| ign="center"> | | | | generally your thank-you page or confirmation page. |
| Most marketers tend to focus on the campaign | | | | * |
| click-through as if it is the be-all and end-all of success. | | | | Soft goals. Every person will not follow your desired |
| But in reality, the click-through simply whisks visitors | | | | conversion path all the way to the end, but many will |
| onto your site, where the hard work really begins. | | | | do something that may lead to a future conversion. |
| What happens between the moment visitors arrive | | | | For example, they may download a white paper, |
| and the moment they either convert or leave? | | | | subscribe to your newsletter or spend a long time |
| Here's how to optimize email and PPC conversion | | | | reading certain product pages. Look at an overlay |
| paths so your tactics pay off past the click-through. | | | | report for each page in your conversion path to see |
| Why the Click-Through Tells Only Half the Story | | | | which secondary links visitors are clicking on and how |
| Let's say you send out two B2B email campaigns. | | | | these secondary pages promote your soft goals. |
| Campaign A has twice the click-through rate of | | | | * |
| Campaign B. If you stop at the click-through, Campaign | | | | Distractions. Sometimes your visitors wander off the |
| A is the clear winner. But now let's factor in the | | | | conversion path, but not in the direction of a soft goal. |
| desired conversion action: filling out a lead-generation | | | | Are they going to the careers, privacy policy, shipping |
| form. When you count the actual number of leads, it | | | | policy or about us pages — then leaving your |
| turns out that Campaign A and Campaign B both | | | | site? That qualifies as a distraction. Your overlay |
| generated 100 leads — making them equally | | | | report will help you identify where your visitors are |
| successful at driving you to your ultimate goal. | | | | getting distracted, so you can remove those links from |
| The same concept holds true in search marketing. | | | | your conversion pages. |
| Imagine that two PPC campaigns lead to an | | | | Analyze and Optimize Based on Conversion Behavior |
| e-commerce landing page. Their click-through rates | | | | So know that you know which metrics to review, here |
| and number of clicks are nearly identical, but when you | | | | are a few common-sense ways to interpret the |
| crunch the revenue numbers, you find that campaign B | | | | numbers and figure out what to optimize. |
| delivered 25 percent more in gross sales than | | | | * |
| campaign A. | | | | What's my average conversion rate? It's important to |
| In both cases, the click-through stats alone don't predict | | | | compare apples to apples by creating segments such |
| ultimate campaign success. It's the bottom-line | | | | as all email campaigns or all PPC campaigns, because |
| conversion stats, such as number of leads or amount | | | | different types of campaigns have wildly different |
| of revenue, that tell you which campaign worked | | | | conversion rates. |
| hardest where it really counted. But even knowing that | | | | * |
| isn't enough, because you're left with question marks | | | | Is this campaign a winner or a loser? Compare how |
| between the click-through and the conversion. | | | | an individual campaign stacks up against other |
| Why did one campaign convert better than the other? | | | | campaigns of its same type. If your campaign has a |
| What can you do to make the site work as hard for | | | | much higher bounce rate than normal, it may be a sign |
| Campaign A as it does for Campaign B? | | | | that your campaign and landing-page messaging are at |
| The answers can be found all along your campaign | | | | odds with each other. |
| click path, you just have to know where to look. | | | | * |
| Follow the Click Path All the Way to the Conversion | | | | Is something wrong with the overall conversion path or |
| Your click path is exactly what it sounds like — | | | | with the campaign? Compare all visitors to visitors |
| it's the path that leads from your email or PPC | | | | from a particular campaign or type of campaign. For |
| click-through to the initial landing page, then from the | | | | example, if all visitors have a high abandonment rate |
| landing page to wherever you want the next click to | | | | on the shipping page, you might rethink the page |
| take you, until you reach the final step in the | | | | content, navigation or design. But if email visitors have |
| conversion process, such as a thank-you page or | | | | a much higher abandonment rate than everyone else, |
| order-confirmation page. | | | | it might be because your email promises free shipping, |
| For example, a lead-generation conversion path is | | | | and the page doesn't. |
| usually straight forward — perhaps a single | | | | Now you're ready to make changes to your |
| landing page where the visitor fills out a form, then a | | | | conversion pages. What happens if you remove that |
| thank-you page. An e-commerce path might be a little | | | | distracting link? What happens if you change the |
| more involved — a landing page with items to | | | | landing-page headline? What happens if you create a |
| buy, a shopping cart once you've selected your items, | | | | more relevant landing page for a campaign with a high |
| a page to input credit-card and shipping information, | | | | bounce rate? |
| and then a final confirmation page. | | | | You can easily discern which changes work best by |
| Use your Web-analytics tool to review: | | | | split testing. Just send half of your campaign visitors to |
| * | | | | one version of the page and the other half to another, |
| Landing-page bounce rates. In the Web-analytics world, | | | | and then compare the results. |
| a bounce — also called a short visit by some | | | | Taking the Question Mark Out of the Conversion |
| tools — is someone who arrives at a page and | | | | When you look at the entire conversion path — |
| then exits, without visiting any additional pages on the | | | | not just the campaign click-through — you take |
| site. High bounce rates or short visits are generally an | | | | a lot of the guesswork out of campaign effectiveness. |
| indication that visitors arrive on your landing page | | | | You can spot the obstacles on your site that may be |
| expecting one thing, and they get another. Virtually all | | | | preventing visitors from reaching your conversion goal. |
| Web-analytics tools prominently display the bounce | | | | And ultimately, you ensure that your site works as |
| rate, exit rate or short-visit rate on every page. | | | | hard to convert visitors as your campaign did to |
| * | | | | attract them in the first |
| Overall abandonment rates. Abandonment is when a | | | | place.lyris_hq_funnel_-_small.jpg |
| visitor leaves the site before the final conversion step. | | | | This funnel report from Lyris HQ shows the click path |
| You can calculate this by creating a funnel report in | | | | for a specific landing page, and calculates the |
| your Web-analytics software, where the funnel starts | | | | conversion rates for two different segments, PPC |
| at the initial landing page and ends at the goal page, | | | | visitors and email visitors. |