Conversion Conference Blog

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Feras Alhlou, Principal Consultant/Co-Founder of E-Nor:

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Focus on Improving Your Data-Driven Culture

A key component of helping optimize online marketing efforts for your business comes from within the organization. By becoming and/or improving your data-driven culture, your digital presence (and overall marketing) will prosper.

We are often overwhelmed by data; web analytics data, social data, mobile data, qualitative data, etc. and don’t know how to use this data to benefit the organization. Try not to overemphasize associating analytics with technology. The most productive outcomes come from the people involved and the process.

A. The People
To grow an analytics, or data-driven culture, you need to create a cross-functional team that supports one another. IT works with marketing, which works with stakeholders, etc. Recruit people within these departments who understand the business goals and are willing to commit to measure what matters. They need a passion for data, and be good at storytelling, meaning they can both accumulate/analyze data and put it together into actionable insights.

B. The Process
Once you have your people in place, define your requirements and prioritize your objectives. What data are you collecting? What are the business outcomes that really matter? How do I provide that piece of actionable insight at the right time to the right decision maker? Ask these types of questions, and make sure to stay away from over-the-top reporting. Gather and measure what matters, then report on it.

C. The Culture
People consume data in different ways. It’s important to assess where people are, and support them at the level they are at, while helping them gradually get more sophisticated. Make sure each person understands their role (what info are they gathering, how are they reporting, etc.). Develop a role-based knowledge transfer program, provide training and have a venue for periodic Q&A sessions. Communication upstream and downstream is key to making a data-driven culture successful. Be sure everyone is involved, talk about outcomes, customers, dollars and any other important factors in the analytic/data gathering process.

So as you can see, creating a culture that focuses on analytics does take some time and effort. But in the long-run your organization will benefit from both the collaborative communication and data being collected. I hope you find this “tip” helpful in the coming year and you (and your organization) benefits from it!

More About Feras

Feras Alhlou is Principal Consultant/Co-Founder of E-Nor (serving Fortune 500-25), which has achieved multiple Google qualifications including Google Analytics Certified Partner. He is a speaker at industry conferences including SES, SMX, eMetrics and Google Analytics User Events (GAUGE), and has traveled the globe educating businesses and consultants on digit analytics and digital marketing. Feras is a member of the Digital Analytics Association (DAA), co-chair of the DAA San Francisco Bay Area chapter and serves on the examination sub-committee and is a Certified Web Analyst.

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Happy New Year, everyone!

We look forward to seeing you at Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Check out what’s in store for you at ConvCon this year.

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from James Root, Head of Conversion Rate Optimisation at High Position:

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My CRO Top tip for 2013 is: know exactly who your target market is, then cater for them. This will hold you in great stead and offer a multitude of testing opportunities.

Niche markets will obviously be less complex to research than broader audiences, yet learning what Calls to Action convert and which usability functions work best are vital no matter what industry or market segment. The key word here is ‘learn’. Continual Analytics trawling, click map gazing and user testing are essential in the continual cycle of learning about your users.

Test persuasion – CTA testing via AdWords is a sure fire way to learn quickly what persuasive language leads to conversion. Once you have optimised ad text and found some CTA gold, devise a persuasion CRO test. Users tend to like consistency of messaging – of course, all users are different which is exactly why you should always be testing.

Test usability – how web savvy is your target audience? If the demographic is older, perhaps the old cognitive skills will affect the ability to adapt to navigation structure changes, and other usability facets. And maybe larger font point size, and bigger and clearer buttons will improve usability? Set up useful tools on your site to learn how users interact with the site and then TEST IT.

Web user experience is organic: The process should never stop due to the frantic, changing nature of the Internet. Web user experience is also subjective; never forget this key point when devising tests.

More about James

James Root is Head of Conversion Rate Optimisation at High Position. An NCTJ qualified journalist previously working for the Guardian and Observer as well as the largest commercial Sports website in Europe.

James moved into Digital Marketing in 2008 and is now running conversion tests for a number of leading e-commerce and lead generation websites. He is an advocate of testing persuasive copy as well as – but not alongside – user experience, when not watching sports, renovating his house or playing with his puppy (not a euphemism). Follow James on Twitter and G+ or link up on LinkedIn.

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We hope you’re having a fantastic time with family and friends this Holiday Season

We’re already looking forward to Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Check out what’s in store for you at ConvCon next year.

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Darrell Benatar, CEO of Usertesting:

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One of the best ways to dramatically improve your site’s conversion rate is to run an A/B test.

You can run it on your homepage, your checkout process, your pricing page, or anything else you can think of! If you’re not testing, then you’re relying on your gut to make critical business decisions. Making decisions with your gut can be exciting (trust me, I love it), but ultimately you want to make decisions based on data, your customers, and your website visitors.

If you’re trying to decide what you should test first, then run a few usability tests on your site and see where visitors get stuck. People new to your site bring a fresh perspective which can help give you a list of the top few things to start off with.

More about Darrell

Darrell Benatar, a serial entrepreneur, founded Surprise.com in 1999. He didn’t believe in usability testing until he saw it in action. Darrell was shocked at the problems people were having with things he’d always assumed worked fine. So he began doing user testing for all redesigns of Surprise.com, which was later selected by Time magazine as one of the “50 best websites.” Pleased with the effectiveness of user testing, Darrell now focuses on helping other website owners do the same.

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We hope you’re having a fantastic time with family and friends this Holiday Season

We’re already looking forward to Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Check out what’s in store for you at ConvCon next year.

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Santa Super Early Bird is leaving at midnight tonight!

Christmas is only 3 days away and the dreaded Mayan doomsday is…nope, we don’t think the world is going to end soon. But your chance to pay only $1100 for a full 2-day conference pass ends when the clock strikes twelve at midnight today.

So before you go away for the Holidays, make sure you’ve registered to Conversion Conference San Francisco 2013. With our special super early bird rate, you’ll get a full two-day conference pass for less than the regular single-day price – a deal that’s sure to bring more joy to your Christmas and start your year with a bang.

Here’s a sample of what you’d be looking forward to come Spring:

• Triggering the Sale: 5 Elements of High-Converting Product Pages
• Landing Experience Optimization: Get Eye-Popping Results from Your SEM
• Tablets & the Accelerating Pace of Behavior Change
• A Persuasive Approach to Web Design
• Blogversion: Converting Blog Readers into Customers

Plus dozens of best-practices examples and case studies,live site reviews, expert strategies and more.

Check out our full agenda and grab your Super Early Bird discount now!

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Jenny Halasz, President and Co-founder of Archology:

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“Well I’m an SEO girl at heart, so I’m going to say that optimizing how your site appears on search engines is a big win opportunity.

By taking advantage of custom description tags, schema markup opportunities, sitelinks, and video, you can make sure that your site will get the lion’s share of clickthroughs anytime you appear on the first page of a Google search result – even if you’re not ranked #1.

By matching the search query to the intent of the searcher as closely as possible, you can deliver a superior customer experience when they click through to the site and find *exactly* what they are looking for.

Then of course, you have to make sure the call to action is clear, and that it’s matched well to the intent of the original search. In other words, you wouldn’t want to hit someone with a “Buy Now” link when they clicked through on a keyword like “information about x”. A whitepaper download would be a better opportunity, since it meets their goal, and still allows you to capture their email address for re-marketing later.

The key to making great strides in CRO in 2013 will be understanding and monetizing all the ways people interact with your site.”

More about Jenny

Jenny Halasz is President and Co-Founder of Archology Inc., a web services firm whose vision is to provide high quality web services to businesses of all sizes and verticals. Too often, quality small and medium size businesses are unable to afford quality services from noted experts, and large enterprises find themselves paying for reports and services they don’t need.

With experience in SEO and PPC, social marketing, usability, conversion optimization, affiliate marketing, and analytics, Jenny’s time in both in an agency environment and as an in house marketer ensure that she understands the big picture of any client’s marketing needs. She develops cohesive and customized strategies based on data points and client priorities to drive return on investment.

Jenny writes a column (Keywords & Content) for Search Engine Land, blogs at JLH’s Marketing Blog and has spoken at SMX, SES, Conversion Conference, Internet Summit and other industry and non-industry conferences. She’s an active twitter user, and is always willing to debate the finer points of marketing strategy with a fellow tech geek. She still lives in Raleigh, NC, but likes to travel whenever possible. Read more at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennyhalasz or follow Jenny on Twitter @jennyhalasz.

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Here’s an early Christmas gift: The agenda is now live for Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. But you can still double your savings with our Super Early Bird rates when you get your pass before Dec. 21.

Check out our awesome speaker line up and packed agenda!

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Kipp Bodnar, Director of Marketing at Hubspot and Co-Author of The B2B Social Media Book:

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“With mobile and tablet browsing sky rocketing in 2012 with no signs of slowing down, business have to think of mobile as a key conversion channel. This means testing and optimizing landing pages for the most used mobile devices and operating systems.

It is no longer an option, Your landing page must look as clear and clean on a smart phone as it does on a desktop.”

More about Kipp

Kipp Bodnar is an Inbound Marketing Strategist at Hubspot, the inbound marketing software leader. He is also co-author of The B2B Social Media Book and cofounder of SocialMediaB2B.com, the leading online resource for social media’s impact on B2B marketing.

Follow Kipp on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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Here’s an early Christmas gift: The agenda is now live for Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. But you can still double your savings with our Super Early Bird rates when you get your pass before Friday, Dec. 21.

Check out our awesome speaker line up and packed agenda!

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Robert Brady, Director of PPC and Conversion at Trafficado:

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Focus Like a Laser Beam

The internet is full of distractions; everything from email notifications to flashing ads to more and more sensational headlines. The Yahoo home page has over 150 clickable areas (25 in the left navigation, 10 trending searches in the upper right, a rotating slider with 75 stories, etc.) and very little emphasis on one over the other. Your pages should be focused.

Who – Know exactly who you’re targeting. Everything from the headline to the images to the copy should speak to that group specifically.

Where – Use design and colors to direct attention to the most important information.

How – Tell them what action to take and what benefit they’ll gain by doing so. This is where the rubber meets the road online.

In an environment of constant distraction your site/landing page can be a laser-focused oasis to attention-deprived users.

More about Robert

Robert is a Google AdWords Certified Partner, Microsoft adExcellence member and is certified with Marketing Experiments for Online Testing and Landing Page Optimization. He has worked with a variety of different companies ranging from a small grass-fed beef grower in Idaho to a large B2B data storage provider. He currently resides in Provo, Utah and can often be found skiing the greatest snow on earth, mountain biking through the Wasatch mountains or playing ultimate Frisbee at the park on a Saturday morning. The best way to say hello is through Twitter, where you can find him @robert_brady.

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Find out why some of the world’s biggest companies include Conversion Conference in their must-go events for learning the latest conversion optimization tactics. Experience Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Double your savings with our pre-agenda rates when you get your pass before Dec. 21.

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Nik Rajpal, VP of Client Services at Exclusive Concepts:

Measuring the value of your decisions using the metric revenue per visit.  Each change you make to your site, no matter how genius (or stupid) it may appear to you, has a finite positive or negative value against your current revenue per visit.

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How does it work?  Say your current revenue is $100mm – and you have 200mm visits to your site – then, your revenue per visit is $0.50.  When you test a change on your site and the revenue per visit of the test variation is $0.75, then you have just netted a +$0.25 revenue per visit.  In other words, your business has just grown by 50%!

Why revenue per visit and not conversion rate?  Well, if your margins are set to a fixed %, then more revenue per visit is always going to make you more profit.  Sometimes that will come as a result of a decrease in conversion rate – but a significant counter-increase in AOV.

Measure this against all changes on your site throughout 2013, and only rely on results that have at least a 99% confidence level.  When your additional revenue per visit of a change is -$.01 or less, don’t hardcode it – if it’s $.01 or more, then hardcode it.  After 12 months of only committing to changes that increase your revenue per visit, you will come out the other end of 2013 with a site that generates much higher revenue from existing traffic.

As a result, you will be able to invest more competitively in SEO, PPC and email. You will know more about your audience than your competitors, baking key findings back into all of your marketing initiatives.

Most importantly, you’ll be putting your trust in the only thing that you can count on in the conversion optimization world these days – statistically significant data.

More about Nik

As the VP of Client Services, Nik has been building the retainer marketing business of Exclusive Concepts since 2008, achieving Inc 5000 level growth each year since. He manages a team of 30 that cater to an ecommerce clientele of over 150.

Mr. Rajpal is instrumental in developing, managing and marketing services that cover 4 key areas of his expertise: SEO, PPC, conversion and email marketing. Nik is a noted speaker and public figure in the ecommerce space, primarily regarding his expertise in SEO and consumer behavior.

Prior to Exclusive Concepts, Nik was the SEO Manager at a top 5 poker site, president of a hip hop record label, and digital marketer in the non-profit sector. He enjoys making music, weight training and cooking.

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Find out why some of the world’s biggest companies include Conversion Conference in their must-go events for learning the latest conversion optimization tactics. Experience Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Double your savings with our pre-agenda rates when you get your pass before Dec. 21.

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Linda Bustos, Director of eCommerce Research at Elastic Path Software:

“It’s a tough one, but working out attribution. According to Adobe, only 54% of marketers use any form of attribution, and of those, 28% use last click. We always point to testing as the best way to justify investment in design and feature changes, but attribution is critical in understanding the big picture including emerging mobile and social touchpoints.

For marketers, it’s difficult to get attribution to work smoothly because it can require complex IT implementation in addition to analytics talent. But for the organizations that commit to it, 89% say it has a positive impact on their business. Knowing which marketing channels are providing “assists” reduces your risk of cutting investment in a program that is driving sales, and that directly impacts customer acquisition, revenue and conversion.”

More about Linda

Linda Bustos is the director of ecommerce research for Elastic Path Software and the author of the Get Elastic Ecommerce blog. As an ecommerce consultant, Linda has helped some of the world’s largest online retailers and technology brands improve their conversion rates and user experience. An online retailer herself, Linda moonlights as a jewelry designer for Robin Hood Couture, her line of handmade accessories. You can follow Linda on twitter: @getelastic

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Find out why some of the world’s biggest companies include Conversion Conference in their must-go events for learning the latest conversion optimization tactics. Experience Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Double your savings with our pre-agenda rates when you get your pass before Dec. 21.

Just like you, we’re looking forward to the beginning of another year. As a tribute to one of the most enduring traditions around this time, we asked online optimization experts this question: “Which website optimization effort/s businesses should focus their skills and resources on next year to improve conversions (and the bottomline)?” We’re publishing their answers the entire month in the countdown to 2013 so stay tuned for more resolution must-haves in our upcoming posts

Today’s CRO resolution must-have is from Mike Perla, Director of Conversion Optimization & Creative at Fathom Online Marketing:

“Businesses should invest in services and systems that enable behavioral targeting and deployment of more personalized content on their website.  Relevance plays a huge role in conversion optimization and not all visitors are equal.  A return visitor is different from a new visitor and a returning visitor who has previously converted on a site is different than a return visitor who has yet to convert. Therefore, being able to display content and offers based on past activity or geographic location can result in huge wins.

For instance, instead of displaying the same, static whitepaper offer to a returning visitor who has already downloaded the document, that space can be used to promote an additional action that moves that visitor further through the buying cycle.  Another example would be altering a headline or call-to-action based on a visitor’s geographic area: “Trusted by more Ohioans than any other loan service provider.”

More about Mike

As Director of Conversion Optimization & Creative, Mike Perla heads the conversion rate optimization and website design teams of Fathom Online Marketing. He joined Fathom in 2006 with more than 10 years of experience as a designer and developer for both online and print media. Right after joining the company, Mike led Fathom’s rebranding and was instrumental in the launching of its video production department.

Mike has managed and directed high-traffic website designs. He has also developed proprietary Flash applications and has been involved in the promotion of best practices for conversion rate optimization, web design, persuasive copywriting, persona development and market positioning.

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Find out why some of the world’s biggest companies include Conversion Conference in their must-go events for learning the latest conversion optimization tactics. Experience Conversion Conference West 2013 in San Francisco, April 15-17. Double your savings with our pre-agenda rates when you get your pass before Dec. 21.