Increase your website conversion rate with split testing

This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the September 30, 2010 @ 8:43 am

If your website has 1,000 visits a week and converts 3% of traffic that works out at 30 conversions a week. If you are setting your targets at 60 conversions a week there are two ways to achieve this: 1 – Double your traffic, 2 – Double your conversion rate. Doubling your conversion rate is likely to be the cheaper option as your marketing costs to drive traffic to your website remain the same.

So how do you go about doubling your conversion rate? This blog explains how you can use Google Website Optimizer to split test your website and improve conversion rates in incremental steps.

Firstly define what a conversion is

What on your website counts as a conversion? Is it someone contacting you? Is it someone making a purchase? Is it someone downloading a paper or guide? Is it someone booking your service?

Then create your split testing plan

Now you know what you’re aiming for and you’ve baselined your current conversion rate it’s time to increase your conversion rate.

To do this we recommend using Google Website Optimizer. It’s a free tool that allows you to have two different versions of the same page live. The first person that goes to the website will see one version of the home page; the second will see a different version. Over a 2 – 3 week period you can see which version is performing better and then look to improve on that.

There are many things on any website which can be split tested. These include:

• Offers
• Banners
• Buttons
• Colours
• Features
• Layouts
• Text
• Designs

Start split testing

Decide what you want to split test and define a plan to test a different element every two weeks. After every test analyse which version won and use that version to test something else.

If the majority of split tests result in a rise in conversion rates, over time this cumulative effect should see a big rise in conversions.

So there you have it – a way to scientifically increase conversion rates. Remember you can split test any page on your website whether that be your home page, landing pages, product pages or payment process.

You can find out more about Website Optimiser here: www.google.com/websiteoptimiser

Is marketing an art or a science?

This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the September 20, 2010 @ 6:17 pm

The answer is…it’s both

Marketing is a science – using analytics, measuring numbers from AdWords or a direct mail campaign, improving website conversion rates, using certain words in advertisements that have been proven to get better results. They can all be recorded, measured and quantified.

Marketing is an art – great graphic design, campaigns that break boundaries, telling stories through copy. Without creativity and flair campaigns would fall flat on their faces.

And what about psychology? Marketing is influencing people to buy; this is the science of behaviour. But it’s also an art, appreciating the nuances of human behaviour and using design and words to do that.

So science is logic; art is creative…and for effective marketing you need both. A website that looks great won’t convert if the functionality and user journey are confusing. An advert that is perfectly written but doesn’t convey emotion and get people excited won’t convert into buyers.

But does marketing always come down to the numbers? For some marketing you can measure everything you do, AdWords being the best example. But even AdWords doesn’t show you the full ROI. How many people see that AdWord, then see an advert for the same company in a newspaper and then go to the website because they are ‘seeing that website everywhere’?

Experts say you need to be exposed to a brand seven times to recognise it. An article written about a company, a billboard, seeing tweets on Twitter, seeing a website in a search engine can all count – so what marketing aspect do the ‘scientists’ measure and what credit should the ‘artist’ have for writing that white paper or designing a web banner?

For marketing to work you need sustained, constant marketing. Artists need to be creating campaigns and fresh material, scientists need to be measuring the effect of individual campaigns and marketing as a whole and using data to drive new campaigns for artists to design.

So for successful marketing you need to use both the logical and creative sides of your brains so that art and science can complement each other.

Marketing Outsourcing – should you outsource your marketing?

This post was last edited by Alex Cohen, on the September 1, 2010 @ 2:01 pm

In today’s environment many businesses are downsizing, re-prioritising their focus or expanding whilst trying to keep costs to a minimum. Outsourcing is a cost effective way to fulfil certain business functions. Outsourcing has become an essential aspect of business strategies and this includes the marketing department.

Outsourcing allows a business to put more focus on product development, operations and sales, usually where the business is strongest in. It eliminates the delay in needing to hire full-time staff and avoids tasking overworked staff.

So, why outsource your marketing?

• Get the skill set you want. An alternative to outsourcing your marketing is hiring a dedicated marketing person. This person would look after the marketing on a day to day basis and ensure there is a constant focus. However as marketing today is so diverse finding someone that is an expert in all marketing disciplines, someone who can understand code to write a website, write copy, design your adverts, optimise your SEO and write a strategy is very rare, if not impossible to find. By outsourcing your marketing to freelancers or an agency you can get the combined minds of experts
• Reduce overheads. By outsourcing to experts you don’t need to hire an individual or team for a specific project or ongoing marketing activity. That way you don’t bear the hidden costs of recruiting, training, furnishing an office, holiday pay, sick pay and employee benefits. Salary is just a fraction of employment costs
• Only pay for what you need. If one month you require an advertising campaign, the next month an email marketing campaign and the next month nothing you only need to pay for what you use. In addition, with a mound of employer legislation, it is easier to terminate an outsourced agreement than it is fire an employee
• Get an expert view without bias. Whilst an outsourced agency should be a partner, they will come with their own perspectives and fresh ideas without the baggage of internal politics or ‘we’ve always done it this way’ mentality. They bring with them the experience of working with many businesses all of whom will have had different marketing requirements
• Improve your focus. Outsourcing helps you to focus on the core competencies of your business. You can get on with running your business; selling, product development and looking after your customers, leaving your marketing to experts in their field
• Jump-start your marketing instantly. Outsourcing gives you access to experienced marketing professionals who can quickly develop plans and campaigns on the tightest of schedules

The alternatives to outsourcing

There are of course alternatives to outsourcing your marketing:

• You could hire a dedicated marketing person. This person would look after the marketing on a day to day basis and ensure there is a constant focus, however as mentioned above one person is unlikely to have a full marketing skill-set
• You could hire a dedicated marketing team. You would have constant marketing but at a substantial price

Outsourcing options

There are three ways to outsource your marketing:

• Hire a dedicated contractor: They can bring a fresh viewpoint to your marketing and only work when you need them. However they are unlikely to have a full marketing skillset and may need additional resource or you may choose to not implement the full marketing mix
• Hire specialist freelancers: Hire specialist freelancers as and when you need them to look after separate parts of your marketing. An SEO specialist, web designer, copywriter, graphic designer etc. This way you get a full skill-set but can end up spending all your time managing these freelancers, educating them about the business and trying to get them to work together when they could all be pulling in different directions. Furthermore would you know what to look for when you’re hiring? Do you know what makes a good SEO consultant compared to the best graphic designer for your business?
• Partner with a marketing agency: (like Xander Marketing). You get a full team’s skill-set looking after you and one point of contact meaning you only get what you pay for, saving you time and money

Xander Marketing works with many businesses as their outsourced marketing department. To explore the options you have available when it comes to outsourcing your marketing contact us today.

Tags: marketing department