Those in the know, have often heard that “email is the most cost-effective marketing tool.” That can be true, but only if you know how to effectively leverage email marketing.

Your email campaign is only as strong as your database
Who are you sending to? How did you get their information?
Email marketing stats are directly tied to how your database receives your email. Can you depend on them to open your email? Better yet, are you willing to bet that they won’t consider it spam?
Make sure that your database WANTS to hear from you. When a user fills out a form on your website and “opts in” to receive more information, send them an email thanking them for signing up and remind them to look for more correspondence from you in the future. Provide clear expectations as to how often you will be connecting with your contacts.
Finally, provide a clear way for your contacts to unsubscribe. Respect their privacy. If a contact no longer wants to hear your messaging, make saying good-bye painless. Don’t waste time and money broadcasting your message to people who “just aren’t that into you.”

Reporting is the key to success
Set goals, meet the goals, repeat.
Make sure you set a benchmark for open rates, click-through rates and conversions. Use tools like A/B Testing to ensure that you eke out the best return on your marketing investment.

Which type of message gets better open rates?
Which button design (graphic or ASCCI) gets clicked the most?
Which message gets forwarded the most?
Which type of message gets the most opt-outs?

Use all of the tools at your disposal
The tools are there, just learn how to use them!
Test a subject line on 5% of your database, then choose the subject line that garners the best open rate to your remaining 95%. Companies like Blue Sky Factory are at the cutting edge of email marketing strategies like this.

Another no-brainer? Include social media links (post this on Facebook, tweet this on Twitter) within your email campaign. Let your audience become your evangelists.

Email marketing is not dead – it is just evolving. Make sure that your brand has not given up on email marketing.

Does your website need more help in converting visitors to something more useful-customers? In a word … YES!

OK, need more information? Let’s start at the beginning.

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the science and art of creating an experience for a website visitor with the goal of having that user complete a conversion.

How do you calculate a conversion rate?
Let’s think of an e-commerce transaction as a funnel:

• 10,000 visitors come to your site.
• 6,000 of those visitors hit your store area.
• 1,800 of those visitors place an item in the cart.
• 54 of those visitors successfully complete a purchase.

This e-commerce conversion funnel yields a 0.5% conversion rate (54/10000). Let’s look at how a small change in conversion rates can result in large revenue gains:

Conversion Rate Optimization is an ongoing process. It’s a success-driven process that results in a higher ROI, some of which can then be used to further fine tune CRO—which, in turns, drives an even higher ROI. It’s a nice cycle to own.

Be sure to subscribe to MicroArts’ blog feed to learn more about our CRO and get the latest insights on how to maximize the value of your website’s traffic base.

Ready to have a conversation about your site’s CRO? Let’s set up a meeting to discuss the ROI we can provide! Questions about CRO? Fire away.

Control



Variation 1



Variation 2

Our goal for the A/B test was to get users to the Products page. That’s it … which homepage design would deliver more users to the Products page? Both variation pages showed marked improvements over our control page.

We ran two tests to confirm our findings. Variation B took the first round by a margin of 53.3% to 41.7%. In the second test, Variation B had a conversion rate of 44.8% while Variation A had a conversion rate of 35.2%.

Great! We have conclusive data that tells us which page gets more customers into the product pages … just what we wanted – Mission Complete! But then OhMiBod tells us that cart abandonment is now down 48% since we started running our tests(!). This is great news … but what is this telling us?

Take a look at our control page. There were too many navigation options for users, they didn’t know what they were supposed to do! If you are running an ecommerce site – make that perfectly clear! Our design variations show users (in a clear, consistent manner) that you are here to buy something … now do it! And, apparently, they were listening!

Be sure to check back for more results on our on-going Conversion Rate Optimization of OhMiBod.com. The product page is the next page to undergo an A-B Test. We can’t wait to see how that will affect shopping cart conversions!

If your job involves Internet Marketing, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) will soon become part of your everyday vernacular. SEOmoz predicts that 2010 is the Year of Conversion Rate Optimization, calling it one of the “most under-utilized and highest ROI activities in the marketing department.” MicroArts agrees. Performing CRO benefits all our clients. Not sure how CRO can benefit your website? Let’s start with the basics …

What is conversion rate?
Conversion rate is the percentage of your visitors that reach a pre-determined goal. Typical goals include:

• making a purchase
• submitting a form
• requesting more information
• joining a mailing list

Why should you care about conversion rates?
Pay-per-click rates will continue to rise. The competition for keywords is driving up pricing. If you can’t guarantee a better ROI, you are throwing money away. By increasing your conversion rate, you can afford to pay more for your visitors … while still providing a great ROI.

What tools can you use to optimize your conversion rate?

• A/B Testing
  A/B Testing is a method of comparing two versions of a web page by altering various page elements and randomly and simultaneously presenting them to visitors. Google Website Optimizer can work directly with your AdWords campaign to provide A/B Testing.
• Live Chat
  Find out what makes “non-customers” become “customers”. Users who aren’t likely to call you to learn more may be more likely to use an online “live chat” tool. LivePerson is one of the most popular online chat services. Pricing is competitively based on your business needs.
• Web Analytics
  Learn where your users are coming from. Find out what are your most popular pages. Conversely, find out what are your least popular pages. Finally, find out what is the most popular “exit point” on your site. Google Analytics is hands-down the best free analytical tool on the web.
• Customer Surveys
  Find out why your customers ordered. Use that data to better understand their needs and how to improve your site to better service your audience. Survey Monkey is a popular (and free) online service offering custom surveys.

If you are interested in learning more about our CRO practices, contact us today to schedule a presentation.

Internet Marketing is a broad term. The Internet Marketing business model revolves around the concept of turning users into conversions. In an effort to improve conversions, Internet Marketing companies employ A/B Testing.

What is A/B Testing?
With regard to Internet Marketing, A/B Testing is a method of comparing two versions of a web page by altering various page elements and randomly and simultaneously presenting them to visitors. Site owners leverage A/B Testing to improve conversion rates.

What is a conversion rate?
To start, imagine you are the owner of a website that sells shoes. If you want to know what your conversion rate is, you could measure how many visitors come to your site versus how many of those visitors buy shoes from your web site.

What can you test for with an A/B test?
There are several components that site owners can manipulate in A/B Testing. At MicroArts, we consider everything within the page, but major components we consider include:

• Headline – Tell users exactly what they can get, clearly state benefits. A clear and direct headline should be the first thing the user notices upon viewing the page.
• Promo – What is the call-to-action (CTA) that prompts your visitors to act (purchase, sign up, opt in, download, etc.)?
• Copy – Usually we focus on the first sentence of the first paragraph. Compelling benefit-focused copy captures a visitor’s attention, engaging them to continue reading.
• Benefits – List your benefits in order of importance, this order could be determined by your product’s value hierarchy to the target market.
• Imagery – Clearly portray the biggest benefit of your product. Placement is important. Add powerful captions (when necessary) and make appropriate images clickable to the order / sign-up page. Imagery includes buttons. Attracting attention is what the main action buttons are all about.

Do I have to run my A/B testing concurrently?
Yes! It is important to conduct A/B Testing simultaneously. Factors such as the state of the economy, competitor activity and even the news can affect your findings. Testing on Monday will yield different results than testing on Saturday.

How long should I run my A/B testing?
There is no one answer on how long you should run an A/B test. For budgetary purposes, you can set an audience size at the onset … but you may find that you see a clear trend early in the testing OR you may find that you aren’t seeing enough of a trend to determine a clear winner. Additionally, what happens if, at the end of a pre-determined time, you still don’t see a trend? At MicroArts, it is our experience that you need to return to the drawing board and re-run the test from the beginning. In order to be most-effective, A/B testing needs to show irrefutable evidence. Otherwise, why change anything?

This is just the beginning of A/B testing. We love about A/B testing because we can glean trends that are common, regardless of industry. It makes our work that much stronger when we can kickoff website designs with our proven “Best Practices” already locked and loaded!

Is your site in need of A/B testing? Contact MicroArts to schedule a time to review our Internet Marketing ROI presentation.