15.01

Q&A

Scott asks “when can we go?” (cue mass exodus).

Easy tools for testing in difference browsers?

Use your site in the older browsers.

Most modestly-priced place to get tests?

Free tools from Google, etc., and test live. Website Optimizer is great.

Scott suggests products like ClickTale. Shopping cart abandonment tools.

I also suggest: ZURB, UserTesting, Feedback Army, screen recording like UserFly or Youseeble… email me for more recommendations :0)

How do you know ahead of time that this test isn’t a waste of time?

It’s hard to say. If there aren’t any major issues in your 4-page conversion process, probably it’s fine.

I suggest that this is an opportunity to do some of the free testing with wireframes/prototypes.

Tips on prioritizing keywords

What are you trying to accomplish? Keywords are input for your copywriting exercise – what words are already motivating people? James would need a use case for specific recommendations.

Clients don’t want to build pages. What can we do to make general purpose pages friendly to different traffic sources?

Questioner suggests lots of options, DKI of messaging, tiered navigation.

Scott argues that using general pages is not a good plan. More options make it harder to choose. DKI is good in theory, but can mess stuff up easily…

“Landing page” might be a terminology thing. My opinion is that every page is a landing page.

14.50

Joe Rozsa

What is a good conversion rate?

This is a really common question, and the answer is, of course, “it depends”.

A good conversion rate is whatever you get when you’ve eliminated all of the obstacles and made it as easy as possible for visitors to convert on your site. Anywhere between 1% and 30% can be good. It depends on what your goals are.

Very few sites ever get to this point, and nobody gets there quickly. You probably don’t know what all of the obstacles are, and you won’t know without testing. There will come a time when you reach of point of diminishing returns. Prioritizing what to test is important.

Why do visitors not convert?

Possibilities:

• No clear call to action
• Product of service poorly defined
• Too general
• Not persuasive or convincing enough
• People don’t want what you’re offering

Other things:

Using analytics to help with conversion

How do you know what isn’t working? Joe recommends putting in Google Analytics regardless of what else you might be doing because it’s an easy way to track goals and conversions. You get funnel analytics, you can filter by browser and other things, and so on.

Obstacles to watch out for

• Slow site
• Poor search
• Disabling guest checkout
• Too many categories/bad taxonomy
• Lack of product reviews/UGC
• Reputation builders (trustmarks, credit cards…)
• Professional design

14.37

Scott Brinker

Hybrids are cool. And Scott’s going to tell us about one that will make us money.

Content marketing:

• Useful or entertaining content
• Highly relevant to topic
• SEO and SMO friendly
• Free, easy to consume
• Builds brand, reputation

Check out the READY framework for CRO. Google it.

Content marketing is like the shy guy who can’t quite ask the girl out.

Conversion optimization:

• Call-to-action oriented
• Move visitors forward
• Immediate results
• Not free, but tempting
• MVT & A/B testing
• Performance metrics

Sometimes people don’t want to be picked up.

The Best of Both Worlds – Conversion Content Marketing

Principle 1: Conversion is Optional. Give them some free stuff first, then you can ask them for some info. Inject relevant content as they go along.

Principle 2: Testing is Mandatory. Lots of testing, leverage your traffic, learn what works, use hypotheses. A/B testing is for big, bold ideas (apples to oranges). Then use MVT for incremental improvements (different types of apples).

Principle 3: Format is Flexible. Landing pages, conversion paths, microsites. You can present content is different ways. We are seeing the return of the microsite (more HTML than Flash, good SEO, good usability…).

Principle 4: Product Copiously (insert image of cute bunnies). Niche-by-niche, contextually relevant, agile production, portfolio approach. It’s not about a single landing page, it’s about collections of content. We need to start getting more content out there, rather than optimizing the heck out of one thing.

Scott splits it into 60/40 new content/testing & iterating.

The Extended Web

We are now managing an extend web. Let’s start to incorporate lessons from one area into another. CRO, Social, Blogs, Landing Pages, and so on…

14.26

James Fenelon

Before you start testing:

• Define your goals
• Conduct project discovery
• Design with best practices

Defining

Business goals – objectives for the page/test, what you expect to accomplish

Visitor goals – what do they want to do, what’s motivating them? Think about price, emotion (anger, exclusivity, fear, flattery, greed, guilt, or salvation), recognition, understanding, and value.

Project Discovery

Find your existing data: surveys, customer service, email open rates, previous test results (because you’re keeping track, right?), analytics, site search data.

Review organic keywords – they’re the best way to identify actual topics and interests that bring new visitors. Prioritize them based on conversion rate, length of visit, depth of visit, relevance to your business.

Understand How People Read Online

Copywriting is one of the biggest contributors to conversion, James thinks.

Reading is 25% slower on the web, average speed is about 150 wpm and they rarely read in order. Front load your content and use bulleted lists. People read the top and bottom before the middle.

Wireframing

Iterate your layout on paper first. Don’t just reuse what you’ve already got, mix it up, focus on a layout that is directly related to the visitor’s goals. And wireframes are fast to make and change.

Initial Reveal

A visitor’s first impression is made in 1/20th of a second. Information scent, colour, images…

Hick’s Law states that the time is takes to make a decision is proportional to the number of choices you have. Paradox of choice comes into play here too. Keep the number of decisions low… probably just one, maybe two.

Fitts’ Law states that the time it takes to acquire a target is proportional to the size of the button and the distance to it. Can you see the button from the other side of the room?

Signal to noise ratio – make sure that there’s as much relevant information and as little irrelevant information as possible. E.g., lose the top navigation, make your call to action stand out, etc.

Validating Questions to Ask

• Does the page answer “what can I do here?”
• Does the page answer “what do they have here?”
• Does the page provide a signal to “where do I start?”
• Does the page provide an answer to “what’s in it for me?”

James shows an example from Attention Wizard… sigh.

14.14

“Getting a prospect to your site is only the first step.”

Patricia Hursh

The state of the testing industry. Patricia recommends the Forrester report “The Online Testing Vendor Landscape” published about a year ago. She’s sharing some key findings.

• Testing is related to usability/relevance/revenue
• Number 1 benefit of testing is increasing online conversions
• Success requires an ongoing, recurring program
• The biggest challenge is proving ROI (when isn’t that a challenge?!)
• Agencies deliver better results than in-house
• Testing lacks a true “home” in many organizations – issues with accountability and ownership

People are spending time & money testing usability (incl. site design, nav, forms), marketing (landing pages), and revenue (e.g., internal promotions, placements and descriptions of products).

Top challenges are demonstrating ROI, prioritizing testing initiatives, acting upon testing results, running the tests, and understanding the results.

Patricia shows a graph with the average lift associated with testing – important point: there is always a lift associated with testing!

How do you decide what to test?

You could ask around, but…

• Ask your sales team – watch out for super long forms
• Ask your marketing team – they want to fill up the funnel, so their lead capture is usually data-poor
• Ask your executive team – they will all have their own opinions

Drivers of test ideas: business goals, market intelligence, and analytics data. Lead generation is not a business goal… specific numbers, timeframes, etc. are necessary. Market intelligence includes a good competitive understanding, industry benchmarks, and industry best practices. Analytics give you the facts and data to identify where you need improvement.

Then ask yourself two questions: What do we need to improve? What has the biggest potential impact or ROI?

Now create a prioritized testing plan.