I read many Conversion Rate Optimization books or books related to it. The books cover topics such as Conversion Rate Optimization itself, human behavior, psychology, usability, experimentation, and change management.
These are some of my favorite books. I use these and many others sources in my online courses and LinkedIn posts. I divided them into books generally related to Conversion Rate Optimization and psychology.
General Conversion Rate Optimization books
Don’t make me think – Steve Krug
My favorite book on usability. Since Don’t Make Me Think was first published in 2000, hundreds of thousands of Web designers and developers have read this book to help them understand the principles of intuitive navigation, information design, and usability testing.
Switch – Chip & Dan Heath
My favorite on organization change. In this book, the Heath brothers extensively cover System 1 and System 2, how it blocks change, and what you should do to realize lasting change. If you want more people in your organization to adopt your way of working, this is the book for you.
Experimentation works – Stefan Thomke
My favorite book on conversion rate optimization. In this book, Thomke guides you through best practices in business experimentation and illustrates how these practices work at leading companies. A great book covering the basics of business experimentation.
Hacking Growth – Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
This book is about growth hacking but has many implications for conversion rate optimization as well. This book walks readers through the process of creating and executing their own custom-made growth hacking strategy.
Trustworthy Online Controlled Experiments – Ron Kohavi
This practical but not-so-easy guide, by experimentation leaders at Google, LinkedIn, and Microsoft, will teach you how to accelerate innovation using trustworthy online controlled experiments or A/B tests.
Books on psychology
Thinking fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
My absolute favorite. In his bestseller, Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, extensively covers System 1, System 2, and many of our heuristics and biases.
It is a difficult book to read, but you will learn a lot about human behavior when you take your time.
Decoded – Phil Barden
Phil Barden explores how decision science explains consumers’ purchasing patterns and shows how marketing may benefit from it.
He discusses the most recent findings on the factors influencing consumer decisions as well as what transpires in the brain during decision-making. He demonstrates how to effectively use this information in everyday marketing by significantly enhancing crucial elements like relevance, distinction, and credibility. The practical examples in this book make the theory understandable and applicable to your website.
Methods of persuasion – Nick Kolenda
Nick Kolenda created a method for subtly influencing people’s thoughts using cognitive psychology principles. He created a stage act called “mind reading” to illustrate that phenomenon, and more than a million people have witnessed his demonstrations all around the world.
You’ll discover how to apply these ideas in your own life to affect other people’s perceptions.
Predictably irrational – Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely challenges the widely held belief that human behavior is rational. From buying a car to choosing a love partner, drinking coffee, and losing weight, we routinely overpay, underestimate, and put things off. However, these mistaken actions are not senseless or random. We are predictable irrational because they are methodical and predictable.
This is a great Conversion Rate Optimization book as it gives many insights into our behavior.
Subliminal – Leonard Mlodinow
Mlodinow looks at how the unconscious mind impacts our perception of the world and how, for instance, we frequently misinterpret everything from our past to our relationships with family, friends, and business partners. Another great eye-opener about our irrational behavior.
Brainfluence – Roger Doley
This is a very entertaining and easy to read book. By studying consumer decision-making processes, Brainfluence teaches how to realistically utilize neuroscience and behavioral studies to improve marketing to consumers. Neuromarketing is a field of study that examines how the brain reacts to various cognitive and sensory marketing cues.
Conversion Rate Optimization books cover many topics
As Conversion Rate Optimization is a very broad field to work in, so are the books. There are many books related to our work, and therefore, this list could have been much longer. That said, these are some fantastisc Conversion Rate Optimization books that I can highly recommend to read.
These books and many more are used in my online CRO, psychology, and change management courses.
Am I missing any? I love reading books, so please let me know. 🙂
