However if the message on the slider are of any importance, why hide them several clicks away? There’s nothing wrong with implementing a dynamic slider in this manner during a passive time of user interaction. I think you’ve come up with a good argument @Peep. Just take the banners and use them like headings. Earlier in September I wrote a blog post: That big sliding banner? Hi – do you think this strategy has different impacts for non-ecommerce sites ? It’s like playing whack a mole on some web sites. I built websites. Just checked each site…They all now USE sliders (except Adobe). These days, so many ecommerce sites use rotating offers, not because they tested it but due to herd mentality—”Other sites have it, so we should, too.”. btw these views are not my own, but are based upon observing thousands of tests with users. So the question one needs to ask is “do you want more $$$” or “more fancy looks” ;) Your site can look good without sliders as well, there are plenty around – I’ve seen them myself! The desire to communicate to multiple, equally important audiences is the primary reason why most organizations insist on keeping their carousels. It may be that your clients are the people buying web design services rather than end-users. Here’s J.J. Buckley with a static offer—a focus on a single message so that it gets delivered: (They’ve since switched to an auto-play video. I think the only way to maximise the usability of a carousel is to give it a scrollbar. In all the testing I have done, home page carousels are completely ineffective.For one, anything beyond the initial view has a huge decrease in visitor interaction. The biggest mistake to make is not to reveal what the carousel contains in advance. I’m glad someone else sees how this slider patter is just useless and annoying. I needed to build credibility when the visitor first arrives at the site – my slides also demonstrate the kind of business that hires me and the variety of work I do – which are both difficult things for me to communicate (SEO Copywriting is still largely misunderstood/unknown so I spend most of my time educating – these slides have filled that role well. Oxymoron? Now I know i don't have to settle for whatever comes along cause i can do better. Author of ‘Website Optimization: An Hour a Day’, I read this comment to the end expecting an Amway sales pitch. Way too much information with the message, and all the images crammed into one space, added to that, I didn’t get a chance to even take in the images or text before VROOOOM, next slide… Too fast, and too much per slide. But even seeing this kind of test on one website would not prove anything at all. I have just had my daughter test the water again, and she says ph is ... I’m now officially depressed and blame myself. Let’s get back using out teeth for cutting raw meats & fruits. I won’t be a part of that. In ecommerce sites one knows the slider is trying to sell different products so its a blind spot. I recently decided to turn down a project because I didn’t want to make the crap this person envisioned. They usually provide a quick visual synopsis of what you can expect out of the website. One of the problems we face is that clients “order” these giant sliding banners. Hey, is this true for all websites or just ecommerce websites? Enough said…. The tests say a lot about using carousel images. I use one. Thanks very much :). Hence, the human eye reacts to movement—including constantly moving image sliders and carousels. Therefore, their websites have them and I have happy clients. Consequences of substance for ignoring subpoenas. I think I am going to switch it to an optin offer of relevance. They are so popular on wordpress themes cause the look pretty and awesome. Glad I’ve come across it. ;), There’s a typo in Jakob Nielsen’s name (“Jakon”). On my own testing putting your main content/message works very well than putting a carousel. I like this vision. @”Argh! In that case, they might go for a flashy look and you’ve got a quick sale. In summary, just think before do, the customer/user is why you make a website in the end, not the client. The transition should be swift and the scene itself readable. However, there is no reason using modern CSS techniques in which you can utilize automatic sliders to enhance a particular user experience. It’s just bad communication. Some may argue this would detract from reading an article, however once completed reading or they want to move on to something else, the option is readily available to them. If you are to publish things like this, please substantiate them, otherwise its just a lot of huff. 3. Love your last answer about the boos or the wife, probably right ;-), I’m right now trying to wireframe new design for our website (without slider) A means of enforcing them. The only reason I’ve ignored the pop up here is because I’d already composed a comment ;), Would have been nice to have seen some suggestions for what to use instead of a slider…, Hmm, I’ve been toying with the idea of giving up on the rotating banner for a wee while. Show the slide content right up front (without using the slider) for improved usability. I think that’s an interesting idea in theory but you have to also consider the short attention span of the user. Pagination. That is prime real estate for your visitors, and in my experience, it’s almost wasting the opportunity for conveying the story. I’m a huge fan of sliders but I get your point, because for the simple fact that sliders do move fast; and yes I have gotten to sites while reading whats on the slider boom the content slides away and I would get annoyed. You couldn’t even see the whole video. I also want to say that I think sliders are crap. 2. Ever. Dems have to fix the procedural and rules loopholes or this is a hiatus from crazy, not the full cure. Rich Page It’s amazing how so many people just follow fads, without testing the results. So, there!! Why? Running a special just run 1 special. I did, however, decide to keep this user-initiated rather than auto scrolling. So so true.. https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/06/republicans-turn-on-trump-georgia-loss-455305https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/06/republicans-turn-on-trump-georgia-loss-455305, Gonna be another stupid spreader event? What your article says is bad communication doesn’t work! 2: You mention using single image shots instead – unfortunately they are often too generic, and make a HUGE presumption that each visitor is going to care about that one thing you have decided to show them. They add extra weight to the download size of a page thereby making them load slower. Nielsen concluded that image carousels get ignored. Unless…. You know what, I BARELY take notice of them as well. Clients ask for them, and because they’re so easy to implement, the designers and developers never question whether they SHOULD be on there; they just take their clients’ orders and throw them in there, which is dangerous. If I go on nd.edu, there is one tiny carousel with poor content. Thanks so much for providing this information, especially as I’m ambivalent about using a slider on my site’s home page. Don’t use floating popup adds which make navigating your site’s comments impossible on a mobile device. not relevant), then what? Oh… nba.com just got rid of their slider. I’m sure you’ve come across dozens, if not hundreds, of image carousels or sliders (also called “rotating offers”). And if I’m not trying to look at other parts on the page, I get distracted by the slider moving at the top. What if the content within the slider are just images and move slowly? Ever! How else would you suggest promoting three different products in a small area at the top of your homepage? Not from what I can tell. Marjam, Often, the carousels move so fast that people can’t finish reading them, even if they want to. People are fully coming to your site for one of a two reasons…. Gone. From managing a site with about 75k visits per month, the homepage slider gets a click about 1% of the time, that’s across all the panels. THAT is the fad. The sites I run and most of the ones I read are in the news/public policy/information exchange genre rather than sales oriented. Would appear that the wine site you have listed on here as an example has stopped listening, and is now flooding us with cheap wine and a slider….OH NO!! Mandatory tax release for all presidential candidates. Is it overused/poorly used? I have never had the problem of being distracted by them but i also have a strange ability to memorize very small details and take in everything that is going on. Beyond that, it becomes a matter of whether or not it got my attention before that. There are right ways and wrong ways to do it, but the takeaway IMO should NOT be simply “don’t use carousels”. While I agree with your post in general, I’d like to add two “don’t”s of my own: 1. That’s data I would like to see. Love the commentary/discussion but don’t see anyone putting the user/consumer back in the driver’s seat as suggested way at the top a year ago and most web pages riddled gadgetry. For instance, if you know that your site visitor has never been to your site before, you would provide different content to them than you would someone who you know has already purchased your product. More folks need to say this out loud! Responsive: You would be a fool to not consider in this time if your slider works well on all devices, can you touch swipe, is the image and copy still legible, are the images/javascript too heavy for mobile? What if they don’t like any of the three? But they are proven way to loose leads, sales and get more clicks on the back button”. If cash and conversions are really that important to your business then you’d be doing this anyway; business today is about content strategy and if you aren’t aware of to assess that content’s performance then you’re going to struggle. Not to mention that hinder accessibilty. Personally, I think the static/choice sliders would be best. This brings up a great point. Scrollbars are so ugly!”: Shut up. Also, I have found tab based manual sliders to be a solid solution for clients that won’t budge on their need for sliders. http://rich-page.com/website-optimization/how-to-optimize-homepage-content-sliders-to-increase-conversions/. Here are 21 ecommerce A/B testing ideas derived from research worth trying on your site. “It’s distracting,” I said. People click on ads, ads may sometimes have a much higher click through % then say your About Us page. starting with our own old website. And minor: showing the user when the carousel is going to change is also an advantage. There is no confusion about what they do and the customer can browse the individual products and services with the easy to use drop down tabs. What do you think of image sliders-carousels that appear on SECONDARY pages though? “Here’s J.J. Buckley with a static offer” Great post. I’d completely leave out the automation and just make it clear how to click for the next slide. Does anyone really have time to wait for all 5 slides, even want to click through? Over the last 20 years, Peep has worked in web development, marketing consulting, B2B sales, SEO, PPC, and SaaS. Rotating banners are absolutely evil and should be removed immediately. This (extract/quote below) makes sense to me – but surely it also applies to those examples with HUGE screen-filling photos? I’ve heatmapped our home page many times, and over and over again what we find is that users have a complete blind spot about the sliders – no matter what we put there. I’d be very interest to know if someone has done more testing on it, as at the moment using banners sounds like a good way to simplify complicated brands that are not as straight forward as say Pat Flynn’s. The post is about carousels used for the one thing they are terrible for – presenting content for site navigation. (nt). I applied for a job and probably would have won it but probably lost it for arguing against the company’s home page carousel. When Republicans turn their vitriol on one another is when I start laughing out loud. "Subpoena? Popcorn anyone? Two reasons: I’m not alone. To me there is no more for a homepage, but of course we don’t want just plain html like 1999, we have resources as html5, css3, graphic designers, customizable templates and graphics stock websites around to help us on our goals to make a clean but catchy website that converts. Lindsey Graham? What is you option on having auto rotating client testimonials in the WP “widget area”? There was a discussion about image carousels on User Experience Stack Exchange as well. As an eCommerce site (www.onlygrainmills.com), it appears our sliders may be doing more harm than good. This argument becomes infinitely stronger when backed by metrics. Hence they are a good technique for getting useless information on a Home Page (see first sentence of this post). Hero Image Not Converting? News is different. The Lincoln Project. I have come to the conclusion that sliders shoud be seen as vehicles for building brand image more than anything else. along with it is the ideal means to unleash the capacities. Not the case. Ah, that makes sense. Thanks! If you are scared to do this then how do you know if your site is effective? We saw earlier that we could, through links to email addresses, One example that comes to mind that a slideshow on the home page works well I think is nba.com. And they need to prosecute Trump et. Don’t diss homepage marketing messages, for lower ranked index pages it might be the only chance they get to cast a wider net. He�s a bridge over troubled waters, right? you seriously advocate removing SM buttons? People already scroll your site. This gives you both statistical proof from the content tests and compelling qualitative evidence from video – nothing beats users verbalising their frustration. Ever. It is up to use the “web professional” to advise the clients on the best route to take, then split test and show them the numbers. Feeling so much better now. ), it’s not a good thing. Indeed. I get to say what moves and what doesn’t.” …see Craig, Oct 24, 2012). I only get notified by infusionsoft if the payment has failed 3x. Cheers I would also like to see some more definitive A/B tests. That’s why its a fad… because it’s the only possible use for which EVERY web site could use a carousel. Loading them with information just to get it above-the-fold on the homepage makes it more “necessary” in content owner’s eyes and is the reason why we are probably stuck with them. Probably using the assumption that they are using detailed testing. Another great post Peep… even though its a little too black and white. What if we would use sliders and get rid of the automatic animation and implement a useful navigation (arrow buttons) instead? Some people think they’re cool. I understand that slides after the first one get hit a lot lot less but what this article is suggesting is that event the first slide doesn’t get hit because users ‘know’ its a carousel – even before anything has animated. My competitor has one and I have been considering getting one but am undecided now after reading this article. As I remember all 3 basically said the same thing. I hate them too…but clients love them and they think it makes their site look legit. You “digital experts” are so dumb, you have no clue. Definitely some good points in here, but I agree with others about this being site specific. Wow. And, because he’d done digital marketing for over 15 years, he must know, huh? What’s your experience with image carousels—both as a website owner and a user? So if image carousels aren’t effective, why do people use them? The exception that proves the rule? Visitors didn’t stick around long enough to view all the slides. I brought extra butter... Or, as someone at Free Republic thought, it was McConnell calling $2000 "socialism for the rich", Indeed. ), That said, if -need- be, I always like to at least see -labeled- nav options so users can read what they’re missing… give ’em a chance to click there anyway, before they hit their browser’s back arrow. They are distracting not only in themselves, they distract the reader away from the other content on the page. It’s either flash or a carousel and I prefer the control of an arrow-driven carousel. I lot of my eCommerce clients tend to really like the carousels. “anything beyond the initial view has a huge decrease in visitor interaction. Portfolio? How does an article posted in September 2012 reference tweets made in January 2013? I love your examples — especially for The Velvet Lab. So I will be using an image slider that randomly displays a different slide on each pageload. I do a lot of thinking, reading, and writing around business, strategy, and optimization. One user? I know I am pretty late to this discussion. I prefer the Hilton example. It is not selling anything, but trying to convey in 3 different ways, that the site is about “being able to video chat live with your followers while a larger audience watches”. The ND study is quite poor from scientific point of view. Let’s make a brash statement to get people to comment (oh!)…. It’s a real challenge. While my brain tells me they’re pointless, I can’t help but deny they can look attractive and can make a site look interesting and well decorated. – Nope, there is a slider with auto start! I have tested various forms of Sliders on all of my clients with all types of sample sizes and the results are the same. And I love sliders/carousels because that’s what turns a boring, text-busy pages into something sexy and interesting. Testing four different carousels on different web pages with different content and three of them are static. Here’s How to Craft Your Value Prop. our focus market has about what the website is selling. Let me give you some examples of practical sliders. Thanks for the great info, I’ve just signed up to learn more about you. And a friend of mine complained to me just last week that she couldn’t access a product on the second full-screen slide of the Puma site, because it didn’t work with her iPad. No more Mr. nice guy/gal. There’s also a bunch of references at the end – as you pointed out, there isn’t much large scale research into them, but there are some interesting and relevant pages out there helping highlight the issues with sliders. I can read there “where one user was attempting the following task…” What a study.