It was Dr Ed Chi, a Xerox Palo Alto Researcher, as early as 2001, who indicated that humans track information in a similar fashion to the way animals follow a scent. According to an article on the study:

People… engage in what [Dr. Ed Chi] calls “hub-and-spoke” surfing: They begin at the center, and they follow a trail based on its information scent…. If the scent is sufficiently strong, the surfer will continue to go on that trail. But if the trail is weak, they go back to the hub. “People repeat this process until they’re satisfied,” Chi said.

After seeing this behavior in countless usability studies and seeing the impact of it in way too many tests to count, I can’t help but see marketers make mistakes with scent all the time.

This week’s Conversion Optimization 101 challenge:

Here I was on FaceBook with my iPad when I spotted this ad:

I decided to click through and landed on this page:

I love the simplicity of the landing page. However, there are things that could be done to improve this ad/landing page combination.

What would you do to improve it?

*Update: to read the follow up post read:

Conversion Optimization 101: When Ads and Landing Page Don’t Stink!