Turn Your Website Into a Lead and Revenue Generating Machine

How to turn your website into a
lead and revenue generating
machine

Alissa Ruehl
Apogee Search

Today’s Roadmap

1. What do you want your machine to do?
2. Definitions
3. How important is conversion rate?
4. Conversion psychology
5. Oiling the machine
6. Innovating through experimentation

Part 1

What do you want your machine
to do?

Learn more at www.apogee-search.com

Can you think of a machine that
doesn’t have a clear purpose?


Existential Machines???

What was I
created for?


Can you think of a website that
doesn’t have a clear purpose?


If it’s yours, that’s ok



But let’s do it a favor and give it a
reason to exist.



But let’s do it a favor and give it a
reason to exist.

It’ll be happier


Common Goals
• Generating sales
• Amazon, online retailers
• Generating leads for a sales team
• Apogee Search, most B2B websites, Direct TV
• Getting publicity/Branding
• Swaggerize


Common Goals
• Generating sales
• Amazon, online retailers
• Generating leads for a sales team
• Apogee Search, most B2B websites, Direct TV
• Getting publicity/Branding
• Swaggerize
• Distributing information
• Lance Armstrong Foundation, IRS.gov


Multiple Goals?
• Generating online sales & store traffic
• Macys.com
• Generating one-off sales & leads for large orders
• Ironkey.com


Multiple Goals?

• Find all of your goals
• Prioritize!!!


Kitchen timer with a
microwave feature?


Part 2

Definitions


What is a conversion?



A conversion is when a visitor to your website
completes a desired action.



A conversion is when a visitor to your website
completes a desired action (one of the main
purposes of your website)
• Makes a purchase
• Fills out a contact form
• Schedules an appointment
• Signs up for a newsletter
• Etc


What is a conversion rate?


What is a conversion rate?

Your conversion rate is the percentage of
visitors that convert to the desired action.

Actions/Visitors


How do I know my conversion rate?


How do I know my conversion rate?

To find your conversion rate, use a web
analytics tool to track the number of visitors
and the number of completed actions.

Google Analytics – good and free!


Part 3

How Important is
Conversion Rate?

How Important is Conversion Rate?

Example:
• 10,000 visitors per month


Example:
• 1% conversion rate


Example:
• 100 sales (or leads) per month


Example:
10,000 visitors per month
•
1% conversion rate
•
100 sales (or leads) per month
•
Want to double sales
•


Example:
•
1% conversion rate
•
•
•
PPC?
SEO?


Example:
•
1% conversion rate
•
•
•
PPC?
SEO?
Conversion rate improvement


Example:
Double conversion rate:

Small, Incremental Improvements

Visitors Conversion Rate Sales
Past 10,000 1% 100
Q1 -5% increase 10,000 1.05% 105
Q2 -5% increase 10,000 1.10% 110
Q3 -5% increase 10,000 1.16% 116
Q4 -5% increase 10,000 1.22% 122

Small, Incremental Improvements

Visitors Conversion Rate Sales
Past 10,000 1% 100
Q1 -5% increase 10,000 1.05% 105
Q2 -5% increase 10,000 1.10% 110
Q3 -5% increase 10,000 1.16% 116
Q4 -5% increase 10,000 1.22% 122

Total sales for the year if no attention is paid to conversion: 1,200
Total sales for the year with 1 tiny improvement per quarter: 1,358

Part 4

Conversion Psychology



Costs Benefits


Ecommerce

Costs Benefits
• Cost of item • I get the item


Ecommerce

Costs Benefits
• Time spent trying to find
the right one
• Time in purchase process
• Risk of buying the wrong
item
I shouldn’t


Tipping the Scale
Ecommerce

Costs Benefits
• Time spent trying to find • Well, it’s right here . . .
the right one • It’ll get here soon
• Time in purchase process • My favorite movie star
• Risk of buying the wrong has one
item • It’ll make me look thinner

I can’t
resist!

Lead Generation

Costs Benefits
• Tons of emails and sales • I get information on a
calls possible product or service
• Time spent navigating the • I get an interesting
site & trying to figure out whitepaper
how EXACTLY this
company leverages my
business for higher ROI
• Time to fill out the form Why
bother?


Tipping the Scale
Lead Generation

Costs Benefits
• Tons of emails and sales • I get information on a
calls possible product or service
• Time spent navigating the • I get an interesting
site & trying to figure out whitepaper
how EXACTLY this
• I could improve lead flow by
company leverages my
up to 75%
business for higher ROI
• I could be a hero at my
• Time to fill out the form
company
Why not?


Part 5

Oiling the Machine
Reducing Friction


Oiling the Machine

12 Tips for reducing friction on forms
• 4 general
• 4 for ecom
• 4 for lead generation


General Form Tips


Limit the Number of Fields


Sensible tab sequence


Try buttons with text other than
“submit”
Purchase now
Download now
Register
Contact me
Proceed to billing
Infinite possibilities!


Remove the clear/cancel button

• Avoid “cancel”, “clear” or “reset form”
• Allow people to go back, if necessary


Summary of General Form Tips

Limit the number of fields
Sensible tab sequence
Try buttons with text other than “submit”
Remove the clear/cancel button


Ecommerce Form Tips


Don’t make people set up an account

Let them order first, then set up an account afterwards


Use progress indicators

• For multiple step forms, show people where they are in
the process
• Make it clear at what point they are charged


Remind people what they’re buying

• At each step, show what is being purchased
Items
Sizes/Colors/Dates
Shipping options & costs
• Especially at the purchase step


Remind them of your return policy or
guarantee

• If you have custom items and don’t allow
returns, remind them so they can check their
order
• If you have a good return policy or guarantee,
remind them so they don’t have doubt


Remind them of your return policy or
guarantee


Summary of Ecommerce Form Tips

• Don’t make people set up an account before they order.
• Use progress indicators
• Remind people what they’re buying
• Remind them of your return policy or guarantee


Lead Generation Form Tips


Have a comment field

If you’re asking for information from them, let them ask you
questions
You may receive some valuable information


Don’t ask too many qualifying
questions


Don’t expect people to search for the
form

Ideally, there should be a form on the landing page
If that’s not possible, have noticeable calls to action


Have a privacy policy

Let people know they won’t get spam
Can be a link or a statement “We will not sell your
information to anyone” “We value your privacy”
Might help your Google paid search quality score


Part 6

Building a Better Machine
Innovation Through Experimentation


Why Experiment?

• Every website is unique
• Non-political
• Testing can be better than focus groups
• Actual audience
• Doesn’t know they’re being watched
• Often cheaper

Poll: How familiar are you with testing?


Testing: 1,2,3

1. Choosing a Tool
2. Choosing a Test Type (A/B versus
Multivariate)
3. Choosing What to Test


Choosing a Tool

Google Website Optimizer
Omniture Test & Target (Offermatica)
Interwoven Optimost
SiteSpect
Widemile
& Many others


Choosing a Tool

• Free
• Fewer Features
Paid tools
• Can be very expensive
• Expanded capabilities


We’ll focus on Google Website Optimizer

Fair Disclaimer: Apogee Search is a Google Website Optimizer
Authorized Consultant. Although we often use GWO, we also
appreciate the advanced features in paid testing & optimization
tools.



• Can test a landing page, or a regular page on the site
• GWO operates on all traffic going to a page, whether
from AdWords, Yahoo, MSN or other search engines, or
traffic from other sources
• You don’t need to be using AdWords to use it


Choosing a Test Type

A/B
• Which page converts better, version A or version B?
• Can have more than 2 variations – A/B/C/D . .



Multivariate
• Testing by component
• Which is the best headline, the best image, the best
copy, the best form, etc


A/B
• Doesn’t require a great deal of traffic
• Good for testing major design changes
• You can test existing pages with little effort
Multivariate
• Requires more traffic (usually >100
conversions/month)
• Answers specifically why one page is better
• Taguchi style versus full factorial


Choosing What to Test
Which pages to test?
• Pages with high traffic levels
• Entry pages
• Or pages in the path of conversion (form
page, shopping cart pages, etc)
• PPC landing pages and the homepage are
often good ideas


Choosing What to Test
Layout
Headlines
Images
Copy
Forms
Calls to action
Button color/size/wording
Lead bait (whitepaper versus webinar, etc)
Pretty much anything


Specific Suggestions for Lead Gen
• Create a simplified landing page with a
single call to action
• Few other links on the page
• Form on the page is often best
• “Lead Bait” – whitepaper, newsletter or other offer
• Simple, but explanatory text
• Short paragraphs & bullet points
• Test against your current product page,
home page, or landing page.


Specific Suggestions for Ecommerce
• Test product page template
• Try changing text on the “add to cart” button
• Adjust size & position of “add to cart” button
• Add return policy to the page
• Test link to shipping info page
• Test product description for top product
• Add more description
• Add more photos
• Test offers
• Free shipping over a certain order amount?
• Seasonal sale?


Specific Suggestions for Everyone
• Look at your messaging
• We v. You language
• Action oriented v. descriptive
• Benefits v. Features
• Fluff v. Specific


Testing Tips

• Avoid testing:
• Different elements that might not combine well
• Elements that won’t make much impact
• Too may elements or too many variations
• Pay attention to statistical significance
• Test before making major site changes or
redesigns


Alissa Ruehl
Manager of Website Effectiveness Consulting
Apogee Search
www.apogee-search.com

alissa@apogee-search.com
Twitter: AlissaRu

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