07.10.13
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Use Thank You Pages to Convert More Visitors

Conversion rate optimization is at the core of any website. You want your web visitors to convert, to complete a business goal, whether that’s to make a purchase, complete a web-form or find a contact number. There is a science behind it,which ranges from customer feedback, AB testing and analyzing webpage behavior. But not all improvements are based on scientific research – Some improvements are just about being that little bit smarter.

Whether you are business-to-business, eCommerce or non-profit, you will have a thank you page on your website. Thank you pages are prime real estate for up-selling and cross-selling and keeping your web visitor in the frame of mind of taking action and completing your business goals.

Improvements made to the thank you page

Up until recently, SuperOffice had simple thank you pages asking the visitor to wait until they were contacted. A simple thank you page is better than no page at all, as it serves its purpose of informing the reader of what happens next, but it’s a great opportunity to ask for more.

Converting thank you page 1

SuperOffice had more than 5 thank you pages that were available to be updated. The simple solution was to include links to CRM guides and white papers and suggest further reading.

Converting thank you page 2

An immediate impact on goals completed and conversions

The timing of this change could not have been worse as July is a slow traffic/ conversion month. Based on yearly trends dating back since 2010, traffic starts declining in March all the way through to the end of July. Since 2010, July has been the lowest traffic month of the year.

However, even due to seasonal trends, the results have been immediate. We can see that the number of goals completed have increased by 105% and conversion rate has increased by 90%.

Use thank you pages to convert visitors

By diving deeper into the data, we can see that we have almost half as many goals completed in the first 10 days of July compared to the entire month of June. And if we compare the first 10 days in June to the first 10 days in July, traffic in July is down only 1.4% but goal completions have increased by 17% (and conversion rate has increased by 19%).

The new thank you pages have been live on www.superoffice.com for 2 weeks and will now be rolled out globally. The next steps are to improve the conformation emails, auto-responder emails and ‘thank you’ pages for when a visitor has downloaded a white paper or product sheet.

How do you use for thank you page? Do you use it to cross-sell? Let me know below.

If you enjoyed this post, you should read:

04.02.13
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Case study: Increased Email Marketing Activity Drives Online Sales Up 58%

Did you know that more than 294 billion emails are sent daily?

How many unread emails did you wake up to this morning?

Email marketing is big business. In 2011, email marketing brought in an average of $40 for every $1 spent and this year, US retailers are expected to send more than 258 billion emails.

The ROI of Email Marketing

Well, a recent survey held by MarketingSherpa asked participants to estimate the return on investment (ROI) from their email marketing campaigns. The response was incredible, with marketers claiming an average ROI of 119%.

Email marketing ROI MarketingSherpa

Schoffa, one of Finland’s fastest growing retailers for men and women’s dress shirts have seen their online sales rapidly increase since implementing a more frequent email marketing strategy.

Email marketing is a channel all marketers use, yet as much as 97% of businesses get it wrong. It’s common for brands to send one email to their entire subscriber list with a link to their home page and then expect sales to flood in. This is not the best approach to take and ultimately leads to a failed sales channel.

Email marketing is the most preferred channel

In April 2012, I wrote a blog post titled “Is email marketing still relevant in a world full of social networks?”. Due to increased social media marketing spend and an increase in the number of Facebook success stories, I came to the conclusion that email marketing was on its way out of the online marketing matrix.

I was wrong. In fact, a few months later, research came out that email was the most preferred method of marketing communication with more than 77% of consumers choosing email marketing as the preferred method of contact from a brand. The second most preferred method was direct mail with only 9%.

Email martketing mopst preferred communication channel

Lessons learned from the top 10 converting websites

One of the most insightful white papers I have ever ready is the Top 10 Converting Websites report from SeeWhy. The report explains why the top converting websites in the world are able to reach conversion rates of more than 35-40%! This is compared to the average conversion rate for an e-commerce site being 1-2%.

The reasons why sites could convert more visitors into customers include:-

  • Provide excellent customer service
  • Offer a wide range of products
  • Focus on customer lifetime value
  • Email marketing & Remarketing

By implementing the same strategy as Amazon, Office Depot and Pro Flowers (capturing the email address!), Schoffa was able to use email in a more strategic approach, which helped sales increase by more than 50%!

In the last 6 months of 2012, Schoffa sent 8 emails to their subscribers. During the first three months of 2013, Schoffa has sent out 14 emails. Your first response will be, how well are these emails performing?

The results of a sample of newsletters sent in in Q1 can be seen in the following table:

Email marketing statistics Schoffa

The statistics remain pretty consistent even though the frequencies has increased the subscriber base has grown.

What have we done differently?

  • We now send out one email per week
  • We send out the email on the same day and time each week
  • The emails are more text based than image based
  • The emails include a greeting and sign-off from the CEO
  • The sender name is the CEO’s name
  • The emails include multiple links to relevant sections on the website

The impact of frequent and personalized email marketing

The first quarter of the year has been exciting. Although the increased email marketing efforts were expected to produce great results, the overall performance has been beyond expectations. The results are as follows (compared to Q1 2012):

  • Subscribers list has increased 31%
  • Web traffic has increased 32%
  • Online sales have increased 58%
  • Average order value has increased by 245%

Capturing the email address of a web visitor is one of the first things you should focus on for your website. Once you have an email address, you can target more personalized offers to your reader, which results in higher customer satisfaction levels and increased profits. The days of ‘one-size-fits-all’ are long behind us and when implemented successfully, email marketing is quick, easy and highly effective!

How often do you send emails to customers? Do you think one email per week is too much?
Feel free to comment below.

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03.25.13
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5 specific tips for business leaders to succeed on Facebook

Alot of business executives are asking the same questions these days. What should we do on Facebook? How can our company take advantage of Facebook and other social media platforms? How can we improve relationships with customers/partners/employees/suppliers using new technology? How can we use Facebook to sell more, improve processes and cut costs!!

The principles for success are simple. The  challenge is (and has alway been) how to implement in real life!

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave us some advice when he was asked at the World Economic Forum in Davos a few years ago about how companies can succeed with Facebook. Here´s a revised summary of Zuckerberg´s response:

“Your customers, employees, partners, suppliers already doing what they want to do. What you need to focus on is to make it easier for them to do what they already do.” (Details are on page 48 of the book WWGD written by Jeff Jarvis).

Facebook can help your business in many ways. It’s not about creating Facebook pages. It´s not about writing status updates, posting pictures and running competitions. Don´t  outsource the task to  “social media experts” and communications advisers. As a business you need to focus on how you can make life easier for your customers, employees, competitors and partners to “connect”.

Your job as a leader is to point out the direction, make sure you have the right people on the job and move in the right direction. Management Guru and longstanding CEO of General Electric, Jack Welch, says that strategy is about choosing a general direction and implement like hell. This mindset has worked for many companies for over 30 years. It will work well for your  Facebook activities as well. The details will fall into place after the first activities have been implemented! Therefore, the main advice is to get started! Just do it!

If you don´t know what to to, here are five specific tips for business leaders who want to succeed with Facebook.

1. Don´t block Facebook for your employees

How can your business succeed on Facebook, if you deny your employees access? Some companies have chosen to block Facebook for employees at work because they think employees waste time on Facebook or because IT says it´s a security problem. This is almost never smart. If you treat your employees like kids, they will behave like kids.Denying access to Facebook can become a frustrating annoyance – especially for young people. Most people have smartphones where they can use Facebook anyway. If you want motivated employees you should treat them as adults. If your employees are spending too much time on Facebook, Facebook itself may not be the problem!

2. Create an informal intranet for your employees on Facebook

Most of your employees are already on Facebook without you having to invest in expensive IT systems, boring training sessions and costly internal meetings. Take advantage of it. Create a closed Facebook group for your employees and let your employees communicate with each other there. You will be amazed by the benefits. Suddenly old and new employees can get to know eachother easier than before. People who know each other work better with eachother and often deliver better results (ref: Goretex and Dunbars number ). Just like there are formal and informal rules in the lunch room, you can introduce some simple rules for the closed Facebook group.

3. Create closed groups for better collaboration

E-mail is the biggest time waster in many companies. E-mail is, believe it or not, an outdated form of communication. Facebook (and other social platforms) work better in many cases. Think how many times you’ve received an e-mail CC and a long discussion dialogue on e-mail. Is it effective? Also check how your kids communicate on Facebook. A simple “like” is often easier and better than responding to all that you have read and agree but you have some questions. An e-mail from you can often end up stealing several hours working time from your staff! Explore how your business can use the modern social tools (not necessarily Facebook) instead of wasting time on e-mail!

4. Create open groups for your customers

People are talking about your company and your products already. Your business can use Facebook to gather customers in one place.  Pick up valuable feedback from your customers and use the feedback to improve your products, customer service and marketing. There are of course other ways to do this, but why not use a tool that most people are familiar with already? You don´t need to invest in complex IT systems and expensive contact management software. Test it out on Facebook. If it works on Facebook, you can consider other options. Create an open group for your customers.

5. Create a Facebook page for your business

A company Facebook page is the tip of the iceberg. Facebook gives companies opportunities to market products and services. To get started with this you need to register a Facebook page and start producing relevant content for your audience. The content will often come as a result of the first 4 tips in this article. When people begin to communicate internally, relevant content and good ideas often bubble up to the surface.

Good ideas alone are worthless. To be successful, both the ideas and the capacity to implement be present. So therefore: Point out the direction and follow up with an extreme focus on implementation. This is according to Jack Welch, the recipe for success in business. Success on Facebook is about the same principles.

Focus on implementation: Make it easier for people to do what they already do!

Sources:
* Bringing elegant organization to the work place: http://tribes.no/2012/11/02/bringing-elegant-organization-to-the-workplace/
* Ideas are worthless without action: http://stammen.no/effektivitet/ideer-er-verdil% C3% B8se-no-action
* How to get 100,000 fans on Facebook: http://www.inma.no/ARTIKLER/Blogg/innlegg/Hvordan-fa-100-000-Facebook-fans-pa-under-ett-ar

02.03.13
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Organic Keyword Conversion Tracking in Google Analytics

Tracking revenue generated from each organic keyword is a common report ran by SEO’s for e-commerce stores. Google Analytics E-Commerce Tracking is a powerful report that makes budget allocation a lot easier as you can see which channels generate revenue.

Lead generation websites are different.

There is no on-site sale, no e-commerce tracking so therefore SEO’s need to be able to report the number of leads generated from their search efforts. The basic report in Google Analytics allows you to track conversion rate for any given keyword, but SEO’s also need to see which keyword generates the most leads by number, not a percentage.

The following explains how to set-up a custom Organic Keyword Conversion Tracking Report that provides data on visits, organic searches, goal completions and goal conversion rate.

1. Goal Tracking In Google Analytics

Before creating this report, it is important to have goal tracking implemented. Without website goals, your analytics loses purpose. Whether your websites goals are sales, to capture leads or download a PDF product sheet, the goals of your website should reflect your overall business goals. Setting up goals will show you exactly how many goals were achieved but also how they were achieved and through which channels.

To create a filter, you can visit Admin > Account List > Analytics profile > Goals

Google analytics goals

The most common goal is URL destination. For example, if you want to track the number of newsletter sign-ups on your website, once the newsletter form is submitted, the “thank you” page URL is usually www.domain.com/thank-you. In this case, you would enter /thank-you and click save.

2. Setting Up The Keyword Conversion Tracking Report

To create the Organic Keyword Conversion report, you will need to visit Traffic Sources > Search > Organic and click Customize:

customize

To create the report, you will need to add metrics to Report Content. The metrics you need to add are:

  • Visits
  • Goal Completions
  • Goal Conversion Rate
  • Organic Searches

Note: If you do not add ‘organic searches’, the report will include keywords from your paid search campaigns.

You will then need to add ‘keywords’ to the Dimension Drilldowns section (you can ignore ‘filters’).

Custom report

You can now apply the Organic Keyword Conversion Tracking report to all profiles within your Google Analytics account and then click save.

3. Getting The Keyword Conversion Tracking Report Data

Once the report has been saved, the data will be presented.

Keyword tracking data

The report will show keywords based on visits to the website. You can filter by goal completions and to view all keywords that convert, change rows from ‘10’ to ‘100’ found at the bottom of the page.  As per usual, the report will automatically show data for the last 30 days.

Goal filtering

4. Exporting The Keyword Conversion Tracking Report Into Excel

Once you have the data, you can then export the Keyword Conversion Tracking Report to Excel and filter the report by branded and non-branded converting keywords. You can also use this data to find any increases in organic leads and view the progress of your SEO efforts.

The Keyword Conversion Tracking Report is a simple yet powerful report you can create to showcase your SEO investment is paying off.

Bonus: Convert more organic visitors

I want to help you increase your website conversion rates, so I’ve developed a keyword strategy that you can use to grow organic sales.

  • First: I’ve created a secret keyword strategy that will send your organic conversions through the roof
  • Second: This strategy is yours to download as a PDF (or for you to save it and print it out)
  • Third: I’m giving my strategy away, for free.

Does this sound good?

 

01.22.13
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Norwegian newspapers instruct consumers how to get rid of Facebook ads

During the last few months, two large Norwegian news organizations (Adresseavisen and TV2) have published articles where they explain how to get rid of ads on Facebook. From a consumer stand point this makes sense, but in a time when newspapers are struggling to find profitable revenue models online, should they be sabotaging the revenue model of a competitor?

And if removing unwanted ads is considered newsworthy for the readers, shouldn´t the news organizations also publish articles on how to get rid of ads on their own websites? Or should Facebook be treated differently?

Facebook: Ultra Local newspaper or direct mail?

Per Ravne Bugten the Consumer Ombudsman apparently believes that Facebook should be treated differently. He believes that Facebook should be covered by the same rules that apply to e-mail marketing and text messaging. The quote in the article indicates to me that he does not understand the underlying nature of the Internet. By definition everything that happens on the internet is direct marketing (if you define that all the information from commercial interests as advertising).

Facebook is a combination of ultra-local newspaper and a personal messaging system. It is completely voluntary to use Facebook and users accept the terms and conditions when they register. If Facebook is to be covered by the same regulations as e-mail marketing and text messages, it is quite natural that newspapers (Aftenposten, VG, TV2 and other advertising-funded agencies) are also covered by this legislation.

Individuals, media and advertisers must cooperate relevance.

The well-know Norwegian entrepreneur, Idar Vollvik and Netthandelen.no, a large Norwegian e-commerce company  buy ads on Facebook in a similar fashion as they and others are buying ads on TV2 and VG. The difference is that Facebook requires that companies be  more personal in their communication. In addition Facebook has obtained a massive amount of voluntary data from their “readers”. This allows for extremely targeted advertising far beyond what the newspapers will ever be able to.

The challenge for Facebook is that people have an expectation that Facebook should be personal and without advertising. This will change over time as people get used to advertising on Facebook and Facebook fine tune the way ads appear on. If you do not want advertising on Facebook, you can simply opt out or decline to login. It is not solely the advertisers responsibility to protect people from advertising! The advertiser, consumer and media must take responsibility for how advertising is presented.

Is all advertising bad?

The most critical people would argue that ALL advertising is undesirable and that companies should stop advertsing.

Thankfully most people have a more nuanced view on advertising. When you ask people: “If we stop advertising, how will you learn about new products and services?”. The answer is as often. “I will search for it online .. “Or” I hear about stuff from friends .. “. Google takes care of the first (search), while Facebook has made it easier to get news / tips / suggestions from friends and acquaintances.

In reality, Facebook is an improved newspaper where your friends are the news and your friends produce news for you. It is also a place where you can more easily get to know about products and services from commercial operators. It’s annoying that commercial messages are popping up increasingly mroe in the news stream. It’s also a bit scary that this news platform (and data) is controlled by a major U.S. company. These are the issues we need to continue to focus on! Let’s do it in a constructive way.