Author

Brad Bortone 16 posts 9 comments

Brad Bortone is the Associate Editor for MECLABS, and brings more than ten years of journalism experience to the table. He is experienced in both corporate and nonprofit copywriting, having published work with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, The New York City Department of Education, The National Academy of Sciences and the Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation. Additionally, Brad's freelance writing has been featured in a wide array of print and online outlets, including The Newark Star-Ledger, ESPN: The Magazine and CNN.com.

Email Marketing

[Video] Email Marketing: Use website content to increase list size

Brad Bortone Apr 19, 2013 0

In this MarketingExperiments blog post, view a video excerpt from a session at last year's Optimization Summit featuring The Heritage Foundation's strategy with using its website content to increase email list size.

Conversion Marketing

Marketing Wisdom: Testing basics prove worthy as a foundation for 2012 planning

Brad Bortone Dec 9, 2011 1

As we prepare to wade through hundreds of submissions for the MarketingSherpa 2012 Marketing Wisdom Report, (sponsored by HubSpot) we took a final glance at the 2011 edition. While combing through the pages, many of last year’s submissions…

A/B Testing

Landing Page Test: Why less equaled (54%) more when reducing friction and highlighting value…

Brad Bortone Oct 19, 2011 1

In a world that constantly bombards us with promises of “bigger,” “better,” “faster” and “more,” it’s sometimes tough to accept that time-honored practices are often still the best course of action. Yet, as tests continue to prove, when it…

Lead Generation

Landing Page Optimization: Test ideas for a B2B lead capture page

Brad Bortone Sep 28, 2011 10

As has been the standard for recent MarketingSherpa Summits, leading marketing solutions providers sent several analysts to provide direct, one-to-one consultation for the attendees of B2B Summit 2011. Always an informed, yet…

Value Proposition

Marketing Optimization: Measuring the potential force of your value proposition

Brad Bortone Sep 26, 2011 1

We’re live onsite at B2B Summit 2011, and Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Managing Director and CEO, MECLABS, opened the proceedings this morning by teaching this enthusiastic audience that most marketers can’t even define “value proposition,” much…

Value Proposition

Value Proposition: How headlines helped lead to a nearly 29% conversion boost

Brad Bortone Aug 12, 2011 4

Despite a marketer’s goal of thoroughly conveying value on a landing page through well-crafted body text and use of images, there will often remain a need for a powerful “hook” to further motivate a potential customer. In this post, see how…

Email Marketing

Email Marketing Optimization: How you can create a testing environment to improve your email results

Brad Bortone Jul 8, 2011 2

I recently attended the MarketingSherpa Email Marketing LEAPS Advanced Practices Workshop in Boston and, though these events are always good for new information, I found myself surprised – and even outright alarmed – by one particular…

Email Marketing

Graphic vs. Text Emails: How differing approaches encouraged future testing

Brad Bortone Jun 17, 2011 4

One of the most enjoyable parts of being a MECLABS employee is seeing tests performed for a wide variety of companies and organizations. While we always welcome new opportunities to test, learn and share for the betterment of the marketing…

Copywriting: 5 Proven Discoveries That Strengthen Copy

Website Messaging: How clarity once again trumped persuasion to the tune of a 200% boost in…

Brad Bortone May 23, 2011 0

Whether discussing a simple print ad or a complex integrated campaign, a marketer's goal is clear – tell people what you offer and why they should buy from you. If you're clear in your messaging, there's no need for persuasive tactics that…

Conversion Marketing

Homepage Optimization: How a more logical eye-path led to 59% increase in conversions

Brad Bortone Apr 18, 2011 8

Many times, a homepage can be the first interaction prospects have on a website and therefore what we do (or don’t do) at that moment can significantly impact our future relationship with them. This recent experiment might give you a little…

Email Marketing

Email Copy: Half the words, 16% higher clickthrough rate

Brad Bortone Apr 4, 2011 10

Many marketers lose connection with their audience by overstating value, or simply burying it in a wash of information and unnecessary language. Though all correspondence should state value before a call-to-action, it's important to…

Email Subject Lines: Longer subject increases opens 8.2%

Brad Bortone Mar 21, 2011 11

In order to capture the interest of someone navigating a cluttered inbox, your subject line message must be clear enough to garner attention and express value. The subject line is really just the first part of an ongoing conversation you're…

Conversion Marketing

Landing Page Optimization: Value-focused revamp leads to 188% lead gen boost, increase in personal…

Brad Bortone Feb 28, 2011 12

See how an Australian telecom company utilized a revamped page design that highlighted the company's premier offerings, through an inviting layout and a distinct focus on its most powerful value statements.

E-commerce Marketing

E-commerce Shopping Carts: How a redesigned checkout process led to 13% increase in conversion rate

Brad Bortone Feb 21, 2011 6

In a follow up to our recent blog post covering a seemingly minor revamp of an online ticket broker landing page, we're going to navigate a little deeper into the site to see if similar tweaks can improve this site's checkout process.

Conversion Marketing

Landing Page Optimization: How an engaging headline and revamped layout led to a 26% conversion rate…

Brad Bortone Feb 16, 2011 3

This experiment involves a United Kingdom-based online ticket broker offering residents a series of exclusive vacation packages for Florida theme parks, tours and attractions, and shows that Even a highly targeted Web page, offering deals…

Marketing Wisdom: Digging for pearls from 2010 and applying them to 2011

Brad Bortone Dec 17, 2010 3

As I prepare to cull through hundreds of submissions for the MarketingSherpa 2011 Wisdom Report, I felt it was only right to take one last look at the 2010 edition, to see where we were a year ago, and where we made strides along the way.…