What Is a Call to Action (and Why Should You Care)?

Getting visitors to your website is just the first step.

That can be difficult in today’s crowded online environment. But it isn’t enough to maintain a sustainable business. You also have to turn a decent percentage of those visitors into leads and customers.

One of the most effective ways to do this is to guide visitors through your sales funnel step by step.

A lot of businesses aren’t doing this. They set up slick websites, but they don’t use calls to action effectively. Ineffective calls to action make it impossible for people to navigate them successfully.

You’ve probably been to more confusing websites than you care to remember.

And what do you do when you land on those websites?

Not a whole lot. It only takes a few seconds before you’re ready to click the “Back” button in your browser. Savvy marketers like yourself recognize that’s no way to do business.

Keep reading to find out what you can do about it.

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By |2014-11-19T12:17:37-08:00November 19th, 2014|Strategy|0 Comments

How KPIs Can Focus Your Conversion Testing

In a recent piece featured by MarketingProfs, Laura Patterson explored the notion of three categories of key performance indicators (KPIs) that determine success in online marketing endeavors: outcome metrics, performance metrics, and process metrics.

This is a useful framework for developing an approach to decoding and prioritizing the KPIs that you select for your conversion optimization efforts as well – whether you’re developing tests to help improve lead generation, ecommerce sales, or subscription performance. Here’s a closer look at why KPIs matter in your conversion efforts and how selected strategies can help you uncover the KPIs that have the most impact on how you do business.
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By |2014-08-17T20:45:48-07:00August 19th, 2014|Strategy|2 Comments

How to Use the SPIN Selling Approach to Close More Online Sales

Most of us don’t have a lot of leeway when we’re selling online.

The pressure is on with shortening attention spans, numerous competitors, and consumer skepticism. Being too pushy or asking a question at an inopportune time can put off the leads you’ve worked so hard to get.

Being aggressive might work for an ecommerce store that sells $5 t-shirts, but it probably won’t work for you. If you’re selling something complicated or expensive enough to warrant a sales funnel, a different approach will win you more customers.

The psychology shifts with expensive, complicated products or services. Prospects view the transaction as less of a commodity and more of the beginning of a relationship with the salesperson. How well you sell yourself becomes critical.

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By |2014-07-16T21:33:00-07:00July 17th, 2014|Strategy|0 Comments

How to Collect The Data You Need to Develop a Winning Conversion Optimization Strategy

We all want better results.

Who couldn’t use more visitors turning into leads, and more leads turning into paying customers?

You have the power to create those results for your business. But in the words of Peter Drucker, “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

That’s why conversion-rate monitoring and optimization are vital. Turning to data to understand what’s working well and what could be improved puts you in the best position for sustained success.

Conversion Rate Optimization is an investment. Getting the best possible ROI on that investment requires finding and gathering the right kind of data. The higher the quality of the data you collect, the better insights you’ll gain from testing and evaluating the results.

Collecting high-quality data isn’t as difficult as you might think. Keep reading to see how to do it.

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By |2014-06-08T23:44:27-07:00June 9th, 2014|Strategy|2 Comments

The Importance of Experimentation in Running a Lean Business

Eric Reis’ book, The Lean Startup, mainstreamed discussion around running a lean enterprise. The idea is simple: by applying the concept of testing and experimentation into your culture, it’s possible to iterate faster, serve customers more effectively, and impact the bottom line by reducing waste and increasing profits. The driving force behind The Lean Startup, particularly its points about creating a culture of experimentation (which is an idea brilliantly explored here), is one of the keys to a successful conversion optimization program. Here’s what entrepreneurs need to know.

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By |2014-04-21T14:45:32-07:00April 11th, 2014|Strategy|2 Comments

How Digital Maturity Impacts the CRO Process

In conversations about online marketing, there are often  a lot of “you shoulds” and “you musts” that enter the discussion.  Yet every recommendation isn’t appropriate for every business. That’s why it’s critical that you test everything to make sure it’s the right fit for your products, audience, and business goals. An operating framework – such as Cialdini’s influence model – can be a great starting point for developing and testing hypotheses. One such framework that offers an important point of reference for organizations developing testing programs is Digital Maturity. Here’s a closer look at the ideas behind Digital Maturity, how it relates to a company’s data culture,  and ultimately its impact on your organization’s conversion rate optimization efforts.

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By |2014-04-21T14:52:28-07:00March 5th, 2014|Strategy|4 Comments

Applying Cialdini’s Influence & Persuasion Strategies to CRO

If you read one book on entrepreneurship and the art of persuasion, it should be Cialdini’s classic, “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.” The core of his argument is simple. There are specific levers that marketers can pull on to build trust, move prospects along the buying funnel, and get them to take action. The framework has been widely adopted in the worlds of direct sales, online marketing, and copywriting. But Cialdini’s influence strategies also play an important role in conversion rate optimization testing. Let’s take a closer look at how the two are related, and what entrepreneurs need to do in order to put this theory into practice in a way that improves conversions and generates real ROI for the business.

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By |2014-04-21T14:53:19-07:00February 19th, 2014|Strategy|6 Comments

The Best Strategy to Improve Online Conversions and Engagement

During a 2008 presidential debate, Republican John McCain questioned Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s understanding of strategy vs tactics. The strategy that McCain tried to employ throughout the campaign was to undermine his opponent by questioning his youth and inexperience, while the tactic he employed in this situation was to verbalize this point during a debate on the Iraq war. He was ultimately unsuccessful at both, but that’s besides the point.

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By |2014-04-21T15:02:29-07:00September 3rd, 2013|Strategy|0 Comments

The Most Effective Way to Grow your Online Business

When I was at my last “real” job, my boss used to tell me that as a business owner his duty was to continuously improve the business by trying new things. Growing a business is a constant cycle of refining your processes until you ultimately end up with a finely-tuned formula for success. It’s a simple philosophy but it works.

Here’s the problem. Although most people will agree with that approach, it’s really hard to stick with in real life.

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By |2014-04-21T15:02:50-07:00August 10th, 2013|Strategy|0 Comments
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