Gordon is a strategic leader with broad experience in digital marketing and product development for top advertising and entertainment firms. Skilled in strategy formulation, business growth, and stakeholder relations, Gordon leverages data analytics to develop products and optimize campaigns.
B2B global e-commerce has become increasingly prevalent in today's digital landscape. As businesses expand their operations across borders, they are embracing the benefits of online platforms to connect with customers worldwide. However, customer adoption and retention in this highly competitive environment pose significant challenges.
To overcome these challenges and drive success in B2B global e-commerce, businesses must employ effective strategies. To achieve this, a broad understanding of the B2B e-commerce landscape and acknowledgment of the complexities of this landscape is essential. In this blog article, we will explore the strategies behind boosting customer adoption and retention for B2B e-commerce businesses while sharing our experiences at Marin Software.
B2B e-commerce is intricate and varied. The first step to a successful outcome is to master the key elements of what makes a great B2B e-commerce strategy for acquiring and retaining customers.
Understanding online consumer behavior is key. Today's consumers are tech-fluent and seek personalized experiences. They want to find what they need swiftly and simply, whether through a search engine, social media, or an e-commerce site. Businesses must adjust their marketing strategies to meet these evolving needs.
Understanding the competitive nature of B2B e-commerce is also crucial. With companies constantly battling for digital consumer attention, understanding the competition allows businesses to strategically position and distinguish their brand. To stay ahead, companies must use innovative tools and technology, a process made easier with Marin Software's platform. Real-time data and insights allow businesses to monitor competition and identify growth opportunities.
Staying current with technological developments in B2B e-commerce is essential. As technology evolves, new online advertising opportunities arise. Keeping up with search engine algorithm advancements, social media trends, and new e-commerce platforms can provide a competitive advantage. Marin Software eases this task, offering a platform that integrates effortlessly with the latest technologies and helps businesses capitalize on emerging trends and opportunities.
Understanding the regulatory environment in the B2B e-commerce space is a key component to not only success, but simply the ability to continue operations at all in the B2B space. Online advertising is heavily regulated, with policies varying from region to region. Failure to comply can lead to hefty penalties and harm to a business’s reputation.
In sum, mastering B2B e-commerce involves understanding online consumer behavior, knowing your competition, staying current with technology, and understanding regulations. This is the first step to creating effective strategies for customer acquisition and retention.
Data-driven marketing is no longer an option; it's a vital component for successful online advertising campaigns. Let's explore why.
Today's marketing is all about the quantity and quality of data the business has access to. Data provides a detailed view of your customers, including their behaviors, preferences, and purchasing habits. Instead of guessing what your customer wants or needs, data provides the answers. This information helps businesses identify specific audiences, create personalized campaigns, and understand current market trends.
Having a lot of data is helpful, but understanding how to use it effectively is key. Tools like Marin Software are great for such use cases. We transform raw data into actionable insights, guiding businesses to understand the data and use it effectively. By simplifying complex data, information can be transformed into valuable insights that drive your marketing decisions.
For instance, if the data indicates a specific product is popular among a certain age group, you can modify your marketing strategy to target that demographic more accurately. Similarly, if customers are abandoning their shopping carts without purchasing, you can investigate the reasons and adjust accordingly.
Data-driven marketing enables strategic, informed decisions that enhance customer adoption and retention. The key is to create actionable steps using the data that's collected.
Marin Software prioritizes customer-centric advertising, an approach that places the customer at the center of all marketing efforts. This approach differs from traditional methods that focus primarily on the product or service. Instead, customer-centric advertising seeks to understand and meet the customers' needs, ensuring they feel valued and appreciated.
In today's saturated market, great content truly moves the needle. Businesses should utilize customer data and deliver personalized advertising content to attract their attention. By understanding a customer's browsing habits, preferences, and purchasing behavior, businesses can create content that resonates with the customer. Personalized advertising can set businesses apart, attracting new customers and increasing retention. It demonstrates that a business recognizes and values the customers' unique needs and individuality.
Customer-centric advertising also involves building and maintaining robust customer relationships through relevant advertising. Presenting products or services that match a customer's needs or interests shows that a business values its customers. Relevant advertising can foster customer loyalty. Customers who feel understood and provided with suitable solutions are more likely to remain loyal. Marin Software understands the importance of customer-centric advertising and provides businesses with the necessary tools to create relevant, personalized content that strengthens customer relationships and increases retention.
Customer-centric advertising is an effective strategy to enhance customer adoption and retention. It involves understanding and valuing the customer, delivering personalized content, and fostering strong relationships through relevant advertising.
At Marin Software, we promote the integration of search, social, and e-commerce advertising, offering a powerful solution for comprehensive marketing. Our unified platform enables businesses to manage their advertising efforts seamlessly across these vital areas, contributing to consistent brand messages and an enhanced customer experience.
Integrating search, social, and e-commerce advertising offers the key advantage of broadening your brand's reach. Every added channel in your marketing mix introduces a new opportunity to interact with potential customers. Search engine advertising targets users actively searching for your products or services. Social media advertising offers an engaging, conversational setting for users. e-commerce advertising connects with an audience ready to make a purchase.
Consider this approach as casting a wider net. Increasing the number of channels utilized allows for a broader customer outreach. With Marin Software's platform, you can manage all your marketing efforts in one place, saving time and resources, and maintaining a cohesive strategy.
Integrating search, social, and e-commerce advertising also leads to a consistent customer experience. Customers interact with brands across multiple touchpoints. They might first encounter your brand on social media, research your products on a search engine, and finally make a purchase on your e-commerce site.
Marin Software's integrated platform allows for a smooth transition between these touchpoints. You can ensure consistent messaging and branding across all channels, which enhances brand recognition and trust. Additionally, it enables accurate tracking of the customer experience, providing valuable insights into customer interactions with your brand.
A unified advertising approach also allows for quick responses to changes in customer behavior. If a user clicks on your ad on a search engine but doesn't make a purchase, you can retarget them with a personalized ad on social media. This cross-channel strategy boosts conversion chances and improves the customer experience.
Marin Software's unified platform simplifies the integration of search, social, and e-commerce advertising. Whether your goal is to broaden your reach, establish a consistent customer experience, or streamline your marketing efforts, we offer the tools necessary for success in advertising.
B2B e-commerce is a competitive landscape, especially as businesses attempt to explore across borders. It's important to come up with the right strategies to find new customers and hold on to existing ones. Start by comprehending the intricacies of digital marketing, finding actionable insights based on data, and prioritizing customer-focused advertising. When ready, integrating marketing channels through a tool like Marin Software can take it to the next level.
Take advantage of this opportunity to elevate your business with tailored, data-informed marketing strategies that resonate with your audience. Remember, excelling in B2B e-commerce isn't about matching the competition—it's about staying one step ahead.
Begin benefitting from targeted online advertising with Marin Software. Partner with us now and witness a transformation in your marketing approaches!
Video content has become an important way to connect with audiences and tell your company's story. YouTube, with millions of users logging in each day to watch videos on topics they care about, is a fantastic platform for doing this.
When using YouTube to share your company's message, it's crucial to ensure your channel and videos reach as many people as possible. This isn't just about getting more views, but about connecting with the right audience - those likely to be interested in your products or services and may become customers in the future.
Whether you're new to YouTube marketing or looking to enhance your existing strategy, these tactics provide actionable steps to help you promote your company's YouTube channel effectively.
Understanding YouTube's algorithm is the first step to optimizing your channel. YouTube primarily bases its video recommendations on watch time and viewer engagement. This means your videos should captivate your audience's attention and encourage interaction. Your content should also align with your audience’s tastes, interests, and preferences, as YouTube prioritizes relevance.
For YouTube-specific keyword research, consider using tools like Google Trends or tools built for YouTube like TubeBuddy. These can help you identify trending topics and keywords in your industry. Once you have these keywords, weave them into tags, descriptions, and even the titles of your videos. However, it's crucial not to overuse keywords as it can make your content seem spammy and affect your reputation negatively.
Never overlook your video thumbnails and titles. They are the first things potential viewers see and can significantly influence their decision to click on your video. Your thumbnail should be engaging, clear, and accurately reflect your video content. Your title should also be captivating and include your target keywords. It's not enough to just attract viewers - you need to attract the right viewers. Finally, your thumbnail and title should tie into the content of the video.
Expanding your YouTube channel's reach often involves building strategic partnerships. Collaborating with influencers and brands in your industry can bring fresh eyes to your content. However, it's crucial to align with those who share your target audience.
Begin by finding relevant YouTubers in your industry or niche. These influencers command a following that could overlap with your target audience. Search for popular videos related to your industry or utilize tools like SocialBlade or ChannelMeter to find influencers with a robust presence in your niche. Ensure you research the influencer's credibility and engagement rates before initiating contact.
Consider guest appearances and collaborations next. Joint projects, like co-hosting a live stream, can merge audiences and extend your reach. Another option is a video crossover, where both parties feature in a video on each other's channels. As you plan these collaborations, consider what you can offer the other party - it could be unique insight, a shared promotion, or an exciting project that their audience would enjoy.
Engaging with your collaborator's audience is key. Participate in the comments, respond to queries, and show interest in their thoughts and opinions. This interaction can build a stronger relationship with this new audience and increase their chances of becoming dedicated followers of your channel. In a society where people seek connection, showing that you're more than just a brand can significantly enhance your YouTube presence.
Boosting your YouTube channel can be as simple as using your existing social media accounts. If you have a presence on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook, you can use these to promote your YouTube videos. Sharing snippets of your videos, behind-the-scenes clips or upcoming content trailers can arouse curiosity among your followers, encouraging them to visit your YouTube channel.
Direct promotion aside, active participation in relevant online communities can also be beneficial. There are numerous Facebook groups, Reddit communities, and online forums discussing topics related to your industry. By offering valuable insights in these discussions, you can encourage community members to visit your YouTube channel. However, ensure your participation is genuine and not merely an advertisement for your channel.
Consider social media ads to further promote your YouTube content. Although this is a paid method, it allows you to reach a targeted audience effectively. You can specify your target audience's demographics, interests, and online behaviors, attracting them to your YouTube channel with engaging visuals and concise text. Ensure the ad's message is straightforward, and always link directly to the content you're promoting.
Tying your YouTube channel in with email marketing campaigns can be a great way to promote your channel. This direct communication with your subscribers can boost engagement and increase views. Even better, since they are already in your contact database, your chances are even greater that they have immediate interest in the video content you are sharing.
Consider embedding YouTube videos into your email newsletters. Visual content can be 800% as engaging as plain text and offers a refreshing change for your subscribers. However, ensure that the video aligns with the email's theme or message. A short introduction can provide context and pique the reader's interest.
Even if the video doesn't play directly in the email - a common occurrence due to varying email client capabilities - don't worry. Instead, a thumbnail that links to the YouTube video appears, driving traffic to your channel and potentially increasing watch times.
Exclusive video content for your email subscribers can make them feel valued. This content might include behind-the-scenes footage, early access to new videos, or specially made videos for your email list. Think about including special discounts or promotions in these videos. It can prompt more people to join your email list and boost your YouTube engagement.
Remember, though, not to inundate your subscribers with emails. Stick to a regular yet reasonable schedule. That way, subscribers look forward to your emails and, crucially, your YouTube content. Consistency and enjoyment are key when promoting your YouTube channel.
Establishing a robust relationship with your audience promotes your YouTube channel effectively. Engagement lies at the heart of this relationship, making viewers feel valued and part of a community.
At a basic level, responding to comments on your videos is crucial. Active participation in conversations encourages viewers to interact more. Answering questions, showing gratitude for their support, or merely acknowledging feedback, each response strengthens your rapport with your audience.
Don't hesitate to dig deeper. Encourage interaction by asking questions, creating polls, and inviting opinions. This tactic not only fosters more engagement but also offers valuable insights into your audience's preferences.
Live sessions and Q&A's provide another excellent engagement opportunity. Hosting a live event on YouTube enables real-time interaction with your audience. These sessions can be an enjoyable, interactive way to share updates, answer questions, or simply chat.
Remember, the goal is to forge a meaningful connection. Be genuine and show your audience the people behind the brand, fostering loyalty and retaining viewers.
Always analyze feedback and adjust your strategy accordingly. Viewer comments, likes, shares, and video analytics can offer valuable insights. What content do they love? What are the things they have an aversion to? Use these insights to refine your content and cater to your audience's wants.
Investing time to understand and engage with your audience can significantly impact your success. After all, a loyal, engaged community forms the backbone of a successful YouTube channel.
YouTube Ads help you connect with a specific audience. Ads can be tailored and developed according to factors such as location, age, interests, among other parameters. YouTube provides various ad types such as display ads, overlay ads, skippable and non-skippable video ads, bumper ads, and sponsored cards. It's best to begin with a manageable budget and adjust based on the performance of your channel.
Another effective method to promote your YouTube channel is through sponsored video content. Collaborating with relevant brands can yield mutual benefits. It's essential to maintain transparency in your sponsored content, as it fosters trust with your audience and enhances the response to your promotions.
Additionally, integrating affiliate links and promotional codes into your videos can be beneficial. This strategy promotes another company's products or services while offering value to your viewers. Remember, successful promotion hinges on a balance between engaging content and your promotional endeavors.
Escalating your presence on YouTube may seem easier said than done, but the right strategies can simplify this task. Tactics including SEO optimization, strategic partnerships and authentic engagements with subscribers paint different paths to your channel's expansion. Remember, growth takes time. Start small - apply one strategy, analyze its effect and slowly integrate additional techniques. Remain flexible, prioritize your audience's needs, and don't forget to enjoy the process. Your YouTube channel isn't just a platform for showcasing your expertise; it's a space to share your narrative and form meaningful relationships. To see how Marin Software can help grow not just your YouTube channel, but also your brand, visit us here.
Google created conversion value rules to give advertisers more control over their ad spend. Essentially, they allow advertisers to tell Google what conversion factors result in the highest value. Conversion value rules enable strategic management to combine advertiser expertise with automation to get the best ROAS possible.
Conversion value rules allow users to modify the value of conversions based on the category of the conversion action and the following three impression dimensions:
Advertisers can use the Google Ads API to define conversion value rules, combine them into a conversion value rule set, and apply the rule set to either your whole Google Ads account or to your chosen campaign. The Google Ads API report presents a segmented breakdown of your conversion values' original, unadjusted, and adjusted portions.
Conversion value rules are comprised of two elements:
They are used in real-time to optimize target ROAS and maximize conversion value, utilizing smart bidding. Remember that smart shopping campaigns don’t support tCPA and max conversions.
Conversion value rule conditions can be defined in a few fields:
The audience_condition field applies the rule to impressions associated with a particular audience, which can be Google or first-party audiences. You can further specify resource names using the user_lists or user_interests fields. To retrieve the resource names of all available user lists or user interests, issue a search stream or request of GoogleAdsService where the FROM clause of the query is user_list or user_interest.
Audience_conditions containing multiple user lists and user interests will match impressions with any associated user lists or interests.
Device_condiiton applies to impressions that match specified device_types from the following list:
This applies to impressions that meet predefined location criteria.
Each conversion value rule can have two conditions. Rules with no conditions apply to impressions that don’t meet the conditions of another rule in the set.
Conversion values created at the campaign level will not impact bidding performance or reported conversions for other campaigns.
Using Conversion Value Rules is a no-brainer if you want to improve your Smart Bidding results. Conversion Value Rules help advertisers accurately portray the value of conversions for Smart Bidding so they can optimize toward the most valuable conversions. This is the most sure-fire way to take control of Smart Bidding results.
When you show Google which conversions hold the most significant value for your brand, ad spending will optimize according to what brings your brand the most revenue, profit, offline conversion value, or lifetime value– all in real-time.
Conversion Value Rules also simplify reporting and optimization by eliminating the need to change tagging code.
Here’s a quick rundown on the different elements of Conversion Value Rules and how they work:
Every rule must have an action consisting of an operation and a value. This action shows Google how to adjust the conversion value for the rules that meet your conditions. You can use one of three values:
After making at least one Conversion Value Rule, you can create a Conversion Value Rule Set consisting of conversion action categories and Conversion Value Rules.
A conversion action category is the list of conversion actions the rule set applies to. If this list is empty, the rule set applies to all categories. If it isn’t empty, then it must contain a single store visit or sale.
You can only set the conversion action categories when creating the rule set.
The SET action can only be used in one of the following scenarios:
You can include each conversion value rule in just one conversion value rule set. If the Conversion Value Rules contain a resource name of a rule that is in the Conversion Value Rules of another rule set that is either enabled or paused, the operation will return a data constraint violation error.
The list of value rule set dimension values dictates which conditions the rules in the set can utilize. If dimensions contain geo-location and device, you can’t add rules with audience_condition. This list must contain 1 or 2 entries (it cannot be empty).
If the list contains an entry for NO_CONDITION, then:
The first entry in the list dictates which value populates for segments.conversion_value_rule_primary_dimension in reports.
The attachment_type can be set to CUSTOMER to create a rule set applying to the entire account or CAMPAIGN to create a rule set that applies only to a specific campaign.
If the attachment_type is set to CAMPAIGN, then set the campaign to whatever resource name the rule set applies to.
A rule set has an owner_customer and a status, but the status is read-only and will show PAUSED or ENABLED, depending on the status of its rules.
Only one rule per conversion: When more than one rule applies to an impression, Google chooses one rule based on either the most precise location match or the audience hierarchy below.
In the case of a tie, Google defers to MULTIPLY logic over the ADD rule. If the tie remains, Google chooses the highest adjustment.
All Conversion Value Rules output is automatically included in your campaign-level conversion value reporting. You can view the adjusted and unadjusted values via value rule adjustment segmentation.
Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value bidding account for active rules within your account to drive as much conversion as possible. When you remove a conversion value rule, Google will resume optimization for your current definition of value. This means you will have an obvious disparity between data pre and post-removal.
ConversionValueRuleSets must have at least one PAUSED or ENABLED conversion value rule. Otherwise, the rule set will fail. You can remove a ConversionValueRuleSet without altering the status of the ConversionValueRules referenced by the set. Once the set is removed, search, and searchStream requests for that set resource will stop returning the removed set.
Below are three equations to help estimate conversion value:
The conversion value rule strategy is pretty straightforward. Follow these best practices, and you’ll be on your way to a better ROAS:
To accurately identify conversion value, you have to examine the whole picture. Think about it– if a customer converts on a desktop but finds you on their mobile device, you won’t be able to assess the actual value of that impression unless you consider the full conversion path.
Wherever you pull the data used to calculate conversion value, ensure it is accurate. Informing Conversion Value Rules with inaccurate data will skew your ad spend and harm your ROAS.
Estimating conversion value can require a bit of creative guesswork, but it’s best to pair that creativity with a conservative mindset when you aren’t 100%. Consider taking a conservative approach to the riskier rules when choosing a rule action.
When Conversion Value Rules are too general, they either underestimate the value or catch impressions that shouldn’t apply. The best strategy is a careful balance between getting too specific and generalizing value for a big chunk of your audience.
Conversion Value Rules are designed to give advertisers more control over their Smart Bidding strategy by highlighting high ticket impressions. One of the most important tidbits to remember here is that creating Conversion Value Rules to skew Smart Bidding directions is a waste of time. Conversion Value Rules do not influence the direction Smart Bidding optimizes in– they just prioritize spending on the impressions that will have the best return.
To get clearer insights for your conversion tracking not only on Google Ads but across all paid search, social, and display advertising…meet with a MarinOne expert today.
Our analysis and attribution solutions will give you a far more clear picture of your marketings' holistic ROI (return on investment), MER (marketing efficiency ratio), and more.
When it comes to advertising on Amazon, two key metrics that sellers and advertisers need to pay attention to are advertising cost of sales (ACOS) and return on ad spend (ROAS). Understanding and optimizing these metrics can be crucial in maximizing profits and achieving business goals. In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at Amazon ACOS and ROAS, how they’re calculated, and how to improve them to drive success on the Amazon platform.
As one of the largest online marketplaces in the world, Amazon has become a crucial platform for businesses of all sizes to reach and engage with customers. One of the most important aspects of success on Amazon is the ability to advertise products and services effectively. That's where metrics like ACOS and ROAS come in:
Both ACOS and ROAS metrics play a critical role in helping businesses understand the effectiveness of their advertising efforts and make informed decisions to optimize their advertising strategies. A lower ACOS indicates that a seller is spending less on advertising to generate a sale, which is generally a positive sign for the success of the campaign. In contrast, a higher ROAS indicates that the seller is generating more sales revenue for every dollar spent on advertising, which is also generally a positive sign for the success of the campaign.
Improving your Amazon ROAS is key to maximizing your advertising budget. Here are some strategies to consider:
By targeting high-converting keywords, you can maximize your chances of generating sales from your advertising spend. In addition, long-tail keywords are more specific and less competitive than broad keywords, which means they can be more cost-effective to target. By focusing on long-tail keywords that are relevant to your products, you can attract more qualified traffic to your listings and improve your ACOS.
A well-optimized product listing can improve click-through rates and conversion rates, leading to higher ROAS. For example, if you have a product with a low conversion rate, improving the product listing by adding better images or a more detailed description can lead to more sales without increasing your ad spend.
Regularly monitoring and adjusting bids for your ads can help you optimize your budget and improve ROAS over time. When you identify areas for improvement, you’ll achieve better results. For instance, if you notice that a certain campaign is consistently generating a high ACOS, you may need to adjust your targeting or bidding strategy to improve the efficiency of your spend. Tools like MarinOne have AI-driven features that automatically update bids and take away the manual work for paid media managers.
Amazon offers a range of targeting options, including keyword targeting, product targeting, and interest targeting. Trying different targeting options can help you find the best approach for your business.
Pro tip: Prioritize profitability at the product level. Delve into detailed data to understand the profit margins of individual SKUs before introducing paid advertising. This will spotlight the products that could gain the most from advertising, thereby mitigating risk.
Optimizing your Amazon ACOS is crucial to maximizing the effectiveness of your ad spend and driving profitability on the platform. Here are some tips to help you optimize your ACOS:
Before you start optimizing your ACOS, it's important to set realistic goals based on your business objectives and industry benchmarks. An optimal ACoS is not universally applicable, as it depends on numerous factors like product category, profit margins, competition, and product price. Therefore, sellers should aim for an ACoS tailored to their specific circumstances, generally between 15-20%. While a low ACoS might seem ideal, striving for as low as 1% is nearly impossible and may not be desirable depending on the business's advertising goals and product specifics. Understanding the break-even ACoS, where ad spend equals profit, is also essential in campaign planning.
Amazon offers a range of ad formats, including sponsored products, sponsored brands, and sponsored display ads. To discover which one is right for your business, experiment with all of them and see which one yields the best results.
Regularly monitoring and adjusting your campaigns can help you optimize your ad spend and improve your ACOS over time. When you consistently watch your campaigns’ performance, you can determine which patterns are working, and which ones aren’t.
Pro tip: Focus on enhancing product convenience. This significantly impacts Amazon usage. Factors like lengthy shipping times or unexplained higher costs can reduce convenience, leading to fewer sales and conversions. Remember, pricing and shipping are key for customers.
Negative keywords are keywords that you don't want your ads to show for. By adding negative keywords to your campaigns, you can prevent irrelevant or low-converting traffic from clicking on your ads, which can improve your ROAS.
For example, if you sell high-end products and don't want your ads to show for searches related to "cheap" or "discount," you could add these keywords as negative keywords to your campaigns.
To calculate your Amazon ACOS, you'll need to have access to your Amazon Advertising account and the following information:
Once you have this information, you can use the following formula to calculate your ACOS:
ACOS = (Total ad spend ÷ Total sales generated from ad spend) x 100
For example, if your total ad spend is $500 and your total sales generated from ad spend are $2,000, your ACOS would be:
ACOS = ($500 ÷ $2,000) x 100 = 25%
This means that you're spending $0.25 on advertising to generate each dollar of sales.
Calculating ROAS is simple, you can use this formula to calculate your ROAS:
ROAS = (Total sales generated from ad spend ÷ total ad spend)
For example, if your total ad spend is $600 and your total sales generated from ad spend are $2,200, your ROAS would be:
ROAS = ($2,200 ÷ $600) = 3.6
This means that you're getting a ratio of 3.6 return on ad spend.
ROAS and ACOS determine the efficiency of your PPC campaigns. Knowing these formulas is helpful — but only if you truly understand how they can be applied to different scenarios. When you do, you’ll be able to achieve your business goals and scale to greater heights.
By following our tips and strategies outlined above, you can maximize the effectiveness of your ad spend, drive profitability, and achieve your business goals and objectives on Amazon.
Need help navigating the world of Amazon ACOS and ROAS metrics? The MarinOne team is here to guide you. Contact us for more information or to schedule your demo today.
Providing a great customer service experience can help you get ahead of your competitors, and there are plenty of statistics that can prove it. If your website doesn’t offer a great visitor experience, you could be missing out on a bi g opportunity to provide value that will impact your conversion rate.
To get a high return on your website's hard-earned traffic, you need more visitors to take the action you desire. By running a customer-centric conversion rate optimization (CRO) audit, you can gain deeper insights into your users’ needs, discover which parts of your site are actually maximizing conversions, and run tests to see what’s working and what’s not.
In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know, from what a CRO audit is to how you can get started.
A CRO audit is a comprehensive evaluation of a website's design, structure, and content with the aim of improving the site’s conversion rate. The goal of a CRO audit is to identify the barriers and pain points that are preventing website visitors from completing the desired actions, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a service.
The process involves analyzing website data, user behavior, and customer feedback to gain a deeper understanding of the user experience and determine which elements can be optimized to increase conversions. By conducting a CRO audit, businesses can make data-driven decisions to improve their website and achieve better results.
A CRO audit can lower your customer acquisition costs by generating increased value from the visitors and users you already have on your site. CRO audits also help you identify bottlenecks in your conversion funnel, and can provide valuable data, enabling you to make informed decisions about website and marketing strategies, which can ultimately lead to increased customer engagement, loyalty, and revenue. In addition to improving traffic quality, CRO audits also allow you to pinpoint prospects’ behavioral characteristics so you can better meet their needs.
Here’s a handy CRO audit checklist to make sure you don’t miss anything important.
Before embarking on your CRO journey, take time to set conversion goals and plan which conversions to track. Conversions can be defined as a user action that brings users closer to becoming a paying customer.
To accurately determine the key conversions for your business, it's important to involve various stakeholders and gain a clear understanding of what conversion means across your organization. In addition to tracking macro conversions like purchases and subscriptions, consider micro conversions along the customer journey, such as adding a product to a wish list or watching a demo video.
It's important to prioritize analyzing pages that have the greatest potential to impact your conversions. To determine the most impactful pages, consider both the amount of traffic the page receives and where it fits in the customer journey.
You'll want to focus on pages that are both conversion-oriented and have a healthy traffic volume, as this will allow you to quickly see the results of your optimization efforts and determine if you're headed in the right direction. However, it's important to note that top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content, which is designed to create awareness about a product, often receives a lot of traffic, but may not lead to direct conversions since it's positioned at the beginning of the customer journey.
Instead, consider prioritizing pages that serve as key touchpoints in the customer journey, such as specific landing pages designed to convert, or pages where users sign up for demos or download whitepapers or ebooks.
Once you have a good understanding of which conversion actions and pages you want to audit and optimize, the next step is to analyze the behavior of your website's visitors to gain insights into their engagement and conversion patterns. Use the goal conversion tracking feature in Google Analytics and enable event tracking to monitor key conversion actions such as purchases, newsletter signups, and webinar registrations.
To truly understand what users want and need, go beyond quantitative data. Studies prove that businesses that place more focus on their customer experience end up increasing their revenues by 4%–8% more than their competitors. They also show that VoC programs result in 55% higher retention rates.
With statistics like these, it’s important to conduct customer research and interviews to uncover the motivations behind conversions and the barriers preventing users from becoming customers. Get a clear understanding of what users think about different elements of your site and gather more information about your customers through surveys. With this information, you can address specific pain points that are hindering conversions, enabling you to make improvements where needed.
This approach will provide you with a comprehensive view of user satisfaction, objectives, and obstacles, enabling you to identify which factors are preventing conversions. When your CRO audit is complete, pinpoint areas for improvement and focus on eliminating friction points. Look for opportunities to make simple and effective changes that will quickly enhance the user experience.
Develop a clear hypothesis to guide your testing efforts and identify the changes that will have the greatest impact on conversions. Zero in on specific pages and site elements that can be optimized to better meet customer needs.
For instance, if you observe low time-on-page and high bounce rates on a crucial landing page, gather more user insights to determine the cause. It could be that the messaging is not connecting with your target audience. In that case, your hypothesis could be: "If we incorporate use cases that are more relevant to our target audience, the conversion rate on this landing page will improve by X%."
Alternatively, if your "book a demo" page has a low conversion rate and users say they are not signing up because the time commitment and logistics of the demo call are unclear, your hypothesis might be: "If we clearly detail the length of the demo and what it will entail above the fold, twice as many users will book."
The purpose of a CRO strategy is to convert more visitors into paying customers. By following these five steps, you can maximize your marketing efforts:
Although including CTAs in blog posts is a best practice, visitors don’t always take the action you desire. Users who have become all too familiar with banner-like information tend to ignore them, while other visitors don’t always read through an entire post to actually get to the CTA. For cases like this, text-based CTAs are your next best option. As text that’s linked to landing pages and usually styled with a Header 3 or Header 4 title, these text-based CTAs are an alternate method for converting more traffic into leads than regular CTAs that may otherwise be placed at the bottom of a page.
A lead capture pop-up is designed to capture attention and provide value to your visitors. There are several types of pop-ups to choose from, including a slide-in box, drop-down banner, or pop-up box. When compared with standard CTAs, lead captures typically generate higher click-through rates and more submissions.
A well-designed landing page can make a huge impact on your conversion rate optimization efforts. Your landing pages are where website visitors can transform into leads or where existing leads can engage more deeply with your brand. The more landing pages you have, the more targeting opportunities you have. Running A/B tests can help you optimize them and determine which design and content elements are most effective.
Consider using marketing automation software. Doing so will help your team be more productive, and will encourage leads to be more independent. For instance, with marketing automation, emails can be scheduled and leads can easily book meetings with reps while reps get notifications of high-intent user actions.
To re-engage people who left your website, leverage re-targeting. For your re-targeting efforts to be successful, provide visitors with a compelling offer, make sure your copy is well crafted and use engaging visuals.
Conducting a CRO audit is well worth the time and is a wise investment. It can reveal friction points on your site that may otherwise go unnoticed, and it’s critical for optimizing conversion rates.
To learn more about how MarinOne can help you get started, request a free demo today.
Your marketing landing pages are receiving a lot of traffic — but are they converting visitors into leads? A landing page is an essential part of your marketing strategy for attracting new prospects and pulling them further into the customer funnel.
The average conversion rate for landing pages is 2.35% across industries. Of those, 25% of sites have a conversion rate of 5.31% or above. The top 10% of sites have a conversion rate of 11.45% or higher. If your conversion rate isn’t reaching the high end of these percentages, we have some key strategies to share that will help you create top-performing landing pages that convert.
Here are actionable tips to get your landing page to convert like the top 10%.
For an optimal user experience, follow the best design principles. Sometimes, even if your copy is good, a poor design can hurt your landing page conversion rate.
What you need to do: Test different designs and tweak the highest-converting elements until you reach an ideal landing page look, feel, and experience.
Example: Lyft
Lyft’s landing page is well-designed and well-balanced, with a good proportion of text and imagery. With a single-field form and a CTA that stands out, they make it easy for users to sign up right there and then. The page also includes a benefit-oriented headline, encouraging visitors to take the next step.
Using social proof as part of your marketing strategy is one of the easiest tactics to adopt. Once you’ve successfully driven visitors to your website, you want them to stay there. Findings reveal that online reviews impact 88% of consumers’ buying decisions. Customers don’t trust brands as much as they trust other people. Using testimonials on your landing page can also:
What you need to do: Include testimonials on your landing page by displaying simple quotes or videos to help build trust. Alternatively, link the quotes to a person’s direct social profile. To add a more personal touch, use customer photos where possible.
Example: KeyScouts
KeyScouts is an online marketing agency that has chosen to use a socially proven customer testimonial widget on their landing page. Not only does it look authentic, but for visitors who want to verify that a review is real, it connects them to the reviewer’s LinkedIn profile.
You don’t want to sacrifice lead quality, but if you find a way to eliminate a form field or two, it could have a serious impact on your conversion rate. When you reduce the number of form fields, even by one, it improves your conversion rate by almost half. If users have to go through a lengthy process just to receive your offer, chances are they will leave the site without completing the form.
What you need to do: Determine the value of what your offer will bring your consumers. Then begin formulating how many fields, and what types, to show your user, eliminating any that are unnecessary.
Example: Shopify
Shopify has created a single field on their landing page, making it as easy and quick as possible for customers to take action. All you have to do is provide your email address to start a free trial. When a form is simple to complete and customers don’t have to offer up too much personal information, they may be more willing to commit.
Leverage a sense of scarcity and urgency. This creates higher demand by inducing FOMO (fear of missing out), thereby motivating consumers to act faster. However, scarcity alone will not create demand. Using a combination of the value of an item and showing consumers that they can trust you as a vendor when the deadline hits is key.
What you need to do: Determine what offer will drive urgency and decide how you want to present it. Be sure to make a clear and meaningful distinction between the offer and the normal price. You can use keywords like “hurry,” “limited quantity available,” and “time is running out.” Using red throughout your designs is also a powerful tactic that tends to attract consumer attention.
Example: Amazon
There’s a reason Amazon is one of the most widely used e-commerce sites. If you’re already an avid Amazon shopper, you’re probably well aware that it’s one of the best places to strike a good deal—and that’s because Amazon knows how to make its customers keep coming back for discounts. They show you the quantity left for the product you’re considering with a harmless “order soon” side note that generates impulsive purchases. Amazon also masters the principle of creating urgency by sneaking in copy that lets you know how much time you have left. And if that’s not enough, they incentivize customers to act quickly by advertising “lightning deals” and offering warped perspectives on savings to “trick” you into buying things.
If you aren’t already using videos on your landing page, it’s time to start. Videos are a valuable way to create trust and comfort. It gives the information you’re conveying more context and makes it more personal. In fact, businesses that utilize video as part of their content marketing strategy see an 86% increase in conversion rates.
What you need to do: Define why your visitors need your solution and what’s going to happen next. If you can effectively answer these questions in your video, you will exponentially increase your chances of landing more conversions.
Example: PartnerMD
PartnerMD uses a video to address the common pain points of the normal healthcare experience. In the video, there is a clear explanation of what PartnerMD offers and why concierge medicine is the best solution. More importantly, the video explains why the form is there and what the visitor will accomplish by filling it out.
Using white space on your landing page helps you create a visual hierarchy that guides the viewer where you want them to go. By focusing on white space placement, you can strategically draw attention to the most important elements of your page first. Essentially, creating a bigger impact for your content.
What you need to do: Break up your content by separating text from images to improve readability. Remove any distractions and give all elements enough surrounding space so your landing page isn’t cluttered.
Example: Wix
Wix has created a captivating and stunning illustration of a website design on its landing page. The headline copy is short and to the point, the white text is easy to read, and the use of white space is carefully balanced with the other elements on the page. By using white space, the page’s touchpoints are clear, encouraging visitors with a direct call to action.
Using relevant images or humanizing your offer can make it more relatable, encouraging visitors to convert more easily. Images usually catch consumers’ eyes before they even read your headline. In fact, because our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text, they influence a visitor’s immediate opinion about your brand.
What you need to do: Since you don’t have long to make a first impression, choose your images wisely. Make sure the images you select accurately promote your product or services. And of course, use visuals that are high quality. Your goal should be to create a landing page that is memorable, easily understood, and emotionally relatable.
Example: TUSHY
Tushy’s landing page is creatively brilliant. From a humorous image to its soft pastel color palette and clean design, they successfully capture their visitors’ attention. It’s minimal, attractive, and memorable. Their value proposition is laser-focused, identifying who the target audience is while highlighting the benefit of their product.
There are many strategies you can use to alleviate customer fears. Take buyers’ concerns into account, and you’ll be seeing more conversions before you know it. By eliminating any hesitations they have about your product or service, you can boost their willingness to buy.
What you need to do: Give consumers the confidence that your product is one they can trust. Keep your promises. Follow through on shipping policies if you offer them, consider offering money-back guarantees, and give customers a way to test-drive your product.
Example: Warby Parker
Warby Parker gives customers ease of mind by letting them try on glasses before fully committing to buying them. By giving their customers time to make a decision from the comfort of their own homes, Warby Parker sways its customers towards a more enjoyable experience.
When done right, landing pages can generate a significant number of qualified leads. By implementing our tips you’ll get ahead of your competitors in no time.
Contact MarinOne today to learn how our platform can help improve your paid media management processes and get the landing page conversion rates you seek.
Businesses are increasing marketing spending in a bid to stand out in highly competitive environments. As spend increases, executives and decision-makers must ensure that each dollar spent on marketing generates proportionate revenue for the business.
Click-through rate (CTR) is a metric that is regularly used by businesses to analyze marketing performance and determine future marketing strategies. However, understanding of CTR remains woefully inadequate. Read on to learn what CTR is and how analyzing it can help businesses achieve short- and long-term marketing success.
Businesses often track how many users view and interact with a particular ad or social media post. CTR is the metric used to measure the percentage of viewers who click the link embedded in that ad or post. CTR is used to determine how well an ad, keyword, or social media post is performing.
CTR can easily be calculated by dividing the number of clicks that each ad receives by the number of impressions or views the ad has and representing that number as a percentage. For example, if 10 people click on an ad that was viewed by 100 people, the CTR of that ad would be 10%.
Companies can evaluate their CTR against the performance of other ads from the same industry. For example, ads from companies in arts and entertainment average a CTR of 10.67%, while ads for legal services experience an average CTR of 3.84%. Knowing how your industry typically performs helps put your performance metrics in the right context to evaluate them accurately and effectively.
Results generated by marketing efforts may seem difficult to measure, quantify, or link to specific business results. However, this is often due to a misunderstanding of how each metric reveals specific insight into marketing performance.
Marketers must have specific goals and must choose the right metrics to evaluate if these targets are being met. Marketers who focus heavily on conversions might use CTR to view how effectively each ad is being used to increase visibility—but CTR does not measure how many of those clicks lead to conversions.
Keywords play a major role in the CTR of an online ad. The right keywords can encourage more clicks, higher conversions, and better engagement with the ad. However, every keyword has a unique value within each industry depending on how effective they are in generating profits, so marketers must carefully evaluate how keywords are valued in their specific industry.
Industry research showed that marketers typically use keyword rankings, organic traffic, and time spent on the page in conjunction with CTR to measure the value of each keyword. This information can then determine how much of the budget should be spent on each set of keywords and how frequently they should be used in marketing campaigns.
CTR can provide significant insight into marketing performance for digital marketers. However, it should always be analyzed with the specific financial needs of the campaign. Even if an ad converts a customer, the profit generated by the customer must be higher than the amount of money the marketer spent to get that click.
Businesses can use many keywords across different marketing campaigns and channels to better reach a wider audience. Each of these channels must be properly evaluated to truly understand their importance to the company. Marketing spending on each channel must accurately reflect its importance to marketers and their audience.
Park ‘N Fly, an offsite airport parking company, used keyword segmentation and optimized paid-search spending to double their CTR to 6% from 3% the previous year with the use of Marin Professional. Effectively analyzing CTR helped them optimize spending across 65 campaigns that used 2,000 keywords across multiple channels and platforms.
Once you’ve figured out how each keyword performs, it’s important to use the same keywords to reach that audience effectively across different channels. This also ensures that the marketing message is not diluted or forgotten when viewed on platforms that deviate from the language that was determined to be effective. This consistency has to extend beyond ads to marketing collateral such as email blasts, promotions, and landing page copy.
The modern customer demands that companies learn their preferences quickly and expects communication that aligns with their values, beliefs, needs, and preferences. This means marketers must always have their finger on the pulse to learn when customer preferences have changed. Attribution analysis can help businesses understand if their keyword usage and ad language have kept up with changing customer behavior and the extent to which certain keywords are still relevant to existing marketing campaigns.
Marin’s online ad management software makes it easy for marketers to learn how their ads are performing and place that information in the right context. Analyzing the yield generated by each keyword, ad, copy, and product can help marketers optimize their ad spend in a way that maximizes conversions and sales.
Learn more about MarinOne today. Get in touch with one of our experts to see how we can help you get the information and tools you need to increase the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
