First, what does Google Website Optimizer do?
If you had two possible headlines for your page and you couldn't decide which to use, you could run an A/B split test in which...
* half of your visitors would be shown Headline A
and
* the other half would be shown Headline B.
You could then count up which headline brought you the most orders.
Google Website Optimizer lets you carry out tests like this. However, tests like this often take several weeks to finish.
Google Website Optimizer's real power is that it allows you to carry out loads of these tests at once
...For example, while you are testing which headline to use, you could also test many other things - such as text, images, prices, offers, buttons, etc - all at the same time. Each of your visitors will see a different combination of these elements, then GWO will work out, on average, which of the elements performed the best. This can help you to put together a "super-page".
This picture shows you how Google Website Optimizer could be used on this page...
Why you need to increase your conversion rate
There are 3 reasons why you need to make conversion rates your number one priority for the forthcoming year:
- Loads of room for improvement. Most websites are losing bucket loads of money each day because they do an atrocious job of selling to their visitors.
- Pay-per-click will keep getting more competitive. And increasing your bids is not the answer.
- Google Website Optimizer has arrived. Google has just released a powerful tool that allows you to test changes to your website – and will tell you which changes brought in the most customers. (If you don't have it already, sign up here). Unfortunately though, Google Website Optimizer doesn't tell you what to test. That's what this article is about.
Why increasing your conversion rate is more exciting than sex
(well, at least more exciting than sex with me)
If I doubled your website conversion rate, it means your cost-per-acquisition would halve. This tool shows you how much extra you'd earn:
http://www.paloalto.com/common/calculators/conversionrate.cfm
(By the way, cost-per-acquisition (CPA) is how much it costs to get each new customer).
But when this happens, I recommend you don't just sit back and enjoy the profits, (tempting as that might be).
Instead, I recommend you take advantage of the fact you can now afford to pay twice as much per visitor. This means |
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i. You can pay about twice as much per click on AdWords, which can bring over ten times more visitors.
ii. You can start advertising in media that had previously been too expensive for you. For example
- Full page magazine ads
- National Newspaper ads
- Radio ads
- TV Infomercials
iii. Your affiliates can earn twice as much as before – so the super-affiliate big boys start wanting to sell your product.
- so, in summary, the total number of orders goes nuts!
(That's the first time I've used my squirrel "nuts" joke on you. The first of many.)
iv. As the number of orders skyrockets, your company gets greater bargaining power with its suppliers, so its costs-per-unit-sold tend to fall – so the company becomes more efficient because of economies of scale. So you (or your company's owner/shareholders) get even richer.
Why doubling your conversion rate is really really achievable
What's your conversion rate at the moment? 5%? 10%? Don't know? A 10% conversion rate means that of every 10 visitors to your site, 9 walk away empty-handed. Do you really believe you couldn't get that number down to 8 out of 10?
Look at it another way: to double your conversion rate, you just need to increase the conversion rate of…
- your adverts by 25%…
- …and your homepage by 25%…
- …and your product page by 25%…
- …and your shopping cart by 25%...
And to increase your homepage's conversion rate by 25%, you would just have to make a 2.5% improvement to ten of the following things:
- your company's strapline, your headline, your introductory text, your offer, your guarantee, your picture, your readability, your usability, your navigation, your call to action, your products, your pricing, your offers, your premium, your testimonials, your "call to action", your site layout, your returns policy, etc…
i.e. it's so easy, even a rat could do it.
(I hate rats. I hate their arrogant little faces).
In fact, if you can get that done within the next month, you could spend the rest of the year lying on a beach sipping cocktails!
So in summary, once you've finished reading this article, you need to clear your desk and start up a new project called "Doubling My Conversion Rate". And pray your competitors aren't doing the same thing.
Will these techniques work for YOUR website?
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Most of my successes have been from selling physical products to business people, but these techniques work even if you're selling cheese to mice *.
* actually, that's probably a bad example.
*101 ways to improve your conversion rate*
Here we go! These are some of the things I'd do if I were working on your site.
A word of warning: don't be daunted by this list – if you did everything on it, you'd probably be the best marketer in the world! In reality, just one of these 101 things could be enough to double your conversion rate. The most important thing is to do something – now!
So, warn your operations department to expect an avalanche, then let's get started!
Your "profit-exploding" toolkit
I know this is an article about Google Website Optimizer, but GWO becomes loads more powerful if you use it alongside other tools. Here are the other things you need in your marketing arsenal…
- Multivariate tests – This is what Google Website Optimizer does. You might have heard of "Taguchi method" or "Taguchi testing". Taguchi is just a specific type of multivariate test.
Google's not always the best tool for the job.
Here are some alternatives to Google Website Optimizer:
They all have their advantages. I'll be reviewing them in my free newsletter (sign-up here)
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- Time split tests (also known as before-and-after tests) – These stink. I only put them in the list so I could mention that. If your orders go up and down week by week (and whose don't?) time-split tests tend to lead to wrong decisions.
- A/B split tests – There are many occasions where a simple A/B split test is all that's needed.
- Google Adwords – is often (wrongly, in my opinion) used to run split tests by creating two identical ads with different destination URL's. I don't recommend using Adwords to split test, sign-up to my newsletter to find out why.
- Live Chat – few tools tell you anything about your "non-customers" – that is, the visitors who arrived at your site then left for whatever reason. You rarely get feedback from these people. They are unlikely to phone up, but they might just be persuaded to use a Live Chat feature.
- Web analytics – You can learn loads from your web analytics package. At the most basic level, the 'site overlay' feature tells you where people click, where they don't click and where they leave your site. Some people say "there are piles of gold waiting for you in your log files" and they are right, in a vague over-poetic kind of way.
- Usability tests – these can be carried out on pretty much anyone you can get your hands on. They are gold dust, literally*.
* not literally.
If I could have just one testing tool, it would be usability testing. Web analytics tells you what visitors are doing, but usability testing tells you why. No other tool provides so many headslapping "I can't believe I didn't think of that" moments.
Bonus tip: If you want to carry out thorough usability tests conduct a focus group. If you want to know how to get them done for free sign-up to my free newsletter and I'll tell you.
- Eyetracking – shows you which things people see but don't click. And which things people don't click because they don't see. Got that? Eyetracking requires fancy hardware, so you need to get a company to do it for you.
- "Poor-man's eyetracking" – About 5 seconds into each usability test, ask the person what they have looked at so far. They usually find it easy to tell you.
- Clickmapping – CrazyEgg is a free service that allows you to see the parts of your page that your visitors click on.
- Customer surveys – Your customers know why they ordered. And why they nearly didn't. Ask them about it. There are loads of survey services available – SurveyGizmo in particular is a joy to use.
- Co-opetition – short for "cooperative competition", this is a technique by which you sell your competitors' products from your website (usually via an affiliate program). Co-opetition can teach you a lot about your competitors' conversion rates. And if your visitors prefer your competitors' products, this is an easy way to find out!
Think like a master-tester
Here are some tips to getting into the right mindset:
- Stop having debates with your colleagues about who likes what. If in doubt, test. Your mantra should be "let the customers decide". Like a pair of oversized underpants, you'll find it strangely liberating.
- Start to think of your business as a constantly shifting experiment. Don't just test your favorite ideas. Carry out tests "just to see what happens". For example, what would happen if you lowered your prices by 30%? Or increased them by 30%? It's the only way you'll learn what matters to your customers.
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- Learn your other new mantra: When people in your company object to the changes you're making, remind them that this is just an exploratory experiment to "learn what happens", not a long-term decision. Let this become your mantra: "It's just an experiment", "It's just an experiment".
Two minutes ago you didn't have a mantra. Now you've got two!
- Copy what works for others (within limits). In particular, copy companies that appear to be tracking and testing. You can spot them because they are using the techniques in this list.
- Copy the techniques that have been developed by people who have been testing for decades: that is, copy direct response advertisers. The internet may be new, but your visitors aren't, and direct response advertisers have been running split tests to find out what works for about a hundred years. It's easy to spot their ads in magazines, newspapers and direct mail – they have tracking codes and coupons on the bottom corner. And they tend to look a bit ugly, (ugly sells, unfortunately.)
- Place bets with your colleagues as to which of your test samples will win. You'll be amazed at how often you are wrong. Only the top few percent of marketers appreciate that it's impossible to always spot the winner. Race to become one of them.
- Don't try to outsource this: this is the most important job in your company. You have two options:
- a. Do it in-house
- b. Get 'experts' in… and do it in-house
Do you see what I did there? I didn't give you the option of "outsourcing it and forgetting it". That's because it's impossible. No passing expert will ever know enough about your business to be able to do it as well as you could. Use that to your benefit.
- Locate (or become) your company's best salesperson. Your website is your electronic salesperson. It has the advantage of being able to sell to thousands of people at the same time.
However, only person-to-person selling will teach you the reactions of prospects to certain types of argument and approach. It is by far the quickest and most effective way of finding out what appeals to your prospects and what doesn't. The words on your website need to have been tested on real people. No amount of online testing will give you this gut feel.
So you have a choice – either become your company's best salesperson, or seek out the best salesperson and listen to how they sell the product.
- Don't test the small stuff. Test big bold changes. This has two advantages
- a. You'll get the results quicker (it's a statistics thing)
- b. You're more likely to get big improvements
- Two approaches to testing:
- a. Make incremental improvements
- b. My favorite – test all your big ideas at once, hoping for one massive leap forward.
- Don't worry about temporarily lowering your conversion rate
If a test is a failure, you get one bad day of business. If a test is a success, you get a lifetime of success.
- Don't end the test too soon! Make sure you have enough data! Some people say you need to test for two weeks. Some people say you need to collect at least 30 orders. Some people use "gut feel". They are all wrong. The only correct answer is to use the right statistical tool.
- a. For split tests of AdWords ads, use www.splittester.com
- b. For other split tests, use the tool at www.teasley.net/statcalc.xls (where mailed quantity just means 'number of impressions', # of responses just means "number of results" and element means "test page")
- c. All multivariate testing software contains in-built statistical analysis
These tools tell you whether your results are significant – or whether you haven't got enough data yet, and they are just due to random "chance".
What to focus on first
- The best place to start is by identifying the weak links in your marketing funnel. Sketch out a brief overview of your marketing funnel, from advertising all the way through to closing the sale. This will include…
- Your advertising, Your sales force, Your homepage, Your product pages, Your checkout pages, Your order confirmation page, Your call center staff, How the package is sent out?
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This will help you to identify which step has the most scope for improvement. That's the step to start working on. You will probably find it's the step that you had forgotten existed, or that no-one in your team knows anything about. Perhaps it's the step that everyone thinks is "someone else's problem".
- Test stuff that your usability testees told you to change. (You are going to do usability tests, aren't you? Promise me!)
Getting your message straight before you start
- What's your unique selling proposition (USP)? In other words, what makes you different from or better than all your competitors? Have you ever tested it against possible alternatives? Draw up a shortlist to test – then your visitors can let you know which is most important to them!
- Rank the top 5 points you want to communicate to your visitors. You want to make sure that, whatever else your visitors learn from your site, they definitely learn these top 5 points.
- Consider all the different types of person who might view your site – try to write for all of them. You might find it easier to create personas for this.
What to test
- Test everything! Seriously. Test everything. That's it. I've finished. I'm going to get my scabby claws on some nuts now…
What's that? You want more details? OK then…
- Identify which products bring you the most overall profit, then put them in prime position on the page, by which I mean above the fold (that is, on the upper part of the page so the user doesn't have to scroll down to see it), preferably on the left-hand side. Mmm, I think I explained that well.
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- Headlines are extremely important. If your visitor doesn't like the headline, they won't read any further. Express your main message in a headline that:
- i. Is worded in terms of benefit to the customer, not in terms of product features.
- ii. Suggests that the person will get the results with ease
- iii. Is believable
- If you don't know how to describe your product's features in terms of benefits, carry out this exercise: imagine the customer is looking at your headline and asking "Why should I care about that?" The way you would answer their question is likely to be worded in terms of a benefit.
- Struggling for a good headline? Adapt headlines from Cosmopolitan magazine or MSN.com, who use formulaic headlines that have been proven to work again and again. Today MSN has "7 ADHD truths you may not know" as a headline. Replacing "ADHD" with your product name would give an instantly compelling headline. In my free newsletter I'll give you some great resources for writing winning headlines.
I gave three bullet points to headlines because they are so important. And because 101 tips is starting to sound like a lot of typing for my mangy little paws.
- The strapline under your logo will be viewed almost as much as the headline. So make sure it clearly expresses a distinct USP.
- Test high and low prices - because customers don't always seek out the lowest prices. There's such a thing as "reassuringly expensive".
- Test odd-pricing. Odd pricing is prices that end in 9's and 7's, which tend to sell better. Would you or I be fooled by that? No, we're far too smart. But someone's falling for it, because this phenomenon has been proven over and over again.
- Test different offers. How about a one-month free trial? In general, do whatever you can to get the product into the customer's hands. If you're so confident in your product, prove it by taking some of the risk.
- Divide your product or service into a standard version (for the prospects who are price-sensitive) and a premium version (for the ones who aren't).
- Test different premiums – that is, bonuses they get if they order. Examples include free reports, gifts and accessories.
- Add a guarantee or test different ones. Start with the bravest guarantee you dare test. And if it works, test a braver one.
- Add testimonials from happy customers. In general, a video testimonial is better than a testimonial with an image, which is better than a testimonial with just a name, which is better than an anonymous testimonial.
- Add testimonials from the media. If you don't have any, try giving them free stuff in exchange for reviews and feedback.
- Develop a systematic way for collecting testimonials. Train your sales staff to request a testimonial whenever they receive a compliment. Email your customers asking for testimonials.
- Test different "calls to action". The call to action is what you want them to do next. It is usually written on the 'proceed' button. Test direct ones such as "Buy Now And Get 10% Off" as well as indirect ones such as "Learn More".
- Try making the "call to action" button nice and visible. Large brightly-colored buttons often convert better – they seem to draw the readers' attention.
- Test different reasons why the visitor should act promptly. For example, "offer ends Wednesday", or "only 42 tickets left".
- Make the right stuff "pop". "Pop" just means stand out. There are several ways to do this:
- Use bold
- Use italics
- Use yellow highlighter (yes, it looks terrible, but it can be effective)
- Use hand-drawn scribbles
(This is another high-risk one. It looks terrible, but it can be very effective.)
Having a kick-ass layout
- A single-column layout allows you more control over the order in which your visitors view your site. When a visitor sees your page, make sure the things they see first are the things you want them to see. This is one of the reasons for the effectiveness of those long pages in the style of single-column long sales letters; because they have more control over the order in which the visitor views the page.
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- Where do people look? Eyetracking studies have shown that visitors tend to look first at the upper-left-hand area of the page, then at your headline, then at the left-hand side of the page. So put your best features there.
- Remove clutter. Imagine that every pixel on your page either increases the conversion rate or decreases it – or just takes up space. If you can get rid of things that aren't working, you create more space for the things that are.
- Put all the best stuff "above the fold". A surprising number of your visitors will not scroll at all, so it's best to make sure that the area "above the fold" is pretty damn enticing.
- Decide what to feature on your homepage. Write a list of the things that your visitors are looking for. Chances are, there are between 3 and 5 things that most of your visitors are trying to do. Share the space on your homepage between these 3 to 5 categories, and relegate all the rest to a small space for "miscellaneous" stuff.
- Test different navigation structures.
- In particular, consider removing the navigation bar (or at least moving it somewhere less prominent). On many pages, navigation bars can just be a distraction.
- If your website has a "cool" non-conventional layout, try a conventional layout. Conventions are conventions for a reason – they make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.
- Remove any distracting links that lead to places you don't want them to go! Does your site contain any gratuitous links that you never really considered your visitors might actually click on?
- Use a nice large font for your headline.
- Make the first letter of your body copy a large "drop caps" letter. Drop caps letters are effective in "bridging the gap" between the headline and the body copy.
- For the same reason, consider having your introductory paragraph in a slightly more prominent font size or appearance.
- Test different images. Most effective tend to be
- a. images of the product
- b. images of the product being used
- c. images of a "role model" character using the product
- d. images of happy customers holding the product (that is, a testimonial and product shot all in one).
Attention-grabbing images are great, but only if they help to communicate your sales message (which they rarely do).
- Test giving your visitors the option to "zoom-in" to see a larger image of the product. (It's surprising how few e-commerce sites have decent-sized images, isn't it?)
- Put captions under your images and test them. For some weird reason, people almost always read the captions under images.
- Call-outs (that is, text pointing to particular parts of the picture) tend to be effective.
- Test Violators, which are attention-getting shapes such as starbursts, ovals and banners.
- If your page is long and requires scrolling, consider having your call to action button repeated several times on the page.
…which reminds me, have you signed up for your FREE life-changing Conversion Rate Squirrel's "SuperConverters" Newsletter yet?
- If your page requires scrolling, make sure that there are no "false bottoms" – that is, elements of the layout that imply the customer has reached the bottom of the page when they haven't.
- Many websites find they get higher conversion rates if their page is set out in the form of a sales letter (like this page is). Test whether this would work for your industry. Typical features of a sales letter include…
- A picture of the person who is writing the letter.
- An image of the writer's signature at the end.
- At least one "P.S." For some reason, people always read "P.S.'s".
Body copy
- There is a long debate about how much copy to include. In general, write as much as it takes to communicate all of your "sales pitch". You are aiming to condense as many persuasive arguments and relevant information into as little text as possible. This will usually require more words than most websites currently use.
- Use simple straightforward language. No reader is too sophisticated for short simple sentences.
- Fill your body copy with benefits, not just product features.
- Include all the information that a customer could possibly require in order to make a purchase. Note that it doesn't all need to be on the main product page.
- Make sure you address all the common objections that your customers bring up. As preparation for this, you might find it useful to compile a chart of objections and counter-objections, then rank them in order of importance.
- Test different font sizes to make your text more readable.
- Test different font colors.
- Near the end of the body copy, consider having a series of bullet points (or better still, ticks) that summarize the major benefits.
- Rewrite your article for people who skim read. Use sub-heads (that is, headlines dispersed throughout, like where I wrote "Body Copy" above) and bold to make sure the right things "pop".
- Consider putting the start of your order form on the product page itself.
Go multimedia
Shopping cart optimization
You'd be surprised how many people abandon their shopping carts before they reach the checkout. In fact, your web analytics tool will show you exactly how many do.
- Repeat your offer and main benefits on the first page of your shopping cart or order form. Some customers click on the Buy Now button just to see what the price and shipping cost will be, so you don't want to miss out on this chance of persuading them.
- Don't ask for too much information, which can be tiresome and off-putting for the customer. Do you really need their fax number before they place an order? Even if it loses you a small fraction of their orders? (…which it will do).
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- Having thumbnail photos of the products in your cart can increase the likelihood of them completing the order (presumably because they feel they can't abandon the GIF's at your checkout?!)
- Whenever you're asking for information, that's the time to provide timely reassurance as to why you need it. For example,
- a. Under the email field, say something like "We hate spam as much as you do" – and consider including the HackerSafe logo.
- b. Under an email newsletter opt-in box, have a link to your privacy policy.
- c. Under the "Order Now" button, remind them of your guarantee and returns policy.
- Use Ajax/Javascript to hide away the bits of forms that aren't needed. Ajax is the technology that allows parts of the page to be updated without reloading the whole page. Try clicking the Ship To A Different Address button in this example: Here
- Replace long dropdown lists with an Ajax alternative, to increase the chance – and the speed – of the customer finding what they are looking for. For example, try typing in "Paris" in SideStep.com's form.
- Show additional ways to order – for example, by phone, by fax. Each customer has a way that they prefer to order. Sometimes the presence of the phone number itself can increase reassurance, even if the people don't actually phone you.
- Do you have an "enter your coupon" field on your shopping cart? Test whether this is turning people away. (People often resent ordering when they see that others are getting a better deal).
A nice bit of borrowed credibility
- Try adding "Reassurance logos" such as:
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The Trust-E Web Privacy Seal (which indicates that your privacy policy is sound) |
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The HackerSafe logo (which indicates that your website security is sound |
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ControlScan ID Theft Protection (includes criminal background checks on your staff!). |
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VeriSign SSL Certificate (shows your data is encrypted using SSL). |
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Better Business Bureau (BBBOnline) reliability program |
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Better Business Bureau (BBBOnline) privacy program |
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The "Traffic ranking certified by Alexa" |
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The logo of your shipping carriers (FedEx, UPS, etc) |
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Credit card logos, at the point where they are entered |
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Your online payment provider logo (PayPal, WorldPay, etc) |
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Your website's structure
- Test a different version of your About Us page that shows you as real people, not some cold faceless corporation.
- Consistency of message. Do whatever you can to keep your message consistent all the way from advert through to order placement.
- Immediately after the customer has ordered – or agreed to anything– they are in a particularly agreeable mood (seasoned sales people refer to this phenomenon as the "yes set"). Take advantage of this by making additional offers to them...
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- In particular, a good refer-a-friend program placed on the order confirmation page can be very effective. (speaking of friends, please tell all your friends about this article. They'll love you for it.)
- The order confirmation page is also a great place from which to sell other products (known as cross-selling).
- Entry pop-ups and exit pop-ups. Be careful with these - sometimes they work well, sometimes they just irritate users.
Usability
- View your website using different browsers and screen resolutions, to see how your customers see it. Handy tools for doing this are http://www.browsercam.com/ and http://browsershots.org/.
- Minimize your site load times (here's a nice tool for checking your site).
- Get your site search feature working. Google Mini and Google Free Web Search both enable your visitors to search your site using Google.
- Make everything clickable. Visitors click on everything, pictures in particular.
- If you have advertising on your site, test that. With many advertising programmes (such as Google's AdSense, YPN and Chitika) you can split advertising into channels. You can then test the following and measure which brings in the most revenue
- a. Different sizes of ad.
- b. Different shapes of ad
- c. Different positions of ad
- d. Different ad color formats ("blend in" versus "stand out")
And finally...
- Sign up to my life-changing SuperConverters Newsletter! I've grown fond of you during our time together, and I'd love us to stay in touch.
In your SuperConverters Newsletter, I'll take you by the hand through many of these points – and give you a peek into my world of conversion rate testing. It's totally FREE, and it will change your life (for the better).
Plus, if you sign up before Friday (that's this Friday!), I'll send you these FREE "I-Knew-Conversion-Rate-Squirrel-Before-He-Was-Famous" bonuses…
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FREE BONUS 1 – You'll get Tip 102, Tip 103… through to Tip 106, all of which I edited out of the article because 101 sounded like a nicer number. These were some of my favorites and until yesterday were in a section at the end called "Advanced Tips". |
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FREE BONUS 2 – You'll get the whole of this article, plus Tips 102 to 106 as an easy-to-print (but tricky to Scotch tape together) PDF wallchart. |
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FREE BONUS 3 - I'll show you a picture of Mrs Squirrel in a bikini! (I'm in the shot too, in my trunks). |
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Keep in touch!
And happy testing!
Conversion Rate Squirrel
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