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independence2 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
standing

contested · 4 claims against 1

applies to

b2b, no audience needed

outcome not stated

confidence

high

evidence

7 claims · 4 articles · 4 receipts

window

2014-09-29 → 2026-05-13

2 builders who never spoke to each other · contested

Make the action impossible to miss

Prominence is a property of the whole page, not the button. A technically perfect button disappears on a crowded one, so delete the navigation, the press releases and the second and third things that could be clicked instead, and match the single remaining action to whatever intent brought the visitor. The physical check is whether you can still pick it out at a quarter zoom from across the room.

What both sides agree on

  • Use a physical test for prominence: if you cannot pick out the primary action at 25% zoom from across the room, it is not prominent enough.
  • Make the single highest-earning action on your site the main call to action on the homepage.

Where this splits

Riley reserves one colour exclusively for the call to action so the eye finds it, while Kogan says no colour is inherently more clickable and refuses to let a conversion project open on that argument.

4 claims against 1

Greg Kogan

Clear the page so nothing competes with the action

  1. 01No button color is inherently more clickable, so refuse to open a conversion project with a color debate.
  2. 02Stop optimizing the button and start optimizing its surroundings, because a technically perfect button still gets ignored on a crowded page.
the objection · 1 claimDru Riley

Reserve one colour for the call to action

Reserve one colour for the call to action and use it nowhere else, so the eye lands on the button without hunting for it.

  1. 03Delete the competing options around the action - navigation on a checkout page, press releases and event calendars on a homepage - so nothing else can be clicked instead.
  2. 04Match the page's single action to the intent that brought the visitor there: on a trial signup page keep only the form and a few reasons the trial is worth starting.

What it returned

  • 25%

    25% zoom, viewed from across the room.

  • Named as the first of three changes that beat design tweaks.

  • He contrasts an enterprise SaaS homepage whose 'Learn More' button follows best practice but disappears, with a competitor whose 'Evaluate Now' button demands to be clicked.

  • On Pottery Barn's checkout page everything unrelated to placing the order is gone, and he notes the order button still competes with two apply buttons.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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More in landing page

all landing page plays

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.