Increase Your Conversion Marketing Results Using Basic ABC’s
In the world of sales, the letters “ABC” have their own meaning — Always Be Closing. That mantra reflects the salesperson’s idealized and conversion marketing-based strategy, one that relentlessly nudges the prospect toward a sale at every point of the interaction. Throughout the stages — from rapport-building to parrying objections to asking “do we have a deal?” — the prospect is managed in such a way that the only logical response is “yes, we do.” Digital marketers have their own ABC’s — Always Be Converting. The goal of converting site visitors into paying customers is mission critical for just about every business. To help you master that process of conversion marketing and bump up that all important conversion rate, we’ve captured eight strategies for improved conversion marketing. Use heat maps Heat maps are graphical representations of data where color is used to represent values. They offer an easy to understand visual summary of information. If that sounds too technical, just think about a television weather forecast and how it uses red to signify hot and blue for cold. When used with a Web page, a heat map will tell you which areas are generating the most interaction; red for high interaction, yellow for medium, blue for low. These maps are essential for understanding how you can maintain the interest of prospects. Refine your call to action Too many businesses opt for boilerplate copy when it comes to CTAs. If you want to boost your conversion rate, you need to close with strong, persuasive material. A CTA doesn’t have to be two simple sentences; you can use video, add links or simply dangle a “cliffhanger” style ending that piques the interest of the reader and prompts her to find out more. Heighten the urgency Creating a sense of urgency is one of the oldest tactics in the sales and marketing textbooks for good reason — it works. This tactic plays on one of the strongest cognitive biases people have, so it’s as timeless as it is effective. If potential customers feel like something valuable is slipping away, they will be highly motivated to act. Test, test, test Are you A/B testing? If not, it’s time to get started. Create two versions of a page with different CTAs, header copy, design etc. Track the number of conversions each page generates. The one with the best numbers is your path to more conversions. Apply A/B testing wherever possible and retest frequently. Optimize your funnel Buying is a journey — in most cases, a potential customer cycles through the same series of considerations before “getting to yes.” Interrupting this process by asking for a sale prematurely can reduce conversions, so make sure your funnel is well developed. Use copy that converts Great copywriting is an art. It needs to: Reflect your brand voice Position you as trustworthy Be calibrated for your specific audience Seize the reader’s interest immediately Be creative yet also universal And that’s hardly a comprehensive list. If your copy isn’t meeting those basic criteria, however, you’re losing conversions. Illustrate the value proposition Why should your potential customer convert? Boil it down into an elevator pitch. And let the gist of that pitch flow through all of your copy and marketing materials. Stress the social proof People don’t innately trust marketing. Yet they do trust other people, which is why word of mouth is so effective. If you want to convert people sitting on the fence, show them all of your satisfied customers. Use testimonials with photos and reap the benefit of the “halo effect” by partnering with influencers. The takeaway Armed with the above strategies to improve your conversion marketing efforts, you’re ready to increase conversion rates and increase ROI. Yet if you want to truly move the needle, contact our team of experts today.
5 Conversion marketing tips & tricks to turn prospects into sales
Once a prospective customer reaches the top of your marketing funnel, they may need a gentle nudge to complete their sale. Facilitate this process by reducing friction across your shopping platforms and by creating a seamless marketing experience that is as inviting as it is enticing by using these proven conversion marketing tips and tricks 1. Keep messaging consistent across platforms One of the quickest ways to lose a prospective sale is through a disjointed marketing experience that is confusing or jarring. Invest time in creating a consistent, multi-channel conversion marketing strategy that accurately reflects your brand wherever your customers find you. If an ad looks and feels a certain way, your website and social media should mirror that tone. Similarly, if you promote an offer or gated content through one channel, make sure the messaging across your corresponding landing page makes sense and reiterates the promotional style your visitor saw before clicking. 2. Examine your sales cycle Gather as much data as you can about how long it takes successful customers to move from prospect to sale. Chart cycle variations between products, with promotions and without, and based on seasonality. Once you have this data, ask yourself whether there are opportunities to shorten this cycle and convert prospects faster or move prospects through the funnel more effectively. As an example, you may extend or target certain promotions before a holiday season or create “free-mium” products that introduce potential customers to your brand, while enticing them to buy with premium, paid upgrades. 3. Don’t underestimate the importance of remarketing campaigns We firmly believe the saying that when salespeople hear “no” it automatically translates to “not now.” According to InvesP, the average click-through rate on PPC campaigns is only 0.07%, while click-through rates on retarget ads jump to 0.7 percent. The trick to making retargeting effective is to get focused on segmented audience lists that have expressed interest in a certain product, offer, or task on your site. If you aren’t sure how to create more granular remarketing lists, click here to learn more about how our team can help. 4. Personalize your shopping experience In a study by PeopleMetrics, average Net Promoter Scores (NPS) increased from 37 to 51 out of 100 when prospects were exposed to personalization efforts that led them to believe the brand was going above and beyond for their benefit. Leverage social media to engage directly with your prospects by answering questions, giving shout outs, and addressing service gaps. These efforts combined with carefully retargeted ad campaigns can dramatically differentiate your brand and create an instant human bond that makes people want to complete their sale. 5. Conversion marketing starts with great content More leads mean more people are viewing your brand. And more people viewing your brand gives you more opportunities to turn a prospect into a sale. Use content marketing to help prospects discover your brand or reinforce what sets you apart from the competition. Always couple your inbound marketing campaigns with robust paid ads that ensure prospects have a connection to your brand no matter what platform they are browsing or where they are in the customer lifecycle. Reach out and share with us! We would love to hear your experiences turning prospects into sales. Click here to connect to our team and learn more ways to increase your conversions.
A/B split testing: Timeless benefits of conversion optimization
Tried and tested digital marketing methodology, like A/B split testing or growth hacking, ebbs and flows in popularity based on the latest trends in market. While we like to stay on the bleeding edge of digital techniques, we encourage all our clients to stay true to their testing roots. There are few more simple and effective marketing tactics than A/B split testing. In case it’s been a while since you have reviewed your testing roadmap, here are a few reasons why a robust A/B split testing culture is important for your business, or feel free to learn more about the types of testing support our team can provide. 1. There Are No Bad Ideas: Consistent, A/B split testing supports a constructive space for your team members to share ideas. Because testing allows you to try ideas safely and quickly, every team member can see their ideas make it to the light of day to be validated through data, or trumped by a preferable guest experience. When team members see their ideas live, they will feel more ownership over their work. Understanding test results will also help them understand their customers’ preferences, and ultimately uplevel your ideation process as the virtuous feedback loop created by testing allows your team to make more choiceful decisions about what your content looks like and where it lives within your digital ecosystem. 2. Ditch the HIPPOs: HIPPOs – or the friendly acronym for the highest paid person’s opinions – sometimes distract team members from pushing for a less popular, but potentially more impactful, ideas. A/B split testing disrupts this hierarchy and grounds decisions in data, according to behavior studies from the Harvard Business Review. Testing is an easy way for individual contributors to let their voices be heard, break through groupthink, or squash any embarrassment the team might have about telling a senior leader there may be other options. The data speaks for itself. 3. Fail Fast, Learn Quick: A/B split testing also dramatically reduces risk when introducing revolutionary ideas into market. Because you can control what percentage of your audience sees various test branches, this allows your team to take more meaningful risk instead of taking safe, but less impactful, swings to drive results and incremental value for your customers. You can safely try, then scale semi-crazy ideas, or experiment with new features and pricing lineups knowing only 5% or 10% of your customers will see it until you’re ready. 4. Show Me The Money: Last, but certainly not least, A/B split testing makes sense (and cents) for your bottom line. According to Optimizely, testing drove an average lift of 20% in revenue within the e-commerce sector, and nearly 70% increases in lead generation within the SaaS world. Testing accelerates business growth by allowing you to get a clearer understanding of your customer and what works faster so you can stay competitive within the market. If you are just getting started on building a testing culture or want to revamp your current strategy, we’re here to help! Click here to contact our team and learn more about how we can partner on your next A/B split testing initiative.
Watch Out for the Bumps in the Road: Conversion Roadblocks
A client I once worked with, who specialized in online foreign language instruction, offered a series of classes for a relatively low rate, yet the business’ marketing director explained that they were experiencing an extremely low conversion rate – relative to the volume of visitors to their site. This was one of the most affordable language programs in town, yet conversion rates were at a dismal 4%. He’d come to me for guidance, and actionable assistance in pinpointing the potential reasons why so many of these visitors would “bounce off” the site before purchasing classes. When I audited his website, I was shocked to discover that there were at least seven steps involved in the conversion process. And, that didn’t include the third-party payment system that was working in tandem to provide e-commerce services. Overall, it was no wonder that the user experience was “clunky” at best. Since the language class curriculum and offerings were a primary source of revenue for the client, I suggested a strategy that might have appeared to be an obvious solution to an experienced digital marketer, but perhaps, was not so apparent when coupled with the management of various marketing tasks associated with a large language school. My recommendation was simple: implement a more efficient process for prospective students to navigate from the homepage to the checkout phase – all in an effort to increase conversions. To define conversion marketing in the broadest sense, it is the process of converting site visitors, or browsers, into paying customers. While there are no guarantees that a user who accesses a company’s website will “convert” – or perhaps potentially transact business – there are measures that can be taken to help reduce roadblocks during the purchasing process, which, in turn, may often lead to profitable conversions. With regard to the client example I used earlier, for his website, I emphasized the importance of placing a clear call-to-action on the company’s homepage. For instance, “Learn More” provides clear direction that all site visitors are able to interpret and understand. When integrating this call-to-action button in a prominent spot on the home page, BIGEYE’s team of digital strategists determined that it was important to ensure that it was accessible across all devices by sampling and A/B testing different layouts to determine the best placement, all in an effort to ensure an optimal click through rate. As a result of our preliminary analysis, we discovered that when placed just below the central image on the website’s homepage, the target audience of prospective students responded. In addition to placement, we also experimented with various color palettes, and ultimately uncovered that blue incited a greater number of users to “Learn More”. The client’s foreign language program offerings were quite extensive, however rather than providing page after clickable page of information pertaining to online class options, BIGEYE’s digital team opted to include relevant information, as well as a “Sign-Up Now” button, on the second “inside” page. With a more streamlined process, a seemingly cumbersome number of clicks was no longer required to navigate from the homepage to the checkout screen. The prospective student was able to easily enroll in courses, reducing the friction that initially clogged the process. With the advice of the digital experts at our Orlando internet marketing agency, and with a small amount of web development, conversion rates increased by 40%, and all in a matter of weeks. This added significant revenue to the company’s bottom line, with minimal investment by the client. Ensuring an effective approach to manage conversion roadblocks requires the expertise of a professional partner, and our team at BIGEYE is poised to assist you with your strategy. While in this day and age (and of course, depending on the specific industry), a conversion rate of 5.31% or greater is an ideal goal, there are always opportunities to continue to strive to achieve the highest possible results. Dedicate time to review your website for potential roadblocks to the conversion process. To further your efforts, work closely with a user experience designer to better assist with website optimization by reaching out to our Orlando marketing agency. We’ll help better position your business’ online user experience for conversion success – contact us today!
