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CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION – A METHODOLOGY WHOSE TIME HAS COME
Friday, February 12, 2010 at 3:34PM http://www.stephendebruyn.com Conversion Optimization- A Methodology Whose Time Has Come
As a marketer, I rarely come across slam-dunk solutions, but conversion optimization certainly falls into that category. Yes, we generate lots of traffic to our site – but what good does all that traffic do if we cannot convert it into revenue-generating customers?
That’s where conversion optimization comes in. It takes the guesswork out of landing page design – which is a good thing, since our guesses tend to be highly subjective, and therefore often wrong. Instead, decisions are driven by facts derived from statistical methods such as A/B split and multivariate analysis. Today there are a number of excellent tools in the marketplace that help maximize conversions, and the conversion improvement data are very compelling across the board. No wonder that pundits like Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz have predicted that 2010 will be the year in which conversion optimization will break through.
Quite frankly, I wonder why it hasn’t broken through earlier. Pondering that, I came across this interesting recent blog post from Sandra Niehaus at Closed Loop Marketing that might explain why. She states that most of us are reactive, programmed to respond to problems that need immediate resolution. As most of us convert at least a specific percentage of our traffic, we don’t perceive optimization as an urgent priority. Lacking benchmarks, we do not realize that by not implementing optimization methods, we are most likely leaving a lot of revenue on the table. It’s the opportunity cost of NOT implementing this technology that should be highlighted in convincing senior management of the benefits of optimization. Numerous case studies from the field can provide plenty of data ammunition in that regard…
Sitting on the intersection between the ‘pre-click’ and ‘post-click’ worlds, optimization technology fits in between SEO strategies and tactics that drive traffic, and lead management automation systems from vendors such as Eloqua and Marketo. In fact, many of the conversion optimization solutions interface easily with lead nurturing and scoring tools.
That said, conversion optimization is clearly not just a question of installing a nifty testing technology. This practice really is an interplay of target market research, web design, web usability and information architecture, sales and direct marketing methodologies, copy writing, and web analytics. All are required to make conversion optimally successful. Bryan Eisenberg’s marketing consulting firm is a great resource in that regard. You can follow Bryan on Twitter.
Two companies very active in this space are Ion Interactive and WiderFunnel. Their blog and site content is superbly informative.
Do you agree that conversion optimization is in essence a no-brainer, and should be fully embraced by the marketing profession? What, if anything, is holding you back?
Reader Comments (10)
Great post Stephan. It seems there are two camps: one focused on landing page optimization for pay-per-click, the other on website conversion optimization in general.
The first is high-volume and uses sophisticated techniques like multi-variate testing: optimization quickly pays off if you're spending a fair amount of money on your ads. This is where ion interactive shines.
The second is a different animal, because you are trying to get website visitors to convert. It starts with understanding why people came to your website in the first place. The most important tool is web analytics. This seems to be the sweet spot of Widerfunnel (although I don't know them very well).
In B2B marketing, it seems relatively more people use landing page optimization, but few analyze and optimize their websites (unless they do e-commerce). What is your take?
Thanks for your comment, Jep. I do not have any stats to back this up, but my take is that while landing page optimization appears to be taking off, the type of web analysis you are referring to is not taken up as fast, because so much more is involved in terms of skills and abilities. This seems to be an area where Bryan Eisenberg shines, as he has pulled together a curriculum bringing together the required skills sets, among them an understanding of the web conversion cycle, development of web personas and the like. This is overall much more strategic in nature. I assume Leadsloth is moving in that strategic consulting direction as well, right?
Stephen & Jep, thank you for your kind words regarding our work.
Stephen, you make some excellent observations with regards to the opportunity cost of NOT implementing the strategy (ie., "what you don't measure doesn't exist"). In our experience, it seems to take a decision-maker with revenue responsibilities to 'discover' conversion optimization.
(BTW, the technology is incidental... more about this here: http://bit.ly/8hYhMs - but I digress)
Raquel
Great post Stephan, and thanks for the shout out to ion interactive.
I think this sentence in your post sums it up: "we don’t perceive optimization as an urgent priority" and so it just doesn't get done. It may be on the radar, but it falls to the back burner in the face of 'urgent' priorities. Just as email marketing is no longer optional, and marketing automation is no longer optional, I hold out faith that one day conversion optimization will no longer be optional and will be an accepted practice that is part of any online marketing initiative.
Thanks for the kind mention, Stephen.
You've made a good observation, Jep, that some ignore the rest of the site by focusing on landing pages. WiderFunnel believes that we achieve the best results by optimizing landing pages as well as the rest of the website conversion funnels.
Ion Interactive provides a great tool for managing multiple landing pages. They focus on the tool and also partner with agencies like WiderFunnel to provide services.
Here are some sample Landing Page Optimization case studies from WiderFunnel:
1. Merchant Warehouse B2B Landing Page Optimization, including online and phone tracking
2. SAP B2B lead generation Landing Page Optimization
3. Hair Club B2C Landing Page Optimization
4. OvernightPrints B2B Landing Page Optimization
5. Amex Travel lead generation Landing Page Optimization
6. Rudder.com B2C Landing Page Optimization
7. Sytropin Retail Ecommerce Landing Page Optimization
Chris
We talked about increasing conversion rates back in 2005. Glad to see the world catch up. http://www.ahfx.net/weblog/54
Response to AHFX post - of course, the idea of conversion optimization is not new. What's new is the available variety of tools and methodologies that now make optimization much more viable and effective. That's the topic of this post.
Stephen, your clear and concise post illluminates.
you have captured the complexity of the challenge in the "interplay" and grounded the solution in "decisions...driven by facts". you state the business case proposition in terms of "opportunity cost" - a cost that that is not emphasized enough in marketing.
your post could be the basis for building an entire marketing organization.
What, if anything, is holding back firms from conversion optimization?
I suggest it is the marketer's anxiety of influence.(cf: Bloom 1973).
Sometimes its really interesting to read over a an older post to see where we all were a year ago. Obviously this is now a huge topic of conversation for online markers and not just onsite funnels but a complete ZMOT buying cycle. Now I just have to figure out how I can fit this data nicely in with out web analytics and SAP Business One software!
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