“Above the fold” shouts one of the new breed of “conversion experts”. I’m sure you’ve heard the echoes across the online marketing departments and “paradigm shifting” agencies that litter the cave of new media. Cover your ears and run, screaming, out into the light.
Thankfully, this is not the case. Much like the focus on “bounce rate” it all ended up being a huge Red Herring. It took a number of scientifically accurate tests to prove that the fold is not quite as critical as you might imagine. Don’t get me wrong, it can make a difference but, for gods sake, test it first as we found out this year with two big tests concerning what is and what isn’t “above the fold”. In both cases it made no difference so we can welcome back “long copy” that until recently has been consigned to the bin.
We all know what really matters is the customer journey and overall conversion and not whether all the content and actions are above the fold on the home page. Or, as an aside, does the bounce rate have special meaning.
