Visual Website Optimizer

A/B testing is fundamentally a very simple concept. You have a webpage (landing page, homepage or product page) which you call version A. Now you make certain changes to it (changing headlines, buttons, colors, style or layout) and call the changed page as version B. Once you have version A and version B ready, any visitor that arrives on your webpage gets to either see version A or version B. In other words, your website traffic is split between these two versions. In A/B testing reports, you can then see which version (A or B) produced more number of sales or conversions (or leads or downloads, etc.)

So far, so simple.

However, there are a few misconceptions that can arise while doing A/B testing. In this post, I will discuss 5 of those common misconceptions. Note that the following misconceptions are not specific to Visual Website Optimizer, but are rather applicable for most A/B testing tools.

1. Split of traffic not occurring as exactly 50/50

Whenever a visitor arrives on a page, how do we decide whether to show version A or version B? Answer is simple: we flip a coin. (Not literally, of course). We generate a random number between 0 and 1. If the random number is less than 0.5, we show version A, otherwise we show version B.

But just like while flipping coin you are never guaranteed exact same number of heads and tails, in A/B test you are never be guaranteed of getting an exact 50/50 split between version A and version B. However, as you test more traffic, the split ratio should get closer to 50/50, but it would rarely be exact 50/50.

2. In A/A test, you may get a winning or losing variation

First, what is an A/A test? This is a type of test where variation is exactly same as control. People generally setup this kind of test to determine validity of a tool. Ideally (and this is what most users expect), performance of both variations should be similar (because both variations are in fact same). So, if one of the variations starts out-performing or under-performing control, users think that tracking in tool is not correct because variation and control are actually same.

It may indeed be the case that tracking of tool isn’t accurate and that it is not accurately recording visitors and conversions. But there is another reason why A/A test can produce winning or losing variations. Because split of traffic is random in A/B testing, just due to random chance it may happen that traffic mix which goes to version A may be better (or worse) converting as compared to traffic mix going to version B. So, although it is highly unlikely (but not impossible), just due to random chance you may get a winning or losing variation in an A/A test.

3. Getting a winning variation even with less number of conversions/traffic

We declare a variation as winning variation when the difference in conversion rate (as compared to control) is statistically significant. You can read about mathematics of it in previous blog posts: how we calculate statistical significance and how to estimate number of visitors needed for a test. A common misconception is that a winning variation cannot arise early in the test when less number of visitors have been tested. Actually, it can. Broadly speaking, there are two components that determine statistical significance: a) number of visitors that have been tested; b) difference in conversion rate between variation A and variation B.

It is true that a minimum number of visitors must be tested before you deduce anything. But after that minimum number of visitors have been tested (it is 25 visitors per variation by default in VWO, but can be changed), if conversion rate difference between two variations is huge, statistical significance can still arise. (E.g. in variation A, 24 conversions from 25 visits and in variation B, 2 conversion from 25 visits). So, number of visitors tested isn’t the only criteria. Difference in conversion rate is also a criteria.

If you are concerned, we always recommend to test longer just to be sure of results. Ideally, you may want to run a test for a full week to accomodate variation and effects of daily traffic. But don’t blame the tool if you get results bit too early.

4. Impact on test if a certain variation or control is disabled while the test is running

Sometimes, our users run a test with 5-6 variations. After one week, they may decide to disable a few existing variations and maybe add a couple of new variations. Now, after a few more days of testing they complain that performance (percentage improvement or decrease in conversion rate) of the variations that they disabled changed. Users wonder how can performance of a disabled variation possibly change.

Actually, it is not the conversion rate of disabled variations that changes (it remains same once you disable it) but rather the conversion rate of variations that are still enabled is what changes. So, the performance of those disabled variations change (when you compare to variations/control that are still enabled). So, even if you get a winning variation and you disable it, you may find that after a few days it may not remain as a winner variation because conversion rate of control changed (and hence percentage change in conversion rate is now different). And the reason why conversion rate constantly changes is because your traffic mix changes from day to day. Estimating conversion rate of control and variation is always an ongoing task and it may change constantly.

5. Google Analytics visits v/s Visual Website Optimizer visitors

We have a Google Analytics plugin for Visual Website Optimizer. Numbers that are shown in Google Analytics may sometimes differ from Visual Website Optimizer reports. Why is that?

Actually, different analytics/testing tools may have different definitions of visitors. Particularly, Google Analytics considers a visit by setting a 30 minute cookie. If a visitor arrives after 30 minutes (or after session expires), s/he is counted as another visit. On the other hand, Visual Website Optimizer sets a long term cookie and counts a visitor only once even on repeat visits.

So, while comparing two different tools, always make sure you have correct definitions of visits/visitors figured out and you are actually comparing apples to apples.

Hope these misconceptions clarify some of the issues or questions that you may have in your A/B or split tests! If there are some more questions, please leave a comment.

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This is a guest post by Jeremy Reeves. He is a veteran blogger here and an online conversion and profit strategist. Through his little-known unique and innovative profit-boosting techniques, he’s added tens of millions of dollars to his clients bottom-line in EXTRA revenue. You can grab his FREE report, “The 3×3 Formula For Doubling Your Profits In 60 Days Or Less” at www.3x3Formula.com

When most people think of increasing their conversions, they think of cool little tricks they can do… slight word changes to various parts of the page… or changing the colors.

And if this is you, you’re missing out on an enormous opportunity to not only increase your conversions, but increase the long-term results of your business… including getting the most profit possible.

Let me explain.

YES, testing your CTA buttons is good. It can work. And changing colors can increase conversions. And testing the layout of your pages can increase conversions.

But there’s something BENEATH all of that “surface level” stuff that is the driving force to making your customers buy your products and services.

It makes up what I consider to be the ultimate conversion formula. Get this right, and your conversions go through the roof. Get it wrong, and it doesn’t matter what your CTA says… or where your buttons are… or any of that.

So what is this formula?

I call it…

PV – PR = PD

Which means…

Perceived Value – Perceived Risk = Purchasing Decision

Depending on your level of persuasion knowledge, this may or may look a little complicated to you. In reality, it’s very simple. And very powerful.

Either way, let me explain.

People first look at the perceived value of your product.

That includes what they think (remember, it’s all perception) it can do for them. It also includes packaging, positioning, and many other factors.

They then look at the perceived risk involved. The risk of the product being a dud… of you never sending it to them… of you not honoring your guarantee… and many other factors.

When they subtract the risk from the perceived value, they come out with either a negative or positive number.

If it’s positive, you get the sale. If it’s negative, you don’t.

Here’s an example.

You’re a middle aged guy with 3 kids and a wife. Your wife has given you the opportunity to start researching a new car to buy. She’s busy watching the kids and is limited with time, so she wants you to pick out your top three, and then come back to her. That way you can both come up with an agreement on which is best for your family.

So you walk into a car dealership. You hobble around and spot a nice little sports car for $50,000. Your budget is $40,000… but this car is so magnificently sleek and sexy, it grabs your eye like a supermodel sunbathing on the beach.

At this point, the formula comes in

Remember… Perceived Value – Perceived Risk = Purchasing Decision

Perceived Value: You’ll be able to show off to your friends. Feel the exhilaration and thrill as you stomp on the pedal and tear up the streets. Get an ego-stroke every time you pass by another guy with a “lesser” car as you silently think to yourself “haha… I’m more manly than you buddy!”.

Etc. etc. etc.

Perceived Risk: It’s over budget. Your wife will most likely laugh at you for even considering it. Or, you may get a “lecture”. It’s not safe as safe as something like a Volvo if you get in crash. It’s more dangerous because you’re more likely to drive faster. You probably wouldn’t be able to fit all your kids in it.

Etc. etc. etc.

See the dilemma here?

It doesn’t matter HOW good of a salesman the guy selling that car is. You had a certain criteria you needed to meet (let’s just say it had to be safe and be able to fit the kids)… and the car didn’t meet the criteria.

Even if he dropped it another $20,000 and it was under your budget, it still doesn’t give you a positive number in the equation above because the two main criteria outweigh all of the ego-boosting qualities the car had.

And that’s exactly how your customers are looking at your website.

There are a certain number of positive criteria, and negative criteria, they have hidden away in their minds. Most of it they’re not even conscious of. If the good outweighs the bad, you win. If not, you don’t get the sale.

So my last bit of advice…

If You Want To Make More Sales… Increase Your Perceived Value And Decrease Perceived Risk!

It’s REALLY that simple.

There are literally dozens of different ways to do each.

Let me give you 5 actionable steps you can take to increase your perceived value and decrease your perceived risk.

5 Ways To Increase Your Perceived Value

• Add a product image
• Discover the #1 benefit of your product and make sure you explain it thoroughly. And hit their emotional hot buttons.
• Add a specific value to each specific item in your product/course/service
• Make it easier/faster for people to consume (people are too busy and want straight to the point advice. I do this for my products and get compliments on it ALL the time.)
• Increase your price – I know this is counter-intuitive… but try it. 95%+ of people right now can raise their prices without seeing any drops in conversion. Try adding extra value when you do this and I can “almost” guarantee you can increase your price at least 10% with no drop in conversions.

5 Ways To Decrease Perceived Risk

• Offer your product for FREE before they pay for it
• Add a risk-free guarantee (the longer, the better)
• Show credibility and security symbols near your call to action
• Position your product/service as close to “done for you” as possible
• Show compelling testimonials and case studies

Go to your main product or service page and see if you can use any of those 10 conversion-boosting strategies. And always keep in the back of your mind…

… “How can I increase the perceived value of this product while decreasing the perceived risk?”

Do that and watch your conversions, and profits, SOAR

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Sometimes you know the changes that will work, and you implement them without testing it because they just seem too obvious. But it’s always a good to practice to A/B test those changes nevertheless as it gives you important data to back the claims and it also helps you avoiding bad ideas that seem good earlier (before you A/B tested them).

Something similar was done by buyakilt.com which is an online Kilt and Scottish Highland Dress retailer since 2004.  Their website has lot of category pages which further have around 4 sub-category pages and they wanted to test if providing a product filter would help them increase conversions. The product filters are just so common these days on eCommerce websites that you might not even test this change before implementing. It has become a standard UI element on ecommerce websites but the team behind BuyAKilt.com wanted to test before coming to any conclusion and rightly so. Here’s how their product category page looked earlier:

Control (original page)

They implemented a product filter which gave visitors an option to shop by kilt type and kilt pattern etc. Here’s how the variation looked:

Variation (with a product filter on left sidebar and in the middle)

They were quite surprised to find the dramatic rise in revenues and other conversions. Overall there was 76.1% increase in Revenue, a 26% increase in conversions and 19.76% increase in shopping cart visits.

Adding a product filer is an obvious feature that many eCommerce stores may or may not have, but this A/B test demonstrated that it worked wonderfully for BuyAKilt.com

Fergus Macdonald from buyakilt.com mentioned that Visual Website Optimizer was very valuable in running the A/B test and collecting results easily and quickly. He intends to continue more such tests on variety of other pages.

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I have always stressed that headlines and text copy matter a lot on landing pages. We have published a number of case studies which provide a proof in case: 127% increase in conversions by doing a headline change and single headline change increased conversions by 90%. This case study is also similar in essence: text copy around main headline was A/B tested and large gains in clickthrough and signups are seen.

AwayFind helps users step away from their inboxes while still letting them receive important and urgent emails in a timely manner by notifying them of those emails via SMS, Voice Call or iPhone/Android apps. They wanted to improve conversion rate on their homepage which gets a mix of traffic from organic, direct and PPC (Adwords) sources.

A/B testing text copy

Headline is the first thing a visitor notices on a page. If it is not clear, a visitor would just take a broad look at page and leave after a few seconds. But if your headline catches his attention, he would try to understand more about your offering by looking at the copy. So, getting headline right is crucial but getting copy right is equally important. AwayFind have an interesting headline which says: Checking email every 5 minutes? Stop! In their original page, this headline was extended with another headline (of exactly same size, font and color). It said: Let us find your urgent messages. Here’s how their homepage looked:

Original homepage

The team at AwayFind thought of simplifying the copy around headline and slightly changing the layout as well. They used Visual Website Optimizer for doing this A/B test. Here’s the variation:

Variation (91% increase in signups)

Note how they removed second part of headline and instead replaced it with a sub-headline.

Results of this split test

AwayFind thought the new copy was slightly more compelling and that the new layout draws the eye more naturally to the call to action button. And, by jolly, they were right! They saw a 42% lift in people clicking through from the home page and a 91% lift in people completing the setup process. They admit it themselves: the results were shocking! Small change, big results.

Regarding Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), they mentioned that VWO made it easy to implement the test and even easier to track the results.

What they learned was that a little copy can go a long way. Four new sentences dramatically improved their results. As a follow up, they are planning to test the new copy with the old layout to see which of these variables created the biggest impact–a more direct copy comparison.

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Numerous times our clients and customers ask: how many visitors do I need to test in order to get statistically significant results in an A/B test? Unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer to this question as it depends on a number of factors. In the past, we have provided you with an A/B test duration calculator in Excel and also provided with an online tool to calculate the same. However, how it is calculated is sort of a black magic.

In following presentation, I describe just what exactly happens when we calculate number of visitors needed for an A/B test. As the presentation aims to be a high level overview, I won’t be delving into mathematics of it.

Hope you like the presentation! Please let me know if you have any questions or need clarifications.

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As a wise man has said: choice often causes indecision. Trouble with online retail websites these days is that they have huge catalogue of products and often such abundance confuses new visitors. This is even more so the case when the product that is to be bought is not something we buy often such as home construction supplies. We often either rely on the advice of construction workers or ask for reviews online. So, imagine the confusion a visitor will face when he needs to choose between single or double bubble insulation? Most visitors will not know such terms.

EcoFoil, one of the retail division of Clickstop, is a leading supplier of radiant barrier and foil bubble insulation for home, pole barn or commercial buildings. They realize the importance of information that can help buyers make decisions. This is why they have a help section which says “Need help finding the right product?” which links to a virtual map and that helps visitors figure out what product they need depending on which part of their home they are trying to insulate.

A/B test: where to show the help section?

In the original design of their homepage, the position of this help section was below the fold where users had to scroll down to see it. Plus, with another section adjacent to it, often it wasn’t noticeable. Here’s how their homepage looked:

Control (Help section center below the fold)

The team at Clickstop thought it could be better to put the help section above the fold where even new visitors can see it without having to scroll down the page. So, they conducted an A/B test using Visual Website Optimizer and found that the Variation indeed worked better. Much to their surprise, the variation with help section above the fold showed an improvement of 86% in sales over the Control. Here’s how the variation looked:

Variation (Help box moved to left sidebar, above the fold)

Needless to say, Ecofoil are very excited about such an upswing in sales. Kendra Smith of Ecofoil also mentioned that Visual Website Optimizer was crucial to help her confirm her theory to increase conversions by moving the help box above the fold on the webpage.

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Yep, that’s true! Our private investigators went to North Pole and caught Santa A/B testing gifts with little Eskimo kids. Apparently, ahead of worldwide gift distribution that is to happen soon, Santa wanted to be 100% sure that his choice of this year’s gifts “clicked” with kids. Don’t believe me? Well, here’s a pic to prove Santa is really an effective experimenter:

To really get into mood for A/B testing, Santa was also (rightly) wearing a chain inspired by Visual Website Optimizer logo .

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This blog post may be last one for year 2011, so I wanted to wish all blog readers a joyful Christmas and an exciting new year. May 2012 brings you happiness, smiles and bountiful supply of extra sales and conversions

By the way, did you notice our cool new Xmas inspired logo (above)?

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Usually navigation menus are common across all pages of a website. But, should you have navigation menu on a landing page as well? Or, should your landing page be unique in itself and there is no need to include global navigation menu? This is a perfect case for A/B testing and one of our customers, Yuppiechef, did this test and found out that removing navigation menu doubled their conversions.

Yuppiechef is a leading online store selling premium kitchen tools throughout South Africa. They are known for their customer service, quirkiness and passion for getting people excited about eating together and spending time in the kitchen. They used Visual Website Optimizer to A/B test the effect of removing the navigation menu from one of their landing pages.

Removing navigation menu increases signups by 100%

Yuppiechef wanted to increase the rate of Wedding Registry signups (conversion goal) generated from the Wedding Registry landing page on their website. They tested two pages against each other that were identical, save for the main navigation bar at the top of the page. As simple as that. On that landing page, there was a mix of various traffic sources including: Google Adwords (Search & Display Network), Facebook, 3rd Party Advertisers, Directories, Organic Search and Direct traffic. Here’s how the original page looked like:

Original page (with navigation)

As far as designing the variation is concerned, the hypothesis was that the option without the navigation bar would provide fewer distractions, and help the user focus on the primary reason they had landed on this particular page. Here’s how the variation looked like:

Variation page (without navigation) — 100% increase in signups

A/B testing results

They were certainly surprised by the results! The new variation of the page without the navigation bar at the top of the page delivered twice as many conversions as the original page! The conversion rate jumped from 3 to 6% with an effective 100% increase in conversions. Who wouldn’t be happy about such results?

This is what they thought about results: “Simpler is better. Try assist the user in focusing on their primary objective by eliminating distractions.“. With regards to A/B testing tool they used, this is what they had to say: “Visual Website Optimizer provided an easy and efficient way to implement the test in no time at all. The reporting was also detailed enough to give us the insights we needed to declare the test an unequivocal success.”

Hope this case study gives you an inspiration to test navigation menu on your own landing pages. We don’t guarantee that you will also increase your conversions by 100% but this test is certainly an easy one to setup. And, who knows, maybe you do significantly increase your conversion rate. The only way to find out is to actually setup an A/B test.

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Apparently, small changes can have big impact on a company’s bottom-line and this case study is perhaps the best example of it. Length, structure, position or design of forms can have tremendous influence on conversions. We have a number of case studies that demonstrate the same. One case study describes how removing a signup form (from landing page and adding it in later steps) increased conversions by 60%. Another example is of our own homepage: when we removed the form and converted it into a popup, signups increased by 50%.

This case study is about an A/B test run by Springest, which is a platform to help people get the most out of themselves and their career by connecting them to the best ways to learn and develop personally and professionally. Eduhub used to be their brand name in The Netherlands. Their business model involves providing brochures to the visitors who request for them (once they find a suitable course provider). Brochure is free, but users need to fill a lot of information in the form to access it.

A/B testing simple changes in the form

Springest aim was to increase form completions on the brochure information request form. So, they decided to use Visual Website Optimizer to create alternative version of the form and see if it increased the form completion rate. Here’s how their original form looked like:

Original brochure request form

They tested one variation of this form, with some parts changed. They removed the intro text and logo and added social proof to the sidebar: quotes from users and logos from well-known Dutch brands. They also removed the asterisk for required fields and changed it to a ‘optional’ text behind fields that are optional. Here’s how variation looked like:

Variation (generated additional €50,000 for Springest)

A/B test results and surprises

The variation resulted in 5.21% improvement in form completion, with 97% certainty (statistical significance) based on over 2,500 conversions. They were partly surprised, because the form itself hardly changed. Their changes were mostly about taking away possible obstructions or doubts in the user’s mind and it seems the social proof removes doubt for at least some of the visitors. Although 5% doesn’t look like much, it adds directly to their bottom-line; they estimate this change to be worth about €50,000 this year alone. Isn’t that a great ROI for doing such a simple A/B test?

Based on this test, Dennis Paagman (from Springest team) had following learnings:

You should watch out for too much explanation and guiding texts, we think the text above the form was confusing and maybe even increasing user’s doubt. Just let people find things out for themselves and don’t explain everything. Forms are so ubiquitous on the web, everyone knows how to fill them in.

Even though Springest are extremely happy about results of this test, they don’t want to stop improving and they already have extensive plans for follow up tests. For this form, they want to split it in two parts and also test it with less fields. As soon as they launch a complete new layout of their website, they plan on A/B testing every part of it.

Importance of choosing the A/B testing tool

Springest think Visual Website Optimizer (VWO) was very valuable when it came to this particular test. This is what they have to say about the tool:

The great thing about VWO is that it’s possible to run tests without the need of developers. The editing of text, even within form labels, works flawlessly. We did have to change something in the actual Javascript used to make the test (this is in VWO’s advanced options) work, because we have a slightly different form for each product.

The best thing about using VWO is that when we think of new ways to test our site, we have the possibility to implement them right away.

We are very happy for Springest as they increased their conversion rates significantly. This case study definitely shows how even smallest of changes can have such large impact. So, always keep A/B testing and, of course, we recommend Visual Website Optimizer for doing the same

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Editor’s note: this is a guest post by Jeremy Reeves, who is a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant who has produced millions of dollars in excess profits for his clients. To learn more about Jeremy and how he can grow your business, head over to www.JeremyReeves.com or download his FREE special report “The 3×3 Formula For Doubling Your Profits In 60 Days Or Less” at www.3x3Formula.com

The world of Internet marketing and conversions is changing as we know it. Consumers are getting more savvy. Places like Google are putting a stranglehold on how you can market your products. Competitors are popping up in every nook and cranny.

In short, conversions are plummeting and it’s getting increasingly harder to grow your business online.

Because of this, it’s more important than ever to take a stroll through your business and remove any weaknesses in your marketing funnel.

This article will show you how to do just that.

Mistake #1: Not Showing Your Core Value Proposition

The first marketing mistake you’re making is that you aren’t displaying your core value proposition to customers both immediately and throughout your entire sales process.

Your value proposition is what makes you stand out from your competitors and what gives your customers and prospects a reason they should buy from YOU instead of your competitors.

(It can also be called a USP)

When I look at most websites, I don’t see the #1 reason WHY I should be on that website. Instead, the big mistake people make is saying things like…

…“we’re the best at X”.
We’ve been in business for 10 years.
Our product is more reliable than our competitors.

Uhhh… yea – SO WHAT?

Those things don’t matter to your customers. They’re SURFACE level benefits. They don’t make you stand out. They don’t immediately give value to the person looking at your website.

If you get it right – your customer should be able to walk away from the computer… go on vacation to the Bahamas and remember your value proposition while sitting on the beach sipping rum n coke’s.

That may sound a little far-fetched… but it’s the truth.

Here’s an example.

My value proposition can be stated like this.

“I help businesses maximize their sales funnels and increase profits by 20% – 100% or more without increasing expenses.

On the other hand – a weaker version would be something like “I help small businesses increase profits”.

That’s what MOST people say.

But it’s not specific.

HOW do I help increase their profits? I do it by maximizing their sales funnel… and I also do so without increasing their expenses.

Let me give you one of my favorite USP’s of all time.

Fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less – or it’s free.

This is what Domino’s Pizza used to jumpstart the business into what it is today. Unfortunately they can’t use it anymore because of legal issues (too many people were getting in car accidents) but the value proposition was so strong that they’re still a very successful business today… even though I personally hate their pizza.

Now here’s what I love about value propositions.

You really DON’T have to rack your brain for months trying to create the “perfect” value proposition.

What you do instead is come up with 3-5 of them and TEST them. Usually in PPC ads.

Mistake #2: Letting Your Own Ego And Biases Get In The Way

This might seem insignificant but you need to trust me on this… every single website has assumptions of what works and what doesn’t. I’ve worked with dozens and dozens and dozens of different clients over the years and every single one of them had conversion-killing assumptions on their website that they didn’t even know about.

For example… the vast majority of people these days still don’t think that long-form salesletters work.

But here’s the truth.

They DO.

Awhile back I wrote a guest post on this blog called Anatomy Of A Long Salesletter.

Because of that blog post, SOME of the readers kept an open mind and got in touch with me to create long-form letters for their websites. And lo and behold… I gave them big increases in their conversions and profits. One client right now is already looking at a 200%+ increase in leads.

Those who didn’t? They’re still losing thousands of dollars each month because they’re assuming longform letters don’t work.

Another assumption people have is with videos. Some people think they work for EVERY audience. Some people hate them. Some people think only autoplay works, while others can’t stand autoplay.

One of my clients thought that a video wasn’t going to work for his audience and that we’d create both a video and a text salesletter. The plan was to show the video to cold visitors, and the text to his warm prospects that were on his list.

We did this because in previous tests, text won over video. So we assumed text was going to work again for this particular product.

The funny thing is… the VIDEO actually won. And it won by about 30%. So if we assumed that the text would win – this client would have lost about 30% of his revenue.

The point is this.

TEST EVERYTHING. (And use Visual Website Optimizer!)

Here are a few things you can test that most people have assumptions about.

• The length of the copy
• Video or text
• The type of language (corporate vs. personal sounding)
• Colors
• Aggressiveness in the copy (soft with “easy” calls to action vs. a little more direct)
• Layout of the page
• Price points

That’s enough to get you started.

Marketing Mistake #3: Not Understanding Your Prospects

Remember… your prospect is the one who is putting money in your pocket. Not you. When you do ANYTHING on your site – you have to mentally be transporting yourself into the mind of your prospect and adding what THEY want you to have.

This means that your language has to be congruent with them… your pricing has to be congruent with them… your bonuses… and your product. The funny thing is, most people develop products that THEY want to have out in the marketplace.

But if you really want to not only boost your conversions but really gain traction in your marketplace, the products you create should come out of a want and NEED… not what you “think” they “might” want.

So the question you’re probably asking yourself is… how do I figure out what my audience wants?

Let me tell you a personal story which describes this personally.

When I first started my career… I was only a copywriter. These days I do a lot more than just copywriting because I realized everything in marketing is linked together, but back then I only wrote copy.

In probably my third month, I had a client who asked me if I knew how to create html. I said no. He was upset because now he had to find someone else who could take the copy I wrote in a word document and transfer it online.

The next client came to me… and the SAME thing happened.

At that point, the lightbulb went off in my head. So what did I do?

First – I learned html and basic CSS so that I could create salesletters for my clients and hand it back to them in “ready to test” shape.

Second – I started LISTENING to my clients more. These days I actually create new services based on what my clients NEED… not what I want to have out there.

For example I have a service where I create automated webinars for my clients and they have to do nothing but read the script I give them. Normally creating automated webinars takes weeks or even MONTHS of their time… but now I can save them probably close to a hundred hours of time because I do it all for them.

Now… that’s how I do it in my own business. But if you’re selling products and not services, here are a few more options you can use.

First is surveys.

This is a GREAT way to do it. There are dozens of survey companies you can choose so just pick which one you think is best for you.

When you’re setting up your survey you have to make sure to give them some kind of gift for filling out the survey. It doesn’t have to be much. Maybe a $10 gift certificate for your website… or a free report… whatever.

Another thing you can do is simply CALL your customers personally.

First of all it’s going to make a huge impression on them because nobody ever just calls clients or customers anymore and simply asks how they’re doing, how you can help, etc.

But more importantly… people LOVE to talk. They’re going to spill the beans – especially if they know you’re genuinely trying to help them.

And a third way to do this is to have a contest on your blog.

First what you do is put a contest on your blog (as well as send them emails)… and ask them what they need. Whoever gives the best response and comes up with a product you come out with… gets it free.

Now I just want to stop for a second and make sure you realize JUST how important and valuable this is. This is what separates “good” companies from companies who blow past their competition year after year and dominate the market place.

When you understand your customer better you can start getting to know their wants and desires on a DEEP level. And when that happens, you can start to fill in your marketing back-end – if you haven’t already. And if you already have then of course you can make it even bigger and more profitable.

But the real value from having a well thought out back-end is that you can then start optimizing sales funnels, instead of just pages.

Marketing Mistake #4: Optimizing Pages Instead Of Sales Funnels

Let’s first get a clear look at what I’m talking about when I say “sales funnel” instead of a single page.

There are various different sales funnels you can have, but one typical one we would see online is something like this.

Landing Page > Salesletter > Upsell > Downsell > Thank You Page

Now let’s add in some numbers to each of these pages. Again, I want to make it crystal clear that YOUR numbers are going to be very much different than the numbers I’m about to show.

I just want to show you how powerful this can be.

Let’s start with conversions numbers.

For this example, I’m going to leave out your landing page for simplicity… since for many people reading this, you may not have a step before your salespage.

So in terms of your “conversions”… we’ll assume your salesletter is converting at 2%. Your upsell is converting at 20%. And your downsell is converting at 20%.

Now let’s look at traffic.

We’ll say that you’re getting 5,000 visitors per month to your salesletter. That’s a little under 200 people per day, which is definitely possible.

Ok, next, let’s look at prices.

Let’s assume your front-end offer is priced at $97… your upsell is at $197… and your downsell is at $67.

Now that we have all the “base” numbers – let’s add that up to get your “before-testing” number. Then we’ll give just a 30% increase to each of these numbers and see what it turns out to be.

Salesletter – 5,000 visitors X 2% = 100 sales x $97 = $9,700
Upsell – 100 visitors X 20% = 20 sales x $197 = $3,940
Downsell – 20 visitors x 20% = 4 sales x $67 = $268

Ok… so now we have our base numbers. That means right now you’re making $13,908 per month.

Now let’s look at what happens when you increase EACH of those funnels by just 30%… which is absolutely possible and really not that hard at all.

Salesletter – 5,000 visitors X 2.66% = 133 sales x $97 = $12,901
Upsell – 100 visitors X 26.66% = 26.6 sales x $197 = $5,252
Downsell – 20 visitors x 26.66% = 5.3 sales x $67 = $355

That gives you a total of $18,508 in monthly gross profit… which is an increase of $4,600 per month.

That $4,600 increase per month could EASILY buy you a new employee who can get you more traffic… become your affiliate manager to dramatically increase your affiliate base… or any number of things.

And remember, this is for a SINGLE product. Plus it’s not including customer lifetime value. And I’m not including what happens when you increase the TRAFFIC you get to these pages when you start split-testing landing pages, emails, banners, PPC ads and everything that actually funnels traffic to the money pages. That’s when it REALLY gets exciting and the numbers start compounding.

Now… we’ve been talking a lot about numbers. Your number may be bigger or smaller than what I just went through, but either way it’s exciting.

Marketing Mistake #5: Not Knowing Your Numbers

Knowing your numbers is CRUCIAL to any online or offline business. The reason is because if you don’t know your key metrics, you have no idea how healthy your business is. You might think it’s doing well – just to find out something unexpected happens and all of a sudden the floor falls out beneath your business.

Now, I don’t know your business so I’m not really sure what numbers you need to know. However there are a few very common numbers which EVERY business – online or offline – needs to know.

So let me give you them and give you a brief description of each of them. Then I’ll tell you how to USE this information to grow your business.

My question is… do you even KNOW what your numbers are?

Value Per Visitor – This is pretty basic. You want to know how much each VISITOR is worth to your website. The cool part about this is it’s incredibly easy to figure out. Just divide the number of visitors you had over the past month/year/ or week… by the amount of money you made.

For example if your site had 20,000 visitors last month and you made $20,000… that’s an average of $1 per visitor.

Figuring out that metric is important, but even more valuable is when you break it down into segments such as traffic source, page, and possibly even further like gender, age, and other variables if you can figure that out for your business.

Lifetime Customer Value – This is one of THE most important metrics you can ever figure out. By understanding this metric, you can then determine how much money you can spend on advertising… employees… inventory… and everything else that makes a business tick.

But here’s the little caveat to this metric. Actually, there are 2.

First, you want to know how long it takes for the average person to complete his or her buying cycle. For example if you have a continuity program and are tracking the lifetime value of a person entering that program – you have to determine the average length that person stays in the continuity program… and if they buy other products while they’re in there.

So if your membership program is $50 per month and your average customer stays for 4 months… you have a customer lifetime value of $200 over a 4 month period. Then, of course, add in any extra back-end products they bought during that time.

And remember… you’re going for the AVERAGE of all your customers. So don’t calculate this for one customer… do it for about 100 or so. Or even more if you can. The more customers you average into this, the more accurate the number will be.

Now, the second caveat is that you want to determine a COMFORTABLE timeline in which to calculate this number. For example – some businesses have customers who stay with them for many years… or even decades.

However the reason you’re determining this number is to figure out how much you can spend to acquire a new customer, so you might not want to spend $500 to get a new customer if you won’t make that money back for 5 years.

Or maybe you will… it all depends on your business model and how short or long-term you are in your thinking.

Cost Per Conversion (or Cost Per New Customer Acquisition) – This one ties heavily into the 1st metric which was value per visitor. The reason is because if your value per visitor is $1 and your cost per conversion is $1.50 – you’ve just discovered that you’re losing money.


Here’s an example.

Let’s say you’re doing SEO, PPC and affiliate marketing. For examples sake, let’s say each is bringing in $10,000 per month. That means you’re making $30,000 per month GROSS profit.

And let’s say that OVERALL, you’re spending $20,000 per month which means you have a net profit of $10,000 at the end of each month.

Now – what if you broke that down?

When you break it down, you might realize that you’re spending $2,000 on SEO per month and making $5,000 per month gross. That’s $3,000 net profit.

And your affiliate system is bringing you in $15,000 per month gross – and you’re giving away 50% commissions so your net profit is $7,500. now you’re up to $10,500 NET profit.

But whoops – wait – didn’t I say you were only making $10,000 net profit between all 3 channels? Yep… I did.

Because what you didn’t realize is that you’re making $10,000 gross profit per month on PPC, however you’re SPENDING $10,500 – which means you’re actually losing $500 per month on your PPC campaign.

Now that you have that information – you know EXACTLY where to focus your efforts. In this case you’d probably want to optimize your PPC campaign to get it profitable. Or, ditch it and focus on what’s making you the most money… which is your affiliate program.

This, of course, is a very simplified example. You’ll have to run your own numbers to figure out where you stand.

I hope you’ll take this information and apply it in your business. If you’ve read this far, you obviously care about your business. And that’s great! I suggest going back through this article and creating a “to-do” list based on what you think will have the biggest impact on your bottom-line.

Get ‘er done!

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