Optimization Pitfalls to Avoid In 2020

The Activity Trap

Sales reps aren’t paid on the number of calls they make, and real estate agents don’t get commission on the number of showings they do. Activity does not equate to outcome, and conflating the two can have really expensive implications.

The same story applies to marketers. We seem to spend a lot of effort fostering cultures of activity rather than outcomes.

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Personalizing the Revenue Journey with Segment Data

Accelerate your customers journey to revenue with FunnelEnvy, now powered with Segment.

Segment helps their customers instrument, store and unify data about their visitors and the actions they take all the way to revenue. Now with the FunnelEnvy Segment integration you can deliver personalized, 1:1 website experiences and optimize for revenue using all of that rich customer data that you’re already collecting in Segment.

What does this mean? Segment customers will be able to run more effective campaigns using better data with less custom code required.

Check out our integration on Segment

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Understanding the CMOs Data-Driven Decision Delusion

The term cobra effect describes an incentive policy that causes unintended consequences and results in the opposite effect intended. In the 1800s the colonial government of India (as the story goes), becoming increasingly concerned about the population of cobras in Delhi, offered a bounty for every dead cobra brought in.

Although it was initially successful, the cobra population increased as entrepreneurs of the day started breeding cobras to take advantage of the bounty. When the government realized the new policy wasn’t working as intended they ended the program, causing the cobra farmers to release the snakes and further exacerbating the very problem the government wanted to solve.

I recently read Chief Marketing Officers at Work, a fantastic series of interviews of CMOs from prominent companies like PayPal, Zendesk, Domo and SurveyMonkey. These marketing leaders unequivocally championed their data-driven marketing strategies, and emphasized the need for further data-driven investment and skills in their organizations.

The root cause of many cobra effect problems is the fact that as humans we tend to more easily comprehend simplistic linear systems and cause-effect relationships. Much like rewarding people for killing cobras should result in less cobras, investing in more data-driven tools should produce better decisions and outcomes!

Unfortunately, it’s very likely that the data-driven approaches being increasingly adopted by marketing organizations are producing their own cobra effect and paradoxically reducing the quality of decisions and resulting outcomes.

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By |2018-10-20T22:54:43-07:00September 24th, 2018|B2B, Strategy, Digital Marketing|0 Comments

A Culture of Optimization Eats Experimentation and Personalization for Breakfast

 

As marketers we could learn a lot from ants.

They don’t attend conferences, have multi-million dollar budgets or get pitched by the latest AI-based tech vendors. Yet over millennia they’ve figured out a radically efficient solution to an important and complex problem – how best to find food to sustain the colony.

This is no easy task. The first ant leaving the colony walks around in a random pattern. It’s likely he (foraging ants are always male) doesn’t find food, so he’ll return back to the colony exhausted. It’s not a completely wasted effort however, he (and every other ant behind him) will leave behind a pheromone trail that attracts other ants.

Over the course of time and thousands of individual ant voyages, food will (likely) be found. Ants that do find food will return immediately back to the colony. Other ants will follow this trail and, because pheromone trails evaporate over time, they’re most likely to follow the shortest, most traveled (highest density) path.

This approach ensures that the colony as a whole will find an optimal path to a food source. Pheromone evaporation also helps ensure that if the current source runs out, or a closer one is found, the colony will continue to evolve to the globally optimal solution.

It’s a classic optimization solution that maximizes a critical outcome as efficiently as possible, and one that has been studied by entomologists, computer engineers and data scientists. In the current B2B marketing environment it can illuminate where we’re spending our time and money.

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If you care about B2B conversions, stop producing content

Houston, we have a problem.

As enterprise focused B2B marketers, we have a problem.

We all agree that we want to grow traffic to our website, turn the traffic into leads and convert the leads into customers.

Yet, we have all blindly trusted the theory that, producing more content, showing product options, displaying more testimonials, and creating more case studies will get you a bigger pipeline.   

Let us be the first to refute this claim: more is not better.

In fact, with every additional piece of content or white paper you are killing pipeline. Why, might ask?

Because you are simply overwhelming your customers.

Explanation please!?

To illustrate this point, let’s talk about Cognitive Load.

Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory.

When we put irrelevant, unnecessary and distracting information in front of people, we fill up that working memory. The result is a decreased ability to absorb information, learn and ultimately make decisions.

While it may seem that having multiple content options on your website increases the likelihood that you will connect with your visitor, it actually has the opposite effect.

When customers are given too many content options you are forcing them to make decisions that take up their mental resources, derailing your chance at a direct path to purchasing.

Can someone say cognitive overload?!

Think about it this way: the most important factor in the design of a website is making it easier for customer to find what they want. Customers crave simple and easy navigation over anything else in regard to design.

most important factors in the design of a website

Most important factors in the design of a website

If your website presents multiple decisions for the user, you filled with decisions for users to make, you are not making it easy for them to find what they want!

Let’s break it down.

Let’s take a look at some examples unintentionally cognitive overload.

Content.

As marketers, we are producing too much content that is both expensive and unnecessary.

In reality, only a small portion of your content is necessary to help the customer move down the purchase funnel and it is our job as marketers to present that one (perfect) piece of content. Sadly, we are letting our customers down by allowing them to read irrelevant content and thus, introducing cognitive load.

produce more content

Produce more content

Calls to action.

While letting visitors chose from multiple CTA’s may seem like a great way to help customers find what they want, it actually leads them to confusion. Rather, you should be putting them on a specific path that you have identified as most effective for conversions.

Calls to Action

Multiple calls to action

Product options.

If you’re selling an enterprise focused product, it is likely that your website is showcasing all of the products and services that you offer. Again, this overwhelms customers. 

We should know about our customers well enough so that we are only showing the products that we believe (based on research) they are likely to buy! Don’t give them fifty options and hope their first selection is the one best suited for them.

analytic solutions

Analytic Solution

Case studies.

A customer only works in one industry; do not show them case studies from other industries where the use cases might be completely different. This content is irrelevant, distracting and increases cognitive load.

case studies

All case studies

Industry solutions.

We are asking customers to unnecessarily identify themselves. Having to go through a selection process, like the example below, does not inspire confidence that the software is well suited for a visitor’s industry.

industry solutions

Industry Solutions

  

Pricing options.

A multitude of pricing options is a perfect example of cognitive overload. We are overwhelming our customers with pricing options to the point where they don’t know which option to choose.

Target enterprise accounts shouldn’t see basic pricing tiers. Similarly, SMB’s shouldn’t see enterprise offerings. This substandard experience increases friction and reduces conversion rates!

pricing options

pricing options

 

It is time to stop – your are overwhelming your Customers.

So, what’s the solution then? How do we make sure customers aren’t overwhelmed with cognitive overload?

It’s simple: reduce content and only show the most relevant information.

Calls to Action

Calls to Action

 

Keeping this in mind, what if instead of showing everything to all of our visitors, we only showed the most relevant and effective calls to action?

Logos and Testimonials

Logos & Testimonials

  

What if we show the logos and testimonials that were most relevant to customer needs or highlighted the testimonials that most reflected their pain points?

pricing plans

Pricing Plans

What if we focused on and only showed the pricing that was going to be relevant for the given account and the features of those plans that were going to meet their needs?

customer experience

Customer Experience

What if we only showed customers relevant experiences based on what we knew about them? 

Doing things right

Doing things right

Doing this right has real and meaningful implications. 94% of buyers in a Demand Gen survey choose the winning vendor because that company demonstrated a stronger knowledge of their needs.

In an Accenture survey, half of B2B customers already expect improved personalized product or service recommendations. In fact, 65% of business buyers are likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t make an effort to personalize communications to their business.

The takeaways.

The more options you give customers, the more cognitive load you put on them. The result is a filled-up working memory and hindered ability to make decisions toward purchasing a product. 

Instead of producing more content, focus on showing the single experience that will resonate most with your customers!

 

Five Steps to a Profitable, Automated Real Estate Marketing Funnel

There was a time when real estate agents had unrivaled power.

You were the gatekeeper. You held all the cards when it came to property information, neighborhood advice, and the all-important property listings.

If someone had any questions pertaining to property, be it about purchasing, renting or just understanding more about the industry, it was you they had to see. But then things started to change.

In 1994, listings were made public. Your control of the local real estate industry had taken a hit. But no matter, while prospects had access to listings, you were still the font of knowledge and the only place where consumers could go to properly understand the confusing world of property sales.  (more…)

By |2016-01-19T09:31:19-08:00January 19th, 2016|Digital Marketing|0 Comments

The New World of B2B Marketing: What It Means for You

It’s easy to see B2B and B2C marketing as completely different animals.

After all, that’s how their customers have behaved over the years.

The common thinking: it’s easier to sway B2C customers with media, ads, and special offers. They care about brands, but most of the time, switching between them is not a big deal if they’re not happy with their experience.

B2B customers, on the other hand, do extensive research. They care about the technical specs of your product. If they decide to buy, it’s often done through a formal procurement process. Once they become your customer, they tend to stick with you for a longer time because switching to a different provider can disrupt their workflow.

This explains why B2B has moved slower than B2C sales in responding to changing technologies, trends, and customer preferences…

However, continuing along that slower path today leads to some serious missed opportunities.

Traditional B2B strategies – from cold calling and direct mail to relying on word-of-mouth referrals – still have their place and can be effective. But you can supercharge your sales if you’re willing to integrate a few new concepts to help you adjust to today’s rapidly-changing B2B environment.

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By |2016-01-06T12:57:51-08:00January 14th, 2016|Digital Marketing|3 Comments

6 Marketing Personalization Steps to Supercharge Your Campaigns

It can be a real hassle to keep up with the demands of the modern consumer.

With every new case study released or piece of advice that’s published there seems to be something else that customers expect of us. No one is content any longer to simply purchase a product and make do with that decision.

Customers want timely feedback from attentive and knowledgeable customer service agents. They need a fully optimized journey that’s simple enough for a child to navigate. They demand an experience lasting no longer than it needs and preferably much shorter than they expect.

Yet above all else the modern consumer wants one thing. They want to be treated as an individual. Modern consumer’s don’t want to feel like just another member of the crowd. They want a personalized journey that talks to them as a singular person and addresses their wants, needs, and expectations.

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By |2015-12-07T15:43:41-08:00December 8th, 2015|Digital Marketing|0 Comments

The Secrets to Successful Marketing Automation Campaigns

Marketing’s a tough old game, isn’t it.

There’s a lot to consider when you sit down to think about it. Contrary to what many may think, we’re not in the business of sitting around and coming up with witty messages or punny slogans to help sell products. Sure, that might be a small part of it, but the truth is a good marketer is as much a statistician and entrepreneur as they are a creative mastermind.

It can sometimes feel as though there aren’t not enough hours in the day to pore over your data reports and get timely, creative and compelling messages out to your audience. It’s a problem we all know too well.

While I’m averse to saying there’s a shortcut (because that’s definitely not what this is), there is a way to take some of the hassle out of your ongoing marketing woes.

I say that this isn’t a shortcut because, well, it requires a hell of a lot of work up front. But if you can dig deep and soldier on through the initial hardships associated with setting up an automated campaign, you’ll have more time to focus on the other areas of your business that help make you money.  (more…)

By |2015-11-30T16:24:48-08:00December 1st, 2015|Digital Marketing|0 Comments

What Fiction Can Teach You About An Effective Customer Journey 

How do we grab attention?

Does a simplified list of product/service features compel users? Or does an entertaining recounting of a brand’s mission and the difficulties they (and by extension their customers) have overcome draw in more users?

Pretty stupid question right?

Escaping the drudgery of corporate speak has quickly become a prominent goal for the modern marketer. People don’t remember that a product does X, Y, and Z. What they will remember is an entertaining, compelling story.

This change toward a storytelling approach to marketing is predicted to cause the loss of one million B2B sales jobs in coming years. The hard sell is dying. Content marketing s the new rockstar in the marketing world, and nothing keeps your customer interested more than a good old fashioned story.  (more…)

By |2015-11-16T22:01:13-08:00November 17th, 2015|Digital Marketing|2 Comments
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