LIFT Model (Goward / WiderFunnel)
Conversion is driven by the Value Proposition, carried by two boosters and dragged by two inhibitors, with urgency as a modifier.
The metaphor is an airplane: the Value Proposition is the plane (the central lift force), and five "forces" act on it:
- Clarity (+) — how clearly the value and the action are communicated
- Relevance (+) — match to the visitor's source and intent
- Urgency (±) — time or situational pressure
- Anxiety (−) — doubts, perceived risk
- Distraction (−) — competing elements pulling focus
A factor model, not a solved equation (the WiderFunnel cousin of meclabs-conversion-heuristic) — but it isolates two drags the MECLABS form folds together: Distraction (too many options / focus theft) is named as its own inhibitor, and Relevance-to-source is explicit.
Transfer. The most actionable additions over MECLABS for content: Distraction — every extra ask, link, or idea on a page/post lowers conversion (the case for one core message, one CTA); and Relevance as match-to-source — a post's effectiveness depends on where the reader came from and what they were already looking for (being-seen-reliably: demand interception).
Kin: illustrative-formulas · meclabs-conversion-heuristic · fogg-behavior-model · delivery-craft P13 (one core message).
Source: Chris Goward, WiderFunnel — the LIFT Model (introduced ~2009; book You Should Test That!, 2012)