Online Marketing Optimization Technology: We have ways of making technology talk, Mr. Bond

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

4032921581 34c4380738 199x300 Online Marketing Optimization Technology: We have ways of making technology talk, Mr. BondIt’s the classic spy movie scene. Intrepid hero caught. Nasty villain ensures him that he will divulge all his secrets no matter how hard he resists. And while our noble hero always seems to break free without giving up the info, your online business optimization technology won’t be so lucky.

In Wednesday’s free web clinic – Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain – we will tell you how we get the most value from technology in our daily work with Research Partners here at MarketingExperiments.

We’ll give you a five-point testing technology checklist and tell you the four most common problematic default settings in tools, what it means to run a valid test, and some strategic considerations for multivariate testing.

In the meantime, here is our latest community-written blog post to help you understand how your peers deal with technology blind spots and interpret the data they receive from their marketing technology in a way that will give them the right answers…

Random Dives

First, determine the Key Metrics for your company’s success. Sales? Email addresses? Leads? Links?

Build auto reports for daily, weekly, monthly views into your metrics.

Do random dives into the data to increase your understanding as time allows.

Then build programs/processes/testing to improve your key metrics.

Repeat.

– Jane Buck, Lead Generation and Customer Acquisition Consultant

Be Aware of Factors that can Skew Performance

I think Jane did a great job with her answer. To build upon this:

  1. Definitely, you should know your key success metrics first. You should be able to track and report on all of them. This way report data is always structured around key success metrics, which is much easier both from communication of results and optimization standpoints.
  2. If you have a current Excel structure for your reports, build a web query report inside your marketing tool and then all you’ll need to do is refresh your Excel sheet so the new data can populate into your Excel report automatically, including related graphs, etc. Very handy for daily, weekly, monthly performance reports.
  3. Create alerts if your marketing technology allows. This will enable an automatic report generated when one of your key success metrics changes up or down significantly, allowing you to optimize real time. Build as many rule-based alerts as necessary to keep abreast of the changes you are tracking.
  4. Make sure that you are aware of current company promotions, seasonality, and any other factors that can skew performance. Build in major events correlation with results, so you can do your projections better (very handy for retail industry, for example).

– Vera Belenky, Executive, Digital Media at Accenture

Garbage In, Garbage Out

To make sure that you end up with the right marketing data, you have to start from the beginning by making sure you have a list of questions you want answered (they probably follow from some company objectives), come up with a list of metrics that will offer the answer to these questions (this will require conversations with IT and data experts), narrow down to a short list of metrics, find out how to get the data for these metrics from your company (more conversations with internal and external IT staff, if any), define these metrics, and test to make sure that you are getting the answers to your questions

To do so, sample size and metric definition are key. As we all know, GIGO.

– Judy Huang, Founder of Yes We All Can

Experience Matters

I don’t mean to be a smarty or funny, but how would someone know they had a problem if it’s a blind spot and they can’t see it?

For example, if a company selected a CRM without direct experience. They could, in using it, be hit by the fact that it is very navigation intensive and doesn’t support callers making higher volumes of calls – it’s slow.

However, someone using this CRM would not know this unless they had experience with CRMs that were quick. In fact, since most companies don’t look at “usability” they might not even consider this question.

How can someone compensate for something one doesn’t know is taking place?

– Flyn Penoyer, Founder of OnlineBusinessNetworker.net

Related Resources

Technology Blind Spots: How human insight revealed a hidden (and almost missed) 31% gain

PPC Innovation: How will Google’s new lead capture extension affect your pay-per-click campaigns?

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Social media is a great way to get customer feedback…just be wary for potential blowback

Online Marketing Optimization Technology: We have ways of making technology talk, Mr. Bond

Filed Under: News Tagged With:

Day 30 – Shoemoney System Review

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Time Spent: 5 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: eBay Arbitrage
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: Today is the final day of my 30 Day experiment. Only new video today was again one I’d already seen. It was an interview with a guy who built a business selling stuff on [...]

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Day 30 – Shoemoney System Review

Day 30 – Shoemoney System Review Day 30 – Shoemoney System Review Day 30 – Shoemoney System Review

Day 30 – Shoemoney System Review

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Gaggle Ball Marketing

May 14, 2010 By 2 Comments

soccer shoe Gaggle Ball Marketing

Does your marketing strategy resemble a large group of 5 year olds playing soccer?

When 5 year olds play soccer, you really are just watching 12 kids chase a ball while two goalies pick their nose. The cohesiveness and teamwork displayed on the field is reminiscent of crash test dummies. No one understands the concept of “playing position” or “passing the ball” to each other. Its a glorious mess that keeps the parents either wincing at the gaggle of kids launching their feet towards each other and occasionally kicking the ball or laughing at the reactions of the kids when they actually connect and the ball goes soaring.

As an adult trying to market your business on the internet, its important to remember to make each effort integrate and work with a bigger picture. “Playing position” is important in making each piece maximize its utility.

Way back when I was actually on the field (yes, they had soccer back then) I played “sweeper” position (not even sure that exists anymore). My job was to support the back line wherever needed. My role was NOT to score a goal. I was never supposed to cross the center line.

Each online marketing channel has a purpose and a role that it is best suited for. When you log into Facebook and your only intention is to close a sale, you are playing the wrong position. When your entire marketing plan consists of logging into the system of choice (Google ads, Twitter, YouTube, Guest Blogs, etc.) and closing the sale, you are really just mimicking “Gaggle Ball” for your marketing plan.

The idea here is to use each marketing channel in its strong suit. Twitter allows you to connect with a huge number of people. Don’t shut the door on someone by throwing used car salesmen tactics at them the moment they show interest. Use the venue correctly, by showing them who you are and why they should trust something you say.

Rather than making Google Ads, Twitter or YouTube all try and do the same thing, find out why each one is different and how to use each one to integrate into your big marketing picture. If you do this, you’ll discover that your marketing can be organized, integrated, and become more than just the sum of its parts. All you have to do is play your position.

Toff Ward
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Learn how to build and market your business online using open source tools.

Gaggle Ball Marketing

Filed Under: Marketing, Online Marketing Tagged With: ,

Online Marketing Tricks vs. Testing: The Thrilla on Mozilla

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: Research Manager Adam Lapp is reviewing the battle between common Internet marketing practices to help you determine which optimization strategies are most effective and give you ideas for new tests. On Monday, we published Part 1 in this series. On Wednesday, Part 2. Well get ready fight fans, hold on tight to your Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Google Chrome browser, because here comes Part 3…

Heat Map vs. Data Analysis

Breakdown:

When Heat Map enters the ring, he’s very intimidating, and looks great on the surface. He always shows up in a flashy, beautiful silk robe and has crazy music playing when he enters. Heat Map was a wizard at getting attention and he values the things that give him attention the most. He points to the camera flashes and banners and professes his love with a big red kiss.
400px Ouch boxing footwork Online Marketing Tricks vs. Testing: The Thrilla on Mozilla
All of Heat Map’s theatrics are fine. It’s part of the show. However, he gets himself into trouble by making outlandish conclusions about his opponents, like being able to know exactly what punch his opponent would land just by looking at the color of his clothes. Many times when Heat Map thinks someone will punch him in the rib cage, they instead throw a cross to his temple.

For his fight against Data Analysis, he trained mercilessly in the gym – lifting weights, doing crunches, and hitting punching bags. When it came time to fight, he strolled into the ring confident that his opponent’s strength was the left hook. Why? Well because he saw a red and yellow tattoo of a python on his left bicep.

Too bad he didn’t actually watch footage of Data Analysis’s previous fights. If he had, Heat Map would have known that most of his punches come from the right. What a shame to see him knocked out in a matter of seconds.

Sometimes Heat Map is right about his opponent though. Sometimes the key to victory is written on one’s sleeve. But it’s very, very dangerous to rely on just “sometimes.”

Data Analysis on the other hand is subdued and quiet. A stark contrast to Heat Map. But under that calm exterior is a supreme confidence because, unlike Heat Map, he has been studying his opponent’s film for hours. He’s learned that Heat Map throws himself a little off balance every time he attempts a left hook. He knows that Heat Map doesn’t bob and weave, but instead focuses his attention on one thing…in this case it’s the tattoo of the python.

Bottom Line: Data Analysis has been training hard, bringing in numerous sparring partners who fight like Heat Map. He uses his insights from these exercises to model what fight techniques he thinks Heat Map may try…predictive modeling. From the film studies, he performs a regression analysis to determine the relationship between Heat Map’s jabs and his upper cuts. He figures out a correlation between the two – every time Heat Map throws two jabs in a row there is a high probability for an upper cut to follow.

The fight starts, and Heat Map is looking good, fancy footwork, doing a great job dodging that left hook. But 1:19 into the first round, he goes for the double jab and Data Analysis clocks him. He had been waiting for that the whole time. KO in the first round. Most of the time Heat Map is a solid bet, but any smart gambler will always look past the impressive exterior to see if his head is really in the fight.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Heat Map – 4

Data Analysis – 9

Bounce Rate vs. Conversion

Breakdown: This is a very unorthodox fight, and I don’t know how the promoters sold this one. Boxing commissions from several countries turned it down, and eventually they had to film it for the Internet from an undisclosed location.

Bounce Rate is just a cruiserweight fighter. Sure, he’s a good boxer and everyone knows who he is.  His technique is all about speed. It’s about unleashing the first jab in a split second. But Bounce Rate’s fight record has more losses on it that wins. For such a quick fighter, a throwback to Sugar Ray Lewis, it’s difficult to understand why he doesn’t receive more favorable decisions.

So it’s strange that a heavyweight is on his radar. Each time a referee raises the hand of Conversion, somebody has a serious payday. But Conversion hasn’t accomplished everything on his own. He relies on a whole team to prepare him for a fight: Clarity of Value, The Friction Reducer, and The Anxiety Mitigator.

Unlike the team behind Conversion, Bounce Rate’s trains alone and his preparation is usually focused on one punch, one quick hit. That quick hit can be very effective, but after that’s thrown, Bounce Rate relies strictly on improvisation hoping that the momentum of the first punch leads to a decision. Sure that first jab is important and Bounce Rate should do everything possible to land it, but he’s focused entirely too much on a short-term goal, on a secondary objective.

The fight began predictably. Bounce Rate unleashed his first jab in a hurry and the crowd cheered. “Success” they chanted repeatedly! For the first few rounds, Bounce Rate went wild flinging himself all over the ring. Conversion couldn’t touch him. It seemed certain that he was ahead on the scorecard, but when the numbers came in, Bounce Rate’s success had no impact on Conversion.

Bottom Line: In the next few rounds, Conversion began executing his fight plan. He threw fewer punches than Bounce Rate, but they were much more quality shots. He still had not captured the crowd’s favor. For six rounds they stubbornly championed the smaller Bounce Rate. Conversion knew he was the better fighter, but there was only one way to sway the crowd…RESULTS.

All of a sudden, Conversion caught Bounce Rate with a cross and down he went. One, two, three…As Bounce Rate was down, Referee ROI just stood there. Four, five, six…still down and ROI did not move.  Seven, eight, nine, ten…Knock out! Referee ROI grabbed Conversion’s glove and raised his arm in the air.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Focus on what matters. All you need to know is that conversion won by KO.

Tricks vs. Testing

I hope you’ve enjoyed this three-part “boxing” series where we’ve pitted the latest and greatest tricks against proven principles that have come from Testing. Whether it’s a Flash Banner or an Above-the-Fold page, the important thing to remember is to test instead of implementing blindly based on someone’s “can’t miss” recommendation. Because while these proven principles have been very successful for our Research Partners, unless you test them yourself and discover what really works for you, they are no better than tricks.

And over the last ten years, we’ve seen a lot of Tricks come and go. Some have worked and some haven’t, especially in the short term. But without Testing, it’s impossible to understand why a Trick was successful or why it wasn’t.

Because Tricks are popular for a reason. They can be wildly successful…for “some” businesses. The primary question is, can they be successful for your business. And that’s why Testing gets the TKO against Tricks. Testing gives you the business intelligence to discover what really works, right now, for your company.

That’s why, at the end of the day, Testing will always defeat Tricks. But I’ll drop the fight analogy right now, because the two can work together. This is not a zero sum game. Whenever you hear somebody tell you to “Try this trick” or “Implement this tactic,” apply scrutiny and determine for yourself if you think it can work for your business or not. If it has a chance, give it a shot. But test it against what you know already works to see if it works better. Or not. In this way, you will continually improve your marketing performance.

Related Resources

Tricks vs. Testing: The Battle for Internet Supremacy

Flash Banner vs. Headline, Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality: The fight for online marketing ROI continues

Face Your Fears: Why visitors really bounce from your site, part 3

Online Marketing Tricks vs. Testing: The Thrilla on Mozilla

Filed Under: Analytics & Testing Tagged With: , , ,

Online Marketing Tricks vs. Testing: The Thrilla on Mozilla

May 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: Research Manager Adam Lapp is reviewing the battle between common Internet marketing practices to help you determine which optimization strategies are most effective and give you ideas for new tests. On Monday, we published Part 1 in this series. On Wednesday, Part 2. Well get ready fight fans, hold on tight to your Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, or Google Chrome browser, because here comes Part 3…

Heat Map vs. Data Analysis

Breakdown:

When Heat Map enters the ring, he’s very intimidating, and looks great on the surface. He always shows up in a flashy, beautiful silk robe and has crazy music playing when he enters. Heat Map was a wizard at getting attention and he values the things that give him attention the most. He points to the camera flashes and banners and professes his love with a big red kiss.
400px Ouch boxing footwork Online Marketing Tricks vs. Testing: The Thrilla on Mozilla
All of Heat Map’s theatrics are fine. It’s part of the show. However, he gets himself into trouble by making outlandish conclusions about his opponents, like being able to know exactly what punch his opponent would land just by looking at the color of his clothes. Many times when Heat Map thinks someone will punch him in the rib cage, they instead throw a cross to his temple.

For his fight against Data Analysis, he trained mercilessly in the gym – lifting weights, doing crunches, and hitting punching bags. When it came time to fight, he strolled into the ring confident that his opponent’s strength was the left hook. Why? Well because he saw a red and yellow tattoo of a python on his left bicep.

Too bad he didn’t actually watch footage of Data Analysis’s previous fights. If he had, Heat Map would have known that most of his punches come from the right. What a shame to see him knocked out in a matter of seconds.

Sometimes Heat Map is right about his opponent though. Sometimes the key to victory is written on one’s sleeve. But it’s very, very dangerous to rely on just “sometimes.”

Data Analysis on the other hand is subdued and quiet. A stark contrast to Heat Map. But under that calm exterior is a supreme confidence because, unlike Heat Map, he has been studying his opponent’s film for hours. He’s learned that Heat Map throws himself a little off balance every time he attempts a left hook. He knows that Heat Map doesn’t bob and weave, but instead focuses his attention on one thing…in this case it’s the tattoo of the python.

Bottom Line: Data Analysis has been training hard, bringing in numerous sparring partners who fight like Heat Map. He uses his insights from these exercises to model what fight techniques he thinks Heat Map may try…predictive modeling. From the film studies, he performs a regression analysis to determine the relationship between Heat Map’s jabs and his upper cuts. He figures out a correlation between the two – every time Heat Map throws two jabs in a row there is a high probability for an upper cut to follow.

The fight starts, and Heat Map is looking good, fancy footwork, doing a great job dodging that left hook. But 1:19 into the first round, he goes for the double jab and Data Analysis clocks him. He had been waiting for that the whole time. KO in the first round. Most of the time Heat Map is a solid bet, but any smart gambler will always look past the impressive exterior to see if his head is really in the fight.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Heat Map – 4

Data Analysis – 9

Bounce Rate vs. Conversion

Breakdown: This is a very unorthodox fight, and I don’t know how the promoters sold this one. Boxing commissions from several countries turned it down, and eventually they had to film it for the Internet from an undisclosed location.

Bounce Rate is just a cruiserweight fighter. Sure, he’s a good boxer and everyone knows who he is.  His technique is all about speed. It’s about unleashing the first jab in a split second. But Bounce Rate’s fight record has more losses on it that wins. For such a quick fighter, a throwback to Sugar Ray Lewis, it’s difficult to understand why he doesn’t receive more favorable decisions.

So it’s strange that a heavyweight is on his radar. Each time a referee raises the hand of Conversion, somebody has a serious payday. But Conversion hasn’t accomplished everything on his own. He relies on a whole team to prepare him for a fight: Clarity of Value, The Friction Reducer, and The Anxiety Mitigator.

Unlike the team behind Conversion, Bounce Rate’s trains alone and his preparation is usually focused on one punch, one quick hit. That quick hit can be very effective, but after that’s thrown, Bounce Rate relies strictly on improvisation hoping that the momentum of the first punch leads to a decision. Sure that first jab is important and Bounce Rate should do everything possible to land it, but he’s focused entirely too much on a short-term goal, on a secondary objective.

The fight began predictably. Bounce Rate unleashed his first jab in a hurry and the crowd cheered. “Success” they chanted repeatedly! For the first few rounds, Bounce Rate went wild flinging himself all over the ring. Conversion couldn’t touch him. It seemed certain that he was ahead on the scorecard, but when the numbers came in, Bounce Rate’s success had no impact on Conversion.

Bottom Line: In the next few rounds, Conversion began executing his fight plan. He threw fewer punches than Bounce Rate, but they were much more quality shots. He still had not captured the crowd’s favor. For six rounds they stubbornly championed the smaller Bounce Rate. Conversion knew he was the better fighter, but there was only one way to sway the crowd…RESULTS.

All of a sudden, Conversion caught Bounce Rate with a cross and down he went. One, two, three…As Bounce Rate was down, Referee ROI just stood there. Four, five, six…still down and ROI did not move.  Seven, eight, nine, ten…Knock out! Referee ROI grabbed Conversion’s glove and raised his arm in the air.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Focus on what matters. All you need to know is that conversion won by KO.

Tricks vs. Testing

I hope you’ve enjoyed this three-part “boxing” series where we’ve pitted the latest and greatest tricks against proven principles that have come from Testing. Whether it’s a Flash Banner or an Above-the-Fold page, the important thing to remember is to test instead of implementing blindly based on someone’s “can’t miss” recommendation. Because while these proven principles have been very successful for our Research Partners, unless you test them yourself and discover what really works for you, they are no better than tricks.

And over the last ten years, we’ve seen a lot of Tricks come and go. Some have worked and some haven’t, especially in the short term. But without Testing, it’s impossible to understand why a Trick was successful or why it wasn’t.

Because Tricks are popular for a reason. They can be wildly successful…for “some” businesses. The primary question is, can they be successful for your business. And that’s why Testing gets the TKO against Tricks. Testing gives you the business intelligence to discover what really works, right now, for your company.

That’s why, at the end of the day, Testing will always defeat Tricks. But I’ll drop the fight analogy right now, because the two can work together. This is not a zero sum game. Whenever you hear somebody tell you to “Try this trick” or “Implement this tactic,” apply scrutiny and determine for yourself if you think it can work for your business or not. If it has a chance, give it a shot. But test it against what you know already works to see if it works better. Or not. In this way, you will continually improve your marketing performance.

Related Resources

Tricks vs. Testing: The Battle for Internet Supremacy

Flash Banner vs. Headline, Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality: The fight for online marketing ROI continues

Face Your Fears: Why visitors really bounce from your site, part 3

Online Marketing Tricks vs. Testing: The Thrilla on Mozilla

Filed Under: Analytics & Testing Tagged With: , , ,

Day 29 – Shoemoney System Review

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Time Spent: 5 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus:
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: Well, no new videos. Now THERE’S a surprise. Also wrapped up my two auction arbitrage tests. Followed Shoemoney’s suggestions, but neither sold. Total cost of all my auction tests (a total of 6)? Less than $10, [...]

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Day 29 – Shoemoney System Review

Day 29 – Shoemoney System Review Day 29 – Shoemoney System Review Day 29 – Shoemoney System Review

Day 29 – Shoemoney System Review

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Will Optimize Website for Cheetos

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

pigeon head Will Optimize Website for Cheetos

Should I optimize my website for Search Engines or market my website to search engines? That’s a big question and I’ve seen lots of confusion in the SEO vs SEM debate. The answer is…”you have to do both”.

Search Engine Optimization is usually seen as a subset of Search Engine Marketing. I honestly prefer to think of them as internal versus external.

Internal
There are many things you can do to make your website more “search friendly”. Google likes blog entries, tags, meta descriptions, alt tags, keyword placement, keyword density, and site maps (plus many many other things). All of these items are on your website and make Google happier when looking at your website. The idea here is to really work your butt kissing valet skills on Google when they show up at your door. Park their car, wipe their nose, complement their spouse and make damn sure their water glass is always full. When the big boy on the block shows up, make it well worth their trip.

External
Just because your own website is chock full of brown nosing goodness, doesn’t mean Google will even deign to send people to your door. Google wants to know that it is sending people to the “right” place, and not just a hole in the wall that talks a good game. There needs to be lots of people (websites) telling everyone how great the place is (hyperlink to your website) in order to be recommended. Each hyperlink is a vote and the more votes your website has the more you will be noticed and recommended. Please remember that not all votes carry the same weight. A vote from your 20 cousins (all named Daryl) isn’t considered as valuable as a direct recommendation from a major news station (or talk show host). Not only that, but you will need to use those same keywords from your optimized website when you go out and start building your constituency. Marketing hasn’t changed as much as people think, it simply started using new tools online.

You want new visitors to your website to find you for the right reasons and you want existing visitors to see exactly what they were looking for when they get to your website. This is a simple concept, but can be very time consuming if you haven’t already figured out your business model and specific target audience.

The objective is not SEO or SEM. The objective is to increase sales, or expose your branding, or relay a positive image. SEO and SEM can move your goals forward, but if you don’t know your real goals, then you’re just throwing your Cheetos to the pidgeons and getting pooped on as they fly away.

Toff Ward
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using Facebook.

Will Optimize Website for Cheetos

Filed Under: Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, SEO Tagged With: , , , , ,

Day 28 – Shoemoney System Review

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Time Spent: 5 minutes
$ Made: $0
Main Focus: N/A
Today’s Value (1 to 10): 1
Overall Value (1 to 10): 1
My Thoughts: These posts are getting easier and easier to do. Just cut and paste and I’m done!
No new videos today. Or at least no videos I haven’t already seen. Got 2 auctions ending tomorrow. Really hoping [...]

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Day 28 – Shoemoney System Review

Day 28 – Shoemoney System Review Day 28 – Shoemoney System Review Day 28 – Shoemoney System Review

Day 28 – Shoemoney System Review

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Typing Without Pants

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

computer baby Typing Without Pants

Have you ever woken up at 3:19am and had to get an idea typed out, only to start shivering after 45 minutes of typing and realize that you are still in your skivvies?

Your marketing efforts for your business shouldn’t be like that.

Sending out a newsletter, flyer or promotional piece without having all of the elements in place to back that up, is like typing until the sun comes up and then answering the front door while forgetting that you woke up at 3:19 to type something up.

Oops.

I had a client recently call me to ask for a specific photo. I sent him the photo, but was curious as to what he was going to use it for, so I called to confirm and asked a few questions while he was on the phone.

“So, what project are you thinking about using the photo for?”

“Oh, that was for the newsletter that I just sent out…”

“Uh, I don’t remember you asking me to set up any landing page on your website to capture information or support the information in any newsletter…”

“Why would I want to do that?”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

When you promote something via email, snail mail, Ads or any other outlet, you should always have your infrastructure in place to support someone’s interest in your product or services. This is not about throwing a marketing grenade and seeing what happens next. This is about reminding people in the desert how thirsty they are and having the only Lemonade stand in a 3,000 mile radius.

When you put out information, you need to always think about how the people who are receiving the information can get more. If you get someone interested in you and then you just walk away, you are missing out on the opportunity that you were trying to create in the first place.

It’s ok to get excited and run with a marketing idea as fast as you can. Just try and remember your pants in the process.

Toff Ward
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Accelerate your business online using Twitter.

Typing Without Pants

Filed Under: Email Marketing, Getting Started Tagged With: , , ,

Flash Banner vs. Headline, Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality: The fight for online marketing ROI continues

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Editor’s Note: Research Manager Adam Lapp is reviewing the battle between common Internet marketing practices to help you determine which optimization strategies are most effective and give you ideas for new tests. On Monday, we published Part 1 in this series. Here is Part 2…

Flash Banner vs. HeadlineBoxing080905 photoshop 300x185 Flash Banner vs. Headline, Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality: The fight for online marketing ROI continues

The Breakdown: That was interesting, wasn’t it? Flash Banner entered the ring pumped up and ready to go and then, all of a sudden, his corner guy came flying into the ring bringing the bout to an abrupt halt. A very disappointed showing for all of the fans. Colors and images got tangled with each other, the message slipped to the canvas, and the product offering went flying between the ropes. And just like that, the fight was over and the fans never got a chance to understand what was going on.

Even though it looked good in concept, if the visitors don’t have a chance to understand who you are, what your best move is, and why you’re a better fighter, then what’s the point? Flash Banner didn’t even get a chance to show his patented left hook. He didn’t get a chance to show the audience all of the hard work he put into training. On to the next fight before bets could even be taken.

But there was a clever marketing pitch, some rhyming, a slogan. Flash Banner should have had a better showing. What happened? His objective eluded him. There should have been a click, a purchase, something. But can such a big decision really be made in a flash?

The results say no.

Does the Flash Banner on Adobe.com really convince me to buy Creative Suite 5? Does it even compel me to click forward? Well it was above “The Fold,” and we all know how that fight turned out.

Standing there in the middle of the ring and clearly the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world is Headline. As the flow was interrupted by Flash Banner, the headline spoke clearly to the audience telling them in just three to five short seconds why he was their best choice. He told them he has won 14 fights in a row, that he has trained non-stop for six months, and that he could match any fighter in the world’s offer.

Immediately the crowd stood and cheered for Headline to be given the next fight. The visitors decided that what Headline said that evening was worth the effort to continue on and not exit the arena.

Headline is the first text a visitor will see, so it has much potential for a large impact. The post-modern consumer sees through the Don Kings of the world. They are inundated with email, TV commercials, and even in-your-face displays at the grocery store. They have limited time and are deeply skeptical of salespeople whom they can’t even speak to.

The Bottom Line: With this in mind, it’s much more important to be specific and transparent about your fighter’s talents and unique abilities than “flashy.” Flash can be very useful when used appropriately, but it can only get you so far. Clearly communicating what you have to offer and why you are the best choice for your market is much more enduring strategy for increasing revenue.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Flash Banner – 55

Headline – 89

Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality

The Breakdown: Standing toe to toe staring each other in the eyes, it’s easy to see that the fierce battle of Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality shows no signs of letting up. In the time since their last bout, Lead Quantity has racked up 12 favorable decisions. But many of those were all far lesser opponents. He defeated a fighter with no budget for a trainer. He knocked out a fighter who was a fill-in for someone who became ill. The odds makers couldn’t attract any bets with fights like these.

In the mean time, Lead Quality has only fought two fights. But each was a pay-per-view spectacular. He defeated the fifth and seventh most qualified fighters in the world. Lead Quality trained mercilessly for each fight. He didn’t just fight anybody, his opponents were required to take Olympic-style drug tests. They had to be a certified member of at least two boxing organizations.

Sure there was a lot of friction in the process, but he didn’t waste the time of the viewing audience with meaningless fight cards. Lead Quality benefited from the strategic application of friction in his pre-fight requirements, but is Olympic-style drug testing too harsh? Undoubtedly so. He actually would have been able to schedule a bout with the number three fighter in the world if he relaxed his qualifications.

Now arriving here on two different paths, Lead Quantity faces down Lead Quality yet again. These fighters don’t seem to get along. But why? Both fighters could benefit so much from each other.

Decreasing, or “dialing down” friction, results in increased Lead Quantity.

Increasing, or “dialing up” friction, creates increases Lead Quality.

A perfect fighter would be a one-two combination of both lead generation strategies. He would test his way into the fight scene to determine the appropriate balance between increasing volume while also increasing Lead Quantity. Increasing both requires a fighter with versatility in his striking repertoire.

At last the bell rings. The fighters trade punches. Jab, cross, hook, upper cut. After six rounds, the score cards are equal at three rounds a piece. Lead Quantity appears to be pulling out in front in the seventh as he unleashes a flood of punches, however few are connecting.

As we near round ten, both Lead Quantity and his team are tiring. So much effort with little result. However it appears he does have a five to four advantage over Lead Quality. But wait! Lead Quality has just connected a big one that equals the efforts of Lead Quantity. All of his patience has paid off.

The Bottom Line: Marketing wants a flood of leads. Stacks and piles of business cards and new contacts. This is their core metric. It can be an impressive sight. But it falls on the sales team to call Fred, the plumber, to see if he wants to buy new parts for his commercial lawnmower, a dead-end that could have been eliminated by adding one simple field to the form.

Oversimplified? Sure. But this is how the battle over Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality plays out in many organizations.

So how do you determine how many fields, which information request, or how many steps will strike that balance between Lead Quantity and Lead Quality. Well, this answer is simple. It’s testing.

For example, if you have a one-page lead generation form, try running a test that delays the phone number or address request until the second page. Your lead generation will undoubtedly go up on the first page, that’s not rocket science. But what’s the impact on the quality of complete leads you receive (both steps completed)? You may find that you receive far less complete leads, but the leads you do get are extremely qualified.

You will also be able to score leads based on quality, assigning visitors who completed two steps as “A” leads and visitors who only completed the initial step as “B” leads. Then your sales team can only move on to “B” leads after they have exhausted time and effort with the “A” leads.

ADAM LAPP’S UNOFFICIAL SCORECARD:

Lead Quantity – 65

Lead Quality – 65

It’s a draw.

Related Resources

Tricks vs. Testing: The Battle for Internet Supremacy

Lead Generation Optimization: Finding the right amount of friction

Optimizing Your Headlines: How changing a few words can help (or hurt) conversion

Five Dials To Tune In Your Lead Generation Process

Flash in a Pan: Do loops of creative on home pages deliver ROI or higher bounce rates?

Flash Banner vs. Headline, Lead Quantity vs. Lead Quality: The fight for online marketing ROI continues

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