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Personas tell you who to target with your Web site. It often isn't the end user.

I find it very refreshing that "Conversion Rate Optimization" made a top ten list for a successful search startup. "Conversion Rate Optimization is Essential, not Optional." These principles are helpful for any business that depends on the Web for leads or sales.

The lesson of this landing page case study is "Less is more to a point." This supports the lessons of my Backward Landing Pages post and column.

Three strategies that keep you from losing some of your hard-won visitors from our friends at KISSMetrics. Exit-intent Technology more Persistent Cookies (cookies tend to persist around my waste) Ad Remarketing

"Overall, a lenient return policy did indeed correlate with more returns. But, crucially, it was even more strongly correlated with an increase in purchases. In other words, retailers are generally getting a clear sales benefit from giving customers the assurance of a return."

I always tell my audiences that exit-intent popovers will increase lead generation and often increase sales in an ecommerce setting. However, there is a negative brand impression from them. Nobody likes popovers, if you ask them.

Now we have some data on what people THINK about exit-intent popovers.

There are sevreral items in this list that are important for conversion optimizers to take note of, things to try. Mobile-first design: I surprised to learn how many leads and sales are now coming from the mobile web. Skeleton screens: Far better than some spinning animation for decreasing both load times AND percieved load times. Photo-cenric Menus: Try these for ecommerce sites. Scroll-triggerd animations: ONLY FOR STORY TELLING! Animated Call-to-action Buttons: Try those that shimmer without interaction. Hand lettering: Be careful not to make things hard to read. AI for design: I just have to try Grid.

When designing pages that are informational and persuasive, "visuial sugar" will often have a very meaningful negative effect on leads and sales. This is a great summary of what NOT to do on your landing pages and websites.

 @KISSMetrics makes the point that plain is the new sexy; conventional websites sizzle. This article offers scientific proof that we consider a website "sexy" if it presents information as we expect it. You don't need to pay a creative team to come up with a unique site. In fact you will probably have to reel them in a bit once you've completed this article.

"Enclose" the checkout process.

This means to create a distraction-free bubble when your visitor has decided to take that bold step and buy your product.

The psychological thing you're working against here is that, when asked to let go of something of value -- like our money -- we are more than happy to delay that decision.

Maybe we'll just shop a bit more. Maybe we'll check one other place for the right price.

That is why any distraction in your checkout process can be an out for a buyer, an out that they may never return from. I've seen checkout processes that have social media icons in them.

Really? Is this the right time to remind someone that they need to check Facebook?

Go buy something on your site and just look for all of the distractions you find. You might feel a bit embarrassed.

Do you get a shot of adrenaline every time you see an uptick in conversions? We do. However, we often find our early excitement tempered when a test turns out to be inconclusive.

It can be hard to announce to a customer that you didn't find a winner. In fact, it's a discipline here.

Find out what you can do to keep from getting addicted to good test results.

Shimon Sandler offers some tips for linking phone orders to search campaigns, ranging from simple (using a pay-per-call provider) to more involved (setting up a database of unique promo codes tied to specific keywords).

You can create a unique landing page for each product that features a different phone number for each of the engines, or add a promo/reference code to each product page and train your phone sales reps to ask for and record this code for every order.

Sandler says that you can also put a printable coupon on each landing page that consumers need to redeem in-store, or try an IVR phone system that tracks phone calls and their sources. - Read the whole story...

Web Engagement Management (WEM) is a strategy for how an organization brings together its human and technology resources to optimize its digital presence. In the article What is Web Engagement Management (WEM)? we outlined 5 core WEM components. But we just skimmed the surface. Here's more on what we think is at the center of WEM.

This post has a wealth of examples for optimizing your site. Scroll through to learn much, including an example from our .

Have you taken the free short course we offer there? You should.

Everything we do as marketers or salespeople is about story. Our content and conversations should excite the imagination and make others curious about the characters in our story - and perhaps see themselves in it. A.I. and other tech innovations will allow us to get closer to the characters in the stories we tell.