SiteProPPC » Landing Page Consulting

Online Forms – How Long Is Too Long?

Chelsea — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 23:40:29 +0000

Your site has finally started generating click-through traffic! It’s evident that people are reading and responding to your AdWords campaign, and they are seeking more information. They’re landing on the page, but how can you turn that click into a lead? How can you keep that person coming back for more?

First, the AdWords user needs to develop a strong enough value proposition, or reason for a customer to be invested in their offer. Once the customer has clicked-through to the landing page, they need to be interested enough to provide personal information via an online form. It is essential that this form is simple and streamlined. It should gather only the most pertinent information about the customer, without being too invasive or too lengthy. This is the AdWords user’s chance to snag a lead, and acquire the contact information that is needed to promote products and offers to these customers in the future.

The length of an online form can make or break the acquisition of a lead. The only thing keeping that customer interested enough to fill out the text boxes, is the offer promised to them on the other end. Naturally, the owner of the landing page would want to get as much information about the potential lead as possibly, but they need to do this with finesse and without driving that person away.

A recent study performed by Marketo showed that asking for less ultimately provides AdWords users with more. By using a series of three forms of different lengths (five, seven and nine questions), they were able to generate the estimated price-per-lead based on the final number of conversions, or customers who completed registration, for each of the forms. The five question form asked the most basic questions: first name, last name, work email, job function (drop-down) and company. The seven question form added number of employees and industry, and the nine question form added those plus work phone and CRM system.

The study showed that shorter forms resulted in higher level of conversions, and thus a lower cost per lead. Longer online forms resulted in fewer customer conversions, and increased cost per lead overall. Marketo’s research showed that the five question form produced an average conversion rate of 13.4 percent. The seven question form converted at 12 percent, and the nine question form converted only 10 percent of visitors. The differences in the cost per lead was significant, as well, with a 16.6 percent relative difference between the seven field form and the nine field form and 25.4 percent relative difference between the five field form and the seven.

The studies show that asking less of your customer up front shows the potential of receiving more from them later on. Converting customers is one of the most important goals for pay-per-click advertisers; this opens the opportunity to have working relationships with those people. Once they are in the AdWords user’s database, they are invested and connected. They can be reached whenever new products or offers hit the market. Using shorter online forms means that more of those relationships can be formed, and more sales can be made down the road. Try to overcome the urge to gather too much personal data up front; it’s likely that once you acquire that lead, you will likely be openly given that information during the next transaction. Keep it simple, and use common sense when optimizing online forms to gain more leads.

Simple Easy Landing Page Ideas

anneb — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:51:28 +0000

The Site Pro team attended a presentation by Tim Ash, the landing page guru. The PPC managers here are always trying to keep abreast of the latest research in landing pages (that's the first page a visitor sees after clicking on an ad) …and sharing it with our clients. We are always amazed about how the smallest improvements to a Pay Per Click landing page can improve the conversion rate (that's the percentage of visitors who do actually make a sale or fill out a lead form). Tiny improvements to landing pages can lead to higher conversions — and more revenues for our Pay Per Click clients. Sadly, many landing pages were created without the goal in mind — which is to make conversions. We want our Internet visitors to convert (ie …make a sale, become a sales lead, download a product) with as little hassles as possible. Tim showed us how landing pages should be designed — and provided some doozies of poor landing pages. But Tim emphasized that making some simple changes to the design can increase your sales — and keep your customers happy. Here are some of the insights that Tim shared with our pay per click advertising experts:

Avoid attention leaks on your landing page. An "attention leak" is anything that distracts your landing page visitors from the goal that you want them to achieve. Here's an example: a flying, rotating image that takes up half of the landing page's key real estate. Anything that distracts a potential customer from clicking that purchase button or filling out an email lead form should be edited out.

Pronto.

Make it Really Really Obvious

Landing pages should only have one or two action items on them…and there should be no ambiguity or confusion about what you want your website visitors to do when they reach the landing page."Of course!" you might say.

"They need to call us with the phone number that is on the website. Duh!"

Yes, but that same landing page might be littered with multiple choices…inviting the visitors to download white papers, fill out email newsletter subscription forms or to read reviews. Tim's advice is to Keep it Simple and Obvious. Don't be afraid to use very large buttons that explicitly point to the desired action (like fill out a lead form).

This is not the place to be subtle– go bold!

Offer Credibility

Tim encourage e-commerce site owners to provide as much credibility as they can on their website. Internet searchers are wary on their hunt for the right product or service because the Internet is littered with so many scams and annoying affiliate sites. Get your business site to stand out from the competitors. Build trust with your visitors by showing logos that prove you belong to professional organizations, or follow safe web practices (like a Verisign logo, if you do have SSL certification). Provide the logos of well-know satisfied customers, and show testimonials from these satisfied customers. If you are asking for an email address, provide a link that spells out your privacy policy — and reassure the visitors immediately on the form that you will not abuse their trust by selling that email address.

So Much Advice, So Little Resources Yes… you agree that changes need to be made to your website. Making those changes can require a lot of time and developer investment, as well as expertise in landing page optimization. Our PPC experts here can provide ideas and feedback about our client landing pages. Site Pro can also refer our clients to quality landing page developers to make the necessary changes. Call us for a quote!

Landing Page Myths

Chelsea — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:51:33 +0000

Many factors go into a successful Pay per click account. Proper management, budget, audience insight, and many other elements all must be up to par. However, even with these in place, you will always be fighting an uphill battle without properly optimized landing pages.Â Like a mismanaged restaurant, you can round up the best clientele in the world, but if they don’t get their needs met the way they expect they’re going to walk out on you.

Over the years, there have been common misbeliefs we have come across when it comes to landing pages and getting visitors to convert. Here are a few landing page myths to consider:

Myth #1: One size fits all.
When it comes to landing pages, there is not one magic formula or template that will work for every industry and every business online. Likewise, just because a company is providing your website or shopping cart does not mean it has been tested to convert well. Successful landing pages are those that consider the audience and cater to the needs of that market. Are you selling a high ticket item? Longer copy may be needed so customers feel fully educated on your product or service. If you can price beat all of your competitors visitors may need to see specific guarantees before deciding to purchase.

Myth #2: Usability does not need to be tested.
If you want competitive advantage, run a usability test of your website. More than likely your competitors have not done the same. Donâ€™t make the same mistake and assume visitors feel comfortable navigating your site and can find the information they need. A simple way to go about this is to find out if your website passes the â€œmomâ€ test by studying how easy your mother can use your website. You may also want to invest in professional usability testing from a company such as Userlytics and receive reliable, unbiased feedback for improving your user’s experience.

Myth #3: Cool websites sell more.
For internet marketers, there is nothing worse than coming across a website with a flash intro page. Cool designs, fancy color schemes, and flash presentations may seem to impress your visitors on the surface but historically will do nothing to improve sales and can actually be a hindrance. Â A site that is attractive, easy to use, and gets your point across will do much more for you in terms of sales than all the flash and glam you can squeeze into that 5-second page load time. Keep it simple and youâ€™re sure to get better results.

Myth #4: â€œBuild it and they will come.â€
Youâ€™ve heard this as a common myth in regards to traffic, but the same principle is often assumed when we are dealing with conversions. Unfortunately, people do not take action on your website just because the option is available to them. There has to be a compelling reason to take the next step or the user will do nothing and leave, never to return again. Think of ways to incentivize, compel, and entice your visitors to take action. Develop a keen understanding of your target market so you can find their hot spots and overcome their objections. Incorporate these into your landing pages and you will watch your conversions skyrocket.

Similar to Pay per click campaigns, landing pages should always be evolving and improving on a consistent basis. Split testing is one of the best things you can do to improve your results, gain better understanding of your visitors, and stay current with the needs of your market. If you are not currently testing your pages I encourage you to do so and develop a new priority for improving your website conversion rates. You can’t always increase your traffic, but you can increase sales with each improvement to your website.

Landing Page Optimization Part 4 – The One Way Street

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:40:31 +0000

One of the challenges in any business is to communicate with your prospects and clients on the appropriate level.

It is very easy to forget that what seems obvious to the consultant may not be obvious to the client. (And they have the same problem with the consultant, what is obvious to the client regarding their business may take a while to become clear to us.

So what about the one way street landing page concept? Landing pages may act as a one way street in that you can navigate to the rest of the site from the landing page, but you can only get to the landing page by clicking on an ad.

So how is this helpful? Let’s say you have strong key words with a few synonyms. For example, Pay Per Click Management , Pay Per Click Consulting, Pay Per Click Agency. You could try to weave a textual tapestry using all of those words a few times on one landing page or you can simply set up a separate landing page for each term.

The key to making this work is to not include the landing page in the normal navigation on the site (–or just include the landing page with the most productive of those keywords in the normal navigation).

That is the one way street part of the concept. Now before I started to understand web design a bit better, I didn’t realize you could do that…..and many clients don’t realize it when you first start presenting the idea of specialized landing pages to them.

Here is a brief example. Let’s say as a PPC Consultant that I have a website that has three pages –A, B, C. Page A is the home page, Page B is the landing page, and Page C is the contact page. In the “one way street” landing page scenario you would create three landing pages that would take the place of Page B. Page B1 could be focused on the keywords around Pay Per Click Management. Page B2 could be focused around the key word Pay Per Click Consulting…..etc.

In this one way street scenario, when a person clicks on the ad that focuses on Pay Per Click Consulting, they would be taken to Page B2 on the site. On the B2 Page, that person could navigate to Page A or C, but not B1 or B3. And that is the great thing about this…the targeted landing pages do their thing, but don’t make the site seem too busy or scattered

It’s a great win-win for the site owner and the PPC Manager. The site owner still has the site they have always wanted and the PPC Manager gets the targeted landing pages that create better traffic and quality scores!

Landing Page Optimization Part 3 â€“ Marketing Call to Action

admin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:16:56 +0000

In Landing Page Optimization Part 2 we discussed the importance of keeping your landing page concise. In part 3, we’ll discuss including a marketing call to action.

A marketing call to action is exactly what it sounds like. It is an appeal to your visitor to purchase your product, fill in your information form, or perform some other action that you have deemed ‘conversion worthy’. (I love Seinfeld. …). Any sales professional will tell you that you always ask for the sale, and any interview coach will always say to ask for the job. This is the webpage equivalent. You need to make it obvious to your visitor how to perform the task you would like them to perform and ask them to do it!

You want to avoid the used car lot look, but you do want to make the appeals obvious. Large fonts, different colors, arrows all work.

In a corollary to the 5 second rule, you need to make your desired action look as easy to complete as possible. Again, your visitor has a short attention span and if your information request form looks too daunting or if it asks for too much information, they will pass and go on to the next site. Recent trends keep information request forms to 4 or 5 lines. Just the minimum you need to take the next step with your prospect.

Landing page flow is easier to conceptualize than to describe or coach, but we have all been on sites that flow easily and those that do not. In general you want to use white space and bullets to get the primary goal of your landing page across quickly and smoothly. Flow will be helped a great deal if you try to have one objective for your landing page.

Here is a link to a great article on the subject of landing page design and flow:

http://www.marketingexperiments.com/improving-website-conversion/landing-page-confusion.html

In the next post I will talk about that "one way street".