Here’s what the Google Website Optimizer home page says about it:
Using Website Optimizer to test and optimize site content and design, you can quickly and easily increase revenue and ROI whether you’re new to marketing or an expert.
We’ve been using Google Website Optimizer in our Conversion Rate Optimisation program to find out what customers really want from websites.
Over time, we’ve come to understand this: Whether you use Google Website Optimizer to run a split test or a multivariate test, the results that you are going to get are only as good as your ideas.
Testing the colours of call to action buttons will only get you so far… You need to delve deeper to make this tool work for you. So where do you find the best ideas to test?
- Know your customers - Spend time talking with them and understanding them.
- Know your bottom line conversion stats - Visits, Enquiries and Sales or Visits for lead generation, Carts and Sales for e-commerce websites.
- Delve into your web analytics to find problem areas and opportunities for improvement.
- Know the outcomes that you would like to improve. Is it more sign-ups, downloads, lead contact forms, shopping carts, orders or sales?
- Get the help of experienced testers.
Google Website Optimizer is a key tool that can help you to keep your conversion rates heading north. Of course, here in Australia, we would prefer to call it Google Website Optimiser. Perhaps that’s something that Google could test to see if it helps.
From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.
Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.
]]>According to Russel Howcroft, MD of Ad Agency George Patterson’s Y&R,
All advertising works, it’s just a matter of how much.
For many businesses marketing is one of the biggest expenses, and you don’t need to work for an ad agency to know that there is big money changing hands for good advertising… and bad advertising.
Maybe Russel Howcroft’s statement that all advertising works is true in an advertising agency sort of a way… but maybe not for long.
Marketing on the Internet has introduced many businesses to the concept that you can draw a direct line from good marketing to increased sales. It has introduced an unprecedented standard of tools, data and accountability.
Now, Google Analytics has launched a tool in the US that allows marketers to see what impact their TV ads have on their website traffic.
It may not be expected in advertising agencies, but In our opinion advertising has failed if it doesn’t generate a return on investment. Looks like Google Analytics is about to shake up the ad world.
From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.
Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.
]]>Interestingly I read this quote (and for that matter, saw it too) in an email about online video. I’m sure that you have read, seen and heard variations of this so-called research too.
Before you rush off to turn everything that you’ve ever published into a video - as the email implied that I should - you should know that this research is a myth and the quote itself is rubbish.
Graphics like the one above are extremely widespread and they are usually constructed to suit the purpose of the person presenting them.
There are a couple of things that give these graphs away:
- Percentages are being used to generalise people
- The results are always a factor of 10%
So I did some research to find the source of this information, and I found this post from learning consultant Dr Will Thalheimer that shows that there is in fact no valid research that shows that any mode of learning is superior to another.
A comment on the blog cites the following quote regarding the real story of retention:
Each of the methods identified by the pyramid resulted in retention, with none being consistently superior to the others and all being effective in certain contexts.
Lalley, J., & Miller, R. (2007). The learning pyramid: Does it point in teachers in the right direction? Education, 128(1), Page 64
In other words, as soon as you hear someone say, “people remember blah blah blah,” know that you’re hearing rubbish.
The two keys to retention
The reality is that there are no real statistics on reading vs hearing vs seeing vs doing and there can’t be.
There are two keys that dictate retention:
- Student
- Subject
For example, taking a guitar lesson (subject) from a book is pretty tough. There are so many things about learning guitar that just can’t be communicated in written words. The lesson is unlikely to be retained if you (student) don’t play guitar.
However, if Dr Will Thalheimer presented his debunking of the retention styles myth by video, it would be hard to comprehend. That’s because video is real time, and that makes it harder to digest at your own pace.
Also, if you are a motivational speaker, a transcript of your last speech probably isn’t going persuade people to hire you.
How to increase retention (and conversion rates)
So if you want people to retain your message, consider the student and the subject. That will determine the mode of delivery that you choose.
What ever mode you choose, ensure that the content you deliver is of a high standard, targeted to your audience. This applies to your blog, copy writing, online video, pictures and every form on content on your website.
From the author: As a web programmer I have been involved in developing several content management systems. I was hands on in developing our own content management suite called eComMetrix®.
Do people believe that the testimonials on your website are real? We often hear people express the view that testimonials on websites are contrived or made up. Sometimes with good reason.
Let me make one thing clear: Made up testimonials do not belong in professional web marketing.
In this “Web 2.0″ world of fast customer feedback, fictitious testimonials will come back to bite you. So, how can you prove that your testimonials are real, spontaneous expressions of gratitude from your customers?
Firstly, the best testimonials are the unsolicited ones, so do a good job, and you’ll get testimonials. Do an exceptional job an you’ll get even more.
Here are a couple of ideas on how to keep the testimonials flowing:
- Do an exceptional job
- Respond well to complaints
- Measure and improve your customer service
- Let customers know that testimonials help your business, and you need their help.
Make it as easy as possible for people to send their feedback, but never apply pressure. If good feedback doesn’t come freely and naturally, then it is contrived.
There are some simple ways that you can improve the acceptance of the testimonials on your website:
- Include scans of real handwritten thank you letters, or email print outs - don’t know why but it just seems more real if its printed
- Include pictures of your clients - using your product if applicable (with their permission of course)
- Include negative comments - demonstrate how you resolved issues and turned a situation around
- Video testimonials - Can be hard to arrange, try the simple things first.
For an eCommerce website you might consider using a product rating and feedback system. However, the implementation of a system like that is not right for every eCommerce website. It’s also a big project that needs to be carefully planned.
Taking small steps to prove that your testimonials are genuine will have a greater effect than having hundreds of testimonials on your website.
Take a look at the testimonials page we were able to create for Block Out Blinds using their customers real feedback here.
From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.
Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.
]]>Let’s start with the basics:
- Detail your shipping policy
- Link to your shipping policy
- Display shipping costs up front
- Keep shipping simple
- Use shipping offers
Detail your shipping policy
The first shipping conversion technique is having a clearly stated shipping policy. Some of the details that you need to cover in your shipping policy include:
- Where do you ship to?
- What options are there?
- What carriers do you use?
- How long does it take to get there?
- How do you calculate the shipping price?
- What happens when problems arise?
Link to your shipping policy
Once you have a good, well detailed shipping policy, you need to make sure that it can be found. Include a link to the shipping policy near the shopping cart, in the menus and on product pages.
Display shipping costs up front
One of the real keys to succeeding with shipping is being up front about it. Unfortunately, many shopping cart systems are configured to kill conversions by default. That’s because they force you to register and enter your personal details before they show you the price of shipping.
Make sure your shopping cart shows your customers the full price of the sale before they’re asked for their personal details.
But what if you need to know the customer’s location to calculate the shipping price? Ask them for their postcode, state or suburb, but… keep it simple.
Keep shipping simple
If your shipping calculations are complicated, do they really need to be? You might have more success with a simpler shipping price structure. Even if it is more expensive, making shipping easier to understand for your customers could have a positive effect on conversions.
Of course, this may depend on other factors such as competition, but it’s worth a test!
Use shipping offers
Shipping can be a conversion killer, but it can also present a profit opportunity for your eCommerce business. Try using quantity based shipping incentives to increase your average order value. For example, you might offer free shipping on orders one $100.
You can also use free shipping or discounted shipping offers to create an artificial deadline to push some of those conversions over the threshold.
Carefully calculate the costs of any offers that you make on shipping and make sure that the cost will be less than the return.
Once you have the basics covered, you can then start to look at some of the technical tricks that can improve your customer’s shipping experience even further.
From the author: If you run an eCommerce website then you might wonder, “How do I know if I’m getting as many orders as I could be through my website?” The answer to that question is in your website’s conversion rates.
For email marketers that means that a number of significant HTML features are gone.
In Outlook 2007 you may have noticed that you can’t use:
- Background images. Not in HTML or Style Sheets (CSS).
- Rowspans to format a table.
- Forms to capture users input.
As Office 2007 gradually gets rolled out, you are going to have to change the way your emails are built and perhaps designed.
It may be of little consolation, but Microsoft has released a tool that checks to see if your email will work in Outlook 2007. The tool is for users of Microsoft Expression Web, Microsoft Visual Studio or Macromedia Dreamweaver (MX 2004 and Version 8). You can download it here.
It would be a good idea to check your next email marketing piece before you click send!
From the author: If you use email marketing to reach your customers and prospects, then there are simple things that you can do ensure that your message gets through and is acted on. The key is in your email marketing conversion rates.
That means that for every 100 people that visit this page, at least 41 of them will complete and submit this form.
Why is this page converting so well? Here’s a couple of reasons:
- It’s a simple form
- It’s being seen by the right people
- It meets the visitor’s needs
What’s even better is that it’s the second most popular page in the whole website. Congratulations to the Piano Removalists - Network Piano Carriers.
From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.
Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.
]]>According to iTWire eBay has asked the ACCC to excuse it from the trade practices act over the move.
eBay excuses its actions by arguing that users of PayPal are 4 times less likely to open a dispute about an item. It is understandable that eBay would want advise its customers of those statistics and make recommendations about the best ways to trade.
However, forcing you to risk your money with PayPal is another question altogether.
Remember that PayPal is not a bank.
Unlike the money that you deposit at a real bank, the money in your PayPal account is at far more risk. Moreover PayPal doesn’t behave anything like a bank, and according to many reports intelligible communication with PayPal is practically impossible.
We hope that the ACCC acts to force eBay to abandon this move that is sure to disrupt the bulk of Australia’s retail eCommerce activity.
From the author: If you run an eCommerce website then you might wonder, “How do I know if I’m getting as many orders as I could be through my website?” The answer to that question is in your website’s conversion rates.
Key 5 :- Design for conversion
A website that is designed for conversion will be:
- Easy to read - why do so many designers hate words? I say that because so many of them try to hide your text by making it tiny, grey and putting it on a white background
- Easy to scan - highlight keywords and concepts, use good headlines and sub-headlines, bullet points, short paragraphs and short sentences
- Easy to navigate - It will be intuitive so that your visitors won’t have to think about where to find things
- Easy to act on - Phone numbers, contact details and contact forms will be built into the logical flow of your website content. On a high conversion lead generation website these things will never be sacrificed for aesthetics.
A good lead generation website is designed for content and designed for conversion. It’s not designed for other designers or to be judged at website design awards (did they go the way of the dodo?).
Key 6 :- Get website traffic from the right places
From a conversion perspective not all website visitors are equal. For instance, if your product is only available in Australia then there’s no point in getting traffic from India.
If your product is only for Architects, be sure that they are the ones who are going to come to your website. So you might advertise your website in the local Architects journal. You might decide to use Search Engine Optimisation to get traffic to your website from Google, but you would target the terms and keywords that Architects are likely to use in a search.
If you get website traffic from the wrong sources, your conversion rates will be low.
If you get people coming to your website who are likely to be interested in your services, then your conversion rates will naturally be higher. Concentrate on getting traffic that’s likely to convert.
Key 7 :- Active measurement and continual improvement
A high conversion lead generation website is never really finished. High website conversion rates rise out of continual measurement and improvement.
You need to be continually monitoring your website to know the answers to these questions:
- How many visitors are coming to my website?
- Where are they coming from?
- How many leads am I getting?
- What’s my conversion rate?
- Where are the best leads coming from?
You can easily get the answers to all of these questions from your website and your website analytics software. If you want a high converting lead generation website then this must be your priority. At a minimum you need to monitor this every month.
Oh, and Google Analytics is free. The insight that it can give you into your website is remarkable. There’s no excuse for not having it configured on your website.
So there you have the 7 keys of high conversion lead generation websites. They are:
Key 1 :- Clearly identified customers and goals
Key 2 :- A simple, clear message
Key 3 :- Trust
Key 4 :- Call to action
Key 5 :- Design for conversion
Key 6 :- Get website traffic from the right places
Key 7 :- Active measurement and continual improvement
A well conceived lead generation website will play a critical role for your business by making all of your marketing more effective. TV, newspaper, magazine, outdoor and radio advertising can all leverage a high conversion lead generation website.
From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.
Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.
]]>Waiting for your new website to show up in Google can be painful. You can avoid disappointment by setting your expectations right in the first place. Don’t expect to show up under every Google search you can think of in the first month.
Local SEO Guru Jim Stewart posted the following video that explains that with Google results it’s better to target the low hanging fruit than to try and harvest the whole tree in one go.
It is much more effective to pick off good keywords and get them to number one in Google than to go with a shotgun approach.
Ultimately, the Google rankings that you put your effort into should be determined by the keywords that are converting visits into enquiries most efficiently. Those keywords might not be what you think they are.
From the author: If you regularly advertise for leads in the Yellow Pages®, in the newspaper or on the radio, then there’s a good chance that your website could be generating more leads for you than it is. The key is in your website’s conversion rates.
Yellow Pages® is an Australian registered trade mark of Telstra Corporation Ltd. This company has requested and has been granted permission from Telstra Corporation Ltd to use the Yellow Pages® trade mark. This company is not otherwise associated with Telstra Corporation or any of it’s subsidiaries.
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