Mary Rose Maguire is the managing partner (with her husband) of Maguire Copywriting. Before she began her own copywriting agency, she produced copy in various corporate industries for over 25 years. The bulk of her copywriting experience has been produced for businesses selling to other businesses (B2B).

She found that her clients had a terrible time with contemplating the concept of emotional copy, much less understanding how to use emotional triggers in a way that generated conversions.

“I’ve been trying to tell them that even though they’d like to believe that their buyer is making the purchase based on logic, they (the buyer) are really are making their decision with their heart. Therefore, even B2B copy needs to be emotional on a website.

She went on to detail the specific emotional triggers that have proven successful for her clients’ conversion goals:
“Some of the emotions I’ve slipped in (when I can) are: frustration, fear, greed, and powerlessness. I also used a headline that addressed uncertainty and instilled doubt. These are NOT the emotions that a security administrator wants to experience!
“I did this for my former employer years ago in an email that ended up bringing in four new security projects (our list was small, around 700). Keep in mind that this was a new approach that I took to an email list that in the four years I worked there, never converted.”

Mary Rose concludes that based on her strategy, she successfully found that emotional triggers do work. It was all simply a matter of addressing the pain of the prospective buyer.

Mary Rose’s company website includes flames in the background. This is an emotional trigger that was added on purpose. She wants her prospects to absorb her branding strategy. Specifically, she wants her prospects to know that her copy…sizzles!
Yes, logic might have led your prospects to your website, but make no mistake: Their emotions finalized their decision that led to your conversion. Likewise, you can’t count on your product or service features and benefits with doing the heavy lifting.

Instead, lean on the most effective, most easily-tapped into strategy: Emotion.

As a marketer, you’re launching campaigns of your own. You’ll want to use every reasonable weapon in your arsenal to convert prospects into leads, or sales. It should be no surprise that most purchases actually come from an emotional place. Knowing this, you’ll understand the power that emotional triggers can have on your online revenue?
Let’s take a look at some successful emotional triggers that will allow you to start converting like a military general.

Why Do Emotions Trump Logic On The Road To Conversions?

Hubspot author Emma Snyder quoted Steven Pinker in trying to explain why people ultimately make emotional buying decisions. He goes on to explain what it all comes down to:

“Choosing which to focus on depends on your buyer’s personality (what will resonate most with them?) and your offering (what most closely reflects your value proposition?) Once you’ve determined which emotional lever to pull, use the following tips to create a tear-jerking, heart-stopping, chest-puffing presentation your prospect will never forget.”

Now, let’s take a look at winning conversion campaigns that implemented the use of one or more emotional triggers.

Altruistic/Philanthropic Trigger

Toms Shoes has an altruistic trigger

Toms Shoes has an altruistic trigger

There will always be consumers who shop consciously. They care about social causes, and they want to ensure that they’re directing their money towards companies who practice social responsibility. One such company is TOMS Shoes.

TOMS Shoes practices social responsibility by donating a pair of shoes to a child in need for every shoe purchase that a consumer makes. We all imagine that there are places in the world where many children lack shoes, and it can feel overwhelming for a first-world consumer to do something significant to address these needs.

This is why TOMS uses the tag-line “One for one” on their websites. In their logo above, you’ll see that they lead with a philanthropic trigger, stating that “It starts with one”. You might notice that they’ve also used the encouragement emotional trigger.

When people feel overwhelmed about an issue, it’s human nature to avoid it altogether.  TOMS addresses this conversion obstacle by encouraging prospective consumers to start addressing the issues of children living without shoes by completing one manageable task: Just purchase one pair of shoes.

The implication is that the consumer can certainly purchase one pair of shoes, and yet that single purchase could make all the difference in the daily lifestyle of a severely-impoverished child. When the message is framed this way, the prospect has no choice but to think to themselves, “I can do this! And, maybe I can purchase more than one pair of shoes, too, so that I help out even more children!”

Fashion Forward/Sense Of Belonging Trigger

Old Navy appeals to your sense of belonging by being trendy yet accessible

Old Navy appeals to your sense of belonging by being trendy yet accessible

Old Navy is known to be a family brand of clothing that’s at once fashion-forward, and approachable. It’s the type of casual fashion brand that promises to make families living on Main Street, USA feel that their sense of style can compete with the clothing styles of people living in New York or LA.

This is why Old Navy has approached its fall consumer prospects with the tag-line “Fall’s Favorite Denim”.

The implications are obvious. If the prospective consumer wants to gain a sense of belonging with those who are on point with seasonal fashion trends, then they’ll purchase a pair of trendy-yet-affordable Old Navy jeans.

This is an efficient emotional trigger to use when you clearly understand your brand, who your targets are, and what their inner motivations are.

Inspirational/Self Actualization Trigger

Udemy is a platform where adults can take courses for professional development or personal improvement. The company understands that converting prospective students takes a lot more than presenting them with a catalog listing of course offerings.

They realize that they’ll vastly increase their chances for conversions when they appeal to a prospective student’s aspirations. Notice how they spur the prospect’s actions by addressing their inner thoughts.

Taking a course with Udemy can lead to self-actualization

Taking a course with Udemy can lead to self-actualization

The copy leads you to an affirmative decision by urging you to “Say yes to success!” You’ll also notice that the logo further impacts the prospect’s emotions by setting the copy on a bright and cheerful yellow background.

The copy and the color scheme on the yellow ad were carefully choreographed to illicit an immediate positive response, but you might also notice a different trigger if you look closely.
There’s the use of shame as an emotional trigger, too.

While the tag-line “Say yes to success!” is at first glance inspiring, it also addresses the reader’s inner insecurities about taking steps to become more successful. If you don’t get started with Udemy, are you saying “No” to success? What type of person chooses to buy a pizza, a tee shirt, or a pet hamster over investing in their future success?

Udemy is betting that the type of prospect who cares about becoming successful would rather invest in a $15 course – and gain a sense of personal pride – than live in the shame of knowing that their usual frivolous purchases were more of a financial priority.

Udemy trends even deeper with the self-actualization angle in another ad.

By now, only someone who has no personal goals or ambitions could say no to these CTAs

By now, only someone who has no personal goals or ambitions could say no to these CTAs

Be aware when using shame as a trigger. Shame is best left in the hands of the highly skilled or talented marketer. No one loves being shamed, so we usually avoid shame at all cost. Having prospects avoid your website or your landing page is the opposite of what conversion is all about, so if you must use shame, then apply it with a very gentle hand. It usually goes down better with a heaping dose of encouragement, as Udemy has done.

Pride/Self Actualization Trigger:

L'Oreal's famous tagline

L’Oreal’s famous tagline

Anyone who came of age in the 1970s and beyond is familiar with L’Oreal’s now-famous tag-line “Because You’re Worth It”. The phrase was coined in 1973 by a 23 year-old female copywriter who was tasked with capturing the emotional energy of the times.

Specifically, the brand wanted to appeal to the sensibilities of the new woman, the type of woman who took pride in her abilities of juggling career and family. More to the point, the tag-line appealed to women who were finally realizing the ability to earn their own discretionary income instead of asking their husbands or fathers for a spending allowance.

In 2015, women take it for granted that they can self-actualize themselves into the career and lifestyle of their choosing, yet they still struggle with placing the needs of their families, friends, and employers above their own. They still need to be reminded that they’re allowed to spend discretionary income towards their beauty goals simply because they hold intrinsic personal worth.

The message is loud and clear. L’Oreal was and still is a brand for the woman who takes pride in her personal appearance, and her personal brand. This is the cosmetic product of choice for women who want to feel actualized, smart, and proud of themselves.

The product line is the choice for ladies who unapologetically want to look and feel beautiful, on their terms. According to L’Oreal,

“…we know that an astonishing 80% of women recognize and respond to this positive phrase and powerful sentiment.”

Wow! Think of your conversion numbers if 80% of your visitors were able to emotionally identify with your message!

Urgency Trigger

Save the Children's landing page and CTA promote a sense of urgency

Save the Children’s landing page and CTA promote a sense of urgency

This Save The Children landing page features a boy from a third-world country who is seemingly so overcome with hunger, he can only bury his anguished face in the palm of his hands. Is there anyone who views this photo who could say that they aren’t the slightest bit moved by the image of a young child who has given up all hope of a satisfying meal, let alone a happy, satisfying life?
Certainly, the average person who reads this landing page can’t begin to wrap their mind or emotions around the possibility of a child suffering with hunger on the same level as this child.
As if the image doesn’t do its job of creating urgency, Save The Children goes a step further in it’s verbiage:
“Refugee children are frightened, homeless, and many have witnessed unspeakable horrors. You can help them,” (emphasis are mine).
Save The Children informs you of other reasons why this boy is burying his face in his tiny hands. Further, the organization plainly lets you know that there are immediate steps that you can take in order to make the boy’s pain and suffering end, immediately.
But, in case you’re still unclear about what to do, there’s the bright red button that reads:
“Donate now.”
Save The Children has operated as a non-profit since 1919. They’ve had almost a century to perfect their strategy of winning over the hearts of their prospective donors. Barring personal poverty, there’s no way that any prospective donor can look at this landing page and not feel the slightest tug of their heart.
There’s a great chance that this sparse yet highly effective landing page will convert readers into organizational donors.
Win your prospects heart and minds with emotional triggers, and you’ll find yourself winning marketing campaigns where logical arguments haven’t succeeded.

About the Author

Terri Scott headshotTerri is a five-year content marketing storyteller and editor. She loves writing marketing and entrepreneurship stories during the day while dabbling in culinary and creative arts at night.
You can view her work at terriscott.contently.com, and she’d love to hear from you @Positive_Twist.

When I first met Brian Massey, I had just attended a presentation he gave about his success with The Conversion Scientist Blog. I learned a lot during the presentation and was impressed by the analytics he shared about the blog’s readership and subscribers.

Conversion Scientist email subscribers have steadily increased in 2015

Conversion Scientist email subscribers have steadily increased in 2015



Can Live Chat Increase Conversions Pageviews

Pageviews on guest post “Can Live Chat Increase Conversions?”


7 Best Practices Using Exit Intent Popovers Pageviews

Pageviews on guest post “7 Best Practices Using Exit Intent Popovers, Popups“. Guest posts can have a lasting impact on growth of traffic to your blog.


I knew as soon as the presentation was over: I wanted to write a guest post for this guy. Luckily, I got a chance to chat with Brian afterwards and I offered to send him a post for his blog. Sure enough, about a week later, I got an email from Brian asking if I’d like to send him the article we had discussed.
If only this was the way guest blogging always worked.
Far too often, I associate the term “guest blogging” with spammy emails and crappy content. This is despite the fact that Google has been penalizing sites that use guest blogging solely for SEO for over a year now. I also tend to associate guest blogging with the infuriating assumption that good content can be acquired for free.
Let me be clear: good content is not free.
Let me be clear: good content is not free. It may not cost you money per se, but you had better be prepared to offer something of value in exchange for good work.
As both a writer and a manager of several different blogs, I’ve had experience on both sides of the guest blogging scenario: contributing guest posts and seeking out guest contributors. Here are some Dos and Don’ts I’ve discovered about finding guest contributors for your blog.

Don’t: Be vague or beat around the bush.

I can’t tell you how irritating it is to get an email that basically says, “Hey! Are you interested in an opportunity to do free work? You’re a total stranger but I thought you’d like to do me a favor for no reason!” What’s worse is when you write back to politely find out what’s in it for you and you get a canned response that:

        

  1. Tells you nothing about the blog’s readership, the person’s willingness to pay for content, or whether you will even get attribution for the article, and
  2.     

  3. Repeats the same vague message of the original email no matter how many times you respond with a direct question, leaving you with no choice but to ignore them entirely.

On the flip side, I once received a vague email from someone requesting to contribute a guest post to a site that I manage. When I asked for details, they responded that if I didn’t like their content, could I please just hide a backlink in my site for them? Um, no.

Do: Be clear and direct about what you want and what you are willing to give in return.

If all you’re offering is attribution and space for a short author bio, that’s fine. In several cases, that has been a good enough reason for me to contribute a guest post to a site. It all depends on the author’s goals and priorities. Just don’t expect it to work with everyone.

Do: Be willing to offer original content in exchange.

If you’re contacting a blogger, chances are they have a responsibility to create content for their own site on a regular basis. If that’s the case, they probably don’t have much time to write a shiny new post for your blog, no matter how much they want 30 minutes of your audience’s precious, undivided attention. That might not be an issue if you offer to provide content in exchange. Guest posting on each other’s sites is a great, symbiotic way to expand your audience and add variety and a new perspective to each other’s blogs.

Do: Tell them about your readership.

Before I sent my first guest post to Brian, I already knew that his blog had a significant number of readers and subscribers. Nobody had to convince me that guest posting on the Conversion Scientist Blog was a good idea. I was excited for the opportunity because it was a way to get my name in front of people, and by doing so, start building readership for the blog I had just launched.
Just remember that everyone can get their work “out there” online. When you’re convincing a writer to contribute content, give them the data that will make it worth their time. If you’re still building a following, tell them about your target audience. Some up-and-coming bloggers may actually care more about your niche than your current numbers anyway.

Don’t: Expect guest posts from established writers.

There’s a reason successful writers have become successful. It’s not just because they’re good at what they do. It’s also because at some point, they started asking to get paid for their work. If it’s in your budget to pay a freelance writer, then start reaching out to people. If it’s not, then those emails you’ve been sending out may just seem random and irritating. Which leads to my next point…

Do: Nurture relationships with bloggers and experts in your field.

This is a golden rule of guest blogging (and of any sort of influencer outreach). As you work on building content and readership for your blog, reach out in person or online to people whose work you admire. A common way to do this is by commenting on their posts. Don’t just do this as a spammy ploy to get backlinks to your site (bots are doing that enough as it is). Leave thoughtful comments that show interest and engagement and continue a dialogue. Once it seems appropriate, invite them to check out your site and go from there.
In building your network, you may have established a relationship with a subject matter expert who doesn’t have time to contribute a guest post. If this is the case, ask them if they’d be willing to do a phone or email interview. It could mean the difference between 15 minutes of their time and several hours.

Do: Let people help on their own terms.

Many writers have a strict editorial calendar to follow. Don’t add to the burden. Instead, offer them as much flexibility as you can. That being said, if you have certain guidelines and requirements for the content on your site, don’t be shy about sharing that. It’s not worth compromising the quality of your site just to for the sake of featuring guest content.

Don’t: Expect free content to be good.

There are a handful of guest blogger networks such as My Blog Guest, which have survived the scourge of Google Panda. In a few rare cases, I have connected with some talented writers on these networks. But, like I said, this is very rare. The vast majority of the time, I receive guest post submissions from these sites that at best, are off topic, and at worst, not even written by a human.
Unrelated to these networks, I also receive frequent emails and comments on the blogs that I manage in which people are offering to send me a guest post. I could be getting these emails for one of several reasons:

        

  • The person is trying to jumpstart a freelance writing career and is looking for exposure.
  •     

  • They have started their own blog or are managing a company blog and are looking to grow readership.
  •     

  • They are passionate about a topic and just want an opportunity to talk about it (yes, this actually happens).
  •     

  • They do SEO marketing for a company and are looking for ways to get backlinks to their site (a.k.a. guest blogging “just for SEO”).

Just as the reasons for wanting to guest blog are all across the board, so is the quality of the content you will receive. Moral of the story: don’t rely too heavily on guest content, particularly if it is acquired from guest blogging networks and out-of-the-blue emails.

Wrapping it Up

While Google has been trying its darndest to squelch the practice of guest blogging “just for SEO,” the practice still tends to dwell in some shady territory.

Cut through the noise and the spammy emails by building relationships with bloggers whose content you love.
Cut through the noise and the spammy emails by building relationships with bloggers whose content you love. Remember to be choosy about the content you post, no matter the source. (If you use your blog for brand building or lead generation, nothing destroys your credibility more than a high volume of bad content.) If you play your cards right, guest posts can be a great component of a high quality, high value blog.

About the Author

Colleen Ahern is a copyrighter at Page Agency, an independent marketing and advertising agency in Dallas, Texas. You can read more of her thoughts on the Page Agency Blog. Follow her on twitter @ColleenAhern.

You want to improve your conversions but no money to fund this effort. We’ll walk you through 4 sure-fire ways to get a CRO budget for next year.

If you ever went to the government and asked them what your fair share of taxes should be, they would first ask you how much you made last year.

And that would likely be the answer.

Likewise, a conversion optimizer would probably be the last person to ask how much to budget for conversion optimization. “How much budget do you have?”

Nonetheless, I’m going to give you the tools to add conversion optimization to your budget next year. Then, when you call us next year, you’ll be ready.

Where to Get Your CRO Budget

One key question you need to ask is, where will I get my CRO budget? I have some suggestions.

1. From IT

The basis of any conversion optimization effort is a sound analytics and measurement foundation. This consists of tools that slide under your website and are bolted in place. This is IT stuff.

Our research has shown that most businesses’ websites have some level of implementation of analytics. You don’t want to be left behind. This is a crucial behavioral database that will be invaluable as you begin to vet ideas for testing.

2. From the Things You Should be Testing Anyway

It is a golden age of marketing. We have more tools, data sources and shiny objects to drive our online businesses than any marketers have ever had. We can mobile gamify our ratings and review process using direct visitor feedback to drive personalization throughout our content funnels.

In other words, we’re overwhelmed, and the first sign of a marketing department that is overwhelmed is the decision to redesign.

Your website probably doesn’t need a redesign. It probably needs to be optimized.

Put the redesign money into an optimization program and see immediate results.

There is a good way to get your head around all of the things you could be doing to your site. You could test the ideas. Instead of blindly pouring money into exit-intent popovers, live chat, or personalized recommendations, you should test them. We have seen these work and we have seen them fail.

Your conversion optimization team will know how to use data to make good decisions on where to spend your money. Budget for optimization first.

3. From Your Ad Spend to Get a CRO Budget

Paid search is a great way to generate qualified traffic. However, our success in search causes our fundamentals to “regress”. It becomes harder to increase traffic, and the new traffic often is less qualified, less profitable.

Borrow from your ad spend to get a CRO budget. When you spend more, get less traffic and make less money, it's time to try optimization.

When you spend more, get less traffic and make less money, it’s time to try optimization.

When your traffic is flat, ad spend is rising and profit is dropping, you know you should be putting some of that into optimization.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but there is a period of sweat and anxious hand-wringing.

You see, conversion optimization takes time. There is a very real dip in performance. When you reduce spending on ads you reduce your traffic and your revenue. For a period of time, your revenue drops until your optimization efforts get traction.

It might look something like the graph below. This assumes a modest 5% increase in revenue per visit (RPV) each month for one year, and that 8.9% of ad spend, or $8900, is invested in optimization each month. In this example, we began with a conversion rate of 1.7%.

If you can make it through a short valley of death, borrowing from your ad spend can be very profitable.

If you can make it through a short valley of death, borrowing from your ad spend can be very profitable.

Monthly revenue dips due to the reduction in PPC traffic. Revenue returns to baseline levels in month four. Revenue is positive in month six compared to investing in PPC only.

The Return on CRO (green line) turns sharply north, even though we are still investing 8.9% of ad spend each month.

This is what powers conversion optimization. You have a compounding effect working in your favor, but you have to invest on the front end.

Send me an email if you want to see all my assumptions.

It’s this four-to-six month dip that marketers and managers fear. How do you sell a drop in revenue to your boss?

4. Pony Up

The other option is to reach into your own profits and slap down some cash on your conversion optimization team.

I’m not going to sugar coat this. There are three costs you must deal with when investing in optimization.

The Components of a Conversion Optimization or CRO Budget

The Software

The first cost is the least bothersome. Conversion optimization requires a certain amount of data to succeed.

Testing is not that hard. Deciding what to test is quite difficult.

The competition in the marketplace is pretty brutal. Each year, we get more functionality from cheaper and cheaper tools. At a minimum, you’ll want a good click-tracking tool, a good session recording tool, a strong analytics database and a split-testing tool.

Depending on your traffic, these can be had for a few hundred dollars each month up to several thousand dollars each month.

The Team

None of these tools matter if you don’t have someone to pull the levers, turn the knobs and read the graphs. The main functions found on a conversion optimization team are:

  • A researcher to collect qualitative data.
  • A statistically-responsible person to collect and evaluate quantitative data.
  • A developer to create the changes in each test.
  • A designer to implement design changes.
  • A patient QA person to be sure nothing is broken by a test.
  • A project manager to keep the momentum going.

It is possible to have one super-amazing person who can do all of this. It is the death-knell of your conversion optimization program to ask someone to do all of this in addition to another job. Your PPC person is not going to be able to do all of this and their job too.

These are fairly expensive employees. Consider hiring an outside agency, like us, to get started. As of this writing, Conversion Sciences can provide these functions for less than ten-thousand dollars a month.

The Opportunity Costs

There is a cost to testing that is not seen in reports. It’s the cost of losing treatments. In any list of “good” ideas for increasing your conversion rate and revenue per visit, fully half will actually do more harm than good. We don’t know which of our ideas are “losers” until we test them. When we test, some percentage of your visitors will see these losers, be turned off, and won’t buy.

This is lost revenue. With proper management, this downside can be minimized, but it is the cost of doing business. It’s the price of admission, the overhead, the burn, that funny smell in the kitchen.

It’s hard to budget for this particular line item, but it should be part of your discussion.

Be Clear About Your Upside

If I haven’t scared you off, there is good news. We call it the upside, the green bling, statistical bignificance, and sometimes we just dance.

You should understand what your statistical significance is. You must know the answer to the question, “What happens if my conversion rate goes up a little?” We call this a Basic Unit of Upside.

Conversion Upside Calculator
Click for a Conversion Optimization Upside Report that does the math for you.

We offer our Conversion Optimization Upside Report to help you understand your upside. It calculates what your yearly increase in revenue would be if you only added 0.1 to your conversion rate or revenue per visit. Plug in a few numbers and you’ll see what small changes mean for your bottom line.

A Little More Motivation to Get a CRO Budget

For most businesses, conversion optimization is a ten-thousand-dollar a month investment or more. Many businesses are spending a whole lot more than that.

If conversion optimization is on your “maybe next year” list, consider what might happen if you give your competitors a year’s head start on you.

The business with the highest conversion rate has the lowest acquisition cost and can profitably boost bids on their paid advertising. Plus, Google favors high-converting landing pages when assigning ad placement.

With a realistic understanding of the costs of conversion optimization and a real appreciation for the potential upside, you should be able to make the case for adding it to your shopping list this year.

Brian Massey

 

 

Feature image by frankieleon via Compfight cc and adapted for this post.

Will CRO agencies adopt SEM, or will SEM agencies integrate CRO?

The perfect storm of online business, the peanut butter and jelly, the gin and tonic, the Abbot and Costello will be SEM and CRO. The reason is that the conversion rate of any business is calculated by dividing transactions (leads, sales or calls) by the number of visitors overall. Those businesses with the highest conversion rates enjoy both targeted, qualified visitors and optimized websites.

High converting sites optimize both sides of the equation.

There is no better source of qualified traffic than that brought through search engine marketing (SEM).

Both organic and paid search traffic represents visitors who have expressed a certain intent. If you can deliver an on-site experience to match that intent, you will gain customers at a lower and lower acquisition cost.

What kind of agency is going to deliver this one-two punch? Will a CRO agency adopt the search marketing services and bring them to market or will a search agency adopt full-stack website optimization practices?

Brian Massey of Conversion Sciences and Jim McKinley of 360Partners will debate this question in their free Webinar on September 17th The CRO + SEM Agency: Challenges and Opportunities.

The conversation will begin with violent agreement on the importance of bringing these two practices together. We will examine the trends in search marketing and website optimization.

Then things will get interesting. These two industry veterans will tackle some of the harder questions.

  • Do these need to be under one roof, or can agencies partner to deliver a complete package? Why or why not?
  • How would search agencies have to change their business models? How would a CRO company have to change?
  • Why do so few agencies claim to do both?
  • For those agencies that offer both, are they really providing the double-digit conversion rates that the combination promises?

Watch the webinar on-demand.

This is a common question, and requires an understanding of the definitions of bounce rate.”
The bounce rate is a bit slippery and requires some examination. The intention of measuring the bounce rate is to figure out how many of your visitors are leaving almost immediately after arriving at your site. This metric provides for a lot of error in interpretation.

“A high bounce rate means you’re site is crappy.”

This is rarely the case. A more accurate explanation is that your site doesn’t look the way your visitors expect it to look. Understanding what your visitors expect is the way to reduce your bounce rate.
Instead, there are usually some more valid reasons for your high bounce rate. Here are the things we examine when confronted with uncomfortably high bounce rates.

You’re measuring it wrong.

How you measure your bounce rate can give you very different insights. For example, blogs often have high bounce rates. Does this mean that visitors don’t like the blog?
Many analytics packages measure a bounce as a visit, or session, that includes only one page. Visitors who take the time to read an entire article would be considered a “bounce” if they then left, even though they are clearly engaged.
We set a timer for our blog traffic, so that any visitor who sticks around for 15 seconds or more is not considered a bounce.

Technical Difficulties

We are fond of saying that you don’t have one website, you have ten or twenty or thirty. Each device, each browser, each screen-size delivers a different experience to the visitor. If your website is broken on one of the more devices popular with your visitors, you will see a bump in overall bounce rate.
If your pages load slowly, especially on mobile devices, you can expect a higher bounce rate.
If your page breaks out in a chorus of Also Sprach Zarathustra when the page loads, you may enjoy a higher bounce rate.

How to diagnose

Your analytics package will track the kind of device your visitors are coming on.

Is there a problem with this site when viewed with the Safari (in app) browser?

Is there a problem with this site when viewed with the Safari (in app) browser?


The Google Analytics report Audience > Technology > Browser & OS shows that there may be a technical issue with Safari visitors coming from within an app. This may also reflect visitors coming from mobile ads, and they may simply be lower quality. See below.
With Google Analytics Audience > Mobile > Devices report, we see mobile devices specifically. The Apple iPhone has an above-average bounce rate, and we should probably do some testing there, especially since it’s the bulk of our mobile traffic.
With an above average bounce rate, visitors on an Apple iPhone may be seeing a technical problem.

With an above average bounce rate, visitors on an Apple iPhone may be seeing a technical problem.

Traffic Quality

If you’re getting the wrong visitors, you will have a high bounce rate.
Remember StumbleUpon? Getting your site featured on the internet discovery site often meant a flood of new visitors to your site… and a crash in your conversion rate. Stumble traffic was not qualified, they were just curious.
Your bounce rate is a great measure of the quality of your traffic. Low quality traffic bounces because:

  • The search engine showed them the wrong link. Do you know how many visitors used to come to our site looking for a “conversion rate” for Russian Rubles to Malaysian Ringletts?!
  • The visitors aren’t ready to buy. They were in a different part of the purchase process. Visitors coming from Social Media ads have notoriously low conversion rates. They weren’t looking, they were just surfing.

We take a closer look at the source of traffic to diagnose a traffic quality problem using Google Analytics Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels report.

Display and direct traffic are our biggest traffic sources and bring the most bouncers.

Display and direct traffic are our biggest traffic sources and bring the most bouncers.


Here we can see that traffic coming from Display ads and those visitors coming “Direct-ly” have a high bounce rate. These two sources also make up 50% of our traffic. Ouch.
In the case of Direct traffic, we expect most of it to come to the home page. With a click, we can see that indeed 50% of Direct visits are to home.
Filtering for Direct traffic, we see that 50% of it is entering on the home page.

Filtering for Direct traffic, we see that 50% of it is entering on the home page.


Clearly we need to do more to get visitors on their way into the site. As Tim Ash says, “The job of the home page is to get people off of the home page.” He didn’t mean by bouncing.
With regard to Display ads, we my have a problem with broken promises.

Broken Promises

Do your entry pages consider the source of visits?
If your traffic is clicking on an ad that promises 20% off on a specific propane grill, and they’re directed to your home page, you’ve broken a promise. You might think that they will search your site for the deal. You might even think they’ll search your home page for the deal. You’re wrong. Many will jump.
Every ad, every email invitation, every referral link is a promise you make to your visitor. If they don’t come to a page that lives up to the promise, they are likely to bounce.

  • Does the headline on the page match the offer in the ad?
  • Does the product in the email appear after the click?
  • Are the colors and design consistent across media?

This Dispaly ad takes the visitors to a page that is almost designed to disappoint.

This Dispaly ad takes the visitors to a page that is almost designed to disappoint.


Looking at your ads on a page-by-page basis is necessary to diagnose and correct this kind of bound-rate problem.

Vague Value Propositions

Ultimately, if you’re not communicating your value proposition to your visitors clearly, you are going to enjoy a monstrous bounce rate.

Your value proposition typically does not address your company or your products. It should be targeted at your visitor, why they are there, and why they should stick around.
Each page has it’s own value proposition. Your business may have a powerful value proposition, but each page should stand on its own.
A contact page should talk about what will happen after you complete the form. Who will contact you? How long will it take? Will they try to sell you something?
A landing page should clearly state that you are in the right place and provide reasons for you to stay and read on.

This landing page delivered a strong value proposition in above the fold.

This landing page delivered a strong value proposition in above the fold. See the full case study and video.


A home page should help you find your way into the site. Most home pages are treated like highway billboards. No wonder people just drive on by.
Ultimately, we don’t want to reduce our bounce rate. We want to improve our conversion rate by bringing the right traffic, to the right page, with the right message, and avoid technical issues that get in the way.

Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

In October of 2014 iNature Skincare, a small skincare company, sought to increase visits to their website and grow recognition of their products. They sponsored a video called “Comfortable” proposed by an independent filmmaker.
It was a gamble.
The video went viral, with over 4 million views on YouTube in the first two weeks.
image
The video has now delivered almost six million views, is embedded on over 268 sites (now 269), and enjoys tens of thousands of likes, shares, subscribers and tweets.
iNature reached out to us shortly after the video launched. They were not seeing a consummate increase in sales on their website. Four million views had not turned into a windfall for them.
What happened?

Story is Powerful

We use stories in our writing when we want to engage and move our readers to action.
Karl Jung believed that our collective unconscious contains the seed of stories universal to us all from the moment of birth.
Fairy Tales follow similar story patterns, regardless of the culture or era they are told.
Tapping the power of stories in our marketing messages is powerful, so powerful it can overshadow our products, as it did iNature.
What is story and how can we weave it into our videos?

1. Conflict

A story is a journey. The most rudimentary is the journey from conflict to resolution. The players can be almost anyone or anything. The conflict can be internal.
Conflict sets up a desire to find resolution, provided we find the conflict relevant. I think that this is why the most effective testimonial videos begin with, “When I first heard about this, I wasn’t sure it was for me.” We get engaged when we relate to that moment of indecision, that moment of conflict.

2. The Unexpected

Story can foil two areas of our brain that keep our messages from getting through.
image
Pierre Paul Broca discovered the part of the brain just in front of your left ear that stores shortcuts for information. Most notably, the shortcut for the familiar and known is to ignore the input.
When Broca’s area gets stimulated by the unfamiliar, it reaches out to an are of the brain discovered by Carl Wernicke. This part of the brain associates what we see and hear with our memories to give meaning to them.

3. Resolution

Resolution is the moral of the story. It’s the destination in which conflict is put in perspective and we can rest knowing we have seen the end.
If the message is relevant – like a story – Wernicke’s area tells Broca to pay attention. The resolution cannot be predictable. It cannot be irrelevant.
The following video doesn’t tell a story in the way we think of stories. However, it includes the unexpected, a conflict and a resolution. It contains the basic arc of a story in a non-traditional way.

https://youtu.be/sk7A56KVNBY

Unexpected + Relevant = Salient
Broca is clearly woken up at seeing sets of twins dressed identically, sitting in a large room with wires running out in front of them. Wernicke becomes interested when the conflict is setup.
Chewing gum may not have a social stigma attached to it after all. Really?
This video uses humor to drive to the resolution, in which we learn that 73% of surveyed preferred the gum chewers.

4. The Brand or Product is a Character in the Story

This is hard. How do you cast your product or brand in a role in your video? It isn’t enough to be the sponsor if you want the story to be associated with the business.
image
Beldent does this in it’s Almost Identical video above. The product makes a brief appearance, but it is a crucial one. The gum makes the test possible.
The product doesn’t always have to make an appearance, but needs a role. The Chrysler 300 has a supporting role in the following Vine, but it is the device that makes the conflict – and thus the resolution – possible.

Let the 300 HP of the Chrysler 300 do the talking w/ Kenzie Nimmo . #300Seconds

5. There is a Way To Continue Participation

A clear call to action and a way to continue participating is key to successful videos.
Here is a story video with all of the elements we’ve discussed.

https://youtu.be/dOXERZBUA1A

The Unexpected occurs when Ken tells us that he paints on paper towels.
The Conflict is setup when Ken tells us that he doesn’t have much “runway” and is in competition with his famous father.
The Resolution is provided by the makers of Bounty when they setup an art showing in Chelsea.
Bounty clearly plays a role in this video as canvass for Ken’s work.
Finally, it is clear that the makers of Bounty wants us to continue sharing about this on Facebook. There is a hint that there might be more stories to explore.
image
I think the folks at Bounty produced a beautiful story, but it’s missing a final element.

6. Something to Cement the Story into Memory

Emotion, Humor, Twists, Anticipation: these are the things that will cement the story into memory.
Beldent used humor to cement it’s message.
Bounty tried to use sentimentality to bring the emotion.
iNature Skincare’s Comfortable video delivers on this level, with a twist, humor and the kind of optimism we can only learn from children.

https://youtu.be/f0tEcxLDDd4

What is Missing?

If the Comfortable video delivers on the emotional component, why was it not more successful for the sponsoring brand?

If any element is missing, a video may not deliver success to the brand or product.

If any element is missing, a video may not deliver success to the brand or product.

In my opinion, the Comfortable video failed its sponsor by not including the brand as a character. In the story of the woman who struggled with acne and eczema (1:14), would an iNature product have been too obvious? Perhaps.
The other element missing is the call to action. iNature gets a thank you from the filmmaker, and their website is listed.

iNature Skincare didn't have a strong call to action.

iNature Skincare didn’t have a strong call to action.

However, this link is not clickable. The call to action “Check them out here:” doesn’t tie back to the film. iNature is a sponsor, not a character in the play.

What are Your Favorite Video Stories

We all can relate to the journey from conflict to resolution. Tell us in the comments which videos you like that contain the six elements:

  • The Unexpected starts the ball rolling.
  • Conflict is necessary.
  • Resolution is desired by our brains.
  • The brand or product should be a Character.
  • The viewer should be given a say to Continue Their Interaction.
  • Emotion, Humor, Anticipation, Twists cement the experience in the mind.

image

You’ve decided it’s time to undertake a website redesign. Should you focus on improving UX (user experience), or should CRO (conversion rate optimization) be your priority?  Are they mutually exclusive?  Is there a time when one is more important than the other?

Sarah Jabeen from DiscoverSTEAM tackles this issue with Brian the Conversion Scientist in a UX vs CRO (replay).

You’ve probably guessed that Brian has CRO in his corner; Sarah will be leading with UX.

Watch the discussion.

You’ll still walk away with valuable information you can incorporate into your site redesign including:

  • Do you have to choose one or the other between UX and CRO?
  • When should you focus on UX, and when should you focus on CRO?
  • How does CRO inform UX?
  • What do you do when tests recommend bad UX?
  • What are the similarities of the two processes?
  • What are the differences between the two processes?

Watch the replay. I hope I have you in my corner.

One of the great benefits of speaking at great conferences is getting to learn from your peers in the industry. Joel Harvey and I did our first LIVE tag-team presentation called “The Chemistry of the Landing Page.”
Tim Ash gave an insightful and “inciteful” keynote presentation at the PPC Hero Conference here in Portland Oregon. Here are my instagraph notes taken live as he spoke.

Tim Ash Hero Conf 2015 Context Power of Framing

Click to Enlarge



In January a large property listing website announced they’d increased conversions by 300%. They’d significantly changed the site’s design and the way they searched for properties, delivering results by travel time rather than miles radius.
In March a second property website announced a boost of 300% but this time no design change whatsoever. They started delivering results by travel time, and that was the only change they made. Timing was everything.

Why does providing travel time boost conversions?

As with any conversion boost, it’s down to optimizing consumer experience. The search results were more relevant, but why?

Personalization: the key to transforming conversion rates

We already know that personalization is key whether you’re composing an email campaign or doing post-sales follow-ups. Where’s the personalization in location? Personalization is nothing without people, which is the downfall of a distance search. A mile “as the crow flies” isn’t relevant if the crow is on a bus or in a car.
Acknowledging infrastructure networks transforms a circle into a polygon. This polygon changes shape depending on the surrounding location’s network. Local search results that use a polygon model will eliminate all the erroneous results that would have been delivered in a miles radius search.

Search result with radius model

Search result with radius model


Map acknowledging transportation networks

Map acknowledging transportation networks


Search result with polygon model

Search result with polygon model

Sorry, I’m running 5 miles late

A mile is not a human metric: we do everything by time. We need to arrive at locations on time, leave on time, spend time at locations or visit several places in an allotted time. The problem is that one mile can take five minutes or one hour depending on congestion, infrastructure and other factors.
Tell a hungry person their favorite restaurant is ten minutes away, and they know exactly what you mean. Tell them it’s a mile away, and they will need to know a lot more. Using time in local searching makes the results relevant and understandable. When the amount of consumer leg-work is reduced, they’re more likely to decide there and then.

Time to personalize

People search for location-specific results because they need to get there. Websites that use minutes instead of miles can ask two simple questions that will personalize each search so that no one will ever need to work out “will this work for me?”

        

  • What time of day are they planning on traveling?
  •     

  • What mode of transportation will they use?

Give it the time of day

This information alters the relevant results for three reasons.

        

  1. Transportation timetables and open/close times will limit where a consumer can go.
  2.     

  3. The results they seek will also differ – restaurants open at 3:00 am are different from those at 6:00 pm.
  4.     

  5. Road congestion will most likely reduce in the early hours of the morning.

Some locations will always operate at the same time of day. Lunch reservations will always be in the same time window. Property searches may always use 9:00 am because the majority of people commute from home to work at that time.
Other sites may choose to automate the time function so that the visitor sees what is possible at the time of their search. This is useful if the site visitor wants to get there immediately, giving accurate results quickly.

Timely transport

The four polygons show different results for different transportation modes within 30 minutes. You can see that walkers can’t cover as much distance as drivers (obviously!). Adjusting for the exact mode of transportation ensures that every location result is reachable and removes any errors covered in distance searching.

Polygon search result for cycling

Cycling


Polygon search result for public transport

Public transportation


Polygon search result for driving

Driving


Polygon search result for walking

Walking

Case Studies:

Restaurant listing site OpenTable lets customers book tables so that they can reach their restaurant reservation within minutes.

The distance to a restaurant changes by mode of transportation.

The travel time to a restaurant changes by mode of transportation.


UK national tourism agency VisitBritain lets tourists plan their day based on what’s near their attraction of choice.
Planning your day by travel times.

Planning your day by travel times.


The UK’s largest real estate agency group Countrywide lets property seekers pick how long they want their commute to be when listing new homes.
Coutrywide let's visitors shop for homes by commute time.

Coutrywide lets visitors shop for homes by commute time.

Time is mobile

With four out of five local searches on mobile devices ending with a purchase, marketers need to leverage their apps to ensure that they’re catering to the ever-moving consumer. Consumers can pick their search point or use mobile location searches to search by minutes from their current point.

Travel time search results on mobile device

Travel time search results on mobile device

Whose marketing efforts will benefit most from travel time search results?

        

  • Local businesses and listing sites can deliver local results within minutes rather than miles e.g. property, restaurants, bars, jobs.
  •     

  • Retailers providing click and collect services can navigate customers to the best pick up point and direct customers to access-friendly locations when products are out of stock.
  •     

  • Delivery services (food, laundry, furniture etc.) can create marketing campaigns around the minutes it takes to reach each individual customer.
  •     

  • Companies with location-specific geo-targeting campaigns can deliver location-based information in minutes rather than miles radius.
  •     

  • Classified listing sites eBay and Gumtree can supply product searches using travel time when users prefer to pick up locally.

It’s about time…I wrapped things up

Searching for locations by time delivers more accurate results. Consumers like it and convert.
Searching for locations by time delivers more accurate results. Consumers like it and convert.
        

  • Consumers convert when they are delivered more relevant results
  •     

  • As the crow flies isn’t accurate because we can’t fly!
  •     

  • Consumers need a human metric for location searching. Don’t reinvent the wheel, get a clock.
  •     

  • Ask site visitors more to deliver more accurate results

About the Author

Louisa is head of marketing at iGeolise.com. The company is the creator of the TravelTime Platform, an API that allows websites to search, rank, sort and display location results by minutes rather than miles. She’s cuckoo for conversions – particularly if they have to do with local search. To find out more follow them on Twitter @iGeolise or go to  www.gettraveltime.com.

What kind of person is “good” at analytics? It’s time to change our opinion of what a “data scientist” is. If you are involved in the care and feeding of an online marketing endeavor, you have to be good at this “data thing.”

Fortunately, this doesn’t mean that you put on your lab coat and pocket protector and spend endless hours combing through data, charts and spreadsheets.

That IS the job of the data scientist. No, you are more of a data detective, finding data to guide your decisions in unexpected places.

Conversion-Scientist-Podcast-Logo-1400x1400


Subscribe to Podcast

I outline the sources of what I call “unalytics” in my podcast 3 Refreshing Ways To Look At Marketing Analytics. Here are a few:

  • Salespeople and customer support people.
  • Live chat transcripts.
  • Ratings and reviews from your site or from Yelp.
  • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
  • Do a study.

Check out the podcast or column for the full list.

© Copyright 2007 - 2024 • Conversion Sciences • All Rights Reserved