Stop Leaving Money on the Table! Optimizing your Site for Users and Revenue

Stop Leaving Money on the Table: Conversion Rate Optimization Josh Patrice Director of SEO November 11, 2014

First, thank you for having me! What’s a “Portent?” Portent Inc. is a leading integrated marketing agency. Located in Seattle, WA., Portent is a full-service agency with experts in paid advertising, analytics, SEO, content strategy/writing and social media. As well as in-house design, creative, and development teams. Greetings from the #smithtower

Who’s this guy? Josh Patrice has spent his entire career in online marketing; starting in the summer of ’03 with the drudgery that was early day PPC & Paid Inclusion work. In the years to come, he became king of the search-nerds through his work in UX design, information architecture, CRO and SEO. Today, he educates clients and SEO experts how to optimize websites so search engines & users want to shout their URLs from the mountaintops. When Josh isn't teaching everyone else how to be awesome, he is the epitome of a modern renaissance man, playing music, cooking, and finding the perfect quip for any situation. Josh Patrice Director of SEO

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Conversion Rate Optimization What is CRO? CRO is learning why your visitors aren’t converting and then working to fix it.

The Basics Calls to Action The foundation of Conversion Rate Optimization is the call to action. Without CTAs, your website is a brochure. The power of influence is at the heart of CRO. Get Your Quote Buy Give us Your Email NOW Order Now Sign Up Now! Login Conversion Rate Optimization What is CRO? A/B Testing Serving a different experience to different audience to find what works. Landing Pages Creating specific pages to better convert traffic.

Psychology

Conversion Rate Optimization Psychology Fear v. Greed The Psychology of the User Getting Inside Your Users Mind The basis of users’ online interactions comes down to fear v. greed. o Origins in market trading. o Users default to fear, yet more conversions come from trust o Greed is good. Fear Greed

Conversion Rate Optimization Psychology Trust Trust builds Greed. Privacy Paradox Users risk their privacy (info, address, etc.) against the value of your offering. Value can be determined by more than just the object, it can be determined by the aesthetics and the ease of the process. The more control your users have over their privacy, the lower the perception of risk.

AIDA An oldie, but a goodie Awareness Getting folks to your site through marketing your product/service/etc. Interest Resonate with your users’ pain. What problem are visitors trying to solve? Your site needs to be about THEM, not about you. Desire Your users have outcomes in mind when they visit your landing page. Be sure to address their outcomes. This is where your value proposition comes into play. Help them answer: What’s in it for me? Action Reason to believe you. Users need to trust you more than they need to be sold to.

It’s all UX Awareness - Tagline Managing user expectations from search, email, etc. with appropriate messaging, imagery, etc. Interest - Benefits Drawing your users into your site, keeping them from bouncing, investing in the engagement. Investing in their needs. Desire - Features Simplifying the results. Details: shipping, size, price, screenshots, etc. Action - Things Social proof: testimonials, awards, call to action and buttons. Conversion Rate Optimization Psychology awareness interest desire action

Why CRO?

Why? There’s Always Room to Improve Let’s be honest, unless you’re at 100% conversion rate, you can always improve. Conversion Rate Optimization Why CRO? The average shopping cart abandonment rate is 67% http://index.fireclick.com/fireindex.php

Why? More Traffic ≠ More Conversions You can grow traffic volume all day, but if your visitors aren’t converting, what’s the point? Using CRO to improve your conversion rate is a no-brainer. Conversion Rate Optimization Why CRO? 63% of consumers need to hear company claims 3-5 times before they trust it Edelman Trust Barometer, 2012

When CRO?

ABC

Conversion Rate Optimization When CRO? Always… Long-Term Benefits CRO is akin to SEO, the benefits of today’s efforts will payoff further down the line, and the benefits from tomorrow’s efforts will be seen even later still. Additionally, this allows for iterative learning as each tweak and each test will result in new data to be analyzed and improved upon

Always… Changing Habits change. Design changes. The Web evolves. Additionally, since CRO is tied to UX at a higher level, you need to always be improving the user experience of your site to help find and fix pathways that make the visitor's life easier than before.

Where do I Start?

Benchmarks Before/After Use your analytics platform to get benchmark data for the following: o Site Conversion Rate o Landing Page Conv. Rate o Funnel Data o Bounce Rate o Pages Viewed per Visit Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

Benchmarks CrazyEgg Great resource for user engagement Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Analytics The Devil in the Details Bounce Rate Filter your data to find the pages with the highest bounce rates. These should be your primary focus for optimization. High bounce rates mean that users are visiting your site, not finding what they need on the page, and leaving. Bounce Rates can be lowered sometimes by a simple change to the site or additional information. Time on Site Engaged users tend to stay on pages longer, if your users are finding their way to conversions, then you’ll have a higher time on site. Landing Pages & Top Content Find out where your users enter your site, and what pages they visit. o Is it the best path to converting? o Are there CTAs on your top pages?

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Analytics The Devil in the Details Funnel Visualization Funnels help to identify where you’re losing conversions during the checkout or signup process.

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Classic Personas…

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Classic Personas… are Utter Crap

Classic Personas… Personas Can’t build a site around an offline persona. Best Buy can’t have a section of their stores for people that just want to learn about their history, read stories, look at photos, and fill out requests. Can’t offer a “Jill” experience with a major brand’s site. Why try to force that upon a website? Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

I am a Liar

Personas Lies You can still target Jill You can still target Barry You can still target Joe You just have to redefine what that means Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Personas through Psychographic Research

Joe • Hispanic • Democrat • of Voting Age • Interested in Immigration • Barry and Jill’s friend

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Psychographic Research Joe is a rudimentary example using psychographic variables instead of classic demographics o Joe is not just Hispanic, 18-‐25, HH $35k, w/$2k revolving debt o Joe’s demographics are merely qualifiers o Joe has interests, ac+vi+es, and opinions (IAO) Joe’s age, habits, preferences, and personality are inferred through psychographic variables instead of being set in stone via classical persona models

Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start? Psychographic Research Personas Use psychographic research!!! 1. Go to Facebook 2. Start an ad campaign 3. ? 4. Profit • On & Offline Publications • Causes, Beliefs, Charities, Issues • Religion • Brands • Military & Government Roles • Legal • Health • Parents • Sports, Hobbies • Video Searches • Recreation, Occupations • Humor • Historical Interests • Education, Degrees • Pop Culture, Music, TV, Radio • Dislikes • Cars • Media Preference • Sexual Preference • Relationship Status • Age • Gender • MORE

Psychographic Research • vertical data o Travel 5M00,00I0N • segmented categories o Air Travel, Bus & Rail, peIoMple Cruises MUINIMMUM • specific sub-categories o Airport Parking No one is interested You don’t remember the halyco ni nd aaysir opf oyorut tph adrrekaimngin!g of airport parking?

Action Paths Action Paths The way a certain persona uses a website is an action path. Action paths end with a conversion. Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

Action Paths Example This site has paths for the following personas: • Partners • Current Customers • New Customers • Information Seekers

Action Paths Example An action path for a website/ persona. Based on current traffic patterns, as well as ideal patterns. Always ending in an action, but ideally a conversion.

Action Paths Example Diving deeper into persona action path and potential questions. Identify areas of weakness, questions, tech hurdles, etc.

How?

Audience Research Study Your User Your audience isn’t a set of keywords. Build online user personas and find their habits, action paths, etc. Interviews Card Sorting Personas Name: Wes Role: IT Action Path: Whitepaper Download - Products/Solutions Habits: uses site search, digs through navigation, avoids "superfluous" pages like the blog Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

Audience Testing Doing Your Research How does your site function for your audience? Could your mom use your site correctly? Could your son? Conducting tests is easier than in the past thanks to passive online tools. Conversion Rate Optimization Where do I Start?

A/B Testing Figuring out what works A/B tests allow you to figure out where to start with regard to CRO. Best tests will work to improve the experience or process for the user. That being said… Test your message, colors, pictures, everything. Just test one thing at a time. Conversion Rate Optimization How Can I Do?

A/B Testing Tools It’s so easy today to run A/B tests that it’s foolish not to. Conversion Rate Optimization How Can I Do?

95% or bust Statistical Significance If you embark on A/B testing, statistical significance will be an important measurement. In terms of choosing a winner, here are our significance percentages: o 95% = Do not leave home without o 97% = You're getting good o 98% = Warmer o 99% = Sure thing o 100% = Presidential Launch Codes Conversion Rate Optimization How Can I Do?

Will I Get Good Leads?

Unlike just about everywhere else, there are no failures in CRO. You always learn, regardless of the Did it Work? . What happens if we fail? outcome.

An example test where we altered price range information. Instead of “$x to $y” we tested “from $x”

Another example from the same test, using a different price point.

An A/B/C test using different button colors. Sadly, orange won again…

A multi-variant test with a rather confounding scoring rubric.

Best Practices & Top Tests

Page Design ABCD Layout your site with regard to the ABCD grid as seen in the landing page below. Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests A to D Users flow naturally from A to D

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design B & C Remove CTAs from B & C, move them to D instead. That’s where users’ eyes wind up.

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Personalized Button Messages Reach out to your audience, it’s a leap of faith for them to buy online because there’s no human interaction. By making a button more personalized, more direct, speak to the user, you can see an increase in engagement. hSp://contentverve.com/10-‐call-‐to-‐acVon-‐case-‐studies-‐examples-‐from-‐buSon-‐tests/

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Avoid Too Many Calls to Action Stick to 1, maybe go up to 3, but 8 is more than enough. Where should the user begin on the page below?

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Ditch Distractions Keep it simple, and keep it easy for users to navigate, read, process, etc.

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Avoid Options Options create confusion and roadblocks in the conversion process.

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Avoid “Solutions” Address Problems I have a problem. I don’t know the solution. Stop offering blanketed solutions to your users.

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Resonate with your users What problem are your visitors trying to solve? Your site is about THEM, not you.

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Match Your Keyword to Your Ad Seeing the search query appear in the ad helps create familiarity

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Page Design Match your ad to your landing page Carrying that familiarity to the landing page continues the bond.

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Show me the Price! Page Design Don’t hide your price under copy or with a color that blends in. Make it stand out!

Conversion Rate Optimization Best Practices & Top Tests Show me Shipping! Page Design Humans will rely on one trait or piece of info when making a decision. Free shipping is most important order factor: o 52 percent of abandoned online shopping carts in 2011 were due to a lack of free shipping deals* o Shoppers spend an average of 30% more when free shipping is available* *hSp://www.freeshipping.org/staVsVcs/

Thank Portent, Inc. 506 2nd Ave. Suite 1700 Seattle. WA 98104-2354 | Tel: 206.576.3740 Prepared by Josh Patrice Director of SEO josh@portent.com @Syzlak YOU.