Three Sure-Fire Steps every Search Marketer should take in Landing Page Optimisation - Step 3 Test, Measure, Refine & Improve
August 20, 2007
Ok you now have lots of tasty ingredients to make that killer landing page and you’re finally ready to go!
Its float or sink time, so sail that page into the unknown land of your customers’ persona, sit back and enjoy the ride.
The ride maybe fruitful and fun or insanely gloomy ““ it’s often a case of living’ ‘n’ learning, although destiny is firmly in your hands ““ you just have to reach out and grab it. The magic landing page formula comes to those who test, measure, refine and improve.
How to measure?
A great place to start is with the actual conversion rate for the page in reaching the desired action.
Lets’ look at the maths:
Conversion rate = (number of visitors who reach a desired action/total number of visitors) * 100
It surprises me that many companies do not know their own conversion rate for key pages that make up their conversion funnel or that there is such a lack of clarity as to whether an increase in sales has resulted from an increase in visitors or landing page enhancements.
A / B Testing
A/B testing is a simple an effective testing procedure that can be used in landing page optimisation in deducing which elements play a pivotal role in maximising conversion rates. You can test single variables such as a headlines, testimonials or images against each other in order to see the best performer.
A / B testing can be very effective over time, although it requires a variety of single variables to be tested in single file and can be quite time consuming.
You may like to checkout the Marketing Experiments explanation of A/B Testing for a more in depth look.
Multivariable Testing
Multivariable testing on the other hand allows for multiple variables to be tested in one go and a great example of this is through AdWords Website Optimizer. Again Marketing Experiments provide a detailed overview of this, which I highly recommend.
What about non-action pages?
Well not every page has an action that is as easy to measure such as a sale, registration or a specified next step. This is where a good analytics package comes in handy and Avinash describes four key metrics that are readily available in Google Analytics ““ Loyalty, Recency, Length of Visit & Depth of Visit. These metrics can give some real insight into how engaging a visitor finds your site and provide a useful tool in measuring landing page effectiveness.
In summary, as with many things related to online marketing you should assume nothing and test everything - the proof really is in the pudding! Decide what you want to measure and strive to improve.
Remember it’s your visitors’ actions and wants that really count and not necessarily what you think they want or worse still what your creative teams believes is in this season!
Step 1 Understand Your Visitors’ Persona
Step 2 Gain Permission and take the Visitor to the Next Desired Action
Three Sure-Fire Steps every Search Marketer should take in Landing Page Optimisation - Step 2 Gain Permission and take the Visitor to the Next Desired Action
July 26, 2007
Once you have an idea of the type of visitor persona (step 1) that will be landing on your site/page, you will then be in a good shape to decide what action you would like for them to take next and more importantly ensuring their needs are sufficiently satisfied.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself Peter Drucker
This makes a lot of sense and follows on well, although for online marketing I think this quote needs to incorporate a well planned landing page to provide that extra nudge closer to the final goal 
Let's start by looking at the 5 actions that can be caused by a landing page (Seth Godin):
- Get a visitor to click (to go to another page, on your site or someone else’s)
- Get a visitor to buy
- Get a visitor to give permission for you to follow up (by email, phone, etc.). This includes registration of course.
- Get a visitor to tell a friend
- (and the more subtle) Get a visitor to learn something, which could even include posting a comment or giving you some sort of feedback
Ultimately you may want your visitor to do all 5, however your landing page as Seth describes should be optimised ideally for one and no more than two "“ otherwise things can start to become a little overwhelming and lack a clear call to action for the next desired step.
Optimisation of a stepping stone or path to conversion approach can often provide a preferred solution. It's important to define the desired conversion or better still, the conversion path to the desired end goal.
Fulfilling the Visitors' Needs & Your Own Marketing Goals
This requires not only a strong understanding for your visitors' persona, but also an appreciation of the stage in the buying process that the visitor/prospect is in.
If for example, a visitor is at the second stage of the buying process and is searching for information "“ then doesn't it make sense to provide this information and not a hard selling product page? Of course it does!
On top of this it can be a matter of seconds before your once curious visitor starts to get a little anxious and looks towards the back button "“ this is why it is particularly important to portray the page as being relevant, creditable and trustworthy:
Ensure Relevancy
- The headline is perhaps the single most important part in ensuring relevancy and should reiterate the copy from the campaign source creative, whether it's from a PPC ad, an email ad or sometimes even the description in an SEO listing. From the research in step1, this should match their needs and the message should be continued in the body of the landing page.
Ensure Credibility & Trust
- Is your company believable in its promise? Are there any obvious contradictions? Does it appear your site is deliberating hiding or making information hard to obtain? Is your company legitimate? Examples of factors that can reduce the buyer's trust anxieties are testimonials/case studies, assurances, guarantees, awards and credentials.
- The contact and about-us pages are important too. The about-us page provides a great opportunity to install trust and sell what you are all about. Make sure that both pages are prominent and well written.
Once your visitor sticks around for a while, it's time to think about using your negotiation and persuasive skills to progress them on to the next stage.
Negotiation
- Focusing on the benefits and not features of the products or services is a marketing classic, although so often forgotten. The title should offer a compelling benefit and/or promise and be backed up with a short opening paragraph.
- Provide prospects with a feeling of relief by answering their biggest question, reservation, objection or misunderstanding early on.
- List your Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) "“ what makes your product/service stand out from the crowd?
- Unleash the power of emotion by connecting with prospects - it is often said that the fear of loss is greater than the desire for gain. Fear and jealousy are powerful emotions that can express a real feeling of loss or to have missed out on an opportunity. If the use of fear and jealousy are a bit much for you, there are plenty more to explore.
Guide Visitors to the Next Stage
- A Clear call to action "“ e.g. an obvious big 'buy now' button or registration graphic should be shown above the fold.
- Provide a careful balance of persuasive information and a lack of distractions. Distractions should decrease as the sales funnel deepens towards the end goal.
- Ensure the best chance of getting your message read; landing pages should be scannable, with short sentences, engaging sub-headings and a modern look and feel that are also integrated with compelling images.
Of course, the buying process stage plays a big role in the exact implementation "“ and perhaps the most important step of all is to assume nothing and test everything:
Step 3: Test, Measure, Refine & Improve (arriving soon)
Three Sure-Fire Steps every Search Marketer should take in Landing Page Optimisation - Step 1 Understand Your Visitors' Persona
July 18, 2007
Targeted landing pages can be a great way in converting visitors into a pre-defined action. Persuasive on-page copywriting and page layout is a key part in landing page optimisation (LPO), although this alone is where many search marketers often run out of steam.
Use this opportunity to move ahead of your competitors with a simple three step approach:
1) Understand Your Visitors' Persona (off-page LPO)
2) Gain Permission and take Visitor to Next Desired Action (on-page LPO)
3) Test, Measure, Refine & Improve (off-page LPO)
Step 1 - Understand Your Visitors' Persona
This is the first landing page post in a series of three and concentrates on the understanding of your visitors' persona. This is a key piece of the jigsaw in defining the optimum user experience, customer journey and the most appropriate landing page.
Dave Chaffey provides a neat overview of web design personas and there is also an interesting seroundtable discussion on the subject.
Personas give a summary of the characteristics, needs, motivations and environment of typical web site users"¦
"¦A customer scenario (journey) is a set of tasks that a particular customer wants or needs to do in order to accomplish his or her desired outcome. Dave Chaffey
As a search marketer it is our job to identify the various types of visitor personas and their desired search journeys.
As part of the customer journey visitors are likely to pass through one or all of following buying decision processes:
- Want or Need recognition "“ prerequisite of further action;
- Search of information on products that could satisfy the needs of the buyer;
- Alternative selection "“ identification and evaluation;
- Decision-making on buying the product "“ choice made;
- Actual Purchase;
- Post-purchase behaviour.
Once you have a handle on the goals of your visitors, the customer journey and the buying decision process - you will be in a stronger position to concentrate on delivering relevant results to your visitors that are aligned to your marketing goals and will help in shaping the most optimal sales funnel.
For a textbook explanation of 'Understanding your Visitors/Customers', Adrian Palmer offers a free chapter Buyer's Behaviour and Relationship Development, kindly supplied by Oxford University Press.
Step 2: Gain Permission and take Visitor to Next Desired Action (arriving in the next couple of days)
