With all the companies springing up (and some that have been around since ‘98) to provide Conversion Rate Optimization services, I think it’s time to talk about what makes a good optimization recommendation.  After all, if you’re going to spend hard-earned budget on CRO, shouldn’t you have some expectation of what you’ll be getting?  And, shouldn’t you know how to avoid getting ripped off?

These are some of our thoughts on what makes for a good online marketing optimization…

...continue to read "Anatomy of an Optimization Recommendation"

Ladies! It’s time to speak out about our frustrating online shopping experiences. How many times do you arrive at a clothing web site looking for a fabulous pair of jeans or a pair of yoga pants that really fit, go through the actions of shopping, but don’t enjoy your shopping experience at all?  It happens to me so often that it’s worth writing about my exciting discovery of lululemon.com.

I have worked with many clients who sell women’s apparel and…

...continue to read "A Women’s Clothing Website that Actually Speaks to Women"

I recently read some interesting survey research done by the venerable MarketingSherpa around what types of things B2B prospects would find “most useful” in emails sent about product and service offerings. If you have the required membership, you can read the article here.

They surveyed people considered to be B2B “buyers,” meaning the types of folks that a B2B marketer would target.  What I saw in the data, which I’ll summarize in this post, was a great reminder that if you…

...continue to read "B2B Buyers Still Want Basics from Your Email Marketing"

Show of hands: How many people noticed the typo in the title?  My guess is that those who did were ready to jump all over my mistake.  It was done intentionally to help prove my point: Visitors notice typos. (For those who are still confused: loose = free or released from fastening or attachment; lose = to come to be without.)

These days, most people are less skeptical about the internet.  We think little of viewing bank statements, paying utility…

...continue to read "Credibility: Yours to Loose"

Many Grok readers have been curious about our online marketing optimization services and what kind of process to expect when working with us.  I’ll use some work we’ve done with a client to show you some basic things you should be looking at when optimizing and testing your site. A client of ours, Universal Accounting, offers successful bookkeeping courses to those who are looking to start their own accounting and bookkeeping businesses.

We started by looking at this client’s traffic sources and…

...continue to read "Getting Started With Conversion Rate Optimization: Our Way"

I love to analyze shopping carts because of the immense variety of designs and design elements that different companies and clients employ to try to “get the cash.”  Some elements work better than others, and proper testing can lead the way to optimization.

But, I believe that conversion is cumulative, and every pixel of design you employ in your shopping cart contributes to the semi-conscious feelings of comfort and confidence that prospects get when they decide that your cart is safe…

...continue to read "Good Cart Design vs. Costly Credibility Indicators"

This post is dedicated to online marketers and small business owners out there who make money from their website, but have not yet kicked off a formal online marketing and website optimization program.  For those who have, good job, and there may be other Grok posts more useful to you than this one.

I also want to note that this post was inspired by a recent post by Mark Bronlow over at Email Marketing Reports.  In particular, his infographic was extremely…

...continue to read "Optimize that Conversion Rate Before It’s Too Late"

In a recent comment I received on one of my older blog posts, a reader pointed out that much of the advice I had provided was for people who were just beginning optimization efforts and they (the commenter) wanted something more meaty for themselves to sink their teeth into.  This is not the first time I’ve seen this type of comment on a blog post, and I know that many of the Grok’s readers are DIY-ers who get frustrated…

...continue to read "Your Website is Unique. Don’t Settle for Best Practices."

I have to admit, I love to read our blog.  I love the insights my colleagues routinely bring to the table–and the fact that, like world-class athletes, they make it look so easy!  But sometimes, when I try to put all the pieces together, I find my head in a whirl of information, overwhelmed by the complexities of internet marketing and website optimization…and that’s when I have to get back to basics.  I remind myself to Keep…

...continue to read "A Little K.I.S.S. Just in Time for Valentine’s Day"

I was just recently married and moved to a new state not too long after the wedding.  Thankfully, rather than receiving gifts from friends and family, my husband and I received a slew of gift cards, the majority of which were to Target.com.  After moving in to a relatively bare apartment, we happily went to our local Target store in order to cash in.  Already familiar with the Target brand, and having a pretty good idea of…

...continue to read "We Converted Online, But Only Because It Was Free"