Group items tagged

Why Google Analytics is as good a choice as Omniture

Great study on why people abandon their shopping carts.

Why personas work. Thanks @DavidHuffman

In my new book -- see preview on Facebook -- I isolate five conversion signatures, one of which is right for your website. One is the Site as a Service signature, and the first conversion strategy is "Turn Visitors into Tryers."

This case study bears out the importance of that strategy. SaaS sites have an advantage over ecommerce sites in that their visitors can try the product right there on site. Why not offer a trial? Find out the other strategies in a free video introducing the book's core concepts.

 @getelastic Linda Bustos sees what I see: that the state of mobile websites is like the state of desktop websites circa 1995. What will we look back at and laugh at in five years?

I think we'll laugh at the "hamburger" menu, what Linda calls the Adidas menu.

I also think we'll laugh at responsive designs for small screens, like phones. Small screens need a custom design.

The good news is that we have better tools for testing, and I expect Mobile 1.0 to have a short life relative to Web 1.0.

Linda's article is full of examples for you to not emulate. It will be seen as a harbinger of change in mobile.

Slideshare is great for delivering pithy advice that slowly coalesces into understanding. That's why I love slide decks like this one.

You may not be able to implement these tips tomorrow, but you will begin to think about at online marketing differently.

And that can make all the difference.

Take a look at content marketing through the eyes of several experts, including me.

You may believe us, but does your boss?

As you know we believe that dedicated landing pages are one of the most powerful ways to increase revenue and leads online. It would be best to have a special landing page for each offer you make in an ad, email or on your site.

But who has time to build all of those pages??

If you knew that more landing pages meant more money, you might be able to get your boss to give you more resources.

This post from Hubspot may have the data you need.

This is a fabulous way of looking at your Pay-per-click (PPC) ad spend. The concept of a "marketin clearning" price range draws into sharp focus the importance of lowering your acquisition costs to participate in more search traffic and remain profitable.

Of course, the best way to lower your acquisition cost is to increase the conversion rate and average order value of your website. 

I've always argued that wireframes should come later in the web design process after copy and persuasive elements have been established.

Zakary Kinnaird argues there may be no good time for wireframes.

I can't test wireframes, esp. if they contain Lorem Ipsum copy. So wireframes lock in design elements before we even know what visitors prefer. Good comments as well.

Even experienced research groups like Nielsen Norman can get testing wrong by adding too many variables. The author argues that too many variables changed in these tests

And he's right.

Why do business owners rely on the "expertise" of designers when designers repeatedly fail to improve websites? Because the errors in the system get lost in the blame game. This is the gift of complexity. "People who are bred, selected, and compensated to find complicated solutions do not have an incentive to implement simplified ones." Let data provide some simplicity.

This article turns much "good advice" about writing on its ear. And it passes the test of an article on writing: It's well-written.

Why do I study writing so much? Because it is the most reliable way to improve the conversion performance of a page or website. Take some time with this article.

 @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.

We tracked the eyes of 22 people as they watched three kinds of video: Talking head video, webinar-style slide video and hand-drawn whiteboard-style video.

What we found out was that a human face is magnetic. Even when props were added, the viewers' gazes returned quickly to the face.

This article on how onscreen talent can hurt your product demo videos echoes our findings.

Yes, humans love human faces. We gaze at them and examine them. Unfortunately, this is a problem when we want someone to look at something else.

The Penn and Teller magic video in this article is worth the trip.

@peeplaja offers a great post on shopping cart abandonment

In my book I say that abandonment is like cholesterol: There is a good kind and a bad kind. For each there is a strategy for reducing the impact of abandonment on your business.

Good abandoners leave because they aren't done with their shopping process. The challenge is to get them to come back and buy when they are done. There are several strategies here for retargeting the visitor who abandons using email and ads.

Bad abandoners leave because you surprised them or didn't provide the information they were looking for. This kind of abandonment can be treated by improving the checkout process and by using pricing and shipping strategies.

Abandonment is the most heartbreaking of conversion killers. it is also a fertile place to increase the performance of your website.

The pshychology of consumer behavior is baffling, and this article offers no exceptions.

Austin company talks about conversion and "portraits" in the Austin newspaper.

This is just one example of how copy on techniical topics can be made fun, interesting and easy to read. Split-testing is an important tool, but notice how Danny presents the topic and keeps you reading. This is how your site should work.

@PrototyprIO - Great summary of where Ghost buttons come from and when they could be used without impacting your conversion rates.