This time of year, many marketers are beginning to execute on their new marketing plans. However, sometimes you have to deviate from the plan and just need a sale or lead generation lift… RIGHT NOW!
When your boss or client challenges you to gain a quick conversion increase on your landing pages, what tools do you turn to in your marketing toolbox?
In Wednesday’s Web clinic – Rapidly Maximizing Conversion: How one company quickly achieved a 53.9% lift with a radical redesign – MECLABS Managing Director Flint McGlaughlin will share our top discoveries around how to quickly improve your conversion rate.
But before we share what we learned, we wanted to hear from you. Here are a few of our favorite “quick hit” tips from your peers …
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Headline optimization
I have found that headline and subhead optimization works well for the B2B SaaS clients I typically work with. Even after I think I have tested my way to the perfect headline, I run more tests and get more lift. I regularly get 10% lifts from this tactic. If I have more time to gather data, I will multivariate test headline, CTA button and benefit/bulleted text.
Finally, if you haven’t already, make sure there is just one key CTA button which is huge and obvious. I’m always surprised at how many sites don’t do this.
– Chris Neumann, General Manager, TextMarks
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5 Quick Tips
A few quick things come to mind:
1) Drop prices and provide free shipping: This one is pretty obvious, but nothing converts like low prices and free shipping.
2) Add security/trust logos and other “credibility” links (security policy, etc.) to checkout process: These types of additions have proven to immediately bump the conversion rate by providing a visual feel of safety and security, even if the users never do anything besides see the presence of the icons or links.
3) Simplify checkout process, including NOT requiring users to create an account in order to checkout: A simple checkout process reduces the likelihood users will drop-off.
4) Increase frequency of targeted email campaigns: There is so much email going around these days, from so many different sources, for so many different purposes. Research and testing has shown that sending a single email campaign up to 9 times can continue to provide incremental benefit in sales, with very little subsequent downside in customer satisfaction. The truth is, most people don’t see a very high percentage of their email.
5) Implement abandoned cart targeted emails: Enticing users to complete the checkout process can be very effective because you are targeting shoppers that you know are already interested in some of your products.
The above items are all proven to increase conversion – some are more quickly implemented than others.
– Todd Stalter, Senior Visualization Analyst, OneSpring
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Contests and chatting
For quick results I would implement the following:
1. An online contest where all the visitor needs to do is provide a name and email address, Facebook “like,” and/or Twitter follow, depending on what kind of lead capture you want. Online contests with enticing prizes can go viral and get you many followers quickly.
2. Implement a live chat feature on the site to make it easier to interact with visitors. However, I have found that live chat software with the standard popup window do not convert as well as the newer live chat programs such as Zopim and Olark that have a more social feel to them. Another option is to implement a video live chat program so customers can see the site representative on video, which helps even more with building trust in your company.
– Shai Atanelov, CEO & Founder, BigtimeWireless.com
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Related Resources:
Rapidly Maximizing Conversion: How one company quickly achieved a 53.9% lift with a radical redesign – Web clinic
Most-Tweeted Posts of 2011: Social media marketing, copywriting, email testing and more …
Landing Page Optimization: How to plan a radical redesign so you get a lift AND a learning
Marketing Campaign: Landing page optimization can help improve the return on your media spend
I would also add integrating an inbound methodology approach leveraging analytics to gain a deeper understanding about site traffic.
Weds.’s web clinic sounds like something I could really get a lot out of, and your have a lot to offer, but I am not registering.
Why not? Because I am ashamed to admit I don’t know how web clinics (it’s a webinar, right?) work and I can’t easily find out how.
I mean, I COULD spend my time figuring out HOW to do what your CTA is… but WIIFM?
Maybe that’s a valuable lesson right there for me… don’t assume your potential client knows the things that are 2nd nature to you. ;(
Kate,
Thanks so much for calling us out on the mat. You’ absolutely correct!
I always weigh how deeply I should go into what a Web clinic is. One, I don’t want to be overly promotional with the blog posts, I want to mostly focus on helping the audience. And second, the Web clinics already have a large and loyal audience, so I don’t want to get repetitive for them.
That said, we get new readers all the time, so a Web clinic is simply a FREE (see, I’m getting more promotional already), 60-minute session with our Managing Director & CEO, Flint McGlaughlin, in which he shares marketing optimization discoveries from our recent research. So what’s in it for you? You can learn how to significantly improve conversion on your website.
Or not. We’re sharing what we’ve learned, and turning them into transferable principles that have helped a lot of people, but there is no promise that we can help you specifically.
You can learn more about Web clinics on this landing page. And thanks for your excellent comment.
@Daniel Burstein
Thanks so much for your swift reply, Daniel, and if that landing page was there I could never find it! Okay, I’ve registered… although still a bit in the dark about why I have to and what it’s like. Your video was great at promoting what we’ll get so it converted me. Still have the ? re if we participate, or why we shouldn’t just wait and watch it later… or even if that’s possible. Guess I’ll find out huh? Scheduling an hour in a workday’s always chancy; I hate to RSVP anything then not show up… even though I know you’d never miss me 😉 ! Thanks for caring.
Guys, I love your blog and it’s one of my favourite sources of great marketing advice, but your videos are unwatchable, even for a fan. They are constantly buffering, even on fibre optic, I can’t fast forward, and there is no index to jump straight to the parts I’m most interested in. It’s just IMHO, but there are probably others out there who feel the same, and you guys deserve the largest audience possible for what you’re doing.
Alex,
Thanks for helping us optimize our new video presentation (and bearing with our growing pains). You bring up some excellent points that we will look into more.
For now, perhaps the best place to watch our most recent Web clinic replay is on YouTube — Rapidly Maximizing Conversion: How one company quickly achieved a 58.1% lift with a radical redesign.
And rest assured, we will continue to optimize this new format.