In reading an Occam’s Razor blog post from earlier this year, “Aggregation of Marginal Gains: Recession Busting Analytics!," I noted that Avinash is discussing exactly the same experience we at FutureNow underwent. Ten years ago, low hanging fruit in the conversion improvement space meant high traffic, high impact changes from fixing obviously-wrong calls to action: bad linking, non-obvious next steps, poor UI (user interface).
In fact, for several years conversion improvement was all about UI. Remember that? The theory was (mostly from the UI people, of course), that if you just improved the UI then conversion would follow. What we found out was that if you had a weak UI then of course fixing it would help... but only so far. When it worked you got big fireworks-busting improvements, but only at a singular point in the sales process.
A few years after that it was analytics. If you simply measure everything, then (wave hands here, sprinkle magical pixie dust) you’ll “just know” what to do to improve. If you want to improve more well then just “measure more” — get more analytics apps installed. Or buy more expensive ones.
In the last year or so, the buzz word technique seems to be testing. If you just test everything then somewhere, somehow you’ll know what helps conversion. And when I say “everything”, I mean “EVERYTHING.” Testing is great — in fact, I wrote a best-selling book on this very topic, "Always Be Testing", centered specifically on Google Website Optimizer — but if there’s a bee on your grandmother’s nose, do you honestly have to do a test to determine whether to swat it away? Yet, some companies out there imply to clients they should freeze like a deer caught in the headlights unless and until they have a test to back up every decision made. And if you don’t have enough traffic for the test to be valid just drive more traffic, any traffic, even if precision comes at the cost of accuracy. It's lunacy. No thanks, m’am, that bee on Granny gets swatted and I don’t need 95% statistical confidence to make that decision.
Each time the industry thinks it’s got the elephant in its sights, that five-ton peanut-eater slips away. I think it’s because everyone keeps chasing technology as the solution to pachyderm-sized conversion improvement. If you install the right mix of digital toys, then whamo you’re sure to be the next market leader in your space. Again with the pixie dust.
But it just doesn’t work that way. What we’ve learned is that the big wins come from a long series of small wins, accumulated over time. And small wins come from experienced insight and hard work. And it has to be the type of hard work that a company is willing and able to perform. Not pie-in-the-sky goals without any mechanism for implementing.
I'd recommend focusing less on "big projects" and more on iteration. At FutureNow we did just that, re-tooling our entire business model around this "OnTarget" concept, letting clients decide how many resources they have to devote to improvement in a current cycle, and delivering experienced recommendations specifically for that cycle, and using analytics tools to measure the improvement and testing tools to back up any conclusions. "Rinse and repeat". How do you eat the conversion elephant? One small bite at a time. Exactly what Avinash was speaking about.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Website: Online Brochure or Resource?
As online, email, and social media are becoming increasingly popular by the second, more people that ever are being directed to your website. What impression does your website portray of your financial institution? Are you managing your visitors' online experience? It’s time to take a second look at your website in the eyes of your visitors.
Here are a few questions to determine if you are effectively communicating to your visitors and making your website a resource to them.
10 Website Audit Questions:
1. What is the immediate impression perceived from reading the home page?
2. Does the visitor determine which product(s) best suits them or are they directed to the best-suited product(s) for them?
3. Are product features communicated as relevant consumer benefits or described in financial lingo and acronyms?
4. Is relevant timely information on financial topics available?
5. Is up-to-date information about the financial institution available?
6. Are easy-to-use financial tools readily available? (i.e. Budget Planning Tool, Home Affordability Tool, Home Inspection Checklist, Financial Calculators, etc.)
7. Do the financial tools have a "next step" that directs them to an employee?
8. Are the appropriate features in place to contact an employee by email, phone, or online submission form?
9. Why would you revisit this website?
10. What is the final impression after leaving the website?
Creating an online experience instead of an online brochure can ultimately exceed consumer expectations, encourage interaction, and increase return visits to your website. In the virtual world we only have a few seconds to make an impression – let’s make it a great one and WOW our website visitors!
Good Luck!
Jamie
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Free Webinars for the New AdWords Interface
Last week we shared tips on how you can get ready for the new AdWords interface. We now have another resource to help you prepare for the change. Starting this week, we're holding weekly webinars about the new interface.
The first webinar is this Friday, June 19th at 11 AM PDT. The free 1-hour webinar will be led by Ariel Bardin, Product Management Director for the new AdWords interface. Ariel will walk you through the new interface, show you how to use the new features, and answer your questions.
You can register for the webinar here: New Interface Webinar Registration. Also, we have set up a Google Moderator page where you can send us your questions and vote for the questions you want answered. You can visit this page to submit your questions.
And, remember you can always visit the new interface microsite for additional help. We hope to see you on Friday.
The first webinar is this Friday, June 19th at 11 AM PDT. The free 1-hour webinar will be led by Ariel Bardin, Product Management Director for the new AdWords interface. Ariel will walk you through the new interface, show you how to use the new features, and answer your questions.
You can register for the webinar here: New Interface Webinar Registration. Also, we have set up a Google Moderator page where you can send us your questions and vote for the questions you want answered. You can visit this page to submit your questions.
And, remember you can always visit the new interface microsite for additional help. We hope to see you on Friday.
Getting started with AdWords workbook
If you'd like more help getting started using AdWords, we'd like to show you the free Step by Step workbook that details the simple steps in building successful AdWords campaigns. The workbook breaks down advertising with AdWords into four steps:
- Organizing your campaign
- Picking the right keywords
- Writing targeted ads
- Putting it all together
Within each section you'll find definitions, tips, screenshots, and other helpful information to help you navigate your account and build your campaigns. Check out www.google.com/adwords/pdf/step_by_step.pdf to get started.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Death of the Postal Service???
Good morning...
It's Monday. The 1st day of the week and the day when most bills arrive at your home or office. I read an interesting article today (http://tinyurl.com/kuvy7p) about the pending "death" of the US Postal Service
Sound familiar?
In the past decade, people have called for the "death" of paper money, checks, the branch, and banking in general. This all reminds me of the famous announcement of Mark Twain's demise, that was premature.
Today, there are more bank branches than ever before, banking is evolving and changing...while it is true that the number of checks written has fallen precipitously, they are still being written.
So, is the post office dead? I think not. Perhaps it's current status and structure is surely dead, but as a process, certainly not.
We have much to learn about people and process...people always win out. Banking is still a relationship business and the post service is still about creating a written connection between people. That will evolve but not die! Banking still uses and needs the written word to connect to our customers and direct mail (in its many formats) will be a part of that for a long time....Twitter, Facebook, texting, etc. will continue to evolve and grow, too, but the written word on printed paper will survive. Sounds like a history speaking, doesn't it??
Here's to capitalizing on the changes and putting the written word together with our customers for a long time!
Cheers!
Bruce Clapp
It's Monday. The 1st day of the week and the day when most bills arrive at your home or office. I read an interesting article today (http://tinyurl.com/kuvy7p) about the pending "death" of the US Postal Service
Sound familiar?
In the past decade, people have called for the "death" of paper money, checks, the branch, and banking in general. This all reminds me of the famous announcement of Mark Twain's demise, that was premature.
Today, there are more bank branches than ever before, banking is evolving and changing...while it is true that the number of checks written has fallen precipitously, they are still being written.
So, is the post office dead? I think not. Perhaps it's current status and structure is surely dead, but as a process, certainly not.
We have much to learn about people and process...people always win out. Banking is still a relationship business and the post service is still about creating a written connection between people. That will evolve but not die! Banking still uses and needs the written word to connect to our customers and direct mail (in its many formats) will be a part of that for a long time....Twitter, Facebook, texting, etc. will continue to evolve and grow, too, but the written word on printed paper will survive. Sounds like a history speaking, doesn't it??
Here's to capitalizing on the changes and putting the written word together with our customers for a long time!
Cheers!
Bruce Clapp
Friday, June 12, 2009
New Video: Segment Your AdWords Data
If you use AdWords, you're probably familiar with the AdWords reports in the Google Analytics Traffic Sources section. Using these reports, you can compare AdWords campaigns and ad groups against each other and track individual keyword performance. But wouldn't it be useful to instantly compare - in every single one of your reports - the performance of AdWords traffic against the performance of all site traffic? Even better, what if you could compare a specific subset of AdWords traffic to AdWords traffic as a whole and compare both of these segments to all site traffic?
You can do all this and more using Advanced Segments. The latest Google Analytics in 60 Seconds video shows how to create a segment that includes only AdWords traffic and then how to refine that segment to include only a specific set of keywords. We illustrate how to isolate brand related keywords in the video, but with a little experimentation, you can create the AdWords segments that are most relevant to your business. Then you could compare how frequently visitors from each segment use the search box on your site (Site Search Overview report), how many new visits versus returning visits came from each segment (New vs. Returning report), and how many visits from each segment came from New York (Map Overlay report).
You only have to define your segments once and they'll be available to any user who has access to the profile. This means you can define segments for others in your organization to use. Also, segments can be used with historical data as well as current data. So, if you want to go back and see how an AdWords segment performed one year ago, you can.
Leave a comment and share your favorite AdWords segments.
You can do all this and more using Advanced Segments. The latest Google Analytics in 60 Seconds video shows how to create a segment that includes only AdWords traffic and then how to refine that segment to include only a specific set of keywords. We illustrate how to isolate brand related keywords in the video, but with a little experimentation, you can create the AdWords segments that are most relevant to your business. Then you could compare how frequently visitors from each segment use the search box on your site (Site Search Overview report), how many new visits versus returning visits came from each segment (New vs. Returning report), and how many visits from each segment came from New York (Map Overlay report).
You only have to define your segments once and they'll be available to any user who has access to the profile. This means you can define segments for others in your organization to use. Also, segments can be used with historical data as well as current data. So, if you want to go back and see how an AdWords segment performed one year ago, you can.
Leave a comment and share your favorite AdWords segments.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
How to Get Ready for the New Interface
By now you probably know that we've been working on a new interface for AdWords to help you save time managing your account and get even better results from your campaigns.
We've built a number of new features that make managing your campaigns faster and easier: more graphs to track your performance over time, integrated reports that provide ready access to detailed search and content network data, and faster editing to help you make changes quickly.
You've probably received an email from us letting you know that your account will be converted to the new interface in the coming weeks. Today we have two release updates to share with you: we've recently made the new interface available to everyone who uses AdWords Standard Edition, and we've begun the migration process with a small number of accounts.
In our email, we stated that you would have at least 30 days before we update your account. This 30 day period is a minimum; in fact, most advertisers will have more than 30 days before their accounts are upgraded. We're taking a gradual and deliberate approach to ensure a smooth transition, and we won't upgrade your account until we're confident that the new interface meets your advertising needs.
So, how should you prepare for the transition to the new interface? First, the single most important resource to help you get up to speed is the new interface microsite. Here you can find short videos explaining the benefits of the new interface, a before and after guide, and even a short quiz you can take to make sure you're ready for the changes.
Next, if you haven't explored the new interface yet, now is a good time; try it by signing in to your AdWords account. If you notice any issues that make it difficult to manage your campaigns in the new interface, please let us know right away by submitting feedback.
If you've already sent us feedback on the new interface, thank you! We're listening closely to your comments and are working to fix the problems you've reported. Examples of top issues we're working on are wide pages that require too much scrolling, and slow load times for some types of browsers and Internet connections.
We've already made a number of changes in response to your feedback, and this week we've released updates to the new interface that address many of the top issues we've heard. And we're not done yet; we'll continue to make ongoing improvements to the new interface over time.
For those of you who joined the beta test early, we hope you like how the new AdWords interface has improved. And for those of you just getting started, we hope you're already noticing a few of the ways the new interface can help you get more out of your AdWords campaigns.
Posted by Austin Rachlin, Inside AdWords crew
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)