Conversion Sciences

Technically, a “bounce” is a visitor that looks at only one page, or a visitor that spends an embarrassingly short time on the page. Keep reading to find out how to reduce bounce rates. A bounce is any visit for which the visitor only looks at one page and does not interact with it. This sounds truly unfair as someone may spend minutes on your blog post or landing page, and still be counted as a bounce. A visitor bounces when they don’t find anything close to what they were looking for when they visit your site. Either you’re attracting the wrong visitors or you don’t know why they are visiting. Bounce is the most extreme form of conversion problem. High bounce rates are an indication that you are throwing good marketing dollars down the tubes. Whatever you’re spending to get traffic to your site is being wasted. How to Reduce Bounce Rates or the heartbreak of “bounce” Boing! That’s the sound of someone finding your site, but not finding what they wanted ON your site. Boing! That’s the sound of website content that doesn’t match your marketing. Boing! That’s the sound of a website that talks about the company instead of the visitors’ problems. What are some strategies to reduce bounce rate? This is a common question, and requires an understanding of the definitions of bounce rate. The bounce rate is a bit slippery and requires some examination. The intention of measuring the bounce rate is to figure out how many of your visitors are leaving almost immediately after arriving at your site. This metric provides for a lot of error in interpretation. “A high bounce rate means your site is crappy.” This is rarely the case. A more accurate explanation is that your site doesn’t look the way your visitors expect it to look. Understanding what your visitors expect is the way to reduce bounce rates. Instead, there are usually some more valid reasons for your high bounce rate. Here are the things digital marketing and conversion experts examine when confronted with uncomfortably high bounce rates. 1. You’re measuring it wrong How you measure your bounce rate can give you very different insights. For example, blogs often have high bounce rates. Does this mean that visitors don’t like the blog? Many analytics packages measure a bounce as a visit, or session, that includes only one page on your site. Visitors who take the time to read an entire article would be considered a “bounce” if they then left, even though they are clearly engaged. We set a timer for our blog traffic, so that any visitor who sticks around for 15 seconds or more is not considered a bounce. You can set a timer to the amount of time you consider appropriate. 2. How to Reduce Bounce Rates: Diagnose Technical Difficulties We are fond of saying that you don’t have one website, you have ten or twenty or thirty. Each device, each browser, each screen-size delivers a different experience to the visitor. If your website is broken on one of the devices popular with your visitors, you will see a bump in overall bounce rate. If your pages load slowly, especially on mobile devices, you can expect a higher bounce rate. Broken internal links and 404 pages are also cause for bounce. If your page breaks out in a chorus of Also Sprach Zarathustra when the page loads, you may enjoy a higher bounce rate. How to diagnose device-related technical problems Your analytics package will track the kind of device your visitors are coming on. The Google Analytics report Audience > Technology > Browser & OS shows that there may be a technical issue with Safari visitors coming from within an app. This may also reflect visitors coming from mobile ads, and they may simply be lower quality. See below. With Google Analytics Audience > Mobile > Devices report, we see mobile devices specifically.…

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: Defending your design: fight opinion with experimentation Are you tired of arbitrary changes being suggested for your designs — ads, copy, layout — based solely on opinion. We talk about defending your design in part two of my conversation with Tom Niemeyer. Defend your design. Let’s face it. Your design work is going to be evaluated by neophytes. Whether you work as […] The post Defending your design: fight opinion with experimentation appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: Performance-based Web Design Can Be Creative Too How do you do performance-based web design without putting your creatives in a straight jacket? We asked a designer that has been put in that very situation. A group of kids goes to visit a ranch. Behind the ranch house the land stretches uninterrupted to the horizon. The rancher suggests that the kids go out […] The post Performance-based Web Design Can Be Creative Too appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: This is the Key to a Persuasive Website What is the key to creating a persuasive website? Calum Coburn takes a page from the negotiator’s handbook. Learn the key to being persuasive both in person and on the Web. “Turn the other cheek.” This well-worn phrase has come to mean many things. Forgive easily. Don’t over-react. Be strong in the face of adversity. […] The post This is the Key to a Persuasive Website appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: Why Marketing Leads Don’t Turn into Sales and What to do About It What stands in the way of converting marketing leads to sales and revenue? Sammy James has the data and a solution for marketing leads that seem to evaporate when sent to sales. Do you remember how we got movie times before the internet? For a large part of my audience, the answer might be “what […] The post Why Marketing Leads Don’t Turn into Sales and What to do About It appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: How a Marketing Podcast Gives Brands a Human Voice Can a podcast lend an important human voice to our otherwise robotic digital brands? Here’s what the data says. A website has some limitations when it comes to growing your brand. A website has to wait until someone comes to visit. It’s like that kid always hoping someone will sleep over. You can’t send it […] The post How a Marketing Podcast Gives Brands a Human Voice appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: When should you invest in Conversion Rate Optimization? I asked a Competitor It’s a big question. “When should I invest in conversion optimization for my website?” Even though I’ve been preaching the benefits of CRO since 2006, I don’t consider it an obvious decision. Instead of telling you what I think, I asked a competitor to tell you, just to keep me honest. We have answered the […] The post When should you invest in Conversion Rate Optimization? I asked a Competitor appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: Positioning Your Product or Service Positioning your product or service requires understanding the root desire of your website visitors. This changes from visitor to visitor. Positioning your offering generically to appeal to them all doesn’t work. Find out what does.   Why do people buy robot vacuums? Is it to clean the floor? Maybe. Is it to have more leisure […] The post Positioning Your Product or Service appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: The Cluetrain Manifesto Twenty Years Later: Still relevant “Markets are Conversations.” This the opening salvo in the Cluetrain Manifesto. It’s 95 theses were written at the dawn of the commercial internet to help businesses understand how things had changed. Twenty years later, did we heed their advice? Is the Cluetrain Manifesto still relevant? Contrarians. They’re trouble. At least they’re trouble in structured organizations. […] The post The Cluetrain Manifesto Twenty Years Later: Still relevant appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Having trouble viewing the text? You can always read the original article here: The 95 Theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto Audio read by Brian Massey The Cluetrain Manifesto was written in 1999 by Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger. It struck me that the new generations of business owners, marketers and executives may have missed this amazing document. It’s been twenty years, after all. So, as a bonus to our Intended Consequences podcast listeners, I recorded it. […] The post The 95 Theses of the Cluetrain Manifesto Audio read by Brian Massey appeared first on Conversion Sciences.

Maybe the best behavioral design framework for your website is the same one that you can use to change your personal habits. The man walked onto the stage in a colorful robe. He was holding a small oar. He claimed he was wearing a magician’s robe and that the oar was his magic wand and that he was going to do something magical with us. This was seven years ago at Conversion Conference 2012. I still remember this keynote — and I’ve forgotten many. The magic he performed was to teach us an important model for changing behaviors. Before the hour was over, he had asked us to teach the person next to us what he had shared: his behavioral model. I live by the belief that, “The best way to really learn something is to teach it to someone else.” Indeed, his model was one I never forgot having taught it to someone else. So, when BJ Fogg announced that he was finally releasing a new book, I invited him to be on the Intended Consequences podcast. With few changes, what he taught us seven years earlier had changed little. His new book, “Tiny Habits” has turned those business management lessons into a program for individual behavioral change. My mindmap notes from his Conversion Conference session are available below. Real time behavioral design At one point in our conversation, BJ visualized how to apply his behavioral model to the problem of conversion. I animated this part of the conversation for you.Click to hear an explanation of BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Design Framework BJ knows behavioral design and clearly applies it in his life. BJ teaches at Standford. He founded the Behavioral Design Lab there to study human behavior. Each year, his course tackles issues big and small. Like peace. And connecting to nature. Anyone involved in marketing is involved in what he calls “Behavioral Design”. Listen to how this science can change your behaviors and your marketing effectiveness. Habits make time for themselves. When you get back to the office… Let’s see if we can develop a tiny habit around experimenting. The habit we want to get into is considering data when we begin any creative project. As BJ told us, it doesn’t have to be big. In fact we should make it very small. So the Prompt or Trigger is this: you sit down to write copy, to design an ad, to layout a webpage. I recommend that your tiny behavior be this: log into analytics. You don’t have to look at any reports. You don’t have to do any analysis. Just log in. Then you can log out and begin your project. I’m trusting the process here, but according to Tiny Habits, you’ll begin to think about data more often. And then something will begin to change. Now go behave like a scientist. Resources and Links * Connect with BJ: bjfogg.com  * Learn more about Tiny Habits: tinyhabits.com/book * Summary of this Interview * Read the Transcript Transcript of BJ Fogg Interview Brian Massey: When BJ Fogg announced that he was finally releasing a new book, I invited him to be on the Intended Consequences podcast. With few changes, what he taught us seven years earlier had changed little. His new book, Tiny Habits has turned those business management lessons into a program for individual behavior change. BJ knows behavioral design, and he clearly applies it in his life. He teaches at Stanford and he founded the Behavior Design Lab there to study human behavior. Each year,

How long should your emails be? Do people read long emails? Do short emails convert better? These questions have been debated for a long time. My guest has the data and this is one question she answers for us. There’s nothing better than getting another shot at a conversion. Sometimes, people aren’t ready to buy. […]

Are Chief Marketing Officers — CMOs — losing their relevance in the C-suite? And if so, can data and experimentation turn things around for them? Laura Patterson offers her opinion on the Intended Consequences Podcast I was having coffee with an old colleague, Laura Patterson, here in Austin. Laura advises businesses on all aspects of […]

Sales and marketing. Two functions critical to a business’s success. They work tightly, arm-in-arm to build awareness, engage prospects and help them choose the best solution for their problem. They have common goals and cooperate closely to achieve them. The mutual respect and gratitude they have for one another is palpable. If you’re wondering what […]

The B2B marketing funnel is under attack, especially in the B2B lead generation space. Find out what is — and what should be — taking its place. We like funnels. We like them because they provide us with some sense of progress in our marketing efforts. We have advertising programs to get people’s attention. We […]

If you’re selling tools or expertise, you’ll need to understand where your prospects are in their relation to time, interest, and expertise. Find out how my guest addresses these issues for his prospects. I consider myself a software guy. Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. I wrote my own analytics package in 2003, which was […]

The effort to improve website performance has traditionally been the problem of your hosting provider or IT. With the growth in mobile traffic, it is probably something marketers need to drive themselves. There is a ceiling on your conversion rate. It’s not your price. It’s not your copy. It’s not your form. When I tell […]

Find out how to AB test copy, the words, images, captions, and fonts that you use on your website persuasively. Learn how data can be used to find out if your copywriting will deliver conversions. I believe that copywriters suffer from a particular kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. It comes from the fact that anyone […]

All you need to know about mobile call-to-action buttons to increase conversions. Don’t miss out on these call-to-action (CTA) button design guidelines. The world is mobile. Some users may not even own a desktop and, with the probable exception of work, they prefer mobile. And we say “probable” because nowadays some workplaces offer tablets. So, […]

Every agency believes they have the right service for the price a company is willing to pay. So they can be very persuasive. Find out what questions you should be asking to pick the right agencies for your business. Agencies make things possible that our marketing teams just can’t do with the resources they have. […]