Figur e 6.6 Funnel  Examples o f content from a f irm ( e.g., B issell) to ma tch these  searches c ould be some o f the f ollowing:  1. ToFu: “Ev erything y ou ne ed to kno w about ge tting dog hair out  of carpe ts and furni ture”  2. MoFu: “ Why vacuums ar e superior to sticky r olls”  3. BoFu: “Sa ve on the Pric e of Bissell Dog H air Er aser”  Top of the Funnel  At the top o f the funnel, c ontent should e ducate and en tertain  consumers base d on the ne ed, pr oblem, or challenge the y ar e  facing. I f people don ’t kno w the y ne ed your pr oduc t or understand  what their pr oblem is, i t is crucial to e ducate them on i t!  The t ypes o f content tha t typically help her e (althoug h this is not  a compr ehensiv e nor an e xclusiv e list ) include blog posts, w ebinars,  pillar pages, and longer -form c ontent such as c ompr ehensiv e  guides, vide os, and inf ographics.  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  145


Middle of the Funnel  In the middle o f the funnel, c ontent should help c onsumers e valuate  their options and facili tate tha t evaluation b y educating and  entertaining c onsumers on possible solutions. The f irm’s obje ctive  at this stage is to star t gener ating le ads.  The t ypes o f content tha t typically help her e (althoug h this is not  a compr ehensiv e nor an e xclusiv e list ) include lists ( e.g., “ Top 10  solutions f or lo wer-back pain ”), case studies, ho w-tos, descriptions  of multiple pr oduc ts (aime d at educating, not selling), quiz zes to  help c onsumers disc over solutions, and other t ypes o f templa tes to  help c onsumers iden tify solutions f or their pr oblems.  Bottom of the Funnel  At the bot tom o f the funnel, c ontent should inf orm and persuade  consumers about y our pr oduc t or ser vice. The f irm’s obje ctive at  this stage is to c onvert leads in to customers.  The t ypes o f content tha t typically help her e (althoug h this is  not a c ompr ehensiv e nor an e xclusiv e list ) include testimonials and  reviews, pr oduc t offers, trials, c oupons, samples, demos, fr ee  assessmen ts or c onsulta tions, persuasiv e produc t descriptions, and  sales-orien ted webinars.  Beyond the P urchase Funnel  Content strategy should not stop a t the pur chase stage. Be yond the  purchase funnel, f irms should striv e to cr eate content tha t helps  retain and engage customers. This c ould en tail, f or e xample,  motiv ating social sharing, testimonials, and r eviews, and  encouraging lo yalty thr ough online customer e vents.  146  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


The t ypes o f content tha t typically help her e (althoug h this is not a  compr ehensiv e nor an e xclusiv e list ) include customer suppor t and  help documen tation, c ontests, and g iveaways base d on pr oduc t use,  communi ty forums, and str ategies to enc ourage user -gener ated  content. We will c over str ategies for this stage in the last chapter o f  this te xtbook.  Pillar P ages  A pillar pag e is a c ompr ehensiv e resour ce page tha t covers a c ore  topic in depth and links to hig h-quali ty content created for the  suppor ting subtopics.  It helps achie ve the f ollowing t wo impor tant dig ital mar keting  objectives:  • building topic al relevance  • suppor ting c ontent strategy RACE obje ctives such as  ◦ attracting visi tors  ◦ converting visi tors to le ads  ◦ converting le ads to customers  Pillar pages c ome in all shapes and f orms. The Content Mar keting  Institute, for e xample, dif ferentiates be tween 10x c ontent pillars,  resour ce pillars, and ser vice pillars. The f ollowing list pr esen ts a f ew  examples o f pillar pages on a wide v ariety of topics:  • https:/ /www.typef orm.c om/blog/guides /brand-a wareness /  • http://www.theatlantic.c om/sponsor ed/athenahe alth/ popula tion-he althier /598 /  • https:/ /zapier .com/learn/remote-w ork/  • http://kapush.or g/cat-litter/  • https:/ /slack.c om/intl/en-c a/sta te-o f-work  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  147


• https:/ /stronglifts.com/squa t/  What do these pages ha ve in c ommon ?  Typic ally, the y are very, very long. The y tend to use multiple t ypes  of me dia ( e.g., te xt, images, and vide os). The y are well in tegrated  within their domain and ha ve man y cross-links. The y answ er man y  problems ar ound a topic o f interest f or c onsumers. As a r esult,  they help boost SEO ef forts. R emember the main fac tors on which  websites ar e ranked?  • direct visi ts  • time on si te  • pages per session  • bounc e rate  • referring domains, backlinks, f ollow-backlinks, and r eferring  IPs  • content length  • keywords in bod y, densi ty, in ti tle, and me ta  • video on page  Pillar pages c an help wi th all o f these fac tors! B y being long and  answ ering man y problems and ne eds associa ted with a sing le topic,  they are mor e likely than “ normal” pages to be come r eferences on  these topics. This should allo w the r eduction o f bounc e rate, sinc e  consumers ar e almost c ertain to f ind wha t the y are looking f or!  These pages ar e also mor e lik ely to incr ease time on si te be cause  they give so man y resour ces for c onsumers to go thr ough. B y  allowing man y cross-links, the y can fa vor man y pages per session.  They allo w for wri ting e xtensiv e content with man y keywords and  multiple t ypes o f me dia.  The main ide a behind the cr eation o f a pillar page is to iden tify a  core topic o f interest f or consumers and br eak do wn this topic in to  topic clusters ( or subtopics ).  Take the Stronglifts squa t pillar page , for example ( Figur e 6.7). The  core topic o f interest is “ho w to squa t,” a question o ften ask ed by  148  |


w to squa t,” a question o ften ask ed by  148  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


people in teresting in e xercising, bod ybuilding, po werlifting, and the  like.  When y ou en ter this pillar page, y ou find a shor t summar y on the  squa t and a f ew cr oss-links to guide c onsumers to other pages on  the w ebsite, fa voring hig her page vie ws. The summar y is also useful  because i t can be use d to hook pe ople in, enc ouraging them to r ead  on. The page then c ontinues wi th se veral topic clusters or ganiz ed  around “ho w to squa t”:  1. Introduc tion  2. Safety  3. Technique  4. Common issues  5. Common squa t pains  6. Stretches  7. Equipmen t  8. Variations  9. FAQs  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  149


Figur e 6.7  Pillar P age  Example  Each o f these subtopics ef fectively represen ts subse ctions o f the  pillar page and addr esses dif ferent needs, but the y are all gr oupe d  into the same pillar page.  A pillar page c an thus help build topic al relevance be cause i t  provides a c entral and e xtensiv e resour ce on a major topic tha t can  be w ell referenced (link ed to) by other w ebsites. I t helps or ganiz e  a website content around a c ore topic. I f a pillar page is done w ell,  the topic or pr oblem i t addr esses should be one tha t a persona or  multiple personas c are about. L astly, pillar pages help pe ople e asily  navigate thr oughout multiple pie ces of content on the same topic  on the same w ebpage, pr oviding a gr eat user e xperienc e.  This is qui te dif ferent from a t ypical content mar keting appr oach  150  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


that would ha ve favored separ ate blog posts on all o f these dif ferent  subtopics and subse ctions o f each subtopic!  Figur e 6.8  illustr ates the tr aditional c ontent mar keting appr oach  and Figur e 6.9  the pillar appr oach.  Figur e 6.8 Tr aditional A pproach  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  151


Figur e 6.9  Pillar  Approach /  From  Hubspot  Pillar pages c an also be use d to suppor t lead cr eation and sales.  A first w ay to do so is to use the pillar pages themsel ves. For  example, a pillar page c ould include ga ted content, opt-ins ( forms  on the pillar page tha t ask f or a c onsumer’ s email addr ess), and  calls to ac tion. Pillar pages tha t follow such an appr oach include the  following e xamples:  • https:/ /www.wildwewander .com/diy-truck -camper  • https:/ /www.etuma.c om/cx-professionals-guide-to-te xt- analysis  • https:/ /info.townsendse curity.com/sql-ser ver-encr yption- key-managemen t-def initive-guide  Take Wild W e Wander , for e xample, and i ts pillar page on “ho w  to D IY a truck c amper .” This page  (Figur e 6.10 ) has all o f the  char acteristics o f a pillar page, but i t also r edirects consumers to a  content asse t (a free resour ce to be come a dig ital nomad) tha t is a  piece of gated content (Figur e 6.11 ).  152  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


Figur e 6.10  Pillar P age  and Gated  Content  Figur e 6.11  Pillar P age  and Gated  Content  Second, pillar pages c an also be thoug ht of as par t of a longer -term  strategy tha t includes other pie ces of content. It often happens tha t  companies will ini tially ga te a pillar page and use i t to gener ate  leads. For e xample, the t wo pillar pages w e presen ted so far c ould  have be en ini tially offered as e-books tha t offered all the  informa tion r egar ding “ho w to squa t” and “ho w to D IY a truck  camper .” The f irms c ould ha ve use d these t wo gated content asse ts  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  153


as par t of a gr eater c ontent mar keting str ategy, breaking do wn the  e-book in to smaller , mor e digestible pie ces. Example o f this c ould  include shor t blog posts (“3 tips f or a be tter squa t,” “3 r easons wh y  squa ts hur t your kne es”), shor t vide os (“the rig ht squa t posi tion”),  shor t social me dia posts ( e.g., sta tistics and quotes fr om the e- book), and the lik e. Then, onc e the le ad gener ation c ampaign w as  over, the e-book c ould ha ve been turne d into an unga ted pillar page.  Visuall y, this str ategy can be r epresen ted as sho wn in Figur e 6.12 ,  wher e all o f these “ smaller” pie ces of content link back to the ga ted  e-book to gener ate le ads.  Figur e 6.12 Pillar Str ategy  In fac t, this is e xactly the str ategy tha t Unbounc e used wi th their  Conver sion Center ed Design  e-book. Orig inally an e-book, the f irm  used it as a pie ce of ga ted content wi th suppor ting pie ces o f  unga ted content, including  154  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


• a blog post hig hlighting the main lines,  • a Slide Shar e deck explaining the main principles, and  • a guest blog post on H ubSpot.  These unga ted pie ces of content drove consumers to the e-book. T o  gener ate fur ther le ads, the y also suppor ted the la unch o f the e-book  through other pie ces of gated content, including  • a webinar about Con version Cen tered Design tha t captur ed  leads f or registration (ga ted) and  • a landing page to w atch the w ebinar r ecording af ter the e vent.  Then, Unbounc e took their e-book and tr ansforme d it into a pillar  page ( https:/ /unbounc e.com/conversion-c entered-design /) and  broke do wn the w ebinar , making i t accessible on Y ouTube in six  different vide os.  Hence, if a f irm plans to cr eate pillar pages, i t mig ht be useful to  think o f how the page c an first be embe dded in a le ad gener ation  strategy bef ore being made ac cessible mor e freely as a pie ce of  unga ted content.  Here are a few tips f or forming such a str ategy:  1. Find the c ore problems o f your persona.  2. Group these pr oblems in to core topics.  3. Build e ach topic wi th subtopics.  4. Identify content ide as for subtopics.  5. Write an e xtensiv e pie ce of content.  6. Fragmen t this pie ce of content into multiple pie ces wi th  different forma ts and different par ts tha t can be use d to bring  people to the ga te or f oster in teractions.  7. Extend the r each o f these par ts on o wned me dia and using  paid ac tivities.  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  155


Content Calendar  We conclude this chapter b y discussing content calendar s.  Althoug h pillar pages ar e a gr eat long-term in vestmen t for w eb  referencing and le ad cr eation, most da y-to-da y content activities,  be the y posts on Fac ebook and I nstagr am or blog posts, ar e ad hoc  activities. H owever, the y should still be thoug ht of from a mid-term  perspe ctive and in tegrated in to a str ategic appr oach to c ontent  marketing. This str ategy should think o f ways to build topic  relevance over time, addr ess man y personas and stages in the  journe y process, and addr ess all obje ctives of the R ACE fr amework.  A great way to de velop this str ategy is thr ough a c ontent calendar .  A content calendar maps futur e content cr eation ac tivities. I t  answ ers questions lik e these:  • Who is this c ontent for (personas )?  • Which stage o f the journe y does this c ontent addr ess?  • What topic is i t on?  • What keywords does i t cover?  It can also help oper ationaliz e content mar keting b y pr oviding  informa tion including the f ollowing:  • date when i t is suppose d to go online  • author r esponsible f or cr eating the c ontent asse t  • content type  • channel  • headline  • copy  • call to ac tion  Figur e 6.13  shows an e xample o f a content calendar ( text description  here).  156  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


Figur e 6.13 Content Calendar / Text Description  Creating a c ontent calendar should be done wi th reflexive intent. A  firm should mak e sur e tha t the y are creating c ontent for all stages o f  the journe y, all personas, and all obje ctives of the R ACE fr amework.  By planning a mon th or t wo in ad vance and cle arly mapping the  personas, topic, journe y stage, and R ACE obje ctives tha t each pie ce  of content addr esses, a f irm mak es sur e to cr eate distribute d efforts  that do not privilege c ertain personas, stages, or obje ctives o ver  others!  Exer cises  As in pr evious e xercises, y ou ar e a fitness c enter cr eating  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  157


a campaign f or pe ople who w ant to ge t back in to shape, and  one o f the personas y ou ar e tar geting is A very.  Avery is a person living in a major Canadian ci ty center.  They are their la te twenties to e arly thir ties and ar e in the  top 20% in r evenue in their ci ty. With incr eased  responsibili ties a t work and a ne wborn, A very had put  exercising aside f or a f ew years. The y feel slugg ish, lack  ener gy, and miss ha ving a str onger c onne ction wi th their  body. With age, their bod y has also star ted to tr ansform,  and the y have star ted to f eel self -conscious about i t. To  reme diate this, the y want to ge t back in to exercising  weekly. The y don ’t have much time, and the y also don ’t  know much about w orking out or the mar ket—for example,  wher e to w ork out or ho w to w ork out.  Text Description  1. Using the #f itness hash tag on I nstagr am, iden tify  158  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


two exemplars o f fitness ac counts.  2. Out o f the f our e xemplars tha t you ha ve iden tified  in fitness (i.e., the t wo in the te xtbook and the t wo  that you found), f ind the one tha t is the most  appr opria te for Avery.  3. Then think o f a topic tha t would be impor tant to  write about on social me dia f or Avery.  4. Break this topic do wn into thr ee poten tial  Instagr am posts tha t you w ould cr eate.  5. Try to tar get each post to a dif ferent stage o f  Avery’s journe y.  6. Think o f an ide a for a ga ted pie ce of content tha t  you c an tr ansform in to a pillar page f or your f itness  website.  7. Sketch a shor t campaign wher e you suppor t your  gated pie ce of content with thr ee unga ted pie ces of  content.  8. Explain in a shor t sen tenc e wha t each ide a is about.  9. Sketch ( map in bo xes and arr ows) how these thr ee  unga ted pie ces of content relate to the ga ted pie ce  (e.g., W here are the y hoste d? H ow ar e the y link ed  toge ther?)  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  159


Act: Le ad Gener ation and  Lead Nurturing  PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC  Overview  In this chapter , we cover the basics o f lead gener ation and le ad  nurturing ac tivities. W e def ine le ads and le ad stages, pr esen t a few  ways to gener ate le ads and dif ferent types o f opt-ins, e xplain ho w  to sc ore leads, and discuss email mar keting.  Learning O bjectives  Understand wha t a le ad is  and ho w to gener ate, sc ore,  and nur ture leads.  ACT  InterAction is about enc ouraging posi tive interactions on a w ebsite  and social me dia. P ositive interactions facili tate the gener ation o f  leads, which le ad to ac quiring customers. The t wo obje ctives a t  the Ac t stage ar e thus to (1) enc ourage posi tive interactions and (2)  gener ate le ads. The kinds o f goals w e can se t up f or consumers ha ve  160  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nurturing


to do wi th these t wo obje ctives. T o enc ourage posi tive interactions,  we can se t up goals such as spending a c ertain amoun t of time on  our w ebsite or vie wing a c ertain number o f pages. W hen c onsumers  achie ve these goals, w e can assume w e ar e attaining this f irst  objective. For gener ating le ads, the kinds o f goals w e can se t up f or  consumers ar e to r egister as a member or sign up f or a ne wsle tter.  Again, when c onsumers achie ve these goals, w e end up achie ving  our obje ctives (i.e., ac quiring le ads). The KP Is to me asur e these goals  would then be time spen t on si te, page vie ws, number o f members  and ne wsle tter subscribers (incr ease quar ter-over-quar ter), cost  per le ad, and per centage o f visi tors c onverted to le ads.  Leads and Le ad Gener ation  The lar ge majori ty of visi tors to y our w ebsite—some sa y up to  96% —will not bu y an ything. Giv en all the r esour ces tha t go in to  bring ing visi tors to y our si te, fr om wri ting c ontent to publishing  ads, simpl y trying to ge t visi tors to a w ebsite wi thout ha ving a  strategy of wha t to do onc e the y get ther e will le ad to man y misse d  oppor tunities.  To addr ess this c onundrum, dig ital mar keters ha ve turne d to le ad  gener ation to answ er the question: H ow do w e turn a visi tor in to a  poten tial customer?  Marketo defines lead g ener ation as “the mar keting pr ocess o f  stimula ting and c apturing in terest in a pr oduc t or ser vice for the  purpose o f developing sales pipeline. ” During le ad gener ation, our  goals ar e to ga ther visi tors’ personal inf orma


gener ation, our  goals ar e to ga ther visi tors’ personal inf orma tion so tha t we can  start to mar ket to them personall y in the futur e—and to iden tify  whether or not w e want to mar ket to them. N ot all visi tors tha t we  gather inf orma tion on ar e worth mar keting to.  A lead is (1) a qualif ied poten tial bu yer who  (2) shows some le vel  of interest in pur chasing a f irm’s produc t or ser vice. Note tha t this  definition has t wo componen ts. First, the visi tor who pr ovided their  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  161


informa tion is a qualif ied poten tial bu yer. This me ans tha t the y  could e ventuall y pur chase our pr oduc t. For man y visi tors to a  website, this is not the c ase.  Take, for example, the le ad gener ation ac tivity by Ferr ari link ed  here, which is qui te c ommon in the a utomobile industr y: a c ar  configurator. During c ar configuration, visi tors ar e invited to build  their o wn c ar base d on a c ar model, choosing be tween options  to de cide on things such as in terior and e xterior c olors, eng ine,  wheels, and so on. A t the end o f the c onfiguration, the visi tor is  asked to cr eate an ac count or f ill out a shor t form and pr ovide their  email addr ess to r eceive mor e inf orma tion about this model or sa ve  the c onfiguration. Doing so indic ates to the f irm tha t the c onsumer  is poten tially interested in this v ehicle.  But ar e all visi tors who build their o wn Ferr ari poten tial Ferr ari  customers? Pr obabl y not.  Car c onfigurators ar e pr obabl y use d by man y consumers who  either ha ve no in terest in bu ying the c ar and ar e doing this f or fun  or, in the c ase o f Ferr ari, who ha ve an in terest in bu ying the c ar  but do not c orrespond to the Ferr ari customer ( e.g., the y lack the  financial r esour ces to bu y a Ferr ari). These visi tors ar e not qualified. A qualified lead  is a le ad tha t has be en de eme d lik ely to be come  a customer . Firms qualif y leads thr ough lead sc oring, which w e  discuss fur ther belo w.  Second, the visi tor who pr ovides their email addr ess also ne eds  to be in terested in be coming a bu yer. Since man y lead gener ation  activities


be in terested in be coming a bu yer. Since man y lead gener ation  activities pr ovide, f or e xample, har d-to-ac cess inf orma tion such  as mar ket repor ts or e xtensiv e guides on topics, i t often happens  that visi tors will pr ovide their email addr ess wi thout w anting to  become a customer . The y do so be cause the y want to ha ve access  to the ga ted content or f eature of a w ebsite. Le ad sc oring also helps  differentiate be tween these t wo types o f poten tial le ads.  Hence, a le ad is a visi tor tha t is in terested in a c ompan y and tha t  the c ompan y is also in terested in.  In the pr ocess o f becoming a customer , a visi tor will thus go  through dif ferent stages, fr om visi tor to le ad to qualif ied lead to  162  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


customer ( an alterna tive to this model tha t you mig ht come acr oss  is lead, pr ospe ct, and oppor tunity). Tw o types o f qualif ication e xist:  marketing-qualified lead  (MQL) and sales-qualified lead  (SQL).  MQLs ar e viable le ads tha t should be mar keted to. I n other w ords,  they are visi tors who ga ve a f irm their email addr ess and who the  firm has establishe d could be poten tial customers. The y are visi tors  that the f irm is in terested in. An SQ L is a le ad tha t is sales-r eady. In  other w ords, a le ad tha t is mo ving close to the pur chase stage. This  is impor tant because i t gives an indic ation o f wha t kind o f mar keting  activities should be c onduc ted with these le ads. As w e have seen, w e  talk dif ferently to c onsumers depending on whe ther the y’re at the  awareness, ac tive evaluation, or pur chase stages. Kno wing which  stage c onsumers ar e at is hig hly useful f or cr eating the rig ht  marketing message.  How D o You Get Le ads?  Ther e are man y, man y ways to ge t leads. Gener ally spe aking, an y  marketing ac tivity tha t leads c onsumers to g ive a f irm a pie ce of  personal inf orma tion qualif ies as a le ad gener ation oppor tunity.  Here is a non-e xhaustiv e list:  • content with a lead magne t, such as a whi tepaper , e-book,  checklist, demo, c ourse, pr esen tation, tool, or w ebinar  • online c ontests, g iveaways, and so on  • lead gener ation on social me dia, ei ther thr ough de dicated  options such as le ad gener ation ads on Facebook  (Figur e 7.1) or  Instagr am or by redirecting users to a le ad gener ation landing  page  • combine d with


or by redirecting users to a le ad gener ation landing  page  • combine d with tr aditional mar keting ini tiatives such as  ◦ collecting emails a t trade sho ws  ◦ including URLs or Q R codes  that direct to a le ad  gener ation landing page  in dir ect mailing c ampaigns  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  163


◦ collecting emails a t a sho wroom  • opt-ins e verywher e: on scr oll do wn, in the f ooter , or mid way  through blog posts  You c an find a f ew mor e ide as here and here, and the Hubspot le ad  gener ation guide her e.  Figur e 7.1 Lead Gener ation F acebook  Lead gener ation is t ypically associa ted with lead forms . Lead f orms  are w eb f orms tha t allo w firms to c aptur e consumers’ email  addr esses and some times other inf orma tion. The y are a gr eat tool  to build a mailing list and, when done  correctly, help to sc ore leads.  We will turn our a ttention to le ad sc oring la ter on in this chapter .  Designing le ad f orms, and most impor tantly, ho w man y form  fields y ou de cide to use, is a balancing ac t. It is gener ally argued  that consumers tak e less than 10 se conds  to de cide whe ther or not  164  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


to give their email addr ess to a f irm. Ther e is, ho wever, a tr ade- off between c ollecting man y email addr esses and c ollecting email  addr esses fr om qualif ied leads.  Take the f ollowing stud y from Mar keto (Figur e 7.2), which f ound  that mo ving fr om f ive to se ven to nine f orm f ields diminishe d the  conversion r ate (defined in this c ase as the per centage o f visi tors  who pr ovided their email addr esses and be came le ads) from 13.4%  to 12% to 10% and incr eased the c ost per le ad fr om $31.2 4 to $34.94  to $41.90 . Cle arly, choosing ho w man y form f ields to use pla ys an  impor tant role in pricing and de vising le ad gener ation c ampaigns.  (Note: The c ost per le ad incr eases be cause i t costs a c ertain amoun t  of mone y to run the ads associa ted wi th this le ad gener ation  campaign. H ence, the lo wer the c onversion r ate, the hig her the c ost  per le ad).  Figur e 7.2 Marketo F orm Fields  Now, if ask ed, “H ow man y form f ields should y ou use as a f irm  in a le ad gener ation c ampaign ?” it mig ht be tempting to answ er,  “One. ” Cle arly, the f ewer form f ields, the mor e leads! Y et using f ewer  form f ields also pr ecludes us fr om ge tting impor tant inf orma tion  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  165


Figur e 7.3  Scroll-Down  Pop-Up  Opt- In on  Zoella. co.uk  Figur e 7.4  Bottom-of -C ontent  Opt- In on  fastcompany . com about our poten tial customers. I n the c ase abo ve, the f orm wi th  five fields did not ge t the number o f emplo yees o f the f irm, the  industr y the y’re in, the t ype o f CRM system the y use, or their job  func tion. These pie ces o f inf orma tion ar e impor tant because not  all email addr esses ar e equal. I f, for example, a f irm spe cializ es in  a spe cific industr y and in c ompanies o f a spe cific siz e (e.g., SMEs  in the fashion industr y), then c ollecting these pie ces of informa tion  might be w orth the addi tional $3. 70 tha t the le ad c osts. This is  because c ollecting this inf orma tion will help qualif y leads and will  save mone y in the long run when running a le ad nur turing  campaign. W e discuss this ide a in gr eater de tail when w e look a t  lead sc oring la ter in this chapter .  Apar t from longer le ad gener ation f orms, le ads ar e also o ften  obtaine d when shor t opt-in f orms ar e use d in c oncert with unga ted  content mar keting ef forts. W e se e this v ery often on blogs, f or  example ( Figur e 7.3 and Figur e 7.4).  166  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


Lead opt-ins e xist in man y forms. The y can be f ound in the f ooter o f  webpages, in the middle o f a blog post, or a t the bot tom o f a content  page. The y mig ht appe ar as a w elcome ga te, a pop-up tha t appe ars  at the star t of your w eb br owsing e xperienc e on a spe cific site, such  as when y ou arriv e on Neil P atel’s website for the f irst time. The y  might tak e the f orm o f a lig htbox (overlay box) pop-up tha t appe ars  when a visi tor perf orms c ertain ac tions, such as spending a spe cific  amoun t of time on a si te, scr olling to a spe cific se ction o f a page ( for  example, scr olling all the w ay down on Zoella ’s blog posts ), entering  a spe cific page, or vie wing a spe cific number o f pages on a w ebsite).  Opt-ins can be char acteriz ed base d on t wo dimensions: whe ther  consumers e xplici tly kno w tha t providing their email addr ess will  enter them in a le ad nur turing c ampaign and whe ther the opt-in in  confirme d by the f irm, as f ollows (from Marketo’s Def initive Guide  to Email Mar keting):  • Implicit opt -in: “When a w ebsite visi tor f ills out a f orm on  your si te such as to do wnload a c ontent asse t or r egister f or a  webinar . Your w ebsite’s priv acy polic y must sta te tha t  performing this ac tion a utoma tically opts the user in to email  marketing. This option is lo w effort, but also has the lo west  level of engagemen t.”  • Explicit opt -in: They “require the user to v olun tarily sign up  and g ive their persona inf orma tion. Of ten this tak es the f orm  of a registration bo x or page tha t reads some thing lik e ‛I want  to receive news


registration bo x or page tha t reads some thing lik e ‛I want  to receive news and upda tes’.”  • Single opt -in: “When a ne w subscriber en ters his email  addr ess and possibl y other inf orma tion ( demogr aphics,  preferences, e tc.). H e is imme diately subscribe d and will  automa tically receive the ne xt email in y our nur ture  campaign. ”  • Double opt -in: “These oc cur when a ne w subscriber en ters his  email addr ess and, depending on y our ne eds, other  informa tion and c ontent preferences. A post-subscribe thank  you page ma y aler t him to look f or an email c onforma tion.  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  167


Once he r eceives tha t email, he ’ll nee d to click on a link or  button to c onfirm.”  Increasing ly, transpar ency has be come the name o f the game when  practicing online mar keting, and an e xplici t double opt-in is o ften  seen as a best pr actice. This is be cause c onsumers ar e mor e likely to  open emails tha t the y receive when the y cle arly kno w tha t the y had  signe d up to r eceive them. Addi tionall y, double opt-ins ensur e tha t  consumers w ant to r eceive an email and that the email addr ess the y  gave was valid.  Lead Sc oring  Lead scoring  is an appr oach to r anking le ads base d on their v alue to  a firm, which suppor ts mar keting and sales ac tivities. I t helps qualif y  leads and indic ate whe ther ef forts should be de voted to mar ket to a  lead, as w ell as the mo vemen t of the le ad thr oughout their journe y  and, poten tially, if and when the y reach the pur chase stage.  Man y appr oaches e xist to sc ore leads, such as the f ollowing:  • BANT:  budge t, authori ty, need, timeline  • MED DIC: metrics, e conomic bu yer, decision cri teria, de cision  process, iden tify pain, champion  • CHAMP:  challenges, a uthori ty, mone y, priori ty  • GPCTB A/C&I: goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budge t,  authori ty/nega tive conse quenc es and posi tive implic ations  • ANUM:  authori ty, need, ur genc y, mone y  • FAINT:  funds, a uthori ty, interest, ne ed, timing  Lead sc oring appr oaches use da ta collected by the f irm ( e.g., using  forms ) as w ell as beha vioral da ta collected during the in teractions  of leads wi th the f irm (


vioral da ta collected during the in teractions  of leads wi th the f irm ( e.g., whe ther or not the le ad opens an email,  requests a c all, or vie ws a pr oduc t). We will gr oup these t ypes o f  168  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


data under “ obser vable or e xplici t char acteristics” and “beha viors  or implici t char acteristics. ” Either t ype o f data helps the f irm kno w  whether a c onsumer is in terested in them and whe ther i t should  devote ef forts mar keting to them.  Obser vable or exp licit char acteristics  represen t data tha t a firm  can r eadily collect by asking c onsumers or obser ving them ( e.g.,  on their Link edIn profile). This da ta is t ypically collected by simpl y  asking c onsumers f or it (for e xample, b y using a f orm or during  a phone c all) or b y looking them up online. Examples o f such  char acteristics include the f ollowing:  • job ti tle  • firm siz e  • personal or f irm r evenue  • compan y siz e  Marketo offers mor e than 50 obser vable/explici t char acteristics in  their le ad sc oring guide  (p. 18 ).  Beha vioral or im plicit char acteristics  represen t data ac quired  through the tr acking o f online ac tivities to me asur e the in terest o f  a lead in a f irm’s produc t or ser vice. This da ta is t ypically collected  when a le ad visi ts the f irm’s website, in teracts wi th its emails, and  responds to o ffers. Examples o f such da ta poin ts include the  following:  • clicking on a link in an email  • viewing a pr oduc t page  • watching a vide o demoing a pr oduc t  • viewing multiple pages during a session  Marketo offers mor e than 200 beha vioral/implici t char acteristics in  their le ad sc oring guide  (pp. 19– 20).  Lead sc oring en tails f irst iden tifying the da ta tha t a firm belie ves  is relevant to sc oring le ads. This pr ocess will gr eatly vary depending  on the f


sc oring le ads. This pr ocess will gr eatly vary depending  on the f irm. Questions such as “ Who is r esponsible f or making  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  169


purchases?” , “Does m y consumer ne ed to ha ve a c ertain r evenue to  buy my produc t?” or “ What kind o f actions c an I mak e consumers  take tha t sho w tha t the y ha ve an in terest in m y pr oduc t?” c an  help iden tify ho w to sc ore leads. Onc e the rig ht char acteristics  have be en iden tified, firms will t ypically assign a w eight to them.  For e xample, ha ving the rig ht job ti tle mig ht be w orth less than  viewing a pr oduc t demo or r equesting a sales c all. B y assigning  poin ts to e ach char acteristic, a f irm c an establish whe ther a le ad is  qualif ied and ho w a le ad is mo ving thr ough their journe y. Leads wi th  a certain sc ore can be iden tified as mar keting-qualif ied, while le ads  that later reach a hig her sc ore can be iden tified as sales-qualif ied.  An e xample o f a le ad sc oring fr amework tha t has  historic ally been  heavily use d by firms thr oughout the w orld is the BANT ( budg et- authori ty-need -timeline ) framew ork. We use this fr amework her e  to e xemplif y ho w to perf orm le ad sc oring when f ocusing on  obser vable or e xplici t char acteristics. For e xample, to cr eate a le ad  score, a f irm c ould cr eate forms or c ollect data during c alls wi th  poten tial customers and ask questions such as  the f ollowing :  • Budge t: What is the budge t of the poten tial customer? H ow  does i t align wi th m y produc t or ser vice?  ◦ Questions to ask the le ad:  ▪ Do y ou ha ve a budge t set aside f or this pur chase ?  What is it?  ▪ Is this an impor tant enoug h priori ty


What is it?  ▪ Is this an impor tant enoug h priori ty to alloc ate funds  toward?  ▪ What other ini tiatives ar e you spending mone y on?  ▪ Does se asonali ty affect your funding ?  • Authori ty: W ho mak es the de cision to pur chase ?  ◦ Questions to ask the le ad:  ▪ Whose budge t does this pur chase c ome out o f?  ▪ Who else will be in volved in the pur chasing de cision ?  ▪ How ha ve you made pur chasing de cisions f or  produc ts similar to ours in the past?  170  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


▪ What obje ctions to this pur chase do y ou an ticipa te  encountering ? How do y ou think w e can best handle  them ?  • Need: W hat is the ne ed of the le ad? Can m y produc t or ser vice  answ er this ne ed?  ◦ Questions to ask the le ad:  ▪ What challenges ar e you strugg ling wi th?  ▪ What’s the sour ce of tha t pain, and wh y do y ou feel it’s  worth spending time on ?  ▪ Why hasn ’t it been addr esse d bef ore?  ▪ What do y ou think c ould sol ve this pr oblem ? Why?  • Timeline: W hat is the pur chase timeline o f the le ad? H ow does  this align wi th m y sales pr ocess?  ◦ How quickl y do y ou ne ed to sol ve your pr oblem ?  ◦ What else is a priori ty for you?  ◦ Are you e valuating an y other similar pr oduc ts or ser vices?  ◦ Do y ou ha ve the c apaci ty to implemen t this pr oduc t right  now?  Last, i t is impor tant to emphasiz e the r ole of progressive profiling ,  the ide a tha t you should c ollect inf orma tion fr om poten tial  customers thr oughout their in teractions wi th your f irm. As w e saw  earlier, you c an’t ask a lot fr om visi tors when the y fill out a f orm  without hindering the c onversion o f visi tors to le ads. H ow, then, do  you c ollect this inf orma tion? By slo wly collecting bi ts and pie ces  over time. This c an be done, f or e xample, thr ough the use o f  progressiv e profiling te chnolog y and dynamic f orms , wher e a f irm  sets up ahe ad o f time man y forms tha t iteratively collect  informa tion base d on wha t a c onsumer will ha ve pr ovided on a  previous f orm. Put dif ferently, if c onsumers g ive their name and  email


f orm. Put dif ferently, if c onsumers g ive their name and  email in the f irst f orm, the se cond f orm will mo ve to asking f or  pieces o f inf orma tion tha t ha ve yet to be obtaine d. Another  appr oach is to c ombine e xplici t and implici t scoring and sc ore a le ad  over time as the y interact with a f irm’s website.  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  171


Lead Nurturing  Once a f irm has ac quired leads and qualif ied them (i.e., as M QLs), it  enters a pr ocess o f lead nur turing. Lead n urturing  represen ts the  “purposeful pr ocess o f engag ing a def ined tar get group b y providing  relevant inf orma tion a t each stage o f the bu yer’s journe y,  positioning y our c ompan y as the best ( and saf est) choic e to enable  them to achie ve their obje ctives” (Hubspot ).  Let’s examine some o f the k ey aspe cts of this def inition.  First, le ad nur turing is a purposeful pr ocess. I n this chapter and  the ne xt, w e are going to emphasiz e ho w this in tent transla tes to  always ha ving a cle ar ide a of what comes ne xt for the c onsumer .  What happens when y ou receive an email addr ess fr om a c onsumer?  What comes ne xt? W hat email should y ou send them ? What should  be in this email? W hat action should the y be ask ed to perf orm then ?  What should the le ad be achie ving ther e? This ties closel y to the  idea of having cle arly def ined conversion pa ths. W hen doing le ad  nurturing, the f irm is in teracting wi th the le ad, but i t has a cle ar  script in mind. I t kno ws the steps the le ad should go thr ough to  convert them to customers.  Second, le ad nur turing looks a t engag ing a def ined tar get group.  That has a f ew implic ations. First, a f irm should ha ve cle arly def ined  personas tha t the y w ant to engage. Se cond, le ad nur turing  campaigns ar e persona-spe cific. The y are persona-spe cific be cause  what mak es a persona tick will pr obabl y vary be tween personas.  They are also a t spe cific stages o f the bu yer’s journe y, which brings  us to the thir d aspe ct of the def inition.


y, which brings  us to the thir d aspe ct of the def inition.  Third, lead nur turing aims to pr ovide r elevant informa tion a t each  stage o f the bu yer’s journe y. The onl y way to achie ve this, i.e., to  create relevant content for le ads tha t varies depending on which  stage o f their journe y the y’re at, is to ha ve in mind a cle ar persona  and a cle ar understanding o f their journe y.  Last, f irms pr actice lead nur turing in or der to sell pr oduc ts. Yet as  we have seen o ver the c ourse o f the pr eceding chapters, this should  172  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


ideally come a t the end o f the le ad nur turing pr ocess, i.e., when the  firm belie ves tha t the le ad has r eache d the pur chase stage.  The f ollowing f our main ac tivities r elate to le ad nur turing:  • getting permission to mar ket to c onsumers, or wha t we  achie ve during le ad gener ation  • educating and en tertaining le ads wi th relevant informa tion  that aligns wi th their stage in their journe y  • moni toring the pr ogress o f leads thr ough lead sc oring  • promoting y our pr oduc t onc e the le ad has r eache d the  purchase stage  On a verage, consumers who pr ovided you wi th their email  addr esses r eceive ten mar keting touches fr om the time the y en ter  the top o f the sales funnel un til the y become a customer .  To facili tate segmen tation f or le ad nur turing ac tivities, f irms  typically create extensiv e email mar keting lists. These lists should  provide the inf orma tion ne cessar y to cr eate c ampaigns tha t  correctly addr ess the ne eds, challenges, and motiv ations o f  consumers and the stage o f the journe y the y’re in. U seful  informa tion to f or email mar keting lists includes the f ollowing:  • sociodemogr aphic inf orma tion, which facili tates tar geting  activities  • acquisi tion da te, which helps to kno w whe ther the le ad aligns  with ho w long i t typically tak es a f irm to sell a pr oduc t to tha t  specific persona  • frequenc y, i.e., ho w often the le ad has indic ated the y would lik e  to receive emails  • lead sc ore and assume d journe y stage, which should help tailor  which email to send to which le ad depending on their stage in  the journe y  • persona, to help tailor the message  • how/wher e you ac quired the le ad  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur


e you ac quired the le ad  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  173


Similar ly to persona, this last poin t is help ful f or c ontinuing the  conversation a f irm star ted wi th a c onsumer . For e xample, le t’s  assume tha t a c onsumer signe d up to an email list fr om a blog post  or a pillar page on the topic o f ‘“back pain ” from the w ebsite of a  shoe manufac turer spe cializing in back pain. I deally, this c onsumer  should r eceive inf orma tion tha t is dif ferent from another c onsumer  who signe d up af ter clicking a se arch ad tha t offered “comfortable  shoes. ” The be tter the inf orma tion a f irm pr ovides c aters to a le ad’s  needs, motiv ations, and challenges, the mor e lik ely the y ar e to  engage in a c onversation and ultima tely buy a pr oduc t.  The main ide a her e is tha t one siz e does not fit all. Le ad nur turing  campaigns should be cle arly tailor ed to personas and the stages  they are in.  The me trics use d to anal yze mar keting c ampaigns include the  following:  • bounce r ate: the number o f email addr esses tha t had a bounc e  back fr om the ISP s  • open r ate: the per centage o f emails opene d out o f the total  number o f emails sen t  • clickthr ough rate: the number o f subscribers tha t have click ed  on at least one link in y our email  • click -to-open r ate (CTO ): the per centage o f recipien ts who  opene d the email message and also click ed on an y link in the  email message  • unsubscribe r ate: the per centage o f subscribers who opte d  out fr om y our list ( unsubscribe d number /emails deliv ered ×  100 = unsubscribe d rate)  These me trics should help ga uge the le vel of engagemen t of leads  with our email mar keting c ampaigns and wher e ther e mig ht be  issues. For e xample, if our open r


wher e ther e mig ht be  issues. For e xample, if our open r ate is gr eat but our clickthr ough  rate is ab ysmal, this pr obabl y indic ates tha t ther e is some thing  wrong wi th the w ay the email is cr afted, or tha t the c ontent does  not align wi th the subje ct line o f the email.  174  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


What Happens Onc e You Get a Le ad?  Ideally, acquiring a le ad’s email addr ess should star t a se quenc e  of planne d emails and other mar keting ac tivities ( such as ad  retargeting, which w e will c over in the ne xt chapter ). This se quenc e  of planne d emails should aim a t transforming a mar keting-qualif ied  lead to a sales-qualif ied lead (M QL to SQ L), using tar geted content  to mo ve the le ad fr om inf orming them about their pr oblem to  helping them e valuate their solution to e xplaining wh y a f irm’s  produc t is the best solution.  The f irst email in an email mar keting c ampaign should be an  onboar ding email . An onboar ding email  should guide le ads and  educate them about wha t is about to c ome. This email should help  make a le ad tak e the ne xt step in the series o f planne d ac tivities a  firm has se quenc ed. Of ten, onboar ding emails will tell le ads wha t to  expect, such as the c ontent of futur e emails and ho w often the y will  be sen t.  Let’s tak e a look a t Instagr am’s onboar ding email.  First, I nstagr am asks whe ther w e inde ed create an ac count with  them, i.e., the y practice double opt-in ( Figur e 7.5).  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  175


Figur e 7.5  Double  Opt- In on  Instagr am –  Part 1  Second, the y push y ou to tak e the ne xt step in or der to maximiz e  your engagemen t on their pla tform. I n the c ase o f social me dia  networks, a thr eshold ef fect has be en f ound to maximiz e  engagemen t, wher e following a minimum number o f people gr eatly  boosts the chanc e tha t a user will c ome back. I t thus mak es sense  that this is f irst ac tion tha t Instagr am pr oposes users to engage in  (Figur e 7.6).  176  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


Figur e 7.6  Double  Opt- In on  Instagr am –  Part 2  Last, I nstagr am tells users to star t using the pr oduc t (Figur e 7.7),  which is also qui te w ell aligne d wi th wha t we would e xpect people  to w ant to do onc e the y have signe d up f or an I nstagr am ac count.  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  177


Figur e 7.7  Double  Opt- In on  Instagr am –  Part 3  Here is another e xample, this time fr om a le ad obtaine d from a  content opt-in ne wsle tter subscriber who w as reading a blog ar ticle  on Christmas de corations on the Cr ate & Barr el blog. I mpor tantly,  we can se e ho w Cr ate & Barr el continues the c onversation tha t  started on a Christmas-r elated blog post b y offering mor e  informa tion on Christmas de corations ( Figur e 7.8).  178  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


Figur e 7.8  Drip E mail  Sequence  Example  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  179


First, the onboar ding email c ongr atulates the le ad for signing up f or  the ne wsle tter and e xplains wha t the le ad will be r eceiving in the  futur e. Then, the f irst ac tion o ffered to c onsumers is to e xplor e new  articles r elating to Christmas de corations. The email then br eaks  down pr oduc t categories tha t a user mig ht be in terested in.  The onboar ding email should be the f irst email in a se quenc e of  emails me ant to c onvert leads to customers, which should ide ally  follow consumers in their journe y (i.e., mo ving fr om pr oblem to  solution to pr oduc t). This email se quenc e is o ften r eferred to as a  drip email se quenc e or drip email c ampaign. H ere is ho w Hubspot  explains an email drip c ampaign:  An email drip cam paign  is a f orm o f automa ted sales  outr each. I t’s comprise d of a series o f emails a utoma tically  sent to a spe cific audienc e after the y tak e a spe cific ac tion.  For e xample, if a le ad do wnloads a whi tepaper on r ecruiting  best pr actices, the y mig ht be plac ed in a drip c ampaign  sharing r elevant recruiting c ontent. The f inal email mig ht  include a CT A to r equest a demo f or y our r ecruiting  software.  This is ( very simpl y) represen ted in Figur e 7.9 (text here). The e xact  steps and c ontent would depend on the stage a t which a c onsumer  signe d up. For e xample, w ere the y reading an a wareness post or  reading about poten tial solutions f or their pr oblem ?  Figur e 7.9 Drip Sequence  We can se e ho w each email ser ves a de dicated func tion. The f irst  180  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


email is an onboar ding email e xplaining the v alue o f signing up  for the ne wsle tter. The email tha t follows mig ht be a pr oblem-  or solution-f ocuse d email depending on wher e the c onsumer is in  their journe y (since we’re at the le ad gener ation stage, gener ally  the c onsumer should be fur ther do wn the funnel, e.g., w eighing  their options ). The thir d email is a pr omotional pr oduc t email to  conclude a sale, the f ourth email is a r eminder (if the sale hasn ’t  been c onclude d), and the last email mak es sur e tha t the c onsumer  still w ants to r eceive emails ( since the sale still hasn ’t be en  conclude d).  A simplif ied applic ation o f this se quenc e as pr ovided b y  dripscripts  is as f ollows:  • Email 1: B ryan, All I c an sa y is THANK Y OU! (Thank y ou email)  • Email 2: Con tent w/ P.S. M ention o f offer (Content email)  • Email 3: Did y ou ge t your Cup o f Joe? (Pr omo email)  • Email 4: 1 D AY LEFT) Does an yone else ha ve these questions?  (Q&A persuasion email)  • Email 5: [Disappe ars @ Midnig ht] 80% o ff my new Self  Publishing Course (…plus 5 fr ee  • bonuses ) (Promo email)  • Email 6: L AST C ALL – Self -Publishing T raining B undle Closing  in 4 hours ( Closing email)  Real lif e, thoug h, is not as str aightforward. Base d on wha t we  learne d in le ad sc oring, w e could also le verage her e the ide a of  beha vioral sc oring and cr eate de cision tr ees to help str engthen our  chanc es of converting le ads. Did the y open the email? Click on the  link w e provided? R ead


Did the y open the email? Click on the  link w e provided? R ead the blog post? Emails and other mar keting  activities should be inf orme d by wha t the c onsumer has done wi th  the last ac tivity the y interacted wi th. Marketing a utoma tion has  helpe d create mor e comple x mar keting c ampaigns base d on ho w a  user will ha ve interacted wi th a pr evious mar keting ac tivity. Figur e  7.10 (text here) sho ws a f low char t for a simple e xample fr om Jacobs  Levenger /Smart Insights.  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  181


Figur e 7.10 E mail A utomation / Text Description  A Few Tips for W riting Emails  The inf orma tion should be w ell hier archized, wi th the main message  and the c all to ac tion associa ted with the goal y ou w ant consumers  to ac complish loc ated above the f old (i.e., bef ore an y scr olling  happens ). Emails should be shor t, wi th li ttle to no scr olling. The  subje ct line should include a c all to ac tion and be tr anspar ent about  the c ontent of the email. Emails aiming a t conversion wi th a cle ar  goal f or consumers af ter the click c an benef it from being associa ted  with a landing page (i.e., the click le ads the user to a landing page ),  and other landing pages tips, such as main taining a lo w attention  ratio, c an be useful to cr eate hig hly converting emails. Mailchimp  provides i ts top tips and ad vice as w ell as design ide as in their email  design guide her e.  182  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


Exer cises  You ar e Paper like, a compan y tha t spe cializ es in an i Pad  screen pr otector tha t replic ates the paper e xperienc e.  One o f the personas y ou ar e tar geting is Alister and Alic e.  A&As ar e illustr ators e ager ly awaiting their ne w iPad Air  2020 wi th the P encil 2. The y intend to use the Procreate  app to star t doing dig ital dr awings and designs. The y are  new to illustr ating in a dig ital en vironmen t and the y have  never use d a de vice like this to dr aw bef ore. The y are  reluctant to mo ve away from pen and paper but belie ve tha t  this mig ht help mo ve their w ork online mor e easily.  Scoring Le ads  • What are two dif ferent mar keting ac tivities y ou  could do to ga ther le ads?  • You ar e creating a f orm associa ted with a pie ce of  gated content. How would y ou sc ore poten tial le ads?  ◦ What would be the f irst thr ee questions y ou  would ask?  ◦ What would be an addi tional t wo questions?  • What could be a f ew ways to sc ore leads  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing   |  183


beha viorally (i.e., base d on implici t char acteristics )?  Email Campaigns  You ha ve created leads wi th A& As using a bot tom-o f- content opt-in. The blog post is pr oblem-orien ted. The ti tle  of the post is “Be coming a dig ital ar tist,” and i t addr esses  some o f the pr oblems illustr ators fac e when mo ving to a  digital en vironmen t.    Think o f a series o f five emails.  • What will be the gener al ide a of each email?  • How can you sc ore the le ad beha viorally?  • How do y ou nur ture the le ad to ward a sale ?  184  |  Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing


Convert: Conversion  Optimization  PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC  Overview  In this chapter , we cover wha t conversion is and ho w to optimiz e  webpages to c onvert be tter. To tha t end, w e discuss c onversion  rate optimiza tion, ho w to iden tify wha t to optimiz e when pe ople  move from one w ebpage to another , some c onversion-c entered  principles, A/B testing, and r etargeting.  Learning O bjectives  Understand wha t conversion r ate optimiza tion is and  some appr oaches to optimizing w ebpages and w ebsites.  Convert  The convert stag e is focuse d on incr easing c onversions to maximiz e  sales. I t emphasiz es both maximizing c onversions acr oss the  journe y of consumers and impr oving c onversion fr om le ad to  customer . Since our main obje ctive is to incr ease c onversions, an y  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  185


indic ator associa ted wi th me asuring and impr oving c onversion c an  serve as a KP I her e, depending on wha t exactly we are trying to  achie ve. Examples o f KPIs include sales, per cent conversion o f lead  to sale, a verage or der, cost per c onversion (per channel), a verage  conversion time, abandone d carts, and sales per sour ce.  Conversion Rate Optimization  Conversion r ate optimiza tion is the pr ocess o f impr oving w ebpages  and w ebsites to incr ease c onversions. A conversion  refers to a user  achie ving a goal b y taking a desir ed ac tion. Con versions c an  therefore happen on an y webpage o f a w ebsite tha t has a goal tha t a  firm w ants users to achie ve.  Conversion r ate is the per centage o f people tha t visi t a page and  achie ve a desir ed goal or ac tion ( conversion r ate = c onversions / number o f visi tors × 100 ).  Figur e 8.1 Conver sion Rate  Althoug h we mig ht tend to think o f conversion as a c onsumer  comple ting a pur chase, man y other goals  can be se t up f or them,  such as submi tting a f orm, clicking on a link, r eaching a par ticular  page, or spending a c ertain amoun t of time or vie wing a c ertain  number o f pages on a w ebsite. A distinc tion tends to be made  between goals tha t lead c onsumers to achie ve certain cri tical  actions se t up b y a firm and goals tha t consumers c omple te in their  186  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


journe y to achie ving those cri tical ac tions. Optimiz ely talks about  common and ultima te goals. Goog le discusses micr o and macr o  conversions.  Conversion r ate optimiza tion is impor tant because i t helps f irms  impr ove the number o f users who mig ht achie ve spe cific goals. I t  can le ad to a hig her number o f leads, lo wer ac quisi tion c osts, and  increased revenue, f or example. I t is also usuall y che aper to c onvert  more visi tors than to a ttract mor e visi tors, making c onversion r ate  optimiza tion the mor e cost-ef fective way to impr ove a business.  A useful w ay to think about micr o and macr o goals or c onversions  is to ask the question, “ What are the li ttle ac tions along their  journe y tha t consumers ne ed to tak e (micr o goal /conversion ) in  order f or them to achie ve wha t I ultima tely want them to do ( macr o  goal/conversion )?”  These c an v ary depending on the t ype o f website tha t a f irm  is running. For e-c ommer ce websites, pur chases ar e the main  indic ator o f whe ther the si te is perf orming w ell. Be cause social  media w ebsites mostl y mak e revenue base d on ads and b y making  sure tha t users ar e par ticipa ting and r eturning, time spen t on si te  and engagemen t-related goals mig ht be mor e impor tant. News  websites mig ht have a mix o f both. Thus, goals f or visi tors v ary  depending on the t ype o f website and the business model o f a firm.  Since conversions ar e calcula ted base d on whe ther users achie ve  a goal, the f irst questions to ask to pr actice conversion r ate  optimiza tion ar e “What are the goals I w ant users to achie ve on m y  website?” and “ What are the goals users should achie ve on spe cific  webpages in ser vice


and “ What are the goals users should achie ve on spe cific  webpages in ser vice of achie ving the lar ger goal?” Man y such goals  can be achie ved, and as a r esult, c onversion r ate optimiza tion mig ht  touch man y elemen ts of websites, such as f orms, c arts, and c ontent  on w ebpages. Other t ypes o f online pr oper ties, such as apps and  emails, c an also be optimiz ed. L ast, c onversion pa ths c an be  optimiz ed by iden tifying whe ther ther e are mo vemen ts be tween  parts of a pa th (e.g., mo ving fr om an ad to a landing page or fr om a  landing page to a c art) tha t seem to be hinder ed.  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  187


Understanding What to Optimize  To manage optimiza tion, f irms should f irst e xamine the gener al  path o f a spe cific persona as the y mo ve from visi tor to le ad to  customer . This g ives an o verview of the str ategic pic ture of our  overall c onversion ef forts. Trew Mar keting provides us wi th an  abstr act funnel as sho wn in Figur e 8.2  (text here).  Figur e 8.2 Funnel / Text Description  When w e look a t the journe y of consumers this w ay, we see ho w,  out o f all o f the visi ts tha t we receive on our w ebsite, w e convert  only a fr action to le ads. Then, out o f all o f these le ads, onl y a fr action  will be mar keting qualif ied. W e then mar ket to these le ads and  engage in le ad nur turing, and onl y a fr action will mo ve forward in  their journe y and be come sales qualif ied. Lastly, from these SQ Ls,  only a fr action will be come our customers. Each o f these momen ts,  wher e a person mo ves fr om one stage to another , mig ht need our  attention. I s our c onversion r ate fr om visi tor to le ad good? W hat  about our c onversion r ate from SQ L to customer?  Looking a t the perf ormanc e of a f irm thr oughout i ts ef forts  188  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.3  Google ’s  Conver sion  Funnel  Example associa ted wi th the c onsumer journe y and wha t happens be tween  the dif ferent tha t stages a c onsumer goes thr ough (i.e., visi tor, lead,  customer , and engage d customer ) is a good f irst step to iden tify  exactly wher e a firm should deplo y optimiza tion ef forts.  Once a f irm understands which steps in the journe y seem to be a  bottlene ck to ac quiring customers, i t can concentrate on optimizing  the spe cific elemen ts of tha t step ( e.g., a landing page, a shopping  cart, or a pr oduc t page ). Using so ftware such as Goog le Anal ytics,  firms c an se t up steps f or users to achie ve on spe cific pages and  measur e whe ther users ar e going thr ough these steps. For e ach  goal, f irms c an link a series o f steps to cr eate conversion funnels  (here is an e xample f or cart abandonmen t). An example  of a funnel  for the goal o f buying a pr oduc t could be the f ollowing:  Homepage > [ Step: Click on shop no w] > Pr oduc t categories page  > [Step: Click on a c ategor y] > S pecific pr oduc t categor y > [ Step:  Click on a pr oduc t] > Pr oduc t page > [ Step: Click “bu y no w”] >  Checkout page > [ Step: Fill out f orm] > [Step: B uy produc t]  Anal ytics solutions then g ive output tha t sho ws the per centage o f  people tha t achie ve each step. For e xample, an e xample o f Goog le’s  conversion funnel is sho wn in Figur e 8.3.  This f igure provides a f ew key pie ces of informa tion. On the top lef t,  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  189


we see tha t 22 320 pe ople r eache d the c art and tha t 14 709 e xited  the funnel a t this stage. 7 611 en tered the funnel and mo ve to the  billing and shipping page, or about 34% o f the pe ople who r eache d  the funnel. The bar in the ‘ cart’ bo x represen ts this per centage  visuall y. On the top rig ht, we see tha t, out o f the 14 709 who e xited  the funnel, 4 208 visi tors lef t the w ebsite, 2 805 mo ved to the sign- in page, 2 433 mo ved to the bask et page, 8 94 w ent to the stor e  page, and 792 w ent back to the home page. W e can inf er fr om this  that man y users w anted to sign in, per haps to benef it from a lo yalty  program ( e.g., the y will ac cumula te poin ts on their pur chase ) or  some pr omotion ( e.g., fr ee shipping f or members ). Consumers who  return to the bask et or the stor e mig ht be unde cided about their  overall or der and w ant to add or r emo ve items. Consumers who  exited the w ebsite, thoug h, mig ht be se en as w orrisome, and ther e  might be ac tivities to deplo y her e (e.g., r etargeting ads, abandone d  cart email). I t also ser ves to iden tify an ar ea for c onversion  impr ovemen t to minimiz e consumers who e xit the w ebsite af ter  having put i tems in their c art. Next, w e see tha t, out o f the 7 611  users who r eache d the billing and shipping page, almost all ( 93%)  comple ted their tr ansac tions. This poin ts to a w ell-optimiz ed billing  and shipping page.  A/B T esting  One o f the main tools in the arsenal o f conversion optimiza tion is  A/B testing.  A/B tests  “consist


o f conversion optimiza tion is  A/B testing.  A/B tests  “consist o f a randomiz ed experimen t with two varian ts,  A and B. I t includes the applic ation o f sta tistic al hypothesis testing  or ‛two-sample h ypothesis testing’ as use d in the f ield o f sta tistics.  A/B testing is a w ay to c ompar e two versions o f a sing le variable,  typically by testing a subje ct’s response to v arian t A against v arian t  B, and de termining which o f the t wo varian ts is mor e effective”  (Wikipe dia).  190  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


In plain language, an A/B test c ompar es two versions o f the same  webpage wher e one elemen t differs ( e.g., a dif ferent call to ac tion,  backgr ound image, or he ading). U sing so ftware solutions, half the  traffic to this w ebpage o ver a spe cific period o f time is sen t to  version A and the other half is sen t to v ersion B. Then the  performanc e of both pages on wha tever goal c onsumers w ere  suppose d to achie ve on this page is c ompar ed.  Let’s tak e the f ollowing landing page ( Figur e 8.4 ), for e xample.  The signup r ate is lo wer than e xpected, and the f irm w ants to  test dif ferent elemen ts of the page. Their f irst h ypothesis is tha t  the he adline is not c onvincing enoug h. The y thus de cide to test a  different headline wi th a cle arer call to ac tion: “ Transform y ourself  with Fi t for Lif e” inste ad o f “It has just be come e asier to de velop  your f itness poten tial.”  Figur e 8.4 A/B T est  They test both pages o ver a period o f a w eek. Af ter the w eek ends,  they compar e version A and v ersion B and f ind out tha t version B  performe d be tter. The y thus k eep version B and mo ve on to testing  other elemen ts of the landing page.  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  191


Optimizing thr ough A/B testing t ypically leads to marginal g ains ,  meaning tha t it is r are to se e a massiv e dif ference be tween t wo  versions. B ut, o ver time, these mar ginal gains c an add up to  impor tant dif ferences. For e xample, le t’s compar e a w ebsite tha t  does not do an y A/B testing on a landing page to one tha t does  A/B testing e very week and mak es small gains, impr oving their  conversion r ate by a fac tor o f one per cent a w eek (e.g., mo ving fr om  8% to 8. 08% in the f irst w eek). The se cond w ebsite, at the end o f the  year, will ha ve a page tha t perf orms 1.39% be tter. At the end o f the  second y ear, 2.97% be tter. At the end o f the thir d year, 4.76% be tter.  While the f irst landing page still c onverts, le t’s say, 10% o f visi tors,  the se cond landing page no w converts 14. 76%. I f the impr ovemen ts  are by a fac tor o f 2% per w eek, this dif ference mo ves to 21. 77%. Lik e  compound in terests, small dif ferences add up to lar ge dif ferences  over time ( Figur e 8.5 ).  Figur e 8.5 A /B Diff erences ( adapted fr om Optimzely )  Anything c an be A/B teste d. If you w ant mor e inf orma tion on ho w  A/B tests c an be use d in pr actice, I hig hly enc ourage y ou to r ead  one o f the f ollowing thr ee case studies fr om Optimiz ely:  192  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


• how Secret Esc apes  A/B teste d a manda tory signup f or an app  • how Sony Vaio A/B teste d a banner ad and a c art  • how ComSc ore teste d social pr oofing ( testimonials on pr oduc t  pages ) (note: ComSc ore use d multiv ariate testing r ather than  an A/B test b y testing thr ee variations o f their page )  Conversion-Center ed Principles  We will ne xt c over principles f or conversion -cen tered design  propose d by Unbounc e. The main ide a behind these principles is  to help cr eate hig hly converting w ebpages b y concentrating on k ey  design ide as tha t have less to do wi th cr eating aesthe tically ple asing  websites and mor e to do wi th cr eating w ebsites tha t help mar keters  achie ve their obje ctives.  The principles ar e as f ollows:  1. Create focus . Design pages f or a sing le goal and minimiz e  attention r atio.  2. Draw atten tion. Use design tips such as c olor, directional cues,  and whi te spac e to dir ect visi tors’ a ttention.  3. Build structur e for clari ty. Use visual /informa tion hier archy  to facili tate rapid r eading.  4. Stay consisten t. Match y our ads wi th your landing page  through design and message ma tches.  5. Build trust . Use testimonials and social pr oofing to cr eate  trust worthy pages.  6. Consider congruence . Align all elemen ts of a w ebpage to ward  achie ving i ts goal.  7. Think con tinuity. Always kno w wha t the ne xt step is.  For e xample, applie d to the optimiza tion o f a landing page, these  principles suggest the f ollowing questions:  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  193


1. Does the page ha ve one goal and one associa ted link/c all to  action?  2. Am I using visuals to cle arly indic ate wha t users should do ?  3. If I sc an the page quickl y, is it cle ar and ob vious wha t I should  be doing ?  4. Are my ad and page visuall y and r hetoric ally aligne d?  5. Would I belie ve this page w as trust worthy if it were a  compe titor’s page ?  6. Do all elemen ts work toge ther to ward helping visi tors achie ve  the page ’s goal?  7. Is it cle ar wha t users should be doing onc e the y have  comple ted the goal on this page ?  Now let’s examine e ach principle in depth.  Create F ocus  Althoug h we think o f choic e as a gr eat thing, mor e options ar e  associa ted wi th a br eadth of nega tive conse quenc es. Ac cording to  leading psy cholog ist Barr y Sch wartz, o ffering mor e choic es mak es  people less lik ely to pick an option and mor e likely to be dissa tisfied  with the option the y pick ed (TED T alk). Think o f the last time y ou  tried to pick a N etflix mo vie, f or example. H ow long did i t tak e you  to choose a mo vie? How long w ould i t have tak en you if y ou onl y had  two options? On w ebpages, mor e choic es also me an mor e options  offered to visi tors and mor e chanc es tha t the y will not do wha t the y  should be doing on a c ertain page.  For this r eason, the f irst principle asks y ou to cr eate focus on y our  webpages. On landing pages, w e saw tha t the lo wer the atten tion  ratio (the r atio be tween goals and links on a page ), the hig her the  conversion r ate. In 2013, Unbounc e analyzed mor e than 20 ,000 le ad


In 2013, Unbounc e analyzed mor e than 20 ,000 le ad  gener ation landing pages and f ound a nega tive relationship be tween  conversion r ate and number o f links ( related to a ttention r atio,  194  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.6). Cle arly, the mor e links on a le ad gener ation landing  page, the less lik ely a f irm is to cr eate a le ad. Thus, to cr eate focus  on landing pages, f irms should f ocus on a 1:1 a ttention r atio. T o  accomplish this, landing pages should aim to mak e visi tors  accomplish one goal and one goal onl y.  Figur e 8.6 Attention Ratio W orks  How does f ocus tr ansla te on other pages? Of ten, f ocus is achie ved  by drawing pe ople ’s attention to the goal the y are the most lik ely to  be w anting to ac complish b y posi tioning this goal abo ve the f old on  a firm’s page. Concr etely, this o ften tr ansla tes on ha ving onl y one  call to ac tion abo ve the f old, wher e the c all to ac tion is associa ted  with the goal tha t consumers should be achie ving.  Let’s see a f ew examples o f top w ebsites: Optimiz ely, Min t and  Disc ord, and fashion r etailers.  Optimiz ely offers visi tors personaliz ed options depending on  their r oles. Eng ineers ar e ask ed to cr eate a fr ee account, pr oduc t  managers ar e invited to w atch a demo, mar keters c an tr y a visual  editor, data scien tists ar e offered a whi te paper , and te am le aders  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  195


are dir ected to a guide to e xperimen tation. I n shor t, wha t  Optimiz ely has done is (1) iden tify the main goal tha t each persona  is lik ely to w ant to ac complish when visi ting the f irm’s website and  (2) put this goal fr ont and c enter.  Disc ord and Mint emplo y the same tac tic: The y offer visi tors one  option abo ve the f old, tha t is, to use or sign up f or their pr oduc t.  Belo w the f old, the str ategy of both w ebsites is also the same. The y  expand on the benef its of their pr oduc ts, wha t users should e xpect  when the y sign up, pr ovide social pr oofing, and c onclude this sales  pitch wi th, again, an option to sign up or use the pr oduc t. This is  a typical homepage design str ategy for firms tha t sell one or a f ew  produc ts, such as Paper like, which w e discusse d in our e xercise f or  the last chapter .  Altitude-spor ts.com, an online r etailer , emplo ys a str ategy typical  for this t ype o f website: The y offer one or mor e links tha t will mo ve  the visi tor to a se ction o f the w ebsite wher e the y can shop ( see  also FARFETCH ). Ther e are dif ferent appr oaches to doing this. MR  PORTER  invites c onsumers to visi t different produc t categories tha t  align wi th the se ason, such as r ain j ackets for Fall, as w ell as a link  to ne w items. END ., a clothing r etailer , pursues a str ategy typical of  the niche mensw ear mar ket and in vites c onsumers to r egister f or  drops. An alterna tive for retailers tha t have content-he avy w ebsites  is to driv e visi tors to c ontent articles ( SSENSE  follows this str ategy),  probabl y in a


articles ( SSENSE  follows this str ategy),  probabl y in a bid to be come a privilege d sour ce of informa tion f or  high fashion and turn r eaders in to customers.  Impor tantly, for retailers and other t ypes o f websites, the number  of links tha t visi tors c an click abo ve the f old is limi ted. In all o f these  examples, visi tors ar e offered a maximum o f thr ee options abo ve the  fold ( not including the menu ).  Draw Attention  Once a f irm has iden tified wha t goal visi tors ar e suppose d to  196  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


achie ve, it can use visual elemen ts to dr aw the a ttention o f visi tors  to elemen ts of the w ebsite tha t should le ad them to achie ve this  goal. A f ew visual principles c an help us her e (images fr om  Unbounc e).  Encapsulation  Practice encapsula tion by bounding an elemen t you w ant to dr aw  attention to in a bo x or a f igure. A t ypical example o f enc apsula tion  is the in troduc tion se quenc e of old J ames Bond mo vies, wher e the  gun barr el dr aws our f ocus to J ames Bond ( Figur e 8.7). On a  webpage, this c an be done, f or example, b y put ting an elemen t tha t  visitors should f ocus on in a bo x (see for example Figur e 8.8 ).  Figur e 8.7 Encapsulation Ex ample  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  197


Figur e 8.8 E ncapsulation  Contr ast and Color  Similar ly, contrast and co lor draw the a ttention o f the visi tors to the  contrasting and c olorful design elemen ts, lik e a but ton, a spe cific  sentenc e, a ti tle, or a f orm ( Figur e 8.9 ). Man y websites no w exist  to help wi th color the ory and f inding the best c ontrasting c olors  (Coolors , for example ).  198  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.9 Color Contr ast  Directional cues  Directional cues  serve two purposes. First, the y help dir ect visi tors’  attention to the elemen ts tha t are poin ted to. Se cond, the y help  create a r eading pa ttern f or your users to f ollow (Figur e 8.10 ). Keep  in mind tha t reading pa tterns should also be suppor ted by the r est  of your w ebsite struc ture, i.e., ho w your images and te xt ar e  positione d (Figur e 8.11 ), but tha t is be yond the sc ope o f this c ourse.  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  199


Figur e 8.10 Dir ectional Cues  200  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.11 R eading Flow  White spac e  Lastly, white space  is also a design tool tha t is useful to dr aw the  attention o f visi tors to spe cific w ebpage elemen ts, as sho wn in  Figur e 8.12 .  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  201


Figur e 8.12 W hite S pace  Build Structur e for Clarity  Building struc ture for clari ty is all about making sur e the message o f  a page ge ts acr oss cle arly and quickl y. To do so, i t is useful to f ollow  basic principles o f informa tion and visual hier archy, wher e the mor e  impor tant the inf orma tion, the be tter posi tione d, bigger , brig hter,  and/or mor e colorful i t is on the page ( Figur e 8.13 ).  202  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.13 I nformation H ierarchy  Follo w the princip le of Sullivan (the “ father o f skyscr apers ”): Form  follows func tion. Gone ar e the da ys when w e designe d webpages  for pur ely aesthe tic r easons. W ebpages no w ha ve cle ar goals f or  visitors to achie ve. Our obje ctive as dig ital mar keters is to mak e  sure consumers achie ve these goals. Design should suppor t the  achie vemen t of goals r ather than ser ve solel y aesthe tic purposes  (i.e., designing a pr etty website is not some thing w e should solel y  striv e for).  A useful, quick test to se e if a page achie ves a cle ar struc ture is  the five second test . According to fivesecondtest.c om,  Five second tests ar e a me thod o f user r esearch tha t helps  you me asur e wha t inf orma tion users tak e away and wha t  impr ession the y get within the f irst f ive seconds o f vie wing  a design. The y’re commonl y use d to test whe ther w ebpages  are effectively communic ating their in tende d message.  Stay Consistent  By consistenc y, we me an ho w all the elemen ts of a c ampaign w ork  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  203


toge ther. Ideally, these elemen ts should ma tch. Answ ering the  following questions c an help us sta y consisten t:  • What was the se arch tha t the c onsumer did tha t led them to  see my ad or se arch result?  • Is my ad or se arch result w ell aligne d to answ er tha t search?  • Is this inf orma tion r epeated on the page tha t the y arriv e on ?  • Do I cr eate expectations wi th m y page ti tle and description, or  headline and description tha t I thor oughly answ er on the  page ?  These ide as ar e expresse d in Figur e 8.14 .  Figur e 8.14 Continuity  204  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Message and D esign Matching  Ensuring c onsistenc y can be suppor ted by practicing message and  design ma tching.  Messag e ma tching  entails r epeating the c opy or phr asing o f your  ad or se arch page r esult in the w ebpage wher e users land. This  ensur es tha t the user kno ws tha t the page the y’ve ende d up on  will answ er their quer y. We are all kind o f lazy when i t comes to  navigating and looking f or inf orma tion online. The e asier w e can  make the liv es of consumers, the mor e likely the y are to c onvert.  Take the e xample in Figur e 8.15 , wher e the f irst image doesn ’t  practice message ma tching, wher e the message changes fr om “ Get  a doz en roses f or $29” f or the se arch ad he adline to “ Great deals on  beautiful bouque ts” for the landing page he adline. I n contrast, in the  example in Figur e 8.16 , the message the ad and landing page her e  are cle arly aligne d; in fac t, in this e xample the y are iden tical.  Figur e 8.15 M essage M atch F ailur e  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  205


Figur e 8.16 M essage M atch Success  A similar ide a has to do wi th ma tching the design o f an ad and the  page on which users land, or design ma tching . Here, w e want to  repeat the visual elemen ts of the ad on the page. This c an be done  by, for example,  repeating the visuals, c olors, and struc ture of the  ad.  Figur e 8.17  shows an e xample wher e the w ebpage doesn ’t repeat  the elemen ts of the ad ( or, in this c ase, the c opy!), while Figur e 8.18  shows an e xample o f the design o f the ad and landing page being  clearly aligne d. The f irst image doesn ’t practice design ma tch and  the se cond does.  206  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.17 Design M atch F ailur e  Figur e 8.18 Design M atch Success  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  207


Build T rust  In an age wher e fak e ne ws is r ampan t, almost half o f Amaz on  reviews ar e unr eliable ( AdAge ), and when an ybod y, anywher e can  create an online shop, instilling trust is a k ey componen t to making  sales. This is espe cially true f or smaller br ands tha t consumers  might not ha ve he ard of. Some w ebsite elemen ts can help us build  trust include  • testimonials and r eviews,  • clien t logos,  • numbers ( such as number o f clien ts, do wnloads, or sales ),  • awards and ac colades, and  • media men tions.  Most o f these elemen ts ar e consider ed social pr oofs. Orig inally,  social pr oof related to the ide a tha t we copy others, espe cially in  situations o f unc ertainty (fun fac t: organiza tions do the same thing,  a concept c alled mimetic isomorp hism ). Online, this tr ansla tes in to  proving to visi tors tha t some thing is note worthy or trust worthy  because i t has be en adopte d by others.  Here are a c ouple o f tricks pr ovided by Unbounc e when cr eating  testimonials:  • Use a he adshot to indic ate tha t the testimonials c ome fr om a  real person.  • Use tha t person ’s full name, be cause using names lik e ‘Andr e H.’  might raise doubts as to whe ther Andr e is r eal.  • Highlight some k ey feature of your pr oduc t or so ftware in the  testimonial.  • Use multiple testimonials.  And, impor tantly, use some o f the principles w e just c overed to ha ve  social pr oofing stand out so tha t it is e asier f or visi tors to quickl y  grasp tha t other pe ople alr eady belie ve in the br and.  208  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Consider Congruenc e  Congruence  is par ticular ly relevant when designing landing pages,  but i ts driving principles c an be use d when designing pages  throughout a w ebsite. Ac cording to Unbounc e, Congruenc e refers  to  The alignmen t of every landing page elemen t wi th y our  single c ampaign goal. Congruenc e is a hig h-level  conversion-c entered design principle. I f a pie ce of copy or  image on y our page isn ’t aligne d wi th your c ampaign, i t’s  going to c ause fric tion and hur t your c onversion r ate.  When designing landing pages, Unbounc e proposes sc oring a page  base d on the c ongruenc e of its individual elemen ts wi th the goal  that consumers should achie ve. W e saw tha t landing pages t ypically  possess some c ore elemen ts—a unique selling pr oposi tion, a her o  shot, a benef it sta temen t, social pr oofing, and a link, which is  typically a c all to ac tion. These c ore elemen ts ar e usuall y  implemen ted in page elemen ts, such as he adlines, subhe adlines,  pictures, in troduc tion par agraphs, bulle t poin ts, and links. An e asy  way to e valuate the c ongruenc e of a w ebpage wi th its goal is to build  a scoring she et for each o f these elemen ts. T ake the landing page  shown in Figur e 8.19  as an e xample.  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  209


Figur e 8.19  Congruence  Example  Now let’s see ho w each elemen t of the landing page is perf orming.  The f irst question to ask is, W hat is the goal tha t consumers ne ed  to achie ve on tha t page ? In this c ase, i t is to do wnload the whi te  paper . Hence, all elemen ts of this page should be talking about  the whi te paper . The he adline and subhe adline should o ffer some  unique selling pr oposi tion associa ted wi th the whi te paper . The  hero shot should be whi te-paper r elated. The benef its, in this c ase  explaine d in a shor t par agraph and bulle t poin ts, should e xplain  what the c onsumer will ge t by do wnloading the whi te paper . The  call to ac tion should be whi te-paper r elated. And so on. Figur e 8.20  shows an anal ysis o f the w ebpage ( text version here). How ar e each  of these elemen ts perf orming ?  210  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.20 Landing P age E valuation / Text Version  Gener ally, pretty badl y: The he adline is not aligne d wi th the whi te  paper , the in tro and benef its ar e not whi te-paper r elated, the  testimonial r elates to the pr oduc t rather than the whi te  paper , and so on.  To optimiz e this page, the f irm should tr ansform e ach individual  elemen t to be tter r epresen t the goal o f this page.  Think Continuity  Ensuring tha t a persona achie ves its macr o conversion ( e.g., making  a sale ) entails ha ving w ell def ined, planne d pa ths thr ough which i t  will go. This ide a can be br oken do wn in to two main c omponen ts.  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  211


First, e very conversion is an oppor tunity for another c onversion.  This is the princip le of con tinuance , as def ined by Unbounc e:  A conversion c entered design te chnique tha t uses the  momen tum o f one c onversion to driv e a se condar y  conversion r equest, lik e a social shar e or a ne wsle tter  signup. Conf irma tion pages and thank y ou emails ar e prime  channels f or continuanc e.  Second, this emphasiz es the impor tanc e o f cle arly def ined  conversion pa ths. I n order to kno w wha t to optimiz e in a se quenc e  of steps, such as those w e covered at the star t of this chapter , we  need to kno w in ad vance wha t series o f steps c onsumers should  take to c omple te an o verarching goal or macr o conversion such as  making a pur chase.  To do so, i t is impor tant to ask, What comes ne xt? If I ha ve  consumers sign up f or a ne wsle tter, it should be be cause I  know exactly wha t I will be doing ne xt and wha t the c onsumer  who signe d up will be ask ed to do. Optimizing c onversion is about  creating these cle arly def ined pa ths so tha t we can anal yze each  step, and the r elationship be tween these steps, to boost our  conversion r ate over time, both f or spe cific steps and f or the pa th  as a whole.  Remark eting and R etargeting  Remar keting  (some times c alled list-base d r etargeting) and  retargeting  (also c alled pix el or beha vioral retargeting) ar e forms  of targeting tha t ser ve ads to spe cific consumers, al beit differently.  Online, y ou mig ht find v arying terms f or these t wo ac tivities. For  example, Goog le places both under their r emar keting tools.  Both str ategies help during le ad nur turing to maximiz


keting tools.  Both str ategies help during le ad nur turing to maximiz e  oppor tunities f or conversion b y ser ving ads to the rig ht lead at the  212  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


right stage o f their journe y. Remar keting and r etargeting t ypically  target qualif ied leads (M QL or SQ L).  Althoug h we discuss these t wo practices at the c onversion stage,  they can be use d to c onvert for an y goal ( e.g., ha ving c onsumers sign  up for a w ebinar or visi t a blog post, as w ell as making a pur chase ). In  shor t, these appr oaches c an be use d to gener ate leads, qualif y leads,  or convert to pur chase.  The main dif ference be tween the t wo appr oaches is ho w  targeting is put in to ac tion. R emar keting uses emails c ollected  during le ad gener ation ac tivities to tar get leads, while r etargeting  targets consumers base d on pr evious beha viors. I n both c ases, ads  are displa yed to c onsumers.  To pr actice remar keting , a f irm f irst ne eds to cr eate an email  list. Then, using tar geting options on ad vertising pla tforms such as  Facebook Custom Audienc e or Goog le Customer Ma tch, a firm c an  create an ad c ampaign tha t will  be se en only by consumers wi th  these email addr esses.  While r emar keting c an be useful f or man y str ategic purposes,  it is o ften use d during r etention str ategies (i.e., when customers  have alr eady be en ac quired). This is, ho wever, not the onl y use o f  remar keting. R emar keting c an be use d as par t of a gr eater le ad  nurturing c ampaign to engage le ads a t any stage o f their journe y.  For e xample, as long as a f irm is pr oper ly keeping tr ack o f the stage  at which the le ad is loc ated, it can use the emails associa ted wi th  a lar ge number o f leads a t a spe cific stage to personaliz e an ad  campaign.  An


f leads a t a spe cific stage to personaliz e an ad  campaign.  An ad vantage o f remar keting is tha t it is hig hly customizable to  specific customers, sinc e you ar e tar geting base d on their email  addr esses. Tw o do wnsides, thoug h, ar e tha t misma tch o f email  addr esses happens ( e.g., a le ad mig ht ha ve given y ou an email  addr ess the y do not use f or their Fac ebook or Goog le ac counts) and  that it is not a utoma tic (as compar ed to r etargeting).  Inste ad o f tar geting ads base d on an email list, retargeting  uses  previous beha viors, such as clicking a link, put ting a pr oduc t in a  cart, or liking or c ommen ting on a post. This is wh y, some times,  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  213


after put ting an i tem in a c art and abandoning y our pur chase, y ou  might see the same ar ticle in the ads sho wn to y ou in numer ous  websites, o ver and o ver again ( Figur e 8.21 ).  Figur e 8.21 R etargeting  Because r etargeting is a utoma tic, and be cause i t works on an y  predefined goal tha t has be en ac complishe d by a visi tor or a le ad  (e.g., vie wing a spe cific page, clicking a link, spending time on a si te,  or c ommen ting on a Fac ebook post ), it is a gr eat tool to master  to perf ect lead nur turing c ampaigns. Althoug h retargeting is o ften  used to push c onsumers to c omple te pur chases, i ts uses ar e much  more wide-r anging. R etargeting is a gr eat tool to engage le ads to  perform the ne xt ac tion in a planne d path. For e xample, a f irm c ould  create a blog post or a pie ce of gated content to gener ate le ads and  retarget anybod y who ga ve their email addr ess on ei ther in or der f or  them to ac complish the ne xt goal the pa th se t up f or tha t spe cific  persona.  Retargeting c an also be use d for le ad gener ation, wher e a  compan y could tar get pe ople in terested in a spe cific pr oduc t  categor y. For e xample, c ar c ompanies do r etargeting c ampaigns  by ad vertising pr oduc t reviews o f their c ars and those o f their  compe titors on social me dia and b y retargeting an ybod y who clicks  on the ads to r ead the r eviews. S uch c ampaigns help gener ate le ads  214  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


Figur e 8.22  Retargeting  Example by iden tifying c onsumers who se em to be looking to mak e a  purchase in a spe cific pr oduc t categor y and then tar geting them to  engage in le ad gener ation ac tivities.  Because i t is hig hly customizable and a utoma tic, the options  when using r etargeting ar e almost limi tless. A f irm simpl y ne eds  to iden tify beha vior tha t the y de em in teresting f or sc oring le ads  or iden tifying their stage in the journe y and use r etargeting to  serve ads to the spe cific consumers who will ha ve perf orme d tha t  beha vior. Retargeting c ampaigns w ork best when f irms ha ve a cle ar  idea of the pa th their persona should tak e to mak e a pur chase,  because the c ampaigns c an then be use d to maximiz e the chanc es  that a persona a t a spe cific step in tha t path will c ontinue on and  perform the ne xt step.  Lastly, it is impor tant, thoug h, to ensur e you iden tify the rig ht  actions! T o finish this chapter on some la ughs (or at least a smile ):  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  215


Exer cises  Conversion Optimization  Base d on this w eek’s chapter , optimiz e the landing page  located at bit.ly/34mu GIR.  Explain y our r easoning.  Retargeting and R emark eting  Assuming the f ollowing pa th, wher e could use y our  retargeting ads? 1. User clicks on se arch ad pr oblem  2. Arriv es on clickthr ough landing page  3. Clickthr ough to blog, r eading a f ew ar ticles  4. Opts-in on scr oll-do wn pop-up to ne wsle tter  5. Receives onboar ding email and ac cess to blog  content  6. Receives se cond email and r eads blog c ontent  216  |  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion


7. Receives pr omotional o ffer  8. Clicks and c onverts  Convert: Con version Optimiza tion  |  217


Engage: Building Loy alty and  Co-Cr eating W ith Customers  PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC  Overview  This last chapter c overs ac tivities associa ted with the Engage stage:  how to e valuate and enc ourage customer engagemen t and lo yalty  and f oster c o-cr eation b y engage d customers. W e discuss the  impor tanc e of customer engagemen t, customer lif etime v alue, w ays  to me asur e engagemen t, consumption c ommuni ties, and c o- creation ac tivities.  Learning O bjectives  Understand the c oncepts o f engagemen t and lo yalty, how  to calcula te customer lif etime v alue and i ts impor tanc e in  marketing str ategy, how to me asur e engagemen t, and ho w  to cr eate value wi th consumers.  Engage  A widespr ead definition o f engagemen t attribute d to Forr ester is  218  |  Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers


“creating de ep c onne ctions wi th customers tha t driv e pur chase  decisions, in teraction, and par ticipa tion, o ver time. ” Ac cording ly,  the t wo obje ctives of the Engage stage ar e to (1) f oster lo yalty and  (2) co-cr eate value wi th customers.  Key perf ormanc e indic ators a t this stage help me asur e a f irm’s  success in a ttaining these obje ctives and the achie vemen t by  consumers o f associa ted goals. KP Is include the number o f shar es,  brand men tions, r eferrals, r epur chases, and r eviews as w ell as the  ratio o f commen ts to posts, c ommen ts to lik es, and r eviews to sales.  The Engage stage is c entral for man y reasons. P erhaps most  impor tantly, recent research sho ws tha t loyalty le aders “ grow  revenues r oughly 2.5 times as fast as their industr y peers and deliv er  two to f ive times the shar eholder r eturns o ver the ne xt 10 y ears”  (HBR). Working on incr easing engagemen t is thus pr ofitable. Ther e  are a few fac tors tha t explain this.  Acquiring customers is much mor e costly than r etaining and  selling to e xisting ones, and r epeat consumers tend to spend mor e  than ne w ones ( Forbes ). Engage d consumers ar e also mor e willing  to in teract with y ou, facili tating mar ket research and le ading to  groundbr eaking insig hts. This is par ticular ly true sinc e you c an  develop winning engagemen t str ategies b y iden tifying wha t mak es  your lo yal customers lo yal. L ast, engage d customers w ork on y our  behalf, c o-cr eating c ontent tha t, as w e’ve se en, is use d by other  consumers thr oughout their journe y.  To be tter understand the v alue o f customers o ver their lif etime  with


To be tter understand the v alue o f customers o ver their lif etime  with a c ompan y, we turn our a ttention to the c oncept o f customer  lifetime v alue. W e then look a t two tools tha t can help us be tter  understand and me asur e customer lo yalty. We conclude the  chapter b y examining v alue c o-cr eation.  Customer Lifetime V alue  Customer lif etime v alue  (CLV) represen ts a customer’ s profitabili ty  Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers   |  219


over their en tire relationship wi th the business. A str aightforward  way of thinking about CL V is as f ollows:  CLV = a verage pr ofit per sale ( AP) × number o f repeat transac tions  in a period (RTP ) × retention time (RT)  Please note, ho wever, tha t this is a simplistic appr oach use d to  illustr ate this c oncept and not some thing w e would r ecommend  using in a r eal-lif e setting.  Let’s use the e xample o f a subscription business (i.e.,  period = 1 mon th). The business has a churn r ate of 2%.  Churn r ate represen ts the r ate of customers le aving a  compan y per period ( Wikipe dia). In this c ase, the  compan y is losing 2% o f its customer base e very mon th.  Churn r ate is useful to c alcula te the a verage r etention  time o f customers: B y dividing 1 b y the churn r ate, w e  obtain the r etention time. I n this c ase, customers sta y  with the business f or an a verage o f 50 mon ths (or 1  divide d by 0.02).  The a verage pr ofit per sale is $30 .  The number o f repeat transac tions per period is one,  because customers ar e making one tr ansac tion per  mon th and the period w e are looking a t her e is one  mon th.  The CL V is thus  CLV = AP × RTP × RT .  Since AP = $30 , RTP = 50 , and RT = 1,  CLV = 30 × 50 × 1 = $1,500 .  Over their lif etime, e ach customer brings the business  $1,500 .  220  |  Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers


CLV dr aws our a ttention to the impor tanc e of catering to the  lifetime o f a customer wi th a business. The f irst sale to a customer  is not wha t typically brings r evenue to a f irm. Ac quisi tion c osts  for a customer ar e gener ally much hig her than the r evenue a f irm  will mak e on i ts first sale. Thus, the obje ctive of firms is to engage  customers to incr ease their lif etime v alue.  More concr etely, CLV can pla y man y roles f or a f irm. For e xample,  it helps f irms pric e their customer ac quisi tion str ategies and  calcula te their r eturn on in vestmen t. This is impor tant because i t  helps e valuate whe ther ac quisi tion str ategies ar e pr ofitable and  manage mar keting ef forts mor e gener ally.  Continuing wi th the e xample abo ve, let’s assume the  firm is running a P PC se arch ad c ampaign to ac quire  customers. I n this simple e xample, le t’s fur ther assume  that people se arch for some thing, click on an ad which  leads them to a landing page, and c onvert to customers  from this landing page.  The total c ampaign c ost is $20 ,000, including all  campaign elemen ts (i.e., de veloping the landing page, all  costs r elated to ads, e tc.).  The c ampaign ge ts 2,500 visi tors on their landing  page.  The c onversion r ate is 5%, me aning tha t the f irm  converted 5% o f the 2,500 visi tors to their landing page.  That works out to 125 customers (2500 × 5% = 125).  The c ost per ac quisi tion is thus $160 , or $20 ,000/125.    Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers   |  221


At this stage, f irms will be asking themsel ves, “I s this pr ofitable ?  What is m y return on in vestmen t? Should I c ontinue running this  acquisi tion str ategy campaign ?” CL V be comes useful a t this stage.  As a r eminder , this f irm e arns $1,500 per customer on a verage  throughout their lif etime wi th the c ompan y. Even if the c ompan y  only mak es $30 on the f irst sale ( meaning tha t the y just “lost” $95,  since it cost them $160 to ac quire the customer ), two rules o f thumb  help us se e tha t this is a pr ofitable customer ac quisi tion str ategy  over time.  The t wo rules o f thumb to quickl y ga uge whe ther a customer  acquisi tion str ategy is pr ofitable ar e:  1. Am I r ecovering m y cost per ac quisi tion o ver the ne xt 12  mon ths o f the lif e of the customer wi th m y business? I n this  case, the answ er is y es: The c ompan y will mak e $360 per  customer ( AP × 12 = $30 × 12 = $360 ).  2. Is my CL V mor e than thr ee times m y cost per ac quisi tion ( CAC)  (that is, CL V/CAC > 3 )? In this c ase, the answ er is also y es. C AC  is $160 while CL V is $1,500 , and CL V/CAC = 9 .375. In fac t, the  firm should be happ y to pa y up to $500 per ac quisi tion.  Among man y other uses tha t CL V ser ves, i t can also suppor t  retention and customer suppor t str ategies c entral to the Engage  stage. B y kno wing the lif etime v alue o f customers, f irms c an mor e  easily pric e retention and suppor t str ategies, i.e., ho w much to put  into tr ying to r etain customers.


i.e., ho w much to put  into tr ying to r etain customers.  CLV varies per persona, wher e some personas will be w orth mor e  over their lif etimes than others. This helps f irms to de cide wher e to  spend e xtra resour ces and which personas to pamper a bi t mor e.  It can also help a f irm se e whe ther i t should “f ire” a persona, i.e.,  minimiz e the ef forts de dicated to customers alr eady acquired and  stop ac quisi tion str ategies f or a spe cific persona if their CL V is  drastic ally lower than tha t of other personas.  Lastly, it is impor tant to k eep in mind tha t, apar t from  subscription businesses such as the e xample abo ve, customers  222  |  Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers


rarely bring in the same amoun t to a f irm thr oughout their lif etime.  The r elationship be tween a customer and a f irm e volves over time,  and i t is impor tant to r ecogniz e tha t the journe y of customers  expands be yond their f irst pur chase wi th a f irm. N ot onl y does this  vary between personas, but i t mig ht also v ary between mar kets. In  some mar kets, such as vide ogame c onsoles or e yewear, produc ts  are seldom sold, wi th an e xtende d period be tween pur chases tha t  might enc ourage churn. I n other mar kets, lik e groceries, c onsumers  are continuousl y making pur chases o ver their lif etime. As is the c ase  in the mar ket for diapers, other mar kets mig ht see a signif icant  uptick a t the star t of the customer’ s life wi th a c ompan y and then  declining sales o ver time as, in the c ase o f diapers, the bab y ages  into a child. Althoug h the ne w appr oach is predictive anal ysis, some  earlier anal ytical tools, such as RFM anal ysis ( discusse d in the ne xt  section), provide inf orma tion r egar ding some o f these aspe cts. The y  also help us understand the basics o f anal yzing customer beha vior  to mak e str ategic de cisions.  RFM Analysis  RFM , which stands f or recency, frequenc y, and mone tary value, is  a long-standing anal ytical me thod tha t helps anal yze and segmen t  customer beha vior base d on the recency  of their last pur chase, the  frequency  of their pur chases, and their monetar y value , i.e., ho w  much the y spend wi th the f irm.  By helping f irms understand the pur chasing beha vior o f acquired  customers, RFM anal ysis c an help incr ease r etention and pur chase  per customer , iden tify which customers


an help incr ease r etention and pur chase  per customer , iden tify which customers ar e not so gr eat, be tter, and  best, whe ther w e are experiencing issues wi th a spe cific persona in  terms o f repur chase beha vior, and so on.  To conduc t an RFM anal ysis, a f irm star ts wi th its customer  database. The f irst step is to assign v alue to customers associa ted  with their r ecency, frequenc y, and mone tary value. S ince RFM  Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers   |  223