The 5 Love Languages of Website Optimization

Back when floppy disks were considered high-tech and beanie babies were regarded as  a wise investment, Gary Chapman developed his five love languages. Since then, the concept of love languages has helped countless couples deepen their relationships by enabling them to understand the unique ways they express love. 

Whether you deeply identify with the love languages or think they should be left behind in the 90s like Vanilla Ice’s music career and POGs, we can’t deny that Chapman’s concept still permeates our collective consciousness. So, in honor of Valentine’s Day we’re taking a deep dive into the five love languages. Don’t worry—we’re not here to discuss your relationship woes, but rather how you can apply the five languages to your website optimization program to connect with your visitors.

So, hold on to your Tamagotchi, and let’s get into it: here are the five love languages of website optimization.

Acts of Service

One way to create a stronger bond with your website visitors is through the service of educating them. This works particularly well in the world of B2B, where marketing programs typically rely on educational resources like eBooks, webinars, and customer stories. Think about how to strategically place these pieces of content on your website to connect visitors with the resources they’ll benefit from most.

Using modals, you can offer up educational content in exchange for a visitor’s email address or other contact information. In the example below, HubSpot, uses an exit-intent modal that encourages visitors to sign up for the brand’s email newsletter. Using this method, visitors hand over their valuable zero-party data in exchange for Hubspot’s expertise and educational resources— a win-win for both parties involved.

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Gift Giving

Gift giving is a common love language across many ecommerce websites. Although there are tons of ways to give freebies to ecommerce customers, one of our favorites is offering visitors perks, promotions, or gifts through your loyalty program.

Sephora is well-known for its Beauty Insider loyalty program, and it’s no surprise why— the program’s 17 million North America members are responsible for 80% of the company’s sales alone! With staggering numbers like these characterizing successful loyalty programs, when done correctly there is a clear benefit to giving loyal customers perks. In addition to boosting key ecommerce metrics like Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV), a great loyalty program can win you a positive reputation with shoppers.

Take a look at how many benefits Sephora’s Beauty Insiders receive to keep them loyal and engaged.

Words of Affirmation

You rock! Good job! You’re the bomb dot com! 

Words of affirmation like these are nice to hear when we’re taking on a challenge or trying something new. That’s why it’s smart to infuse your website copy with motivational language as well, as it can drive engagement and conversions.

In the example below, beauty brand Glossier, leverages motivational language in a side-pop that appears for first-time customers. The copy reads “You deserve it.” This side-pop encourages shoppers to continue down Glossier’s funnel, claim a special offer, and grab the skincare or makeup products they so deserve.

Like Glossier, B2B titan, Salesforce, also uses words of affirmation to flatter website visitors and drive action. When visitors mouse over the “Learning” section of the navigation bar, they’re met with an encouraging message: “Become a Trailblazer.” By giving its community members a flattering nickname and incorporating it into unique parts of its site, Salesforce creates a positive and consistent experience for visitors.

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Quality Time

The key to spending more quality time with your site visitors is to decrease your bounce rate, the percentage of visitors who leave a website after only visiting one page.

To reduce bounce rates you’ll want to make sure that you’re providing visitors with a consistent ad-to-landing page experience, meaning that your ads match the landing pages visitors will see once they click through. 

If your website branding looks different from the ad a visitor clicked on, they may get confused and leave. If your ad features a specific product or promotion but the destination page doesn’t align, there’s a high likelihood that they’ll leave rather than try to find what they thought you were going to deliver. Avoid these negative outcomes and spend more quality time with your visitors by prioritizing a consistent ad-to-landing page experience!

Physical Touch

On second thought, maybe you can’t apply all five love languages to your website. Please don’t touch your visitors. 😂

We hope the love languages of website optimization help you harness the power of love to convert more visitors. Happy Valentine’s Day!