tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71180823340329429272024-02-06T19:43:10.481-07:00Ideal DesignThis blog is designed around the concept of improving 1% each day. The posts are short and only focus on 1 item at a time. My goal is that they don't eat up your time, and can be easily digested.
I LOVE feedback, so if you have something to say, please share!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.comBlogger194125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-84582103107331313262013-12-03T10:07:00.000-07:002013-12-03T10:11:15.011-07:00Why do you need CRO?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A recent client was trying to grow his e-commerce business. He had tried many different marketing avenues including social media, Google Adwords, banner ads, affiliate marketing, re-targeting, advanced SEO, and email just to name a few. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After a number of months, he finally found and optimized a source of traffic that had a positive return on investment. By this time he had spent almost a half a million dollars trying things that didn't work and his marketing budget was almost gone. To make matters worse, the profit from this new marketing campaign wasn't enough to replenish his marketing budget AND grow the business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's his numbers for a given month (rounded for clarity):</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Marketing Spend - $40,000</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Cost per Visitor - $0.60</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Total Visitors ~ 66,000</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Conversion Rate - 2%</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Average Sale - $40</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Revenue - $53,000</span><br />
<b>Gross Margin - $13,000</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you can see, he was only making an extra $13k each month off of a $40k marketing spend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now, since the marketing effort is [marginally] profitable (and so many others weren't), traditional [marketing] wisdom is to double your ad spend. Since your campaign is profitable, theoretically you will double your profit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, there's a few unseen problems with this plan. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Capital</b> - You'll need double the capital to run double the campaign, and this money is likely allocated to other departments (or in my client's case, it was gone.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Audience</b> - Assuming your first campaign only reached part of your audience, the cost of reaching all (or more) of your target audience is seldom linear. Often the more of your audience you intend to reach/attract, the more expensive that opportunity becomes. (This is like bidding for the #1 spot on Google Adwords vs being #3.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This is where CRO comes into play in the marketing value equation.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirpAaltEnii7ctqA7YqSOZEYG2v5GScO3BJJ8CaZ7UtKL0HU8Kr6VQLAeoGcVwkWee5z1in49oKcc2q9pVu5iQkQaJiisUK06rsPKb9Vyot3aFD0BEoZtrhCZ5bp23G1vTZ9rNHB3-WH4/s1600/business_equation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Marketing Value Equation" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirpAaltEnii7ctqA7YqSOZEYG2v5GScO3BJJ8CaZ7UtKL0HU8Kr6VQLAeoGcVwkWee5z1in49oKcc2q9pVu5iQkQaJiisUK06rsPKb9Vyot3aFD0BEoZtrhCZ5bp23G1vTZ9rNHB3-WH4/s1600/business_equation.jpg" title="" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">CRO wisdom is to increase the conversion rate and average sale of already profitable marketing campaigns. Even just a 30% increase in conversion rate and a 15% increase in average sale would <b><i>triple </i></b>the bottom line here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The actual results were even better; a 70% increase in conversions and a 25% increase in average sale. Here's what that looks like:</span><br />
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Inital</td>
<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Marketing Wisdom</td>
<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">CRO Wisdom</td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Ad Spend</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$40,000</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;"><b>$80,000</b></td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;">$40,000</td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">CPV</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$0.60</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$0.60</td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;">$0.60</td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Visitors</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">66,000</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;"><b>133,000</b></td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;">66,000</td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Conversion Rate</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">2%</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">2%</td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;"><b>3.4%</b></td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Avg Sale</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$40</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$40</td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;"><b>$50</b></td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Revenue</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$53,000</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$106,000</td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid #729ea5; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">$113,000</td>
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<td style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); font-weight: bold; padding: 8px;">Gross Margin</td>
<td style="background-color: #d4e3e5; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;">$13,000</td>
<td style="background-color: #fefbc8; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;"><b>$26,000</b></td>
<td style="background-color: #cfd7fe; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">$73,000</span></b></td>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are three changes happening right now that make CRO a vital choice for any business that wants to grow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Economic</b>: Advertising and marketing costs are increasing, including the salaries of those who are good at it. This makes it harder and harder to get real profit from your marketing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Social</b>: Social media isn't just for kids anymore. As social media, like Facebook and Twitter, is transitioning to an older crowd, your customer experience (good and bad) is being shared by your target market to all of their friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Technology</b>: New tools for marketing and websites are flooding the market making the collection of visitor data easier than ever. Unfortunately, it takes countless hours and a blood thirsty passion to stay on top of it all. So many products, so much data, and so little time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An effective Conversion Rate Optimization effort makes your marketing truly scalable and helps you grow your business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your traffic has peaked and your marketing has already been optimized, you need CRO.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thinking about CRO? <a href="http://www.contourthis.com/ct/contact" target="_blank">Let's talk!</a></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-49857554961256086992013-11-21T13:52:00.000-07:002013-11-21T16:19:09.976-07:00The fatal flaw in your marketing plan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You've probably already outlined your marketing plan for 2014. If you're like the majority of companies, you'll continue to expand your content marketing (blogs, ebooks, webinars, etc.) while you try to recover from the litany of algorithm changes Google has released to their search engine over the past year. Your marketing plans may include social media, pay per click (PPC) ads, re-marketing/re-targeting, and possibly even split testing. But, there's something missing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The data for most marketing campaigns looks about like this:</span></div>
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<th style="background-color: #acc8cc; border: 1px solid rgb(114, 158, 165); padding: 8px; text-align: left;">Campaign</th>
<th style="background-color: #acc8cc; border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px; text-align: left;">Impressions</th>
<th style="background-color: #acc8cc; border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px; text-align: left;">Visitors</th>
<th style="background-color: #acc8cc; border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px; text-align: left;">Sales</th>
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<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">PPC Campaign 1</td>
<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">54,382</td>
<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">6,525</td>
<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">130</td>
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<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">Email Campaign 1</td>
<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">20,538</td>
<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">6161</td>
<td style="border-color: #729ea5; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; font-size: 12px; padding: 8px;">184</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It means: 20,000 people received our email, 6,000 of those people visited our site, and we got 184 sales out of it. Not bad.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The job of marketing is to bring visitors to the website. You will no doubt work tirelessly over the next year to produce the best content, draft the best emails, and write the best ad copy. All in hopes of bringing more visitors to your website. But you're not done.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most marketing plans fail to take into account what happens to a visitor after they reach the website. We often just look at it as a numbers game: For every 1000 visitors, we get 20 orders. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You may have a customized landing page for your visitors, and you may even be running a split test to see which picture/title results in the most sales. But, there isn't any real focus on how or why your visitors are buying, or rather leaving. This is the focus of Conversion Rate Optimization.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtL8xbr2EwGpDSm-Wb9IGmcKn5nGboXYZ9_mA3fK9kdoccUEf6o28dVT4gqxkBYusmLcd4WUFJwFrSluVJ8VxRH7RYvmTR9y3W0ygOlEh6LOrTjsuofA7Ulin0OfmI31qLsc9orXzKKB4/s1600/where_cro_fits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Where Conversion Rate Optimization fits in." border="0" height="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtL8xbr2EwGpDSm-Wb9IGmcKn5nGboXYZ9_mA3fK9kdoccUEf6o28dVT4gqxkBYusmLcd4WUFJwFrSluVJ8VxRH7RYvmTR9y3W0ygOlEh6LOrTjsuofA7Ulin0OfmI31qLsc9orXzKKB4/s640/where_cro_fits.jpg" title="Conversion Rate Optimization" width="500" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You've worked so hard to get visitors to your website. Now it's time to take the next step and turn those visitors into customers.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-55600599967497295432013-11-14T14:31:00.001-07:002013-11-14T14:36:00.903-07:00Why does getting personal in your content increase conversions?<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Getting personal in your content isn't about your readers, its about you. When you stop talking about your products and services and instead talk about yourself, people listen.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">During my senior year in college, I took a sculpture class. Being a fine art major, I was required to get at least a B in the class in order to pass. That doesn't seem like it would be too hard to do, but the grade in the class was based on just 3 sculptures. Needless to say, you had to produce all 3 sculptures to pass.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The final sculpture in the class was the infamous "Bread Box" challenge. Effectively, you had to take an ordinary object that was smaller than a bread box (about the size of a loaf of bread) and sculpt it out of balsa wood sticks. The catch is that the final sculpture had to be <i>larger </i>than a bread box. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now, if you've never worked with balsa wood sticks, there are some things you should know. They are small, fragile little sticks that are no bigger around than a computer cord. As if that didn't make it difficult enough already, the only way to connect the sticks is with super glue. As you can imagine I spent half of my time trying to get my fingers apart.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I had taken on the formidable task of creating a lizard. In order to meet the requirements of the task, it had to be a lizard that was larger than a bread box. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I carefully drew the lizard out onto butcher's paper with all the intricate details to make sure I had the size right and to use as a pattern when I created my masterpiece. I used small geometric shapes to create the pattern across the lizards back and create the form of his body.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The project was due in one week, on the following Monday. I had estimated that it would take me about 30 hours to complete the lizard (assuming I could keep from gluing myself to myself in the process.) So naturally, I got started on the Sunday before it was due. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm a procrastinator by nature, so cramming on a project at the last moment was nothing new. I worked on it all day and night, only taking breaks to go to the restroom and down the occasional red bull. On Monday morning, I still wasn't quite done, so I skipped my morning classes to finish before I had sculpture class later that afternoon. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With it done just in time, I carefully placed it in the trunk of my car and headed to class. I only lived about 1.2 miles away from the university, so, in no hurry, I carefully accelerated away from each stop light and stop sign. Carefully of course, because balsa wood sticks alone are fragile, let alone when they have been precariously glued to one another in a vast structure. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">About half way there, as I'm going through a green light, some idiot in a blazer chooses to ignore the stop light and tears through the intersection. Luckily I had my wits about me and was able to swerve just in time to avoid a collision and instead ran up onto the side walk.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pumped up on adrenaline I finished my journey to school, only to find that my sculpture was completely destroyed. I had only a pile of broken balsa wood sticks in the trunk. There was no way <i>this </i>would count as a completed sculpture, but I took the pile of sticks into class with me anyway. Somehow, I had to get a grade for this, otherwise I would be 3 art credits short of graduating. So, while everyone else presented their sculptures, I worked desperately to figure out how to pitch my pile of sticks.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you tell a story it does something interesting in the brain. Your narratives don't get digested with the cold calculating part of the brain that helps us solve Sudoku puzzles and crosswords. It engages the older part of the brain that handles intrigue, emotion, and social situations. The part of the brain that makes decisions before we can justify why we've made them. In fact this is where all decisions are made. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you've ever known something is the right choice without knowing how you know, or felt the right choice in your heart or gut. You have experienced a decision that the rest of your brain couldn't justify.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, when you tell a story, you wake up this emotional, decision part of the brain and make sure that it is listening and paying attention. By getting personal in your content and telling stories, you can get your visitors to read every word. This isn't just about getting your message across; it increases sales because your prospects are more likely to respond emotionally vs logically.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When it was my turn to present, I chose not to try to sell my pile of sticks, rather, I told my story. From pile of sticks to glorious lizard back to pile of sticks with a late night and massive adrenaline rush in between. My only hope was that she could feel my heartbreak and would take it easy on me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After a private meeting in her office, she gave me an A.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-41608383161195358352013-08-27T15:04:00.000-07:002013-08-27T15:06:18.844-07:00Where does CRO fit in?<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion optimization (CRO) is on the upswing. Everyday, more people are exposed to CRO and it is quickly being recognized as its own discipline and even its own industry. With all the other "web" stuff out there under the hat of advertising, marketing, and sales, where does CRO fit in?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marketing and Advertising are aimed at increasing awareness and bringing </span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">[potential]</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> customers in </span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">[to your website or business]</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">. The goal of Sales, is to nurture a lead through the sales processes. CRO is the missing piece where potential customers become customers.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5rahr9Ol-EoOk_bew7V454VejZIXBSkQiiBLDan0ilKQN8w2sSUjbi4QXG5ekL8v1Y1pfSXoeZgm2fVJu8-LVVJmmTL1AGMkZxJKqBrGz3hXYbcnOXa7tMkJ4GwmvMMEwdH-DwLKD8w/s1600/grocer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR5rahr9Ol-EoOk_bew7V454VejZIXBSkQiiBLDan0ilKQN8w2sSUjbi4QXG5ekL8v1Y1pfSXoeZgm2fVJu8-LVVJmmTL1AGMkZxJKqBrGz3hXYbcnOXa7tMkJ4GwmvMMEwdH-DwLKD8w/s320/grocer.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let's imagine your website is a grocery store. Your advertisements and other marketing campaigns will help bring people to your store. Once you have people in the store, you hope they will find what they need. When they are ready to checkout or need help finding something, your sales associates are ready and willing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's the second sentence in this narrative, "Once you have people in the store, you hope..." where the CRO magic happens. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A consumer's guide in 2010 reported that 60-70% of all purchases made at the grocery store are impulse buys (meaning they weren't on your list). It wasn't always this way. Grocery stores use to just "hope" you were able to find what you needed or that you would be willing to ask the sales associate for help.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Today, grocery stores pay top dollar for consultants who know how to layout a grocery store in order to maximize sales. From general layout, to product placement on the shelves, and even the aisle end-caps, everything has been carefully placed with revenue in mind. The results? <b>A 230% increase in sales.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marketing and advertising brings visitors. CRO turns those visitors into customers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not convinced? How many extra items do you buy at the grocery store?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Ready to get started with CRO?</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Let's talk: Jared Smith, jsmith@contourthis.com<jsmith contourthis.com=""></jsmith></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-46443452459719961062013-08-21T11:46:00.000-07:002013-08-21T11:46:15.581-07:00The least optimized page on your site<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAhBaounScCshydfS_NSrqq-VjEvTi6WI8yxE9uVEjW1pgyu2dELNCyd2qv-v4osmVSyM2vpGzPgTSF171llZ9fbuyP-E3papWWSjdfep6BWca-BwyCzmXXwWUrNmxE8a6pooRikKITA/s1600/ecommerce-flow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="e-commerce conversion flow" border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAhBaounScCshydfS_NSrqq-VjEvTi6WI8yxE9uVEjW1pgyu2dELNCyd2qv-v4osmVSyM2vpGzPgTSF171llZ9fbuyP-E3papWWSjdfep6BWca-BwyCzmXXwWUrNmxE8a6pooRikKITA/s400/ecommerce-flow.jpg" title="Click to View Larger" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most e-commerce websites have a "Sign in or Register to continue" page as part of their checkout process. Many companies only even have this page because everyone else does. This page can be a conversion killer and is often overlooked when trying to improve your conversion rate.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pros:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First, let's look at the purpose and opportunities of keeping this page.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Getting someone's email address before they begin the checkout process allows you to re-market to them via email. If they don't finish the checkout process, you can send them an email that encourages them to come back and finish, a coupon, or even a survey to find out why they didn't complete their order. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Getting your visitors to identify themselves before they become customers can also help you with visitor profiling. Many successful companies, such as Amazon, base their entire business model on visitor profiling. Analytics solutions like <a href="https://www.kissmetrics.com/" target="_blank">KISSmetrics</a> can help you see and track what each visitor is doing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The final good thing about this page is that is creates an early commitment of trust. By registering an account with you, your visitors are indicating a high level of trust (not tied to money). If they don't buy from you today, it is likely an issue of <a href="http://contourthis.blogspot.com/2013/08/11-ways-to-increase-customer-confidence.html" target="_blank">confidence</a>, not trust.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Cons:</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are some drawbacks to having this page as well.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Asking your visitors to create an account before they can checkout creates a barrier to completing the checkout process. There are many times I'm willing to do business with a company but don't like the idea of maintaining an account with them. Despite the trust required to create an account, this page also represents a barrier because it forces your visitors to make yet another decision, register or leave [or checkout as a guest].</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On one website we worked on, <b>this barrier blocked 60% of their potential customers</b> from seeing the checkout page.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can work to optimize this page, but the checkout and landing pages generally represent a far greater opportunity. For this reason, few companies optimize their Sign in page.</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How to test:</span></b><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you decide whether or not to keep this page?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Start by A/B testing your site with and without the page. This test will tell you exactly how much your "Sign in or Register" page helps/hurts your overall conversions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next, create an email re-marketing campaign aimed at getting abandoners back to your site. Then, turn the register page back on and measure the return from your email re-marketing campaign.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your email campaign has a higher return than simply sending all of your traffic directly to the checkout page, you should keep your Sign in page.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you don't have the resources to create and optimize a full blown email re-marketing campaign, remove the </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sign in p</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">age from your checkout process and send all of your potential customers directly to the checkout page. You can always ask them to create an account after they have finished their transaction.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Have you tested your "Sign in or Register" page?</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[Share your results in the comments.]</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Need help testing?</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let's talk: jsmith@contourthis.com</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-59082205611122825132013-08-16T14:41:00.003-07:002013-08-21T11:13:14.938-07:0011 ways to increase customer confidence<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://contourthis.blogspot.com/2013/08/3-ways-to-build-visitor-trust-on-web.html" target="_blank">Trust</a> is required to do business. Confidence is required to close the deal. While there is some overlap between the elements of a website that increase trust and those that increase confidence, you can't assume that your visitors are confident enough to become customers... even if they trust you. Check out the following list for a few examples of how to build customer confidence on your site.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Consistency is Key</b><br />Consistency of color, layout, style, and messaging all help visitors know that they are in the right place and on the right path. If your shopping cart doesn't match your website, or your landing page doesn't match your banner ad, it can be a red flag that kills your visitors' confidence.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Both of the ads above take you to the same Facebook game page, but only one gives you the confidence that you ended up in the right place.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61ojN8KTreZGkk71g124NU4YaRz0KQPsYdYw-D-B4J1dOxbR3E-nu6SlTv0zvntvWNQ4CRKCx_qcGYcmzouZn7zLRtV2VBlefrUs586mwneWH5BaNKxU2PwE9FxPKP5lWG7zNQ2I4BqY/s1600/social_proof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj61ojN8KTreZGkk71g124NU4YaRz0KQPsYdYw-D-B4J1dOxbR3E-nu6SlTv0zvntvWNQ4CRKCx_qcGYcmzouZn7zLRtV2VBlefrUs586mwneWH5BaNKxU2PwE9FxPKP5lWG7zNQ2I4BqY/s1600/social_proof.jpg" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Show Product and Company Reviews</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your visitors are trying to make 2 decisions. Do they want to buy what you're offering, and do they want to buy it from you? In the moment of decision, without a strong personal urge to continue (mental or emotional), they will look to the masses for confirmation of their opinion. This is where social proof including reviews, testimonials, star ratings, and even FB likes come in.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's not easy for social proof to change someone's mind to purchase something that they weren't planning to, but if they were considering a purchase and social proof backs their opinion, it can give them the extra confidence they need to pull the trigger.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcaO9c0dTcaJ2lK8OQvLY1dMzDh1Gs_pSooSmYJkv2D9kJGkiB4ITB4z9WAk7HiZKHxoDVJ4u7breciT3LpPo5b43OzR-mot7yUTJg-utAKYbzfwnl_4vfFfgeSCe-l12zvGD0yvLEwc/s1600/form_feedback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcaO9c0dTcaJ2lK8OQvLY1dMzDh1Gs_pSooSmYJkv2D9kJGkiB4ITB4z9WAk7HiZKHxoDVJ4u7breciT3LpPo5b43OzR-mot7yUTJg-utAKYbzfwnl_4vfFfgeSCe-l12zvGD0yvLEwc/s320/form_feedback.jpg" width="313" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Give Instant Feedback</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Nobody likes failing, but worse, nobody likes painstakingly filling out a form only to have to wait 5 seconds for the page to reload and tell them they did it wrong. Your visitors need instant feedback. Not giving them enough feedback or forcing them to wait to get it, can kill your conversions.</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Give them a Roadmap</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most shopping carts and surveys are spread across multiple pages. If you've ever found yourself in the middle of a long survey or checkout process, I'm sure you asked yourself, "How much more is there?" This question is spawned by a feeling of being lost, overwhelmed, and frustrated. In short, it is a confidence killer. You should always have a progress bar or other form of visual indicator that helps orient your visitors. The more specific you get (just 3 more questions) the more likely they are to remain confident.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBW5bPK6eCcIIw2PQgDscpy_nNfzQWdZY4xa0iYnPol0At4LgsN-XlBoB4DNcCaTZVBdVXaa4VhqkyV7bvstqSoT6ZaCc1N3COxzuMMwPKqMp99Kh5SHeQoeZP0l0_aAf3boLjvRclFY/s1600/waiting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitBW5bPK6eCcIIw2PQgDscpy_nNfzQWdZY4xa0iYnPol0At4LgsN-XlBoB4DNcCaTZVBdVXaa4VhqkyV7bvstqSoT6ZaCc1N3COxzuMMwPKqMp99Kh5SHeQoeZP0l0_aAf3boLjvRclFY/s320/waiting.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tell them what you're doing</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Bounce rates, the number of people who don't hang around to play with your site, double when a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. If you have an intense process like a flight search, 3rd party query, or extensive database upsert, your visitors get worried that you aren't responding. A spinning wheel helps, but a progress bar and explanation of your process is even better. This additional information gives your visitors the confidence to wait.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5GvtTUAYVbbhVQsuVRCZ5awVmigDL5bEhGG85Wi9Jbq8iPcC_K7D6tNSz12vDIeOU7s4P-EPQuukUOMWOJtBSeaxz3DY6p8UnvSxoOSebyKj8Zuquk2TWNHvGyu4zaR8Ft7TCCe2BcjY/s1600/order_summary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5GvtTUAYVbbhVQsuVRCZ5awVmigDL5bEhGG85Wi9Jbq8iPcC_K7D6tNSz12vDIeOU7s4P-EPQuukUOMWOJtBSeaxz3DY6p8UnvSxoOSebyKj8Zuquk2TWNHvGyu4zaR8Ft7TCCe2BcjY/s320/order_summary.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Show the Cart Contents (Always)</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just because your visitors get to select the exact product, color, and quantity they want, doesn't mean they won't make a mistake. We are all human and are constantly making mistakes. I once left my car unlocked at the airport while I went on vacation for 2 weeks! Luck was on my side and nothing was taken, but now I lock my car 4 or 5 times just so that I can remember I locked it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many of your visitors have buyers anxiety. They can't remember if they chose the right color or size. Travel reservations are even worse. There are so many details to get right. You should put the contents of your shopping cart (details included) on every page of your checkout. This lets your visitors check their selection as often as they need.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBZ6WcIELynwAA05RW0hUeS4-CEXrkjEvjboztSerJnk5Z9mfWNBiLu39Ms42r7Fe9Jp6PcpG7dwJ-HgDi1EYPPblP189T-d0OIYss20ouDuBT_bjnMuQQG7zq_nbztE8QFkdX3fiOAQ/s1600/no_back_btn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBZ6WcIELynwAA05RW0hUeS4-CEXrkjEvjboztSerJnk5Z9mfWNBiLu39Ms42r7Fe9Jp6PcpG7dwJ-HgDi1EYPPblP189T-d0OIYss20ouDuBT_bjnMuQQG7zq_nbztE8QFkdX3fiOAQ/s320/no_back_btn.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Give your visitors control</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can try to think of all the doubts your visitors will have and try to address them at every step of the way, but the truth is, you will never catch them all. Give your visitors a back button. A way to return to a previous step and edit/update something they have already done. <b>ProTip</b>: The best sites don't forget any information when you move back and forth through the funnel.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The MGM Resorts Job Application process consists of 9 sections you have to fill in that includes 7 years of past job and housing history. At step 6, it asks you to give permission [to all sorts of agencies] to verify that everything you've entered is accurate. The catch is, you don't get to review what you've entered, and there is no way to go back and edit anything.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo3yOAB2UuGJYkhsulPG3UErf3gigPLfDC-ieNIDBDSs716wnAIvJpboU555Oq-xqhTQmHGq808UVfyGdBLwkWV57sz5XRUZM3qChEMpVxy8RfSUY3FgW9cLTFfParXeXrh_uJXVnPOYY/s1600/discount_code.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo3yOAB2UuGJYkhsulPG3UErf3gigPLfDC-ieNIDBDSs716wnAIvJpboU555Oq-xqhTQmHGq808UVfyGdBLwkWV57sz5XRUZM3qChEMpVxy8RfSUY3FgW9cLTFfParXeXrh_uJXVnPOYY/s320/discount_code.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Don't use a "Discount Code" box</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In grade school, you learn that if you don't have enough to share with the entire class (or don't want to), you shouldn't bring it to school. Having a box for a discount code makes all of us "normal" visitors feel like we missed out on something (like being the only kid in class without a lolly pop). The determined visitors will abandon their shopping cart in hopes of finding a recent forum that has an active coupon or code. (That's me :) If you <i>need</i> to have a discount code box, make sure to offer at least a small discount for everyone. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVjGCinqHcKIMXv7pY44tOOQiy_d3WJzPdzJ41fi3PizBvbyKgY5MqQ1FGa5NFqaNeSb1l4-uHujO5wAfctSnoUW3paw_maxGk5ls4d1JUDSME_mT0lcv1psJ_dQbVszaTenMqiBBHy_g/s1600/return_policy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVjGCinqHcKIMXv7pY44tOOQiy_d3WJzPdzJ41fi3PizBvbyKgY5MqQ1FGa5NFqaNeSb1l4-uHujO5wAfctSnoUW3paw_maxGk5ls4d1JUDSME_mT0lcv1psJ_dQbVszaTenMqiBBHy_g/s320/return_policy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Clearly state your return policy</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most return policies require a PhD to decipher. If your legal department requires that you have a convoluted policy, be sure to write a synopsis in plain English too (even if it is that you don't allow returns). If you have a great / liberal policy, advertising it on your checkout page can increase customer confidence.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFVKWjtkzAdjb13qAG32xc6poNnWJtNythm3UcY0JaqetuoRKAG2HbDBTv-RCkyhIIjNppBqNmqYYtq-iU-iF2oViPlSzS0VQ-C-rMzUbhWn1HUf991YQcnoyh71QeMx4tn2XnO1fj8g/s1600/message_received.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFVKWjtkzAdjb13qAG32xc6poNnWJtNythm3UcY0JaqetuoRKAG2HbDBTv-RCkyhIIjNppBqNmqYYtq-iU-iF2oViPlSzS0VQ-C-rMzUbhWn1HUf991YQcnoyh71QeMx4tn2XnO1fj8g/s320/message_received.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Confirmation Success</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I bought a flight online the other day and after I completed all the forms with my personal and credit card information, I was redirected to the home page! WTF? Did I get the flight? Did something go wrong? I spent the next 45 minutes on the phone with customer service [waiting] to see if my order had in fact gone through. Your visitors need confirmation that they have succeeded, no matter how small the conversion. Whether it is a simple newsletter signup or an order completion, be sure to show a thank you page and send a confirmation email.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGnAdwOTo3FZiDCa1tVdLbX0eokIa3QHw_c3r6Ner10XEfjS_2JNArJUS-BNNQVaWSdl7mRNj4yCLJEDq36k3F-4J3IUt-F_XjuxvC2CQNU6XudL50AaPRF1XRy5WV2PIYjsnPtweju4/s1600/contact_info.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHGnAdwOTo3FZiDCa1tVdLbX0eokIa3QHw_c3r6Ner10XEfjS_2JNArJUS-BNNQVaWSdl7mRNj4yCLJEDq36k3F-4J3IUt-F_XjuxvC2CQNU6XudL50AaPRF1XRy5WV2PIYjsnPtweju4/s320/contact_info.jpg" width="249" /></a></span></div>
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<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Make Contact Easy</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You need to provide your customers with a phone number or other contact info. If you don't want to talk to potential customers and random solicitors, you can limit this information to your confirmation pages/emails. But, it is too easy to make a mistake and not realize it until you have completed the process. It is also possible that there will be an error in the delivery of an order. It gives your customers confidence when they know they can call on you. Amazon, by the way, is terrible at this. I paid for and downloaded an e-book that turned out to be nothing more than the title page and cover. It took 20 minutes to find the number to call and get the order reviewed.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Confidence is driven by consistency, feedback, and control. If you provide a consistent experience, constant feedback to your users, and give them a sense of control, your conversion rate will benefit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you promote confidence on your site?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-18511835150201274842013-08-12T15:32:00.002-07:002013-08-12T15:32:19.925-07:003 ways to build visitor trust on the web<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trust is a tricky thing. You can't touch it and it isn't easy to quantify, but without it, your website is going nowhere. Every interaction on the web is an exchange of value. Whether your asking for someone's attention, email address, or credit card, trust is required for the transaction to be completed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There are 2 main categories that most businesses fall into. Those that are well known and those that are not. For business that are well known, trust is easier. For the rest of us, it is imperative that we know how to build visitor trust on the web.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Just like with all decisions, when we are not sure of the correct answer we look for clues and shortcuts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anyone can tell you that design, testimonials, and security badges increase trust, but how?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A trustworthy </span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">design </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">is 2 things: consistent and happy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #444444;">A consistent design just means that there is an obvious correlation to the company and what your visitors were expecting to find. Can you imagine going to the </span><a href="http://us.coca-cola.com/" style="color: #444444;" target="_blank">Coca-Cola website</a><span style="color: #444444;"> and the main color being </span><b><span style="color: #6aa84f;">green</span></b><span style="color: #444444;">? There are loads of little details that go into a "great" web design, but the most important one is consistency. If you are working with a template, use colors, fonts, and layouts that will be consistent with your brand and advertising.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is a happy design? You can think of a "happy design" as a sort of Feng Shui. We naturally gravitate toward and trust happy people (as opposed to angry people). And so it stands to reason we would trust a happy design over an angry one. This is why it is so hard to create a high converting site with a black background. Also, a neutral site is just that, neutral. To make your site design happy, give people places to rest, and use colors and pictures that evoke happy thoughts.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Testimonials </span></b><span style="font-size: large;">are just 1 form of social proof. You can use Facebook likes, Tweets, case studies, or third party reviews as social proof too. </span><a href="http://www.fiveguys.com/" style="font-size: x-large;" target="_blank">Five Guys</a><span style="font-size: large;"> is a master of social proof.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you see a restaurant with a line out into the parking lot you automatically assume it's great. We humans have succeeded in advancing to our present state by relying on the experience and advice of others. No single person has the time to experience everything, so when we are unfamiliar with a solution, we look for the advice of others.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Security badges</b> </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">are a form of borrowed trust. Your visitors may not know who you are but they know the security badge. Security badges work best for adding trust during the purchase process when you are collecting sensitive information. If you want to build trust in other parts of your funnel, you can use the logos from high profile customers or partners. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Borrowed trust works for the same reason your mom never wanted you hanging out with the bad kids. You may not have been a bad kid, but when you hang out with them, others will see you as a delinquent. If you pick high profile customers that you are <i>proud </i>to be associated with, borrowed trust will work in your favor.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The bonus solution here is a gimme: </span><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Honesty</span></b><span style="font-size: large;">. If you want people to trust you, you have to be honest, but what isn't so obvious is that you have to go out of your way to honest. This means clearly detailing your purchase and return policies. Explaining any caveats in your contracts up front and helping your customers navigate potential land mines. You should even let people know why you need to collect certain types of information on your forms (such as birthdate or email) and what you intend to do with it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Trust is a tricky thing, but being honest and having a good design goes a long way toward a fruitful relationship with your visitors. If your conversions still aren't where you want them, consider borrowing some trust from other companies' logos and the testimonials of the masses.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you build trust on your website?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-81140319967105465222013-08-08T15:17:00.000-07:002013-08-21T11:11:54.423-07:00Obstacles to conversion<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion optimization is not about persuading your visitors to buy. My father likes to say, "You can't make a content cow move." If your visitors aren't ready to buy, you shouldn't try to force them to.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Assuming you have highly qualified visitors on your site, who <i>are</i> ready to buy, what are the main obstacles to conversion?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First, just because your visitors are ready to buy, doesn't mean they are going to buy from you. In today's global economy, the choice of vendor is almost limitless. The main obstacle you have to overcome is: convince your visitors you are the <i><b>best </b></i>option.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To solve this problem, most companies focus on themselves. They offer a better product, with a faster delivery, at a lower price. In an effort to stand out, they have chosen the same list of attributes as their competitors. Margaret Mead said, </span><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Always remember you are unique. Just like everyone else.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">" </span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> This is exactly how your potential customers see you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion optimization focuses on the fact that these visitors are already on your website. Why not help them make the decision to purchase from you? </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In most cases, people don't use direct logic to make a decision. We use shortcuts so that we don't have to weigh all the "real" variables. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Short of becoming an expert in your line of work, it would be extremely hard for one of your visitors to compare the benefits of your solution with that of your competitors. For example, try to explain the difference between a top of the line AA battery from Duracell and one from Energizer. (I'm assuming that very few of you are battery experts. :)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coming back to the fact that these visitors are already on your website, what are the shortcuts your visitors use to make the decision to purchase?</span><br />
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<b>Trust and confidence.</b></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://contourthis.blogspot.com/2013/08/3-ways-to-build-visitor-trust-on-web.html" target="_blank">Trust</a> </b>comes in many forms, but if your visitors don't trust you, they will look for another vendor. They need to trust that you will give them what they need, when they need it. They need to trust that you won't change the price at the last minute, or penalize them via an obscure part of your contract. They need to trust that you won't mistreat their email, phone number, and credit card data. In an exchange of value, trust is everything.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://contourthis.blogspot.com/2013/08/11-ways-to-increase-customer-confidence.html" target="_blank">Confidence</a></b> is what maintains the momentum of the sale. Although confidence is related to trust, they are two different things. One of the biggest mistakes e-commerce sites make is in assuming their visitors are confident in their purchase. Being confident that you have chosen the right vendor, or even that you selected AA batteries and <i>not</i> AAA batteries. Confidence is what lets customers finalize their purchase.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your visitors trust you and you can make them confident in their purchase, your conversions will increase. A high level of trust and confidence can even overcome a few inconveniences or possible red flags during the conversion process.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you build trust and confidence on your site?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-10819711632217116152013-08-06T15:59:00.000-07:002013-08-06T15:59:00.910-07:00CRO ≠Persuading your visitors to buy<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I read an article today about persuading your visitors to buy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not all of your website visitors want or need to buy anything [today]. Just like when you go fishing, not every catch is a keeper, not all of your visitors are qualified buyers ready to buy.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is a common misconception that conversion optimization is about persuading (forcing) people to buy, especially if they weren't looking or ready to make a purchase.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUC0deNak70hdNR-QzgPpPiPn9riDQ87bsuIsOe6GAFLQt8EjiNa1Q2P5iZim5llh1DiIX-vCnEX1E31VHV_ACZk1QkwvMBt0HaV0KsnPfBBixjp7xoPAniS7-KiblTfRXa0orFlswvmA/s1600/horse.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUC0deNak70hdNR-QzgPpPiPn9riDQ87bsuIsOe6GAFLQt8EjiNa1Q2P5iZim5llh1DiIX-vCnEX1E31VHV_ACZk1QkwvMBt0HaV0KsnPfBBixjp7xoPAniS7-KiblTfRXa0orFlswvmA/s320/horse.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is true many of the psychological techniques used for CRO can be used toward a nefarious end. BUT those conversions are not "optimal". When customers find out they have been tricked into buying, they are not happy people. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">White hat CRO focuses on clear communication, letting your potential customers know they are in the right place and redirecting visitors who aren't quite ready. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">During the purchasing process, CRO doesn't force or trick people into finalizing their purchase. Conversion optimization merely removes all of the obstacles in making the decision to complete the process.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Next time, we'll look at what some of those obstacles are.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-85429381445478302992013-08-02T12:20:00.000-07:002013-08-02T12:20:07.320-07:00The win-win negotiation<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The win-win negotiation is killing your business. The ultimate goal of a successful negotiation is one where both sides end up getting what they need and want, but that's how a negotiation ends, not how it starts.</span><div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So much has been said and published about negotiating for a win-win outcome over the years that it has affected the way many people start a negotiation. It has resulted in a desire to start with a position that you think the other side will like. You have already made [mental] concessions in hopes the negotiation will be smooth and easy.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately it doesn't work this way. It all too often results in a lopsided or lose-lose agreement. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's no surprise that this same mentality of, "we can both win!" has spilled over into marketing. Most websites and marketing efforts aim to please. On the surface, even conversion rate optimization is all about reducing the friction of a sale.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Winning is what propels us to do better and supplies us with the appropriate resources. If you truly want to win, you need to shake things up and push back. It is a little counter intuitive, but the harder you push at the negotiating table, the better the deal will be for both sides.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your website needs to push back on your visitors as well. There is a psychological phenomenon where the harder you work for something, the more you like and appreciate it. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A successful conversion optimization project will increase friction at the beginning of the sales cycle and decrease friction at the end, during the purchasing process. Just like in a negotiation, this creates a positive friction at the beginning to make sure both sides are getting what the want. In conversion terms, this increases the quality of your conversions. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Once both sides are happy with the deal, you don't want to get bogged down in paper work. For conversion optimization, this means reducing the friction to buy, which results in more sales.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your website is having a conversation with your visitors. Your visitors are looking for something and your website is trying to convince them to choose you. You may not be aware, but this is a negotiation. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is your website losing the negotiation?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-71272258967238522612013-07-29T12:49:00.002-07:002013-07-30T10:26:24.966-07:00Using Conversion Optimization to increase prices<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion optimization is generally about reducing the anxiety a website visitor might have about making a purchase or contacting you. The entire process is geared toward reducing friction. Just like water, most people follow the easy path, the path of least resistance.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's only one problem with this. Anyone who has ever done in-person sales, will tell you, if a buyer immediately pulls out a checkbook and closes the deal, you've left money on the table. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Google recently experienced this issue when they sold their $35 Chromecast dongle with a $24 Netflix coupon. Google sold so many dongles the first day, they had to cancel this deal. They could have continued, but they would be hurting both their and Netflix's business.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You want the decision to purchase to be easy, but you don't want to hurt your business by selling. There is such a thing as good resistance: Purchasing friction that increase the quality of your sales. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your prices are too low, conversion optimization can be used to test and succeed with higher price points. You don't do this by just picking 3 random prices and seeing which one sells the most. No. You need to choose your price based on your business. Come up with the right price that will help your business succeed and scale. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many companies are scared to increase prices because they know it will invariably mean less business. When raising prices, y</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">ou can use conversion optimization to maintain or increase your flow of business. You can test different ways to reduce the added anxiety from higher prices.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Coupons, liberal return policies, testimonials, case studies, and social proof are just a few examples of ways to reduce anxiety and increase confidence. Conversion optimization will help you discover the best way to give your visitors more confidence in their purchase.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your pricing is too low, too much business can actually sink you. Using conversion optimization to increase both sales and price will let your business continue to grow long into the future.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-41853495982733338352013-07-25T07:04:00.002-07:002013-07-25T07:04:57.412-07:00Weeding out bad conversions<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Everyone gets bad conversions. Customers who are hard to deal with, complain about your product, or demand a refund. These customers end up costing you more money than they're worth.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wouldn't it be great if you could weed out those visitors before they ever became customers?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not only can you, but you should. These customers could be drowning your business.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The key to being able to weed out bad conversions is the same as increasing your good conversions. The same way you create a profiles of your ideal customers, you need to create a profile of the person you are trying to weed out.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ultimately, the goal isn't to try to piss this person off and give them a hard stop (like putting a cookie on their computer that redirects them to Google every time they try to come to your website.) You want to politely let them know they are in the wrong place and would be better served somewhere else. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Progressive does an amazing job of this. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddJHsvRz3OkzMOmCN2eFFvSFVn6IvTUFu3RyWO2iwaP75NwDeMVERtWkNVmVAI3kMOOGqtTkIX46rH5S1WgiOUY0PKQaC2ylspEMri9zAFZm4KR8QVLRQR-lqNsmS0IHPfRNF1ra1f50/s1600/flipboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiddJHsvRz3OkzMOmCN2eFFvSFVn6IvTUFu3RyWO2iwaP75NwDeMVERtWkNVmVAI3kMOOGqtTkIX46rH5S1WgiOUY0PKQaC2ylspEMri9zAFZm4KR8QVLRQR-lqNsmS0IHPfRNF1ra1f50/s1600/flipboard.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Insurance companies make more money when they never have to pay out a policy. So naturally, the best drivers are more profitable. Progressive doesn't <i>want</i> to be competitive for bad drivers. In fact, they would rather you choose one of their competitors.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By very clearly stating when they don't have the best price, they are politely saying, "</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You're in the wrong place. Please leave.</span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This little comparison tool actually serves 2 purposes. It weeds out bad conversions AND it's a marketing tool. They can advertise that they care more about getting you the best deal than they do winning your business while only attracting their ideal customers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion optimization isn't just for increasing the number of conversions you get, it's also about increasing the quality of those conversions.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How can you weed out bad conversions?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-339603888906947952013-07-22T12:27:00.001-07:002013-07-22T12:29:49.844-07:00Best way to double your business<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It is a common goal for sales teams to want to double their sales. They constantly look for ways to talk to twice as many people, or close twice as many calls.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">For business owners and team leads, this is a worthy endeavor. If successful, the company would double in size. But, sadly for most companies, sales teams are rarely successful at doubling their sales.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Marketers always try to reach and attract twice as many people. But advertising to twice as many people generally means spending twice as much.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The single best way I've seen to double the size of a business is conversion optimization. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you need more leads, you can tune your traffic sources to send better qualified visitors, and test changes to your site that get more of those visitors to become customers.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your leads don't end up buying, you can test changing your site so that they know your sales process up front, before they contact you. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your leads are hard to sell, you can test segmenting your visitors to soften or weed out leads with a specific profile.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most companies who have never worked on conversion optimization have a conversion rate of less than 2%. Doubling that number so 3 or 4% of your visitors purchase or become leads is relatively easy. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even if you already have a great conversion rate of 10%. That means only 1 in 10 visitors ever purchases from you. Convincing 1 more person that they have found the right place is all about <i>how </i>you present your product.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion optimization gives you a framework to generate new ways of presenting your product and test them to see what works best.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Could conversion optimization double your business?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-70730136522465445712013-07-18T12:57:00.000-07:002013-07-18T12:58:09.975-07:00Content Marketing Planning<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your content is to <i><u>not</u> </i>have a plan. If you produce content of any sort: blogs, white papers, ebooks, or even just the pages of your website, you need a plan.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your plan doesn't have to be a super complicated Excel spreadsheet or PowerPoint flow chart. It just has to answer a few simple questions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<ol>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What is the purpose of your content?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What method(s) will you use to achieve your goals?</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How will you measure success?</span></li>
</ol>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Purpose:</span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The purpose of your content is the most important. Are you trying to get more business? or are you just writing for fun? Where do you see yourself in 5 years and what role did your content play along the way? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most companies say something like, "The purpose is to establish ourselves as the experts." That's great, but why do you need to be an expert? Is it to get more business? get a book deal? or something else? 9 times out of 10, it's to get more business. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Method:</span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is more than one way to skin a cat... that's sort of a gruesome way to think about your options. But what if we think about catching a [stray] cat (instead of skinning one). </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can set out food and water and feed it until you have gained enough trust that it will let you pick it up.</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can set out a humane trap that will trap it in a nice carrier for you.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first one is how most content marketing campaigns are designed. You essentially create a content channel that appeals to your target audience. This gives you a personal stream of "potential" clients that you can advertise to. Assuming you provide useful information and advertise appropriately, you will gain enough trust to pick up some new clients. It is important to realize that this is not a quick process.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The second method is focused around increasing conversions. Rather than blogging about everything related to your industry, you focus in on the key parts where you are the best. This leads readers to not only see you as a trustworthy source of information, but also as the best solution. This method draws a line in the sand to separate those who might be interested in buying and those who just came for the free cookies. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I understand the urge to blog about everything, and everyone is different, but I tend to advise companies to create public content that focuses on conversions. If you still feel the need to publish your vast industry knowledge, you can do so as a newsletter or private blog that is only available to your clients and inner circle. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<b><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Success:</span></b></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That last thing you need to know up front is, how will you know if you are succeeding or just wasting time? Depending on your purpose and the method you use, your measure of success will be different. Ultimately, most content is aimed at increasing sales. If you can't attribute a growth in your bottom line to your content strategy, chances are you missed something important.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Does your content marketing produce results?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-24196593466805535392013-07-09T13:07:00.001-07:002013-07-09T13:07:18.479-07:00The problem with home pages<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnpp5ofdWMChAd5vSgtsIqipCUin2qAb_QNVKFho9ahpE7uM7V-b5tlAbv8Zzzb4BS5ub8TEWPPRwcdaBFb1CaiNSNuI-FstdnqLTB-PM6c4BsfLJlzZnHQsQCz33bzDsBI7gnyYeM1c/s1600/one-man-band.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUnpp5ofdWMChAd5vSgtsIqipCUin2qAb_QNVKFho9ahpE7uM7V-b5tlAbv8Zzzb4BS5ub8TEWPPRwcdaBFb1CaiNSNuI-FstdnqLTB-PM6c4BsfLJlzZnHQsQCz33bzDsBI7gnyYeM1c/s320/one-man-band.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most companies view their home page as a veritable table of contents. A way to show off everything they do and give visitors access to all of it. Unfortunately for visitors, this approach lacks focus. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm not saying that you shouldn't make a menu page, a page that acts as a portal to all the various parts of your website (what most people use as their home page), but rather you should pick the 1 thing that matters most to your business and let your visitors start there.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I see lots of agency websites that have huge lists of all the services they can provide. This isn't inherently bad, but it's akin to a one-man-band calling himself the accordion-symbols-drum-horn-trumpet-flute-harmonica-whistle guy: the concept of a one-man-band gets confused and lost.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you do provide a large list of services, try using your homepage to convey the [singular] concept of being a solution provider. There is no need to link to all of the various solutions you provide. If you can sell your visitors on the idea that you are <i>their </i>solution provider, vetting your services is just procedural. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the other hand, if you don't do a bunch of things, don't feel like you need links to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or about pages to try to flush out your home page. Having a clear focus is a good thing. It draws a line through your audience to weed out the disinterested. Everything else just adds confusion to your concept.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-90497910852010838632013-06-27T12:53:00.000-07:002013-06-27T12:53:05.518-07:00Content Marketing Mistakes<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Content marketing is one of the (current) hottest plugs for every agency out there. Why not? After all, content <i>is</i> king. It demonstrates industry leadership, search engines love it, web users consume unstoppable amounts of it, and if you're lucky, it might even get shared and bring loads of free traffic.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If your business model is to sell ads on your website, all you need is viral content. But, I've seen an increasing number of businesses, B2B and B2C, that are publishing traffic attracting content and getting no business results. What's worse is there are agencies saying that you should use your content to attract potential customers 3 years before they need you.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The goal of conversion optimization is to reduce the length of the sales cycle, not open it up to 3 years! So, how do you create content that brings conversions?</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You have to create content that helps people make a purchase.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">By focusing your content on the people who are already looking to buy, you don't waste time and effort trying to build a long term relationship that will be lucky to last 3 minutes, let alone 3 years.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What does this content look like? Well, have you ever taken your tech friend to go help you pick out a computer? Or asked your mechanically inclined friend to help you pick out a car? It's kind of like that. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You're an expert in your industry, so it seems obvious that you would be the best equipped to help someone navigate their options. You get more conversions from this kind of content by shining a light on your own business and solutions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These visitors are already looking to buy, and if you do it right, you've set yourself up to be their best option.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here's a real world (personal) example: <a href="http://www.contourthis.com/ct/resources/choosing-conversion-optimization-company" target="_blank">Choosing the right Conversion Optimization Company</a>. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What does your current content help visitors do?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-50810375964165907442013-06-21T09:36:00.001-07:002013-06-21T09:36:19.365-07:00The power of landing pages<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Landing pages operate on the principle that less is more. Fewer options, mean you don't have to decide what to buy, just that you will buy. And you don't have to figure out where to go, there is only one path forward. This creates an obvious focus that decreases indecision and in turn increases conversions.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But, there is another force at work here. We, as a species, have a hard time accepting pluralistic values. Pluralistic value is when two or more descriptions of a person or item are technically correct, but are in conflict with each other. Depending on the gravity of the conflict, we unconsciously choose to ignore one or more of these views/descriptions, and accept only the one we feel most comfortable with as the "correct" view.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">An example of this is a person who has purposely killed someone and is a good person. In many cases we put this person in jail and view them as a murderer. There is no way they can be a good person if they are willing to kill. The flip side is the men and women of the armed forces. Many have killed and are good people. Regardless of the reason, we do not view them as murderers, rather, they are just good people.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The above example is an extreme view on the topic of pluralistic value, but it relates just the same to small conflicts. An accountant who is an artist, or even a person who is an expert in multiple fields. It seems hard to imagine that the accountant could be equally good at a logical task (accounting) and a creative task (art), or that a person could achieve and maintain the highest ranking of expertise in multiple fields. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It would be like Micheal Phelps winning the 100M Butterfly and the 100M Dash. Would you call him a swimmer? or a runner?</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many businesses don't limit themselves to just a single product or service and thus there is naturally a pluralistic conflict displayed on the homepage of nearly every website. Luckily this is where landing pages come in. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can segment your traffic based on what they searched for in the search engine, where they came from, their location, and even their history on your site. Showing them only what they came for will increase the likelihood that they won't feel conflicted about your company and will be able (mentally) to move forward much easier. (You can always up-sell or cross-sell them after you have them on the hook.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Note: I am working with a client who sells thousands of products in hundreds of categories AND services all of them. Currently they have no landing pages. Over the next couple of months, we'll be deploying a few hundred landing pages for them. I'll be sure to write up a case-study to show you how it worked out.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-19006728547584014362013-06-06T10:53:00.000-07:002013-06-06T10:53:05.983-07:00What makes your website so valuable?<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your website is the most valuable marketing tool you have because it is where you start, and maybe even complete, the sales transaction. Seems like common knowledge, so why is this ground breaking?</span><div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Research shows that over 50% of customer loyalty is attributed to the experience of <b><i>purchasing </i></b>the product or service. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It seems more logical that an amazing product at a great value from a trusted company would inspire more loyalty, but it doesn't. I'm not saying that these things aren't important, but I am saying that the buying experience controls the majority stake in repeat business.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I understand that this is a hard concept to grasp, so let's look at a real world example. Starbucks goes to great lengths to make the experience of purchasing coffee unforgettable. The aroma of freshly ground coffee hangs in the air. There's smooth music on the radio that's just loud enough to get lost in, but not so loud you can't hear yourself. The hustle of the baristas adds to the noise of world around you while the comfortable lounge area calls for you to slow down and take a moment for yourself. The same coffee at McDonald's, just isn't the same. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion Rate Optimization isn't just about getting people to say "yes" and click "buy." It's about creating an experience that makes it easy to say yes and where you don't worry about clicking "buy now." </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">CRO creates a process that instills trust, confidence, and gives the buyer piece of mind. This reduces hesitation and buyer's remorse. It all adds up to a better purchasing experience that increases customer loyalty.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Are you ready to start optimizing your website?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-53757215704006792302013-05-23T13:34:00.001-07:002013-05-23T16:40:39.987-07:00Time to get specific<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the most valuable pieces of advice to increase conversions is: <b>Make your calls to action clear</b>. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On the surface it seems logical enough, but what does it mean? Where do you start?</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was at a restaurant and a sign in the bathroom read, "If this restroom is in need of service, please let us know." This is a real world Call to Action (CTA), and a common one. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If there is a glaring problem, ie. a toilet is overflowing or the bathroom is completely unusable, this CTA probably works fine. You would run out of the bathroom and tell the first employee you find. However, you would probably do the same even if this sign didn't exist. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Suppose you find that 1 of the soap dispensers is out of soap, or that one of the stalls has been vandalized by a person with poor aim. Chances are that you aren't going to tell anyone. There are other stalls and soap dispensers available for your use.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Like water in a stream, we tend to choose the path of least resistance. The purpose of a CTA is to get us to take an action that we may not naturally take.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So, how do you change the restroom sign so that most people will take action, no matter how small the needed service is? Get specific.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Let's break down the original:</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"If this restroom is in need of service, please let us know."</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"In need of service," can mean many different things. Does it mean when a soap dispenser is low? or when there is <i>no</i> soap?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Let us know," is also vague. Who do I tell? Should I tell my server? or wait until I see the manager?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Consider the following edit:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We take great pride in having a clean and fully stocked restroom. Please let your server know if anything is running low."</span></div>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It demonstrates a purpose and is specific and actionable.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How clear are your Calls to Action?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-30761713345746440552013-05-21T12:51:00.000-07:002013-05-21T12:51:10.963-07:00Hero Shots and Sliders<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the web 2.0 craze, almost everyone put a giant slider or hero shot at the top of their homepage. Why not? They're big, sexy, and provide a way to show off your company. </span><div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjImzBeZFlwh6VHM9jLvKCb2Ne0sSDd-OlcxbrpeewoBa6UyEzdfjIHTjWdnoBLlt-SPretsU8J3ouMUTgCB6h81QHl07sjRnc1l7M39FBXS6WXNDdUhF-KrDpHxyPvj9LoEwpTCcCMlo0/s1600/hero-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjImzBeZFlwh6VHM9jLvKCb2Ne0sSDd-OlcxbrpeewoBa6UyEzdfjIHTjWdnoBLlt-SPretsU8J3ouMUTgCB6h81QHl07sjRnc1l7M39FBXS6WXNDdUhF-KrDpHxyPvj9LoEwpTCcCMlo0/s320/hero-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Conversion experts say you should kill your slider. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Designers say you need something to anchor the page. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The problem is that most companies don't do or get anything useful with their slider. They put up a slider for the sake of having a slider.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you really want to get some mileage out of your slider, see what your marketing team thinks. A large canvas that moves, grabs attention, and is best suited for visual media? Sounds like a marketing wet dream. (Look how well <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">SlideShare</a> is doing.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Not all sliders are created equal.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Your slider should be clickable, encourage a single action, and respond to your visitors. (Think of it more like a presentation than a web slider.)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">There is nothing worse than a wordy slide that moves before I'm done reading it. So many times, I have clicked back to the previous slide to finish reading and it slides again! You got my attention. I'm reading your copy. Why would you want to interrupt that?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A slider should have a single purpose. If your goal is to get someone to buy something from your boutique, your slider may feature various items from different categories, but it shouldn't also ask them to sign up for the newsletter. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally, once you have captured someone's attention and convinced them to take action, you need a clear path to success. A big "CLICK HERE!" button might be overkill, but making the whole slide clickable so they can't miss, isn't.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sliders suck... but they don't have to. What's on your slider?</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-18345540758722234362013-05-14T09:52:00.000-07:002013-05-14T09:54:57.663-07:00Confidence Graphing<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The job of an analyst isn't to find stories in the data. It's a given that they exist. The real job of an analyst is to be able to effectively communicate and convey those stories in a way that can be understood without elaborate explanations.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the biggest problems when presenting data on a graph, is being able to eliminate statistical outliers without modifying the data. If you plot them the same way that you plot all the other points, they will invariably raise eyebrows and require explanation.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was playing around with a graph this morning and I came up with a way to graph the confidence of my results.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjRrN9YAPt_7q8o33_Pg0QRK26j_JEYaioAz4DHhnnCAcvc1PuvxCd4MpE4kPkh8yp1IUKUJo53brjrxrTMAgY9mMwLeSxVJ4z3Y3zbhvn9sbr-bPH7vP60DLHa48RadxdLUJZSVgTvg/s1600/two_lines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqjRrN9YAPt_7q8o33_Pg0QRK26j_JEYaioAz4DHhnnCAcvc1PuvxCd4MpE4kPkh8yp1IUKUJo53brjrxrTMAgY9mMwLeSxVJ4z3Y3zbhvn9sbr-bPH7vP60DLHa48RadxdLUJZSVgTvg/s320/two_lines.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The graph above has two lines. The blue line is the conversion rate, and the red line is the number of visitors who saw that variation (the variation is page load time in seconds).</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The blue line makes it look like 26 is a clear winner, and 18-20 convert twice as well as all other options. Unfortunately, the red line tells a completely different story. </span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Effectively, the higher the red line, the more confident we are that the blue line is correct.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It takes a well trained analyst to be able to ignore the outliers in a graph like this.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLx2Rz9g0FJMXhK0dxTier-W_JiLax8MbHLNMEyRJqpSU9eyJUyV1USFbuT5qWfPkQ6f0CJOS30SsIXtF6-iWHEaPyNX1QrFfHOgHQlcpf0F7cHeHI-MHltdAWYJ3ZpT66AVxYXh8Fn28/s1600/confidence_graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLx2Rz9g0FJMXhK0dxTier-W_JiLax8MbHLNMEyRJqpSU9eyJUyV1USFbuT5qWfPkQ6f0CJOS30SsIXtF6-iWHEaPyNX1QrFfHOgHQlcpf0F7cHeHI-MHltdAWYJ3ZpT66AVxYXh8Fn28/s320/confidence_graph.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My final result is a bar graph where each bar is given the opacity that corresponds with our confidence level. The darker the bar, the more confident we are that it is correct. The outliers are still there (and going off the chart), but at 1% opacity, they don't warrant any attention.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-74588675422569432542013-05-08T09:45:00.000-07:002013-05-08T09:45:33.944-07:00Complexity is the hobgoblin of time<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The entropy, or disorder, of the universe is constantly increasing. Entropy is the measure of possible arrangements within a system. In an isolated system, entropy never decreases. This means the older something gets, the more disordered it gets and ultimately less work it can do. (This is why perpetual motion machines don't work and a pendulum will eventually stop swinging.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To fight entropy, you must constantly reduce disorder.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Entropy is primarily used in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, but it applies to businesses and software too.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As time wears on, complexity and disorder increase. You have to fight to keep things simple and organized. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We've all seen companies that grow too big too fast and lose control over their internal entropy. This results in a less productive and ultimately less profitable company. If the system is not corrected, it will eventually stop.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Websites and software are the same way. They start out clean and organized, but as time passes, they get cluttered with content, widgets, bells and whistles. This clutter isn't all bad. It's basically the equivalent of adding weight to the end of a pendulum. The extra weight makes the pendulum swing faster, but it also makes it stop faster, and makes it harder to get moving again. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When creating or revamping a website, the trick is to find the weight (level of complexity) that produces the speed (business results) that you can handle, and that doesn't require too much work to keep it moving.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-36049725955914239212013-05-02T07:02:00.000-07:002013-05-02T07:02:23.007-07:00Networking on social sites<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lots of companies have social profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. The problem with social profiles is that they are a lot of work to maintain and often produce very little value to your bottom line. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most companies think they can use their social profiles to generate interest and traffic to their site. While this is possible for some companies that have a vast reach or "share-able" product, it doesn't work for the large majority. The primary reason it doesn't work is because specialized products need a specialized audience. Sharing specialized content to my 800 friends isn't a natural use of Facebook.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Many other companies try to provide customer support. The idea is that you monitor the social websites for any mention of you and when something good or bad shows up, you respond. Customer support, especially the extremely transparent social sort, is never a bad thing, but it takes a lot of time and effort. Some companies have found wild success through creatively solving their customers' problems with YouTube videos etc. but they are the exception.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you don't really have the time to keep up with LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, et al. but think your business should have a presence, I suggest you use them as they were designed, to network. Every company can benefit from being connected to leaders and passionate individuals in their industry. Connect with rock star employees from other companies, avid bloggers, and anyone you meet at a conference. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Having a network of industry specific "friends" is invaluable. Your profiles become low maintenance because your network doesn't expect or want you to spam them with 30 tweets a day or 10 pictures of new products. Rather, it's the modern day Rolodex. When you have an opportunity or infographic you want to share, you have the perfect network to distribute it to the right people.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How do you use social?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-26877387537312192892013-04-29T11:57:00.001-07:002013-04-29T11:57:20.398-07:00The 3 stages of data<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The web is a glorious place that lets us collect data on almost everything a visitor does. All this data is fun to look at and analyze with various dashboards and graphs, but it doesn't stop there. Once you have found meaning in the data, you still have to use that knowledge.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These are the 3 stages of data: Collect, Analyze, and Implement.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some data in easy to interpret and use. If, in a split test, your visitors purchase more when exposed to version A vs B, the implementation is easy. Show version A to all your visitors.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Most data insights are not as straight forward. Consider the insight that people don't feel comfortable giving out their date of birth on your signup page. Does this mean they don't trust your site enough to share personal info? Should you not ask for a birth date or should you explain why you want to know? Maybe the issue is unrelated and this is just a symptom.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">When you don't have a clear path forward, you have to collect more data either through advanced collection techniques or testing, analyze the results, and try again to implement a solution. It becomes apparent that even valuable data insights can take months to fully implement and realize.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It seems that while there are 3 stages of data, there is only 1 overarching goal: Minimize the delay from collection to implementation.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you're just collecting data and viewing it in a dashboard, your data isn't able to achieve its goal. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What do you do with your data?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7118082334032942927.post-2455810421187816832013-04-26T10:36:00.000-07:002013-04-26T16:59:15.471-07:00The downside of automation<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It seems that everyone reveres automation as the holy grail. You can automate your marketing, your email campaigns, and even your coffee maker. Automation is great because it ensures consistency and frees up valuable man hours to do more mentally intense tasks. But, automation isn't always good.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Automation reduces personalization and requires extensive maintenance to keep up with variable change.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Personalization is important because it not only adds a layer of attention, but re-enforces social ties to your customers. I'm not talking about the kind of personalization that your bulk email service provider offers, Hi [First Name]. I'm talking about true personalization that would take terabytes of data to be able to program into an automated system. The digital equivalent of my coffee pot being able to recognize that I'm dragging more than normal this morning and responding by making me stronger coffee.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm not saying that personalization of this level is impossible to program, just that it isn't practical for most applications. You could easily blend a little automation with a likable account rep and still benefit from automated processes while paying personalized attention to your customers.</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maintenance is another concern when looking to automate anything. As humans, when we learn something new, we automatically integrate it into our process. For a computer program, a change in the outside world may require a minor adjustment or a complete rewrite of the original automation. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My personal belief is that if you can't afford to replace something, it's outside of your reach. If you can't afford to replace your automation (based on the time and monetary investment), you're not getting enough out of having the process automated. </span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Start manually and document each step and decision point of your process. Just having the process scripted on paper should increase the consistency of your results and will help you determine if automating it is worth the effort.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I know a guy who took a 4 month process and made it a 1 day process through automation. He didn't completely remove the human element from the decision points, just automated the basic steps (reason why it still takes a whole day). The program would take weeks to re-write or make a major update, but that's still a huge savings over doing it manually, even once.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Is your automation working for you or just creating extra work?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11773427681829386990noreply@blogger.com0