My other poodle, Reese, is quite sporty and a destroyer of all things stuffed with fluff…yet he is not wild about dog toys that are designed for “super chewers”. And honestly, who can blame him? Most of these tough toys are about as appealing as gnawing on a car tire would be. Plus, they are similar in weight to small boulders… so not much fun for a dog who never tires of catching things in midair.

So in equal measure to the time I spend seeking training protocols for my reactive poodle, I spend researching durable toys that will hopefully tick all of Reese’s gotta have boxes and not have me picking up slobbery fiberfill off the living room rug.

Enter Playology Pets. They are not client, but I am a customer. I found out about Playology from an ad in my Facebook feed.

And when I visited their website to research buying some new toys for Reese, I noticed a huge missed opportunity that practically made it impossible for me not to do a micro-audit on their website for my readers.

www.playologypets.com | copywriting by lisa

We’ve talked about how you have eight seconds to grab your website visitors and how your website headline needs to quickly (and clearly) tell people what you do and how you do it.

For a tagline, I think “The Science of Scent Unleashed” could be pretty good but it may not be the most effective website headline. And, the subhead causes me to ask legitimate questions about how these scented toys increase engagement.

So “shop now” as my option here feels like a disconnect as a call to action.

Plus…that tire toy image already has me twitchy about all the money I have wasted on super chewer toys for Reese.

That’s why I would shove this text and image all the way down the page and when it lands there below the fold, I’d use a “learn more” button to lead interested visitors to some informative copy about the science behind these toys. It is pretty fascinating how they get the scents of natural foods into these toys. Spoiler alert: it isn’t sprayed on like Cheetos flavor dust…they actually get the scent of real cheddar cheese into each cheese flavored toy. Or sweet potatoes or whatever… it’s pretty cool.

The other reason I would move this is that Playology has perhaps the most engaging and useful element of their website way, way below the fold.

You always want to have your strongest call to action where the most potential customers are going to see it.

You don’t want to break the eight-second rule.

This ^ should be what potential customers see when they land on the Playology site. Happy dogs playing with Playology toys.

Plus, a quiz to find your dog the perfect toy as the call to action? Yes, please. And a clear happiness guarantee? More yes!

I mean smells and science and being unleashed is all great but finding a perfect toy for my pooch is my primary goal when I land on an e-commerce site selling dog toys.

Don’t make your visitors scroll to find this irresistible call to action. It’s helpful for them and will improve engagement exponentially, both of which are good for the bottom line.

Almost every dog owner would be totally invested in completing the purchase of this perfect toy after answering a few thought-provoking questions about how their dog interacts with their current toys.

I might go as far as to say these owners would be hard-pressed not to buy this perfect toy.

And the average price point of Playology toys further lowers the barrier to getting a quiz taker’s credit card information (and at the time of this post, Playology even has a generous discount code on the site).

If Playology were to move this fun and interactive quiz above the fold?

My money would be on increased conversions from website visitors and a lot more sales!

The lesson here is; don’t risk dollars by breaking the eight-second rule on your website. Put your best or, in this case, most interactive call to action above the fold to convert more website visitors into buyers.

Reese Wright plays contentedly with his slobber-wicking Sweet Potato rope from Playology.

Don’t Break the 8 Second Rule