short-term memory, lessening the likelihood of signup.

Session recordings also showed users had difficulty scanning through menu items, particularly within Resources. While icons can be effective in grabbing user attention when used sparingly, in this case, the overuse of icons actually harmed directional guidance.

We synthesized our findings into opportunities to improve directional guidance in the menu, including:

• Relying on tool categorization (rather than tool names) to help users understand the capabilities of the tools.
• Adding on-states to give users a better indication of where users were on the site.

3. Registration Form

Users noted the simplicity of the form, liking that it did not ask for too much information from them in order to get started. But, when asked if the form met their expectations, users commented that they would have expected to be able to select a plan or see pricing as part of the signup process. They also didn’t have confidence about what they would receive by signing up for the tool due to the lack of benefits language and social proof.

Data about user drop-offs from the form reinforced that users needed more information before signing up. Over 28% of users left without interacting with the form, and over 39% of sessions resulted in failed submissions.

To address these barriers to conversion on the registration form, we created opportunities and included inspiration from our extensive library of SaaS examples. These included:

Adding an image of the dashboard as a background to the signup form to give users a hint of the capabilities of an account. In an example from Sellics, we highlighted how adding some friendly text, “let’s work together,” encourages users to complete the signup, and how the popup modal makes the signup step feel more incorporated with the rest of the site.

We also suggested including current user quotes or other social proof to improve confidence about the product and clarity about the benefits.

Finally, we recommended a more detailed checkout step that asks for a little more billing information to build trust. The accompanying example from Sellfy takes users to a separate checkout page to complete their purchase, similar to a traditional ecommerce experience. Users can also add a coupon code and see the discount at the final step.

The Solution & Results

Informed by insights from the audit, The Good and Helium 10 continued to work together on an ongoing Digital Experience Optimization Program™. The program included research, strategy, and experimentation. Each month, The Good ran multiple A/B tests to validate improvements based on the audit and continued learnings.

Along with a better user experience, Helium 10’s optimization efforts with The Good resulted in reduced bounce rates, an increase in registrations, and higher paid conversion rates.

Let’s take a look at one example of a homepage improvement test and implementation. We hypothesized that surfacing the benefits of an all-encompassing platform in place of individual product features will increase conversions for new users.

So, we tested updating the copy to speak to value to the user rather than features of individual products.

Updating the copy to speak more of the platform’s benefits rather than about individual tools created a 4.75% increase in signups to a free account. The variant also produced a 5.51% increase in paid conversions with higher total revenue. Helium 10 implemented the recommended variant and leveraged the learnings in marketing materials and other website improvements.

Another important A/B test came from the hypothesis that adding social proof or an image of the dashboard as a background to the signup form would allow users to get a hint of the capabilities of an account and increase signups.

We tested two variants: one that showed a blurred background image of the dashboard and one that featured quotes from current customers as social proof.

While both variants offered a lift in conversions against the control, featuring social proof allowed users to get a better understanding of the use cases of paid products, resulting in a 12% increase in paid conversions. So, Helium 10 implemented this recommendation.

These are just two of the test results and implementations that Helium 10 leveraged from The Good’s optimization work with their team. Other highlights included:

• In the dashboard navigation, icons were replaced with a more intuitive layout, and tools were grouped by core function, making it easier for users to understand the product suite.
• The new tools menu was reorganized to provide clearer information about which tools were available for free and which required a paid upgrade, making it easier for users to navigate the toolset without feeling lost.
• Clarified pricing tiers to better communicate that the pricing and features scale with the user’s Amazon store, making it clear that the tool is for beginners and experts alike.

How They Got There

Helium 10 achieved their results with a Digital Experience Optimization Audit™ and ongoing Digital Experience Optimization Program™.

Want to uncover user insights that drive more signups for your software? Schedule a call with our team to see if there is a good mutual fit.