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b47da491b320-0 | 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 | Page 156 |
8a8b6d78e27a-0 | 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 | Page 157 |
689c84c5b5b5-0 | • 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 | | Page 158 |
689c84c5b5b5-1 | w to squa t,” a question o ften ask ed by 148 | Act: Cr eating Con tent | Page 158 |
f68c35289976-0 | 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 | Page 159 |
8341b7d19ddd-0 | 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 | Page 160 |
5bc0d1056aac-0 | 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 | Page 161 |
d9bdc3f25365-0 | 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 | Page 162 |
440be7999c4a-0 | 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 | Page 163 |
40f82ebfcbd1-0 | 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 | Page 164 |
ce7611c015c1-0 | • 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 | Page 165 |
ed47f4428c1b-0 | 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 | Page 166 |
feebab417f29-0 | 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 | Page 167 |
de534bbef760-0 | 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 | Page 168 |
41ff8f999fb0-0 | 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 | Page 169 |
6a14d4ce26b6-0 | 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 | Page 170 |
393d41a9c847-0 | 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 | Page 171 |
393d41a9c847-1 | 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 | Page 171 |
6a25d8163c90-0 | 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 | Page 172 |
6a25d8163c90-1 | 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 | Page 172 |
a727ca204fa5-0 | 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 | Page 173 |
a727ca204fa5-1 | 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 | Page 173 |
c4246ceea4d9-0 | ◦ 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 | Page 174 |
878ec90abe75-0 | 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 | Page 175 |
6c000b94fcb6-0 | 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 | Page 176 |
16a4566f840a-0 | 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 | Page 177 |
16a4566f840a-1 | 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 | Page 177 |
3b5694c4f7c9-0 | 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 ( | Page 178 |
3b5694c4f7c9-1 | 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 | Page 178 |
e3e22b1e1189-0 | 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 | Page 179 |
e3e22b1e1189-1 | 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 | Page 179 |
14f7c420d2d7-0 | 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 | Page 180 |
14f7c420d2d7-1 | 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 | Page 180 |
a2316dd3a1d4-0 | ▪ 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 | Page 181 |
a2316dd3a1d4-1 | 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 | Page 181 |
daccd1d77dc6-0 | 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. | Page 182 |
daccd1d77dc6-1 | 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 | Page 182 |
4edc5f11ec23-0 | 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 | Page 183 |
4edc5f11ec23-1 | e you ac quired the le ad Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing | 173 | Page 183 |
c0a19812a2be-0 | 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 | Page 184 |
c0a19812a2be-1 | 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 | Page 184 |
366a59f99a44-0 | 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 | Page 185 |
b09068a82fb3-0 | 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 | Page 186 |
8d7cd077b6e9-0 | 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 | Page 187 |
8c504e502d42-0 | 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 | Page 188 |
b0c2d94beea0-0 | Figur e 7.8 Drip E mail Sequence Example Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing | 179 | Page 189 |
d459d35a557d-0 | 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 | Page 190 |
e9e124b9c84b-0 | 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 | Page 191 |
e9e124b9c84b-1 | 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 | Page 191 |
fd6a43077b15-0 | 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 | Page 192 |
c558ac98cab2-0 | 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 | Page 193 |
4292998fa3c7-0 | 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 | Page 194 |
fdabfe7e7da0-0 | 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 | Page 195 |
cebc4388e48a-0 | 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 | Page 196 |
eecdbe288d18-0 | 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 | Page 197 |
eecdbe288d18-1 | 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 | Page 197 |
37107faf531c-0 | 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 | Page 198 |
929ecb9320e7-0 | 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 | Page 199 |
8432c5dffc14-0 | 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 | Page 200 |
8432c5dffc14-1 | 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 | Page 200 |
1ea65f56df3b-0 | 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 | Page 201 |
c86ed13fd599-0 | 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 | Page 202 |
5b3909aca9c5-0 | • 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 | Page 203 |
0a6fa77aaa04-0 | 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 | Page 204 |
0a6fa77aaa04-1 | 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 | Page 204 |
65da47bef50a-0 | 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 | Page 205 |
11dda2088be0-0 | 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 | Page 206 |
11dda2088be0-1 | 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 | Page 206 |
cd6130d1f514-0 | 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 | Page 207 |
e7c63477f0fe-0 | 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 | Page 208 |
4ff37fb151b3-0 | 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 | Page 209 |
a0bb967e42d8-0 | Figur e 8.10 Dir ectional Cues 200 | Convert: Con version Optimiza tion | Page 210 |
7b573115da70-0 | 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 | Page 211 |
3649398f57a2-0 | 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 | Page 212 |
51fa4a47fcb4-0 | 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 | Page 213 |
5181a29870e0-0 | 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 | Page 214 |
109007a69a4b-0 | 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 | Page 215 |
75f7e52ddbb2-0 | 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 | Page 216 |
940f8a1df719-0 | Figur e 8.17 Design M atch F ailur e Figur e 8.18 Design M atch Success Convert: Con version Optimiza tion | 207 | Page 217 |
9fb21f7bc001-0 | 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 | Page 218 |
1b39d048c354-0 | 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 | Page 219 |
817db219528c-0 | 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 | Page 220 |
7c502d4ec709-0 | 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 | Page 221 |
2e7e1a0f752a-0 | 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 | Page 222 |
2e7e1a0f752a-1 | 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 | Page 222 |
b038f322616a-0 | 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 | Page 223 |
b038f322616a-1 | 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 | Page 223 |
252848285153-0 | 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 | Page 224 |
22cd8beead7f-0 | 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 | Page 225 |
4632327efe20-0 | 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 | Page 226 |
75dd86a89981-0 | 7. Receives pr omotional o ffer 8. Clicks and c onverts Convert: Con version Optimiza tion | 217 | Page 227 |
48318107bf6a-0 | 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 | Page 228 |
d273f17c8950-0 | “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 | Page 229 |
d273f17c8950-1 | 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 | Page 229 |
02ce859c7080-0 | 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 | Page 230 |
3c5447f661c7-0 | 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 | Page 231 |
fad86e0aa1b9-0 | 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. | Page 232 |
fad86e0aa1b9-1 | 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 | Page 232 |
a7440c62c455-0 | 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 | Page 233 |
a7440c62c455-1 | 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 | Page 233 |