Questions? (877) 643-7244

Website Optimization

FutureNow Post
Monday, Jun. 29, 2009 at 9:18 am

For Every Optimization, There’s a Pyramid, So Get Started

June 29th, 2009

We at FutureNow sometimes wonder why more companies aren’t busy optimizing their websites and online marketing, or why those who are “on board” with the concept don’t always commit the right amount of resources towards the effort.

I’m not a mind-reader, but I think it’s due in part to an all-or-nothing mentality where nothing short of a full optimization ‘project’ is worth putting effort into.  Most companies are more interested in redesigning their websites all at once instead of incrementally, even though incremental…

...continue to read "For Every Optimization, There’s a Pyramid, So Get Started"

FutureNow Post
Tuesday, Jun. 23, 2009 at 10:28 am

Dear Confused By Personas

June 23rd, 2009

A student at the University of British Columbia Web Analytics course reached out to us via Twitter to ask some questions about creating personas, specifically Persuasion Architecture® Personas and the information is important enough that we thought we’d share our response:

“Are you saying that we shouldn’t bother with creating multiple personas with granular details but rather focus on creating only a few (4 if we use the logical-emotional, quick-deliberate quadrant)? But if we add the stages of the buying cycle in…

...continue to read "Dear Confused By Personas"

FutureNow Post
Monday, Jun. 22, 2009 at 9:04 am

The Shopping Cart: How to Answer the 5 Unanswered Customer Questions

June 22nd, 2009

The ecommerce shopping cart is a great place to run tests, as simple changes (layout, copy, color, etc.) often yield fantastic results.  There are unanswered questions in the minds of our customers that we think are obviously answered on the page, but they’re not.  If you’re not sure about what those unanswered questions are, you can back up a few steps and use personas or user testing to uncover them.

Here are 5 key, unanswered questions (beyond shipping costs) of the shopping cart:

Do you…

...continue to read "The Shopping Cart: How to Answer the 5 Unanswered Customer Questions"

FutureNow Post
Friday, Jun. 19, 2009 at 8:51 am

Web Analytics and Yellow Lobsters

June 19th, 2009

I’ve been curious about what kind of effect the economy is having on how companies use Web analytics. Econsultancy just released its “Online Measurement and Strategy Report 2009.” This is its second annual report, and the results are fascinating.

First, the pleasantries:

“Companies are focusing on analytics which help them improve their customer acquisition and customer retention. The recession has helped to bring into sharper focus the importance of understanding return on investment and how individual elements of digital marketing impact the…

...continue to read "Web Analytics and Yellow Lobsters"

FutureNow Post
Thursday, Jun. 18, 2009 at 6:41 am

Conversion Rate Exercise: Why Should I Do Business With You?

June 18th, 2009

Today I’d like to give you 2 exercises that will help your visitors get a better sense of why they should be doing business with you.

1. TweetVP – In 140 characters or less, tell me the value of doing business with you. What makes you different than your competitor? This is like writing your Unique Value Proposition or Unique Campaign Proposition, but you are limited to the number of characters, as if you were going to post it on Twitter. If you…

...continue to read "Conversion Rate Exercise: Why Should I Do Business With You?"

FutureNow Article
Tuesday, Jun. 16, 2009

Are Your Analytics Causing You to Lose 30% of Your Sales?

June 16th, 2009

Most companies measure keyword performance – and especially PPC keyword performance – based on one factor: did that word or phrase bring converting visitors to the site on the visit in which they converted.

So the natural thing to do is trim non-performing words and phrases in order to increase the efficiency of your PPC spend.  And that’s exactly what one client did, except rather than increasing his efficiency, he dropped his sales by 30%.

Why?

Because, depending on what you sell,…

...continue to read "Are Your Analytics Causing You to Lose 30% of Your Sales?"

FutureNow Post
Thursday, Jun. 11, 2009 at 11:07 am

How to Optimize Your Conversion Rate(s)

June 11th, 2009

Conversion rate = The number of people who take the action you want them to take divided by the total number of potential people who could have taken that action.

When you break that sentence down, you start to understand how to optimize your conversion rate.

Step 1 – Let’s understand “number of people

Who are these people? Are they all the same? Do they have different characteristics, needs, questions? Do all these people have the same amount of product/service knowledge that you do? Are they…

...continue to read "How to Optimize Your Conversion Rate(s)"

FutureNow Post
Wednesday, Jun. 10, 2009 at 9:15 am

Improvement Starts With (Bad) Habits

June 10th, 2009

Occasionally we hear from clients after they’ve implemented some recommendation for improvement (from our OnTarget service), that they see a temporary dip in conversion. This seemingly goes against logic — after all, if you fix a problem, things should get better, right? — but Mammals aren’t entirely logical nor rational, at least not as often as we’d like to think, and particularly when it comes to learned and patterned behavior. Sometimes it takes your customers a while to “get used…

...continue to read "Improvement Starts With (Bad) Habits"

FutureNow Post
Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2009 at 9:27 am

How Many Potential Buyers Are Visiting Your Website?

June 3rd, 2009

Yesterday, Jeff Sexton blogged about the importance of watching your cost per visitor (CPV) and revenue per visitor (RPV) trends. One of the best ways to get a handle on optimizing these key performance indicators is to get a better sense of your traffic mix.

Instead of looking at your traffic by what marketing efforts are bring the most amount of visitors and converting best, look at your visitor mix as a starting point.

There are 3 types of visitors who can come…

...continue to read "How Many Potential Buyers Are Visiting Your Website?"

FutureNow Post
Tuesday, Jun. 2, 2009 at 10:49 am

Have You Given Your Website a Mid-Year Check-up?

June 2nd, 2009

We’re now 6 months into 2009, and if you’ve embarked on a program of Website/ Marketing optimization, you’re probably looking for some clear, common-sense benchmarks to measure your progress.  Here’s what you should be looking at:

Cost Per Visitor (CPV) – How many advertising, marketing, SEO, etc. dollars do you need to spend to bring in each Website visitor you’re getting.   Don’t look at conversion just yet – it’s your website’s job to convert the visitors; marketing’s job is to get them…

...continue to read "Have You Given Your Website a Mid-Year Check-up?"

Marketing Optimization Blog
FREE Newsletter Sign Up
send it once every: