Online retailer iNature Skincare® sponsored a video that turned into a phenomenon.
Released on October 29, 2014, the Comfortable: 50 People 1 Question video had garnered over 4 million views within two weeks.
iNature Skincare had sponsored a viral hit.
Unfortunately, sales did not rise as much as one would think. Why not? It is not uncommon for viral videos to fail as buy-ral videos.
We took a look at their site and felt that they hadn’t mapped the visitors journey appropriately.
The Visitor’s Journey
In this case the visitor’s journey starts with being moved by the video. It should then move to becoming aware of the brand, to understanding why the brand sponsored this video, to considering their products, and then to purchase.
I feel good. I want to feel good some more.
After viewing the video, we feel pretty good. Or sad. Or nostalgic. These feelings aren’t typical when considering skin care products.
As viewers, our first response is to get more of this feeling. The most common way to extend the feeling is to share with others. This is clearly happening.
However, iNature Skincare should be enabling this next step. I would have liked to know why iNature sponsored this video.
How does my feeling relate to the sponsor?
iNature Skincare’s viral video is benefiting other brands, brands not nearly as closely aligned with it.
For me, PS Print is getting the love from this video because they are advertising here. This is most likely a retargeted ad. I think iNature Skincare should be here.
Other advertisers are getting the benefit of this viral video through advertising.
My recommendation was that iNature Skincare should ask the producer to add an overlay or advertise on the video with a message that says, “Why did iNature Skincare asked 50 people this question? Our story.” This would run before the filmmaker, Jubilee Project had a chance to make their pitch at the end.
This ad would allow visitors to take the next step in the journey. If you were producing such a video, you would want to use the end of the video to bring the viewers to the next step.
The sponsor shares my values.
The ad would need to bring the visitor to a page that answered the question posed.
Every ad should bring the visitor to a page that continues the journey. Home pages are notoriously bad at that.
The page should communicate that there was a reason for the effort, and tie the message to it’s products. We really don’t have to work too hard to do this. The message, in words and pictures would be:
We chose to sponsor this video because one of the people interviewed was clearly impacted as a child by acne and eczema. Our products could have helped. We’re still working on the Mermaid Tail.
If I have skin problems, my next question should be, “Really? How?”
The sponsor can solve a problem I have.
iNature Skincare has strong proof of the effectiveness of its products. It has an award-winning package design that lends it credibility. But we must honor the visitor’s journey.
Now is the time to begin building out the company’s value proposition in words and images.
I felt that the compelling proof found in a study was their most powerful statement of the power of the product. This study was small. Eight babies were treated with their product and the results measured on two scales. The before and after pictures are available on the site.
This page offers compelling evidence of the safety and effectiveness of the products. Click for full image.
The results on this page are unclear, but the pictures are powerful. The product is effective and save enough for babies.
What product did this? Unfortunately, iNature Skincare leaves the visitor hanging on this page. This is an ideal time to introduce the product that had such an impact and offer more information. This could be done in the right sidebar area of the page.
A mockup of the Consumer Study page with a next step for the visitor.
I would also add products at the bottom of this page.
I can afford the product that solves my problem.
The visitor now needs to do a cost/benefit calculation. It’s time to introduce the product and complete the value building process. For iNature Skincare, the product page does a good job.
I recommended putting a picture of the product used and a link to learn more about the product. The page that featured the product was imperfect, but provided a good deal of information.
The iNature Skincare product page.
This was a good next step because after providing the product information and the price, the presented the next step in the visitor’s journey.
Should I buy now? Can I delay?
The next step in the journey is the choice. So far, the question in the visitor’s mind – “Should I go on?” – has been an easy one to answer. Each click offered more relevant information in the journey.
Visitors that don’t have skin problems have fallen away. Now we are talking to those who need our product.
It’s time to bring them to choice.
This is the job of the call-to-action button. For most ecommerce sites, “Add to Cart” tests well as the call to action. It is presented here in bold read.
This is the traditional next step in the buyer’s journey for ecommerce sites.
The button is very wide, and almost doesn’t look like a clickable button. It also lies well down the page. It could be missed. Nonetheless, it offers a natural next step in the visitor’s journey, an important final step.
If, at this point, the visitor does not purchase, then we can assume that
a) they just weren’t ready
b) we didn’t do a good enough job of building value
Price is rarely the issue. When I tell you that your product is too expensive, they mean that you didn’t do a good enough job explaining the value to me.
Could iNature Skincare entice more of these lost visitors to buy?
The Complete Journey
We’ve mapped out a journey from first exposure through to purchase.
A good feeling from branded content
Discovering a brand that shares my values
The realization that the brand solves a problem I have
Understanding the product’s value proposition
The decision to buy
Finalizing the transaction
Each point along the way holds an opportunity for optimization. Here are some opportunities for iNature Skincare to improve these waypoints.
Let Your Visitors Find Their Own Journey
For many visitors, we will not know where their journey started. So, we have to make it easy for them to create their own journey.
iNature Skincare as a non-standard design. The navigation bar is in a sticky band along the bottom, instead of along the top as is expected by most visitors.
This cuts 110 pixels off of the page height, space which could be used to further the value proposition.
The floating navigation bar at the bottom of the takes up precious space.
Every page on the site needs to offer a next step toward evaluating the products. There are no next steps on the Our Story, About, Dry Skin or Before and After pages.
Every page should answer a question and continue the journey.
If you are stuck on designing your buyer journey, I recommend you buy Buyer Legends from Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. They outline a process for laying out powerful stories that marketers can actually implement.
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
Keep these proven copywriting hacks in mind to make your copy convert.
Do you know how your overlay popups affect conversion? They really should know.
Is Live Chat helping or hurting your sales? You should know.
These are three of the most common blind spots we see when setting up analytics for our clients. Find out exactly how to remove these blind spots in your analytics data.
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
Keep these proven copywriting hacks in mind to make your copy convert.
It was a book by Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg that helped launch Conversion Sciences as a business way back in 2006, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?
These brothers and Austin residents have together and individually produced a number of eye-opening and ground breaking volumes, such as Call to Action and AB Testing.
These books have changed the fortunes of many an online business.
So I was naturally pleased and excited to hear from Jeffrey that they’ve released a new book, with the promising title, Buyer Legends: The Executive Storyteller’s Guide.
Get the Kindle Edition of Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg’s new book on Amazon.
Leave it to the Eisenbergs to turn up the volume on existing concepts. While the rest of us are working on Buyer Peronas and Buyer Journeys, the Eisenbergs have moved along to “Buyer Legends.”
It sounds almost heroic, like Joseph Cambell crossed with Jeff Bezos.
The introduction defines a “Buyer Legend:”
Buyer Legends is the process of using narratives and storytelling in your marketing and selling efforts.
They are not just talking about storytelling as compelling marketing. They see narratives and storytelling as a key way for organizations to understand their data internally.
It’s not surprising to hear them talk about narratives and storytelling as a way to make sense of “big data.” Bryan has been working with companies with names such as “Narrative Sciences.”
Read the full review on Inc.com.
In the mean time, go get your copy.
Guest Post By Russel Cooke
Facebook has a new advertising network that has some people worried about their personal data online.
The new network, Atlas, uses data it collects from users on Facebook to serve ads on other websites based on what Facebook knows about its users. Facebook already uses personal data to serve up contextual and targeted ads within Facebook, but now Atlas gives them the ability to use this data on behalf of third-party websites and apps.
Atlas allows advertisers to follow users across devices and across the Internet. Image Courtesy of Shutterstock
Facebook bought Atlas in 2013 for approximately $100 million and has entirely rebuilt it. The former Microsoft property will now serve as Facebook’s alternative to Google AdWords, allowing advertisers to follow users across devices and across the Internet.
For example, a beer company utilizing Atlas can use the platform to serve ads on sports websites or game apps that aren’t related to Facebook.
Cookies Aren’t Working
In a blog post, the head of Atlas, Erik Johnson, addressed the limitation of cookies, which had been the industry’s instrument for serving ads on desktop and tracking users.
He noted that cookies are becoming less accurate when it comes to demographic targeting and don’t work on mobile. Cookies also have trouble accurately measuring the customer purchase funnel across devices, browsers, and in the real world. He wrote that Atlas’ focus is on “people-based marketing.”
This type of advertising may make some users uncomfortable in relation to how their personal data is used. Yet, it presents a new opportunity for advertisers and offers up an alternative to Google AdWords management.
The platform will also help marketers and advertisers understand how their efforts across different networks and channels intersect and how they can bolster each other. Atlas eliminates the need for silos in advertising campaigns, which results in a more consistent advertising experience for the end-user.
Facebook’s existing advertising solution previously only used cookies to track the websites that users visited and targeted ads based on that data. As mentioned, Atlas does not rely on cookies to gather consumer information.
In the past if a user browsed the prices of a car on a dealer’s website they would probably see car ads in their News Feed. However, because cookies do not work on mobile, it would have been difficult for advertisers to fully and comprehensively track the behaviors and interests of users.
Atlas is not dependent on cookies and can track the third-party websites that people visit. This more robust information better allows advertisers to target ads around the interests and “likes” of Facebook users.
Tracking Sales Across Screens
The benefits of Atlas don’t end with tracking users and more efficiently targeting campaigns. It also has the ability to determine if a user purchased a product on a desktop after viewing an ad on a mobile device. It tracks the relationships between offline sales and the online advertising that spurred them on.
For example, if a person makes a purchase and gives their email address during the process Facebook would be able to let the store know that the person had viewed an ad online.
These connections will be invaluable to marketers and advertisers, as they will now be able to fully understand the relationship between their campaigns and real life sales activity. As the tracking grows and evolves, advertisers will create more compelling and powerfully targeted campaigns.
Atlas is making the advertising process more people-focused and the most successful advertisers will follow their lead. Russel Cooke is a business consultant and writer from Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Louisville, and worked in the Louisville area for over ten years before become an independent consultant and business writer. He recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA. You can follow Russel on Twitter @RusselCooke2.
It’s like a virus on the web: Rotating Headers, also called “Carousels” or “Sliders”.
Designers recommend them.
Content Management Systems provide widgets to implement them.
And everyone is copying their competitors, which makes them spread.
Those of us that test websites know one thing: We can almost always get a higher conversion rate with a static image then with rotating header images.
Why Rotating Headers Hurt Conversion
There are two primary reasons that sliding header images hurt conversion.
1. Load Times
It takes a long time to load each image. Header images are generally large. Multiply that by three or four or five and you have a slooooow loading page.
2. Motion is Irresistible
Try to read this sentence with the image above moving constantly.
Our brains are programmed to pay attention to things that move. When something moves, your “Lizard Brain” must ascertain if it is something we can eat, be eaten by or mate with.
Every time the header images slides or fades, we stop reading the page and look up. We can’t help it.
Why static images are scary
Static images require us to think hard about our value proposition. They require tough decisions because you must pick one image in a key location on your home page, category pages and landing pages.
Don’t try to hedge your bets with a rotating smorgasbord. Decisions are hard.
Fear not. We have been able to beat a static hero image with a rotating “slider” on more than one occasion. If you’re attached to your slider, we’re here to help you out.
Creating Rotating Headers That Work
This process only works if you know how to do A/B testing.
If you don’t, please, just use static images for your pages. Better yet, let us help you get setup for testing.
This is a slider we optimized for custom sign maker. It started off with some advantages over most sliders we see on the Web.
First, the size of each image is relatively small, taking up one column width and measuring in at 519x 319 pixels.
Second, the rotation is a slow fade, not a sudden slide.
Third, the fade time is 10 seconds, which is quite long compared to other sliders we’ve seen.
Since we believed that a static image would perform better than the rotating images, we set out the see which of the panels would generate the most sales. We tested each image against the rotating banner as the control using Optimizely.
Here’s how they turned out. Only one panel beat the rotating image with high statistical significance.
The others were inconclusive.
This was unexpected. So, we did a follow up. If we changed the order of the images, could we develop a rotating image that beat a static image?
We gave it a try, ordering the panels like this:
In our test, the rotating header beat the static image by 61% with a confidence of over 99%.
What Does This Mean?
Does this mean that rotating sliders are the way to go? We have distilled the following best practices that have worked for us in other tests.
1. Make each image as small as possible so the page loads quickly.
2. Use a long interval between images.
3. Use a fade instead of a slide to minimize motion distraction.
4. Start the rotation with your highest performing images.
5. If you can’t test, go with a static image.
Don’t spread the virus. Be smart about your rotating messages.
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
Keep these proven copywriting hacks in mind to make your copy convert.
The folks at SEMRush hosted The Conversion Scientist for an entertaining hour on how to design search landing pages.
It was fun and educational, and if you missed it you can see the entire thing right here.
Hosted by SEMRush’s David Black, we covered the key components of a landing page that supports search traffic.
Two Jobs of a Search Landing Page
There are two jobs of a landing page that supports traffic from search ads:
Keep the promise made in the search ad.
Get the visitor to make a choice.
Thus, a search landing page must be tailored for the ad that is driving the traffic.
If you don’t know the promise that is driving traffic to the page you are creating, then you are not building a landing page. You’re building something else.
If your page needs anything other than content to make a visitor want to make a choice and take action, you’re probably not building a landing page. Each landing page needs all of five components.
Offer
Keeps the promise and gives the visitor a reason to act.
Form
Provides a way for the visitor to take action, in their interest and in yours.
Trust
A catalyst that helps the visitor feel comfortable and confident taking action.
Proof
Another catalyst that supports the offer and the entire value proposition.
Image
Helps the visitor imagine themselves taking action on the site by “seening” the product.
When you combine all of these elements together, you get a high-converting search landing page that is ready to be testing to improve performance even more.
Download your free Landing Page ROI Checklist.
Get your free Landing Page ROI Checklist
Twelve page checklist based on Brian Massey’s Chemistry of High-Converting Landing Pages Webinar.
Makes the creation of landing pages fast and easy.
Offers proven and tested ways to make your landing pages work.
Content Marketing guru Michael Brenner has four kids. That violates my rule of parenting: “Never let them outnumber you.” He seems to be handling things fine, and even made the kids a part of his inspiring Ascend Summit presentation “The Future of Content Marketing.”
Michael says, “Content Marketing has always been about connecting through stories people love.” and “The Future Content Marketing is entertaining.”
Content Marketing and Stories
“Marketing has always been about connecting through stories people love.”
“60% to 70% of marketing content goes unused.”
“73% of people would not care if the brand they bought went away.”
“80% of CEOs are dissatisfied with their CMO.”
“Newspapers have lost $40 billion in revenue in the last 15 years.”
“The future of marketing is entertaining.”
Can Google Analytics help those of us that aren’t “mathy”?
Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media thinks so, and gave us a great primer in his Ascend Summit presentation Advanced Blogging and Multichannel Analytics.
Fortunately, I was there taking notes for all of my readers. Enjoy my “instagraphic” infographic of his very helpful presentation.
Many Conversion Science clients are focused on generating leads. So, we are always exploring tools that we could use to accelerate our process — and to generate leads for our business.
We’ve spent some time evaluating Leadpages on our own site. Leadpages promises to reduce the time it takes to build traditional landing pages, and offers a variety of simple procedures that can maximize your lead capture strategy.
The first thing you should notice is that this Leadpages page is integrated with the Conversion Sciences WordPress blog. Having a landing page on your main domain can increase trust for visitors, and thus increase conversion rates.
Here are 5 more tips to get leads fast using Leadpages.
2. Webinar Hosting
Webinars continue to deliver well-qualified leads, and Leadpages offers a variety of templates to use for webinar registration. Some of the features include a countdown clocks (urgency), social sharing and commenting (social proof), and integrates seamlessly with Google+ Hangouts, & GoToWebinar.
This takes us to #2.
3. Increasing Webinar Registration Numbers With Leadlinks
What if you could increase webinar registration numbers without an external page or funnel? LeadLinks makes this possible by incorporating a 1 click opt-in feature.
If you’re sending an email to your list, all you have to do is add a snippet of code to your template that says “Click here to automatically register for the webinar.”
Once clicked the visitor will be added to a segmented list and will be registered without having to enter an email. It’s truly a zero step optin process.
Unfortunately, you cannot use this feature if your list is hosted on Aweber or 1ShoppingCart due to their terms of service.
4. You Can Give Away Pretty Much Anything.
We all like free stuff. It’s a simple way to drive traffic, and depending on how your traffic behaves you’ll want to offer a variety of lead magnets to get them through your funnel.
But let’s say you want to offer an MP3 on the first landing page, a free report on the second page, and a video on the third. Normally, you would need to break this into three separate email lists, create three separate forms, and write three follow up emails.
Leadpages simplifies this by allowing you to send a variety of lead magnets on one single list. What’s impressive is you can also send a variety of automated emails per lead magnet when someone opts in. There are several types of files you can upload. Check them out below.
5. Lead Capture With LeadBoxes
Let’s talk about content strategy, shall we? When a business publishes a blog, each post should aim at pulling traffic into the website. Driving traffic isn’t enough, though. Your content should be getting people to join your list.
This means placing forms on your blog to entice people to give you their email address. Leadpages has come up with an easier way.
LeadBoxes eliminates the process of creating a form or landing page to capture leads. A lead box opens as an overlay, or a popover, with the click of a single button. This means that the visitor MUST deal with the overlay: either join or dismiss the offer.
Data from Leadpages indicates that this will increase subscription rates.
It can be added easily to your blog posts by embedding a piece of code right in your text.
Bonus: Social Media Integration
Leadpages integrates easily with Facebook. Visitors opt-in to your list via Facebook without having to enter their email.
Add a LeadPage to a customizable Facebook tab. This opens up a window of lead generating opportunities especially advertising for Facebook ‘Likes.’ Simply use this tab as a landing page for your Facebook Ad traffic. Not only will you get new Facebook ‘likes,’ but you’ll increase your subscriber list at the same time.
That being said, here are some big problems I have with Leadpages.
1. Let’s start with the price. You’re going to be a little conflicted when paying for the service.
You can pay monthly, annually, or for two years up front. Each package has its perks, some more subtle than others. The year’s subscription will save you roughly 40% in the long run. However, if you’re adamant about testing the software for yourself, go with the monthly plan.
2. Customer service is important. If you’ve got the Standard Package, you’re screwed. It can take up to a week for any type of response when submitting a ticket. Even then, customer service may not have a solution to your problem.
Time is money, so get the assistance along the way, and pay for a Pro or Enterprise account. You’ll be able to chat with or call for help instantaneously. Dish out the money.
3. As customizable as Leadpages is, it’s not that customizable. Perhaps in the near future they might enhance their platform to let you select what type of elements you want (video, images, social media widgets, etc) to include on the page and where you want to place them.
As of now, you’re only given a select number of templates to work from, with features that you can turn and off, and custom colors.
4. If you’re like me, managing multiple clients is important. However, if they use the same email service like MailChimp, The free Leadpages accounts can only have one MailChimp account. However, the Pro version lets you create subaccounts, and each subaccount can have its own MailChimp account. Again, you’ll want to go with a paid account.
5. Finally, it’s still very new. This means there are some undetected bugs and glitches that Leadpages hasn’t solved yet. You will run into a few of those.
Don’t spend 5 hours trying to figure out an issue yourself. Upgrade a paid account and let customer service help.
LeadPages offers features that we are finding very valuable for generating leads, especially for an inbound, content-driven program like ours. However, the free account is probably not going to offer the support and features that you need. In my evaluation, LeadPages is worth the cost of a paid account.
From Viral to Buy: Designing Buyer Journeys [CASE STUDY]
Conversion Marketing StrategyOnline retailer iNature Skincare® sponsored a video that turned into a phenomenon.
Released on October 29, 2014, the Comfortable: 50 People 1 Question video had garnered over 4 million views within two weeks.
iNature Skincare had sponsored a viral hit.
Unfortunately, sales did not rise as much as one would think. Why not? It is not uncommon for viral videos to fail as buy-ral videos.
We took a look at their site and felt that they hadn’t mapped the visitors journey appropriately.
The Visitor’s Journey
In this case the visitor’s journey starts with being moved by the video. It should then move to becoming aware of the brand, to understanding why the brand sponsored this video, to considering their products, and then to purchase.
I feel good. I want to feel good some more.
After viewing the video, we feel pretty good. Or sad. Or nostalgic. These feelings aren’t typical when considering skin care products.
As viewers, our first response is to get more of this feeling. The most common way to extend the feeling is to share with others. This is clearly happening.
However, iNature Skincare should be enabling this next step. I would have liked to know why iNature sponsored this video.
How does my feeling relate to the sponsor?
iNature Skincare’s viral video is benefiting other brands, brands not nearly as closely aligned with it.
For me, PS Print is getting the love from this video because they are advertising here. This is most likely a retargeted ad. I think iNature Skincare should be here.
Other advertisers are getting the benefit of this viral video through advertising.
My recommendation was that iNature Skincare should ask the producer to add an overlay or advertise on the video with a message that says, “Why did iNature Skincare asked 50 people this question? Our story.” This would run before the filmmaker, Jubilee Project had a chance to make their pitch at the end.
This ad would allow visitors to take the next step in the journey. If you were producing such a video, you would want to use the end of the video to bring the viewers to the next step.
The sponsor shares my values.
The ad would need to bring the visitor to a page that answered the question posed.
Every ad should bring the visitor to a page that continues the journey. Home pages are notoriously bad at that.
The page should communicate that there was a reason for the effort, and tie the message to it’s products. We really don’t have to work too hard to do this. The message, in words and pictures would be:
If I have skin problems, my next question should be, “Really? How?”
The sponsor can solve a problem I have.
iNature Skincare has strong proof of the effectiveness of its products. It has an award-winning package design that lends it credibility. But we must honor the visitor’s journey.
Now is the time to begin building out the company’s value proposition in words and images.
I felt that the compelling proof found in a study was their most powerful statement of the power of the product. This study was small. Eight babies were treated with their product and the results measured on two scales. The before and after pictures are available on the site.
This page offers compelling evidence of the safety and effectiveness of the products. Click for full image.
The results on this page are unclear, but the pictures are powerful. The product is effective and save enough for babies.
What product did this? Unfortunately, iNature Skincare leaves the visitor hanging on this page. This is an ideal time to introduce the product that had such an impact and offer more information. This could be done in the right sidebar area of the page.
A mockup of the Consumer Study page with a next step for the visitor.
I would also add products at the bottom of this page.
I can afford the product that solves my problem.
The visitor now needs to do a cost/benefit calculation. It’s time to introduce the product and complete the value building process. For iNature Skincare, the product page does a good job.
I recommended putting a picture of the product used and a link to learn more about the product. The page that featured the product was imperfect, but provided a good deal of information.
The iNature Skincare product page.
This was a good next step because after providing the product information and the price, the presented the next step in the visitor’s journey.
Should I buy now? Can I delay?
The next step in the journey is the choice. So far, the question in the visitor’s mind – “Should I go on?” – has been an easy one to answer. Each click offered more relevant information in the journey.
Visitors that don’t have skin problems have fallen away. Now we are talking to those who need our product.
It’s time to bring them to choice.
This is the job of the call-to-action button. For most ecommerce sites, “Add to Cart” tests well as the call to action. It is presented here in bold read.
This is the traditional next step in the buyer’s journey for ecommerce sites.
The button is very wide, and almost doesn’t look like a clickable button. It also lies well down the page. It could be missed. Nonetheless, it offers a natural next step in the visitor’s journey, an important final step.
If, at this point, the visitor does not purchase, then we can assume that
a) they just weren’t ready
b) we didn’t do a good enough job of building value
Price is rarely the issue. When I tell you that your product is too expensive, they mean that you didn’t do a good enough job explaining the value to me.
Could iNature Skincare entice more of these lost visitors to buy?
The Complete Journey
We’ve mapped out a journey from first exposure through to purchase.
Each point along the way holds an opportunity for optimization. Here are some opportunities for iNature Skincare to improve these waypoints.
Let Your Visitors Find Their Own Journey
For many visitors, we will not know where their journey started. So, we have to make it easy for them to create their own journey.
iNature Skincare as a non-standard design. The navigation bar is in a sticky band along the bottom, instead of along the top as is expected by most visitors.
This cuts 110 pixels off of the page height, space which could be used to further the value proposition.
The floating navigation bar at the bottom of the takes up precious space.
Every page on the site needs to offer a next step toward evaluating the products. There are no next steps on the Our Story, About, Dry Skin or Before and After pages.
Every page should answer a question and continue the journey.
If you are stuck on designing your buyer journey, I recommend you buy Buyer Legends from Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. They outline a process for laying out powerful stories that marketers can actually implement.
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
Keep these proven copywriting hacks in mind to make your copy convert.
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Google Analytics Blind Spots
Web AnalyticsAre you blind because your Google Analytics setup has blind spots?
Do you know when one of your visitors gets a 404 error? You should.
Subscribe to Podcast
Transcript: Google Analytics Blind Spots That Must Be Corrected
Do you know how your overlay popups affect conversion? They really should know.
Is Live Chat helping or hurting your sales? You should know.
These are three of the most common blind spots we see when setting up analytics for our clients. Find out exactly how to remove these blind spots in your analytics data.
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
Keep these proven copywriting hacks in mind to make your copy convert.
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Image Courtesy afullmer via freeimages.com
A New Book From Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg
Conversion-Centered DesignIt was a book by Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg that helped launch Conversion Sciences as a business way back in 2006, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?
These brothers and Austin residents have together and individually produced a number of eye-opening and ground breaking volumes, such as Call to Action and AB Testing.
These books have changed the fortunes of many an online business.
So I was naturally pleased and excited to hear from Jeffrey that they’ve released a new book, with the promising title, Buyer Legends: The Executive Storyteller’s Guide.
Get the Kindle Edition of Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg’s new book on Amazon.
Leave it to the Eisenbergs to turn up the volume on existing concepts. While the rest of us are working on Buyer Peronas and Buyer Journeys, the Eisenbergs have moved along to “Buyer Legends.”
It sounds almost heroic, like Joseph Cambell crossed with Jeff Bezos.
The introduction defines a “Buyer Legend:”
They are not just talking about storytelling as compelling marketing. They see narratives and storytelling as a key way for organizations to understand their data internally.
It’s not surprising to hear them talk about narratives and storytelling as a way to make sense of “big data.” Bryan has been working with companies with names such as “Narrative Sciences.”
Read the full review on Inc.com.
In the mean time, go get your copy.
What Advertisers Need To Know About Atlas – New Facebook Ad Network
Lead GenerationGuest Post By Russel Cooke
Facebook has a new advertising network that has some people worried about their personal data online.
The new network, Atlas, uses data it collects from users on Facebook to serve ads on other websites based on what Facebook knows about its users. Facebook already uses personal data to serve up contextual and targeted ads within Facebook, but now Atlas gives them the ability to use this data on behalf of third-party websites and apps.
Atlas allows advertisers to follow users across devices and across the Internet. Image Courtesy of Shutterstock
Facebook bought Atlas in 2013 for approximately $100 million and has entirely rebuilt it. The former Microsoft property will now serve as Facebook’s alternative to Google AdWords, allowing advertisers to follow users across devices and across the Internet.
For example, a beer company utilizing Atlas can use the platform to serve ads on sports websites or game apps that aren’t related to Facebook.
Cookies Aren’t Working
In a blog post, the head of Atlas, Erik Johnson, addressed the limitation of cookies, which had been the industry’s instrument for serving ads on desktop and tracking users.
He noted that cookies are becoming less accurate when it comes to demographic targeting and don’t work on mobile. Cookies also have trouble accurately measuring the customer purchase funnel across devices, browsers, and in the real world. He wrote that Atlas’ focus is on “people-based marketing.”
This type of advertising may make some users uncomfortable in relation to how their personal data is used. Yet, it presents a new opportunity for advertisers and offers up an alternative to Google AdWords management.
The platform will also help marketers and advertisers understand how their efforts across different networks and channels intersect and how they can bolster each other. Atlas eliminates the need for silos in advertising campaigns, which results in a more consistent advertising experience for the end-user.
Facebook’s existing advertising solution previously only used cookies to track the websites that users visited and targeted ads based on that data. As mentioned, Atlas does not rely on cookies to gather consumer information.
In the past if a user browsed the prices of a car on a dealer’s website they would probably see car ads in their News Feed. However, because cookies do not work on mobile, it would have been difficult for advertisers to fully and comprehensively track the behaviors and interests of users.
Atlas is not dependent on cookies and can track the third-party websites that people visit. This more robust information better allows advertisers to target ads around the interests and “likes” of Facebook users.
Tracking Sales Across Screens
The benefits of Atlas don’t end with tracking users and more efficiently targeting campaigns. It also has the ability to determine if a user purchased a product on a desktop after viewing an ad on a mobile device. It tracks the relationships between offline sales and the online advertising that spurred them on.
For example, if a person makes a purchase and gives their email address during the process Facebook would be able to let the store know that the person had viewed an ad online.
These connections will be invaluable to marketers and advertisers, as they will now be able to fully understand the relationship between their campaigns and real life sales activity. As the tracking grows and evolves, advertisers will create more compelling and powerfully targeted campaigns.
Atlas is making the advertising process more people-focused and the most successful advertisers will follow their lead.
Russel Cooke is a business consultant and writer from Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from the University of Louisville, and worked in the Louisville area for over ten years before become an independent consultant and business writer. He recently relocated to Los Angeles, CA. You can follow Russel on Twitter @RusselCooke2.
Your Rotating Headers Don’t Have to Kill Your Conversion Rate
Conversion-Centered DesignIt’s like a virus on the web: Rotating Headers, also called “Carousels” or “Sliders”.
Designers recommend them.
Content Management Systems provide widgets to implement them.
And everyone is copying their competitors, which makes them spread.
Those of us that test websites know one thing: We can almost always get a higher conversion rate with a static image then with rotating header images.
Why Rotating Headers Hurt Conversion
There are two primary reasons that sliding header images hurt conversion.
1. Load Times
It takes a long time to load each image. Header images are generally large. Multiply that by three or four or five and you have a slooooow loading page.
2. Motion is Irresistible
Try to read this sentence with the image above moving constantly.
Our brains are programmed to pay attention to things that move. When something moves, your “Lizard Brain” must ascertain if it is something we can eat, be eaten by or mate with.
Every time the header images slides or fades, we stop reading the page and look up. We can’t help it.
Why static images are scary
Static images require us to think hard about our value proposition. They require tough decisions because you must pick one image in a key location on your home page, category pages and landing pages.
Don’t try to hedge your bets with a rotating smorgasbord. Decisions are hard.
Fear not. We have been able to beat a static hero image with a rotating “slider” on more than one occasion. If you’re attached to your slider, we’re here to help you out.
Creating Rotating Headers That Work
This process only works if you know how to do A/B testing.
If you don’t, please, just use static images for your pages. Better yet, let us help you get setup for testing.
This is a slider we optimized for custom sign maker. It started off with some advantages over most sliders we see on the Web.
First, the size of each image is relatively small, taking up one column width and measuring in at 519x 319 pixels.
Second, the rotation is a slow fade, not a sudden slide.
Third, the fade time is 10 seconds, which is quite long compared to other sliders we’ve seen.
Since we believed that a static image would perform better than the rotating images, we set out the see which of the panels would generate the most sales. We tested each image against the rotating banner as the control using Optimizely.
Here’s how they turned out. Only one panel beat the rotating image with high statistical significance.
The others were inconclusive.
This was unexpected. So, we did a follow up. If we changed the order of the images, could we develop a rotating image that beat a static image?
We gave it a try, ordering the panels like this:
In our test, the rotating header beat the static image by 61% with a confidence of over 99%.
What Does This Mean?
Does this mean that rotating sliders are the way to go? We have distilled the following best practices that have worked for us in other tests.
1. Make each image as small as possible so the page loads quickly.
2. Use a long interval between images.
3. Use a fade instead of a slide to minimize motion distraction.
4. Start the rotation with your highest performing images.
5. If you can’t test, go with a static image.
Don’t spread the virus. Be smart about your rotating messages.
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
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Landing Pages that Make Search Marketers Successful [VIDEO]
Landing Page OptimizationThe folks at SEMRush hosted The Conversion Scientist for an entertaining hour on how to design search landing pages.
It was fun and educational, and if you missed it you can see the entire thing right here.
Hosted by SEMRush’s David Black, we covered the key components of a landing page that supports search traffic.
Two Jobs of a Search Landing Page
There are two jobs of a landing page that supports traffic from search ads:
Thus, a search landing page must be tailored for the ad that is driving the traffic.
If you don’t know the promise that is driving traffic to the page you are creating, then you are not building a landing page. You’re building something else.
If your page needs anything other than content to make a visitor want to make a choice and take action, you’re probably not building a landing page. Each landing page needs all of five components.
Offer
Keeps the promise and gives the visitor a reason to act.
Form
Provides a way for the visitor to take action, in their interest and in yours.
Trust
A catalyst that helps the visitor feel comfortable and confident taking action.
Proof
Another catalyst that supports the offer and the entire value proposition.
Image
Helps the visitor imagine themselves taking action on the site by “seening” the product.
When you combine all of these elements together, you get a high-converting search landing page that is ready to be testing to improve performance even more.
Download your free Landing Page ROI Checklist.
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The Future of Content Marketing-Michael Brenner [INFOGRAPHIC]
Conversion OptimizationContent Marketing guru Michael Brenner has four kids. That violates my rule of parenting: “Never let them outnumber you.” He seems to be handling things fine, and even made the kids a part of his inspiring Ascend Summit presentation “The Future of Content Marketing.”
Michael says, “Content Marketing has always been about connecting through stories people love.” and “The Future Content Marketing is entertaining.”
Content Marketing and Stories
“Marketing has always been about connecting through stories people love.”
“60% to 70% of marketing content goes unused.”
“73% of people would not care if the brand they bought went away.”
“80% of CEOs are dissatisfied with their CMO.”
“Newspapers have lost $40 billion in revenue in the last 15 years.”
“The future of marketing is entertaining.”
Four Great Content Hubs
American Express OPEN Forum
Red Bull
taste by William Sonoma
Target
Here is my “instagraph” infographic recorded during his presentation.
Click to Enlarge
Use Google Analytics to Win at Content Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]
Conversion OptimizationCan Google Analytics help those of us that aren’t “mathy”?
Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media thinks so, and gave us a great primer in his Ascend Summit presentation Advanced Blogging and Multichannel Analytics.
Fortunately, I was there taking notes for all of my readers. Enjoy my “instagraphic” infographic of his very helpful presentation.
Google Analytics Setup Basics [Audio]
Web AnalyticsWe have a recipe for setting up Google Analytics when we take on a new client. A few simple things can make all the difference.
Like naming your Views so that you can find the right one easily.
Or adding a RAW data view so that you can effectively “backup” your Google Analytics information.
I address these and a few more setup issues in my most recent Marketing Land Column, A Google Analytics Setup Checklist.
Listen on The Conversion Scientist Podcast
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The other lower-case filters are defined as follows:
Lower case campaign
The lower case campaign filter in Google Analytics.
Lower case Referrals
The Google Analytics filter to make the referral field lowercase.
Related Marketing Land Columns by Brian Massey
21 Quick and Easy CRO Copywriting Hacks
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5 Fastest Ways to Generate Leads Using Leadpages [Review]
Lead GenerationMany Conversion Science clients are focused on generating leads. So, we are always exploring tools that we could use to accelerate our process — and to generate leads for our business.
We’ve spent some time evaluating Leadpages on our own site. Leadpages promises to reduce the time it takes to build traditional landing pages, and offers a variety of simple procedures that can maximize your lead capture strategy.
Our tests were run using our new report on search marketing, How 20 Search Experts Beat Rising Costs.
1. Easy integration with WordPress
The first thing you should notice is that this Leadpages page is integrated with the Conversion Sciences WordPress blog. Having a landing page on your main domain can increase trust for visitors, and thus increase conversion rates.
Here are 5 more tips to get leads fast using Leadpages.
2. Webinar Hosting
Webinars continue to deliver well-qualified leads, and Leadpages offers a variety of templates to use for webinar registration. Some of the features include a countdown clocks (urgency), social sharing and commenting (social proof), and integrates seamlessly with Google+ Hangouts, & GoToWebinar.
This takes us to #2.
3. Increasing Webinar Registration Numbers With Leadlinks
What if you could increase webinar registration numbers without an external page or funnel? LeadLinks makes this possible by incorporating a 1 click opt-in feature.
If you’re sending an email to your list, all you have to do is add a snippet of code to your template that says “Click here to automatically register for the webinar.”
Once clicked the visitor will be added to a segmented list and will be registered without having to enter an email. It’s truly a zero step optin process.
Unfortunately, you cannot use this feature if your list is hosted on Aweber or 1ShoppingCart due to their terms of service.
4. You Can Give Away Pretty Much Anything.
We all like free stuff. It’s a simple way to drive traffic, and depending on how your traffic behaves you’ll want to offer a variety of lead magnets to get them through your funnel.
But let’s say you want to offer an MP3 on the first landing page, a free report on the second page, and a video on the third. Normally, you would need to break this into three separate email lists, create three separate forms, and write three follow up emails.
Leadpages simplifies this by allowing you to send a variety of lead magnets on one single list. What’s impressive is you can also send a variety of automated emails per lead magnet when someone opts in. There are several types of files you can upload. Check them out below.
5. Lead Capture With LeadBoxes
Let’s talk about content strategy, shall we? When a business publishes a blog, each post should aim at pulling traffic into the website. Driving traffic isn’t enough, though. Your content should be getting people to join your list.
This means placing forms on your blog to entice people to give you their email address. Leadpages has come up with an easier way.
LeadBoxes eliminates the process of creating a form or landing page to capture leads. A lead box opens as an overlay, or a popover, with the click of a single button. This means that the visitor MUST deal with the overlay: either join or dismiss the offer.
Data from Leadpages indicates that this will increase subscription rates.
It can be added easily to your blog posts by embedding a piece of code right in your text.
Bonus: Social Media Integration
Leadpages integrates easily with Facebook. Visitors opt-in to your list via Facebook without having to enter their email.
Add a LeadPage to a customizable Facebook tab. This opens up a window of lead generating opportunities especially advertising for Facebook ‘Likes.’ Simply use this tab as a landing page for your Facebook Ad traffic. Not only will you get new Facebook ‘likes,’ but you’ll increase your subscriber list at the same time.
That being said, here are some big problems I have with Leadpages.
1. Let’s start with the price. You’re going to be a little conflicted when paying for the service.
You can pay monthly, annually, or for two years up front. Each package has its perks, some more subtle than others. The year’s subscription will save you roughly 40% in the long run. However, if you’re adamant about testing the software for yourself, go with the monthly plan.
2. Customer service is important. If you’ve got the Standard Package, you’re screwed. It can take up to a week for any type of response when submitting a ticket. Even then, customer service may not have a solution to your problem.
Time is money, so get the assistance along the way, and pay for a Pro or Enterprise account. You’ll be able to chat with or call for help instantaneously. Dish out the money.
3. As customizable as Leadpages is, it’s not that customizable. Perhaps in the near future they might enhance their platform to let you select what type of elements you want (video, images, social media widgets, etc) to include on the page and where you want to place them.
As of now, you’re only given a select number of templates to work from, with features that you can turn and off, and custom colors.
4. If you’re like me, managing multiple clients is important. However, if they use the same email service like MailChimp, The free Leadpages accounts can only have one MailChimp account. However, the Pro version lets you create subaccounts, and each subaccount can have its own MailChimp account. Again, you’ll want to go with a paid account.
5. Finally, it’s still very new. This means there are some undetected bugs and glitches that Leadpages hasn’t solved yet. You will run into a few of those.
Don’t spend 5 hours trying to figure out an issue yourself. Upgrade a paid account and let customer service help.
LeadPages offers features that we are finding very valuable for generating leads, especially for an inbound, content-driven program like ours. However, the free account is probably not going to offer the support and features that you need. In my evaluation, LeadPages is worth the cost of a paid account.