genesis digital

Genesis Digital: Creator of WebinarJam, EverWebinar, and Kartra. Visit us at Genesisdigital.co. 2

17-Ways-To-Increase-Conversions

RE: “Leaked” Conversion Document. . .

About the only thing that could make the idea of a “Leaked” document more cheesy is if it had the word “Secret” in front of it, and it was hosted on a URL that ended with .BIZ.

So, what’s the actual story? And why even talk about it?

Pretty simple, really.

First, we wrote this doc because we’re growing. We’re closing in on 100 staff members, and the fact is, the majority of them came from outside the world of Internet Marketing. So we wanted to create a To-Do list that could not only be used as a check-list for our ongoing marketing projects, but also as a bit of an overview on the What and Why of Conversion Testing and Analytics.

So, it is TRUE — The actual story is, YES — this IS an internal document, created for the purposes of educating our staff. And we think once you start reading it, it will become obvious that it was not written as anything but a training document for internal use — absent from it is the Framing and Perspective that might come with a “Freemium” or “Special Report.” It also makes reference to folks that work for the company, and has the occasional inside joke that you might not “get.”

So, why did we decide to “leak” it?

Universally, the document was met with great feedback from the staff. Several folks that work in the customer experience department asked if they could let our customers see portions of it, so they could give them advice on how they might be able to increase their sales performance.

Then the Marketing Department finally said, “We should give this to everyone.”

Thus, the concept of “leaking” the document in its current form was invented.

Owing to that, let us just point out some of the things that might be conspicuously absent: 1 - Attribution. We don’t caption every image or screen shot, and we don’t always attribute a case study or testing result to the source, like one might do if they were trying to sell this.

Before we forget, let’s add a little disclaimer — All images and references to other companies are done so without intent, opinion, etc. and their appearance in this doc should in no way be taken as their endorsement of our conclusions.

With that out of the way, special thanks goes to Visual Website Optimizer, Marketing Sherpa, The Baymard Institute, and about a half a dozen other companies that we routinely use to keep current. The wealth of information these folks have collected is staggering, and this document would not have been possible without them.

https://GenesisDigital.krtra.com/t/EJUTCArPgKoQ

https://GenesisDigital.krtra.com/t/LyU90uoCzYrK

https://www.kartra.com

https://www.genesisdigital.co


2 - Proof. We may share the occasional screenshot from our Testing Software, or an image from a 3rd Party that draws a conclusion, but we DO NOT go out of our way to “Prove” any of the results or conclusions drawn.

That said, the stats and studies we talk about are accurate. BUT — the whole point of the document is that oftentimes, we will never have a guaranteed outcome no matter what someone’s or some company’s previous experience is — that’s why we TEST, afterall. If all you get out of the doc are some cool ideas, then we’ll feel pretty good about that, because at the end of the story, that’s why we wrote it.

What IS in here that’s a tiny bit unusual?

Dirty Laundry. There are plenty of instances in the doc where we talk about how “We” blew it, or dropped the ball, or did something with far less skill than “We” are capable of.

Let us just say this for the benefit of our staff — They are AWESOME.

However, we do collectively believe in the following premise:

“Nothing can be improved unless it is first subject to measurement”

In other words, if we don’t assign a label of judgment to the outcomes of our work, we’re cursed to live with the same mediocre performance over and over.

We get it — it MIGHT be weird reading something that is NOT full of “WooWoo Everything is Great and We’re Awesome and No Problems Here. . .” But more times than not, the labels that DO say “This was Successful” are usually only encountered after a process of systematic failure. Conversion testing is really about the only premise in Marketing where, when you fail, you’re probably one step closer to winning.

In case you are concerned about “All of the #FAIL,” we’re actually doing GREAT. Between WebinarJam, EverWebinar and Kartra, we have tens of thousands of customers crushing it online.

With all that out of the way, we do hope that the following information gives you some new things to try. And if it turns out that they made a difference, let us know. No, we don’t sell Conversion Testing or Analytics Software (but Kartra does have insanely awesome analytics and testing functionality), or even Training Courses on How to Increase Conversion — we’re not hunting for a testimonial or a case study. . . But this can be a somewhat lonely endeavor, and it’s always nice when people come together and share their experiences.XOXO,

The Genesis Digital Team

Proud Publishers of WebinarJam, EverWebinar, and Kartra. Visit Us at Genesisdigital.co.







Internal Memo - Genesis Digital

Distribute To - Marketing, Customer Experience, Executive Dev, Finance, Analytics.

Subject: Key Additions and Modifications to be made to all Checkout pages, and general marketing conversion best practices.

Summary:

Key Concepts:

1. Help Visitors immediately identify purpose of page.

2. Reduce Overall Confusion. Objectify Offer/Price/Rebilling

a. Order Summary/Invoice View

b. Breadcrumbs of the Checkout Process

3. Enhance Value of Offer by Highlighting Savings

4. Reduce & Reverse Anxiety about Purchase and Risk

5. Telegraph Customer Fulfillment

6. Draw Attention to Security and Privacy

7. Product Review Score

8. Social Media Group Proof Widget

9. Leverage of other brands and Integration Partners

10. Direct Source - Authorized Dealer

11. Offer Scarcity

12. Humanize The Company

13. Recency

14. Value Summary

a. Quantitative

b. Qualitative

15. Support & Contact Options

16. Accurate Visual Representation of Product / Hero Image

17. Cart Abandon SOP’s

a. Account Capture

b. Retargeting

Why this needs to be done: The currently cited statistic for global cart abandonment rate is 69%. This stat crosses over many industries, including but not limited to Electronics, Consumer Goods, Services, Software, and Travel. That 69% will be our initial target.






There is a direct relationship between Landing Page Conversion and Check Out Page Conversion.

I.e. The Higher the Landing Page Conversion “Add to Cart”, the LOWER the Checkout Page Conversion will be.

Simply put, if our Landing Page Offer converts well above industry standards (It does, at nearly a 10% conversion rate), we should expect that our Checkout Page will convert lower than industry norms.

That said, before we optimize our current set of OFFERS (ex. Annual Payment with Discount, Free Trial) and then expand into other Offer Options (Monthly Subscription, Quarterly Payments, Buy 1 Get 1 Free, etc.), we need to establish a control metric for an enhanced check out page.

Optimization Deployment Process

Deployment of most of the above “Key Concepts” represent a significant delta from our current checkout procedures. Accordingly, our first iterative test of new Checkout creative should be done on an A/B split test basis. This would be our current Control versus a “Hero Variant”, where the Hero Variant incorporates all 17 Key Concepts in some fashion.

Implementing the 17 Key Concepts will increase conversion. But then we need to test the implementation of each Key Concept:

For example: Key Concept #13: “Recency.” That could be manifested as simply as including the current date and time displayed on the Checkout Page. Then, a test of Key Concept #13 could be both strategic and later, tactical:

ll KC#13 Strategic Test: Recency - Test Current Display Numerical Time against “October Special Offer”

ll KC#13 Tactical Test: Recency - Test Location of Recency KC, vs. Font, vs. Color, vs. Point Size, vs. Time Activity (i.e. Seconds Displayed and Counting. . .)

Finally, Graphical Design Variations will be tested against the winning Hero Variant, where changes in overall look and feel will be tested against each other while adhering to the winning strategic and tactical Key Concept Best Practice test results. Speaking plainly, once we have a winning Hero Variant, we’ll test different designs of it.






Key Concept Definitions, Examples, and Suggestions:

#1 - Help Visitors Immediately Identify Purpose of Page.

Our current Checkout page is reminiscent of a typical Direct Response Marketers transaction page. Ten - fifteen years ago, before eCommerce and Online Purchases were the Situation Normal that they are today, they were extremely effective owing to the fact that they continued the long-form sales conversation that took place on the immediately preceding Sales Letter Page.

And while our current checkout page is responsible for over 8-figures of sales, the fact is the widespread global adoption of Online Shopping has changed the way all shoppers expect a typical checkout page to look.

So, when they click the equivalent of the “Add to Cart” button on our SAAS Landing Page, it’s likely they have an expectation that the next page will look MORE like an Amazon, Home Depot, or Microsoft Checkout page than what our current checkout page looks like.

According to The Baynard Institute, the top 10 highest scoring checkout pages according to usability are:

ll B&H Photo

ll Home Depot

ll Staples

ll Walmart

ll Crutchfield

ll Office Depot

ll Nordstrom

ll Target

ll Best Buy

ll Sephora

It’s clear that these are Checkout pages. Let’s emulate the best to keep things simple and clear. That conclusion speaks directly to Key Concept #2.





http://baymard.com/checkout-usability/benchmark/top-100


#2 - Reduce Overall Confusion. Objectify Offer/Price/Rebilling

The Checkout page is the most important page – it’s where money changes hands. “Website Navigation Too Complicated” is the reason for 25% of all Cart Abandons.

No one should abandon our Checkout pages because they are confused.

Using B&H Photo’s Checkout page as an example, let’s see how it Reduces Overall Confusion by simplifying the display of the product in question:

First, note that the purpose of the page is spelled out immediately:

Note also how a Hero Image of the Product in question is foremost in the display.






When combining these and other additional elements, we end up with something that we call the “Order Summary/Invoice View”:

Here are various examples of “Order Summary/Invoice Views” from other top-ranking sites:

Home Depot






Staples

WalMart






Crutchfield

At a glance, you can see that these Checkout pages have a lot in common:

ll They’re Simple.

ll They remind us that we are IN a Shopping Cart (“Website Navigation Too Complicated” is the reason for 25% of all Cart Abandons)

ll They Show a Picture or Representation of the Product.

ll The price to be paid is absolutely clear, and while shipping costs will not apply in our case, the fact that the product will be delivered to them according to a pre-defined mechanism is IMPORTANT (See KC#5 - Telegraph Customer Fulfillment)

Breadcrumbs of the Checkout Process keep people on track:

The Big Brand examples shown here are consistent and congruent. However, there are far fewer examples of SAAS companies with high-usability Checkout pages. This owes to a non-standardization of both product type and service. Whether you buy a Ninja Turtle Halloween Costume or Toilet Paper, you pretty much know what you’re getting. Software isn’t (generally) a commodity.

The fact that we are selling Software as a Service means that our “Checkout Experience” runs the risk of being NON-Standard.

ll I.e. The customer doesn’t know if they’ll be configuring their application immediately or later.

ll The customer doesn’t know if additional information about their Website, Company, Business, Location, Business License, etc. is required BEFORE they check out or...

ll The customer doesn’t know how many transaction steps are required BEFORE they become an actual customer.






This can result in confusion, doubt, and the removal of the same impulses that incentivized the customer to begin the checkout process in the first place.

To fully satisfy all of Non-Standard Information Gaps, we have to clearly indicate to the customer where they are in the buying process.

Here are several examples of “Breadcrumbs of the Checkout Process”

In review:

a. Order Summary/Invoice View

b. Breadcrumbs of the Checkout Process

Implementing these will reduce confusion, and make clear the product and its price.

#3 - Enhance Value of Offer by Highlighting Savings

When a customer assesses Value, they do so according to 3 considerations (See Genesis Labs Episode 28 on Pricing for full explanation):

1 - Intrinsic Value.

What is it worth to the customer, based on their needs, their situation, their pain, their desires? This is essentially where the value of strong sales materials, copywriting, and Video Sales Letters manifests. Our current conversion rate on our SAAS Add to Cart page clocks in at over 8%. Mission Accomplished.






2 - Value when compared to other options.

What else could we get that is similar to this solution, but from a different company? This is a competitive advantage, and it is illustrated with Features, Capability, Service, Requirements, and Price. Again, WebinarJam, Kartra and EverWebinar are on the leading edge. Combined with our superior price point, our Competitive Advantage is obvious.

3 - Value against ITSELF.

What’s the “DEAL”? Am I getting a good Price? Is my timing good? Is this the right VERSION? I don’t want to pay TOO much. Value against itself is typically demonstrated at Point of Purchase.






Key Points to Express are:

1. “Compare At Value”: How much would the customer pay to use our closest competitor?

2. Normal Price: Anchor the true value of the product. This is what you have sold it at. The “List Price” or “Retail Price”

3. Sale Price: The current offer. “Our Price”, or “Special Limited Offer”

4. Savings. Immediate Savings IN Dollars and Percentage OFF regular price.

We can use Amazon as a guide for the Pricing Format:

Though, other examples exist where the current sales price enjoys more visibility, i.e. “Our Price”:

A few notes on Price Text Decoration: It has been our experience that when it comes to price and savings, the little things DO matter.

Oftentimes, we have omitted decimal points in pricing display and realized a slight but meaningful lift in overall conversion.






For example:

Normal Price: $497.99Special Offer: $397You Save: $100.99Your Discount = 31.38%

Note how the Special Offer price OMITS the decimal point field. It’s unclear if the effect here is making the Special Offer price SEEM physically smaller, or if it simply makes the concept price easier to grasp, given that the customer doesn’t need to process the decimal point price.

Also note how the respective savings amounts include decimal points. . .

We should also be open to deploying different text colors to illustrate value, noting the green in the price below:

Final Note: The pricing display should be used both in the overall context of Key Concept #2 - The Order Summary/Invoice View, as well as in close proximity to the “Add to Cart” Buttons on our SAAS Landing Pages.

#4 - Reduce & Reverse Anxiety about Purchase and Risk

A standard solution for Reversing Anxiety about a Purchase is the “Money Back Guarantee” (MBG). In fact, the absence of a MBG is far more impactful than its presence. In other words, MBG’s are so expected to be incorporated into any offer that consumers practically don’t see them (according to Eye Tracking Studies), it’s almost as if they have a form of “Banner Blindness.” However, when a MBG is MISSING, conversion is lowered significantly.

We display a MBG on our checkout page. Fine. Let’s dial it up a notch or 10.






Our aim is to change the nature of the conversation about Risk by EXTENDING the LENGTH of the conversation about Risk. We want to remind the customer many times that not only are they PROTECTED if the Unthinkable should happen and they change their mind about being a customer, but they will also be better off overall for having tried to be a customer. That’s when our Risk-Reduction Plan becomes a Risk-Reversal Plan. We want to leave them better than we found them.

(Which BTW, Kartra has a refund policy built in to the products section — saving us all an extra headache.)

In the spirit of that idea, here’s the plan:

A - Draw attention to our MBG multiple times in the purchase process. One MBG Statement is the minimum. We’ve got that. Three to five, using different perspectives and language, is the target.

B - Use MBG Language not normally associated with SAAS in order to get attention and break their “Guarantee Blindness”.

For Example:

The above is a typical guarantee statement associated with the sale of a physical product. “Easy Returns” may not be the most accurate summary of a Cloud-Based Product’s guarantee process, but it sure does make the commitment to protect their purchase decision crystal clear.

In the above case, a potentially more accurate statement might be:

Easy Returns. Don’t love Kartra? Cancel at any time. See our Full Guarantee Policy

C - Reverse the Risk.

“Leave them better than we found them.”

Fundamentally, Reversing Risk means that WE bear the burden of performance failure. If a customer decides our product is not for them, our Risk Reversal Policy ensures they walk away with MORE THAN ZERO for their effort.

To leave them better than we found them, we suggest that we allow a customer to KEEP our training program “Webinar Genesis” even if they cancel or ask for a refund.






This is a rich offer, given that Webinar Genesis has previously created nearly 7-Figures of retail income. But that’s the point. We’re not just repurposing old or irrelevant content in order to stack the offer with meaningless bulk. Customers who consume Webinar Genesis are typically more satisfied, refund less, use WebinarJam more, and stay customers longer. It creates an impact. And because we know a significant portion of our new customers come from a long sales cycle, being able to win back a canceled customer after they’ve consumed Webinar Genesis is likely to be more efficient.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The primary objection to incorporating Risk Reversal into a Guarantee Policy is the supposition that it will increase Returns and Cancellations. And while we’re not really a “Woo Woo” kinda company, the fact remains that having an “Abundant” mindset when delivering value to your customers has served us well in the past.

On a less “Touchy-Feely” note, Risk Reversal MAY increase our Refund Rate. But if it does, it’s also likely to have increased our initial Conversion Rate and longer term Retention Rate so much that the benefit far outweighs the downside. We’ll suss that conclusion out using the power of “Analytics” and “Math.”

#5 - Telegraph Customer Fulfillment

Our current sales and fulfillment copy make too much of an assumption that because our customers are purchasing a Cloud-Based Application that they automatically understand how they’re going to receive access to said application.

We need to recognize that there is the potential for significant confusion, especially given that our chief competitor’s fulfillment in the Webinar division is a hybrid (Equal Parts Cloud and Download) process.

Consider: Previous to the advent of Software as a Service, most software was delivered on CD-ROM. Later, as the InterWebz became faster, the next iteration of Software Fulfillment was in the form of a Zip File or maybe even an Adobe Air Download.

Then, the term “SAAS” was introduced. It described something that had been in existence in many forms for a long time (Hotmail is actually a SAAS and was in existence long before the term SAAS was deployed as a description of an industry). Therein lie the first seeds of confusion.

Today, the “App” and “Extension” rule the roost in terms of Software Fulfillment. With over 2 Billion iDevices sold, and over 178 Billion App Store Downloads (in one year — according to “Statistica”), as well as the extensive App and Extension-driven Android Structure, along with the massive footprint that Steam has created for Game and Software Downloads, the global expectation of how people acquire “Software” has been forever changed since the original “.exe” download.

So, we need to address that.






We also need to address the eCommerce and Physical Products expectation: In the world of eCommerce, the fulfillment paradigm is “Shipping.” And that industry has recognized that the term “Shipping,” in the absence of specific details, can and will cause Cart Abandonment.

Because it represents an “Unexpected Cost.”

This graph indicates how concerned consumers are with “Unexpected Costs.” Of all of the Cart Abandonment reasons, “Unexpected Costs” is the most onerous.

To combat the fear of Unexpected Costs, the largest retailers have embraced “Free Shipping” as part of their overall demonstration of value.

On an interesting note, Amazon’s “Prime” membership has been a stunning success. Many Prime Members say that the 2-Day Free Shipping option is the primary benefit of their membership. We think it’s noteworthy that a Prime Member is actually PAYING for their membership, and that is what allows them access to the 2-Day Free Shipping Option.






As we have often discussed, “Free” has no perceived value unless it’s anchored against a practical or monetary amount. In charging for Prime Membership, Prime Members materially understand what 2-Day Free Shipping is actually worth. . .

For purposes of our SAAS, we need to then focus on the concept of “Fulfillment”, and the specifics of their Post- Sale Customer EXPERIENCE:

ll What (Functionality) they’re going to get

ll How (Functionally) they’re going to get it, and. . .

ll When (Specifically) that Fulfillment will take place.

Suggested Actions:

Near Calls to Action on the SAAS Landing Page, indicate the fulfillment process:

“Instant Access” and/or “Immediate Access,” for example, are historically demonstrated value phrases.

“No Download Required” should be there, too.

Additionally, a more complete explanation of the Post-Sale User Experience is articulated, for example:

“You can access WebinarJam from anywhere you have a Browser and Internet Connection, even from your mobile device! Use Windows, MacOs, even Linux!”

On the Checkout Page, indicate the future experience of the customer in Phrase Form. We suggest we bundle these statements under a clear “Future-Pace” statement:

“What Happens Next?”

So, a Checkout Page statement might be:

What Happens Next?

Instant Access: Within minutes, you’ll receive an Email with your Login Credentials, and link to your WebinarJam Full-Access Admin Dashboard.

No Download: Connect to WebinarJam with your active internet connection from practically any modern browser, including Mobile Devices. Yes, you can use multiple Devices!

Work Anywhere from the Cloud: Your Webinar Funnels & Projects are Saved on WebinarJam’s Secure 256-Bit Cloud-Based Servers.

Ready-To-Go: You’ll be able to immediately configure and broadcast Webinars the moment your transaction is complete. Extensive Tutorials and Documentation are also included!






Using these techniques, we ensure the customer understands the nature of their fulfillment, keeping them from being scared off.

#6 - Draw Attention to Security and Privacy

Customers not only expect a high level of Data Security, they REACT when they are reminded that their Data is, in fact, secure. Not only at the point-of-purchase, but also with the ongoing management of their personal and professional information. The prominence of our display of security commitment counts. In other words, they cannot be relegated to footer statements about security and privacy — they need to be upfront and conspicuous.

First, we need to indicate an overall commitment to site-wide security with a “Trust” Seal. Fortunately, some data does exist on user-preference:

Two takeaways from the above chart:

First, notice that the question asked is “Which badge gives you the best sense of TRUST when paying online?” This is not the result of a multivariate test of trust seals — this is a survey result. There is a greater than zero percent chance that the winner of this survey, Norton, may not ultimately be the higher performing trust seal when split testing is actually done.






Second, and this supposition could serve as future guidance for many other testing concepts, we have to ask ourselves WHY did Norton win?

IMHO, the answer lies in Brand Recognition.

Norton Security and Norton Anti-Virus were distributed as Free Trials with best selling Big-Box PC’s Windows OS Installations (HP, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Acer, Lenovo, Asus, Alienware, etc). This made Norton synonymous with Security, even if it’s just because Norton is the only Security Brand that the average consumer can name.

The Brand Recognition concept will influence several of the remaining Key Concepts heavily, and can also serve as a guide when determining how to align some of our value propositions — i.e. how do they relate to “Known Quantities” or “Well Established Values.”

Action Item - Secure an account with Norton Security for display on our Checkout Page.

Proximity of Security: The following images shows an example of how drawing attention to and visually reinforcing Sensitive Data Fields positively impacts customer peace of mind:

The above form is a Before/After checkout split test.

A - Note how the area of the checkout form has a background color.

B - Note the “Lock” Icon.

C - Note the Headline Copy in the area with the Grey Background Color: “Secure credit card payment”

D - Note the Trust Seal in the upper right hand corner of the Grey Background area.

E - General Note - Display of Credit Card Logos STILL positively lifts conversion rates.

F - General Note - Display of example of a Credit Card CVV Security Code Location STILL positively lifts conversion rates.






Privacy

The Assumption that is made that once a “Visitor” becomes a “Customer,” their personal and professional information is somehow MORE secure because that Customer Data comes with a credit card number. This is a BAD assumption for us (and owing to a plethora of less than trustworthy merchants, the Customer) to make.

First, we do not hold customer credit card data. We simply pass the credit card data via a 256-bit secure socket to our merchant account. CC data is not held in any form, even in a browser session to facilitate an upsell.

Call us crazy, but that might be information the customer would be happy to know.

Second, our policy has been and always shall be that we will never, ever, rent, sell, share, or in any way shape or form provide access to a subscriber’s or customer’s personal or professional information to anyone outside of Genesis Digital.

Call us crazy, again, but that might be information the customer would be happy to know.

Heh.

Letting them know these facts at point of transaction is fairly simple. However, we should also expand our terms of service and privacy policies to specify the details of those policies so the deep-divers can be assured of our commitment to privacy and data integrity.

At point of transaction, simple language with a hyperlink to the full policy is the Best Practice:

On/Near Credit Card Form:

“We do not store your credit card data, and all transactions are executed via secure 256-bit encrypted connections. This data is Secure. See Our Security Statement”

Near Checkout Form:

“We do not nor will ever sell, rent, share or provide access to your personal and professional information (In fact, ANY information) with any 3rd party. Period. See Our Privacy Policy”

#7 - Product Review Score

This is a head slapper. And we’ll fall on our sword for not deploying this sooner. . .

A long long time ago, we started utilizing a 3rd party (which is important) review gathering service.

Said service was once deployed on our main SAAS Landing page, but because of the sheer amount of split testing and re-designing we’ve been doing, that embed got lost in a previous revision.






Further, we made exactly one push to acquire customer reviews. And we got over 300 in just that one.

Just to further illustrate, please note our WebinarJam Rating after 343 reviews. . .

So, the question is NOT “should we publish our Customer Reviews,” but, “What degree of emphasis should we put on Customer Reviews?”

Let us not reinvent the wheel, and turn again to Amazon for some guidance. When searching for Amazon’s absolute BEST SELLER, Amazon makes it clear that Customer Ratings is one of the most important data points to display in proximity to a Call to Action.






Now, allowing for the idea that Cards Against Humanity is a 3rd party seller, and also that Amazon is likely to pull out ALL of the conversion stops when it’s selling its OWN product (where they presumably have total control on design), let’s take a look at Amazon’s Own #1 seller:

Yep. Same. Reviews are front and center.

We’ve got great, Verified Purchaser reviews. We need to get them front and center everywhere we can.






Suggestions:

For General Bragging:

On SAAS Landing Page - We have some location options, therefore this should be a simple A/B/C/etc. Split test.

In Footer:

Corner Pin: Floating Sidebar (Scrolls with Visitor):

At Point of Purchase CTA

Because we are using a Third Party to collect and display our reviews, there are SOME limitations in terms of how we can configure displayed information.

Here’s our suggestion to work around this while still allowing Visitors to dig into the actual reviews.






Take a static image of our primary review display:

...And then hyperlink that image to a place on our page that allows total interaction with the Review Trust interface, where we have some additional display options:

Here’s a “Facebook Style” version (we’ll remind you of our previous “Brand Recognition” statement where creating moments of comfort and recognition may lift trust and engagement):






Another option that can be linked to:

Finally, our least favorite (understanding that our opinion doesn’t matter because that’s why we TEST). . .

Blog-Style






Caution:

As a rule, offering Customer Reviews to a prospect will lengthen the sales cycle. This will be especially important in paid advertising as we may have to endure a longer cashflow float in order to realize ROI on ad spend.

Also, be on the lookout for increases in the search phrase “WebinarJam Reviews” or “Kartra Reviews.” Again, prospects that are treated to reviews, even when they’re collected from a 3rd party like ours are, often seek out other destinations to discover reviews not collected by the seller.

That said, it also allows us to Search Engine Optimize for the search phrase “WebinarJam Reviews” or “Kartra Reviews” and its derivatives and present a pure review-style page.

So, let’s monitor our bounce and abandon rates upon deployment of significant review designs, and make sure that our tracking links will report an elapsed duration from an initial click on “Add to Cart” all the way through to a completed, successful transaction. We’re looking to see if our transaction completion time is being increased.

#8 - Social Media Group Proof Widget

Where testimonials are mechanisms of “Peer Review,” Social Media expands the concept of Trust to the masses. The combination of Peer Review and Social Proof are powerful. As we do that and leverage Brand Association, we’ll see results.

This first step is easy - Display our Social Media Footprint, starting with our Facebook Groups for Kartra and WebinarJam.

Note: The above screenshot was taken from WebinarJam Facebook Group Administrator’s point of view. We suggest we get a version that is Public Facing.

When it comes to Social Proof, there are two primary influencing factors we should play to (both being institutional strengths):

1 - Scope2 - Recent Relevancy

Scope: 31,000+ group members is significant.

Recent Relevancy: Note that FB Groups seems to indicate that “New” Members are those added within some period of time — likely over the last 30 days or so. That level of activity, or specifically new activity, absolutely speaks to not only being a relevant destination, but also full of recent activity. As they say in the Heartland, “You can’t save souls in an empty church.”






Future Note: The old story about choosing which Sushi Shack to eat at — you pick the one that has a line of customers around the block waiting to be served. We should consider a mechanism that indicates Scope and Recent Relevancy on our primary SAAS Landing Pages, where on the checkout page we can lead with testing FB Social Proof elements.

Leverage of other Brands and Integration Partners

Continuing the concept of “Coattail riding,” or “Brand Cuddling,” or “Prominent Proximity,” we can demonstrate the pedigree and legitimacy of our product by displaying how we are associated with other recognizable brands.

#9 - Leverage Brands and Integration Partners

Understanding that our customer base uses a variety of other tools to power their business, and that we integrate with many of those tools, let’s bring that display of partners to the checkout page:






The headline and the image caption of this image will be “The Thing” to test.

On one hand, we don’t want to create an objection where a prospect is searching for a tool that they use, and we haven’t displayed it.

On the other hand, displaying EVERY integration partner is probably a messy design challenge.

So, the headline, and possibly even an image caption, needs to set the proper frame.

Example Headline: Proudly Integrates with:Example Image Caption: And many more… See All Integration Partners

A couple notes here:

A - Any hyperlinks on the checkout page should pop up modal windows. i.e. we don’t want to bounce a Visitor off the checkout page.

B - If our measured bounce rate and subsequent Cart Abandon Rate increases specifically because of Checkout page hyperlinks, then let’s consider truncating the Image Caption Text to eliminate the hyperlink.

Mainstream Press

Whether or not you get star struck, embrace the reality that Mainstream Media citations are huge credibility boosters.

Therefore, let’s find a place to place these logos (Maybe we start with very very small versions of them. . . J/K)






#10 - Direct Source - Authorized Dealer

The other day, one of our staff was looking for a long-since discontinued app called “Omni Dazzle.” It’s what Hector (our CTO. . . remember him?) uses to draw on his screen when we’re doing screen share teleconferencing.

So, heading off to Google, they did the obvious search and noticed something interesting:

3 of the 5 search results are 3rd Party Properties - Softonic, MacUpdate, and CNet.

Having had experience with 3rd Party Software Providers, they were, shall we say, DIS-inclined to acquire that app from them, mostly because our collective experience has been that versions from 3rd Parties are outdated.

That got us thinking…

After some searching for statistical analysis on Direct vs. Affiliate sales conversion rates, we ironically ended up back at Visual Website Optimizer’s case study library and found an at least mostly relevant test result.

The test was the inclusion of a small graphic that indicated that the retailer was an Authorized Seiko Watch Dealer. What’s interesting about this particular test was that the “Authorized Dealer” badge and statement was tested against this:






Just a little shout out to Visual Website Optimizer for this case study. Here are the results (Copied from that article)

Takeaways:

A - There are some markets that ARE concerned about buying the authentic version of a product.

That could apply to our market, given that apps are often distributed via 3rd Party Portals, as was our experience when doing some casual research. And, like it or not, we are often referred to and considered to be an “APP” instead of a Cloud-Based Software Service.

B - Is it possible that we are seeing a reduction in the sensitivity?

We’re not sold on the conclusion “This clearly shows that customers care more about the authenticity of a product than low prices.”

That STATEMENT is factually true when considering the test, but only when presented with one choice or the other. That indicates more of a Preference rather than an absolute value. Again referring to our base Cart Abandon data:

What’s the answer?

Show both. :)






Okay, for us it’s not that easy to tout “Lowest Price” without causing something of a logic interruption with the Visitor. But we may be able to do a combination statement or seal that logically accomplishes both.

For example:

You are buying Kartra Direct from the publisherSo we can Guarantee the Lowest Price!

#11 - Offer Scarcity

“Scarcity 101 - Purchase decisions will be delayed indefinitely until the threat of removing the ability to purchase is made.”

That hardcore rule is one that has served the prototypical Product Launch so well: at the conclusion of the launch, the product is no longer available. The Scarcity Effect is drives more sales in the final 24 hours of a typical modern Product Launch than all of the cart-open days prior, combined.

Scarcity is powerful. But it’s tricky to use.

Clearly, we’re not going to yank Kartra, WebinarJam, or EverWebinar off the market in exchange for a single large sales volume day.

However, there are options for us to not only maximize “Sales” and “Special Offers,” but also to create a Sense of Urgency when it comes to our ongoing offers.

Two Quick Historical Perspectives (for new staff ):

1 - Scarcity is NOT measured in absolutes. WebinarJam was originally launched using a modified version of Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula.

However, we made the long-term strategic decision to frame the launch as a “Grand Opening.” It was that frame that allowed us to designate the launch period as a time for new customers to receive extra value in the form of discounts, extended access, and bonus materials.

We announced the close of the Grand Opening nearly the same way one might announce the end of a traditional product launch — by indicating that the current stack of “extras” would disappear at the end of the Grand Opening.

The result was a 7-Figure sales day.

But the day after the launch, we simply republished our SAAS pages with the new offer (including a price increase and removal of several bonuses promised during the Grand Opening), and from that point forward, we’ve generated significant sales every day.






The Takeaway: removal of “extras,” thus modifying the offer, did in fact create intense Scarcity. Therefore, the utility of Scarcity is not limited to Offer Removal. It is also effective with Offer Modification.

2 - The FOMO Effect. This is far more relevant to our ongoing sales, rather than time-limited special offers.

FOMO = Fear of Missing Out. The idea that, if they do nothing, Visitors will miss out on something with easily measurable value.

“Easily Measurable” is the key. That means the mere display of the said value has to be able to be instantly calculated by the Visitor.

For example: Price Savings, Additional Access, Promotion from one level of service to the next, addition of accessories, etc.

The second key aspect of FOMO is a specific window of opportunity. They can’t miss out on something if it’s a choice. The opportunity must have an end.

Where we did good; where we dropped the ball. Currently, we offer limited time access on a per Visitor basis to our 30-Day Kartra trial (it’s normally only 14 days). We indicate that the window of opportunity is limited with a countdown timer (Note, this trial is only available via a specific link we send out in our emails).

Note the following indications of Scarcity (and this is just in one area of the Landing Page):

A - Countdown Timer.

We have tested the Scarcity Offer with and without the countdown timer. The countdown timer lifts conversion rate so much that it’s hard to resist the idea of putting it in close proximity to every call to action button.

B - Copy Points - Scarcity

Note: “. . . Won’t last much longer”

C - Copy Points - Urgency

Note: “. . . so act now”

Where we dropped the ball:

Very few of these scarcity and urgency elements transfer from the main Landing Page to the Checkout page.






Initial Steps:

1- Lots to be improved here, and I’d like to suggest that we bring forward many of the concepts from the Landing Page, including positioning the countdown timer in close proximity to the checkout form.

2 - Additionally, when we offer bonus training, we should use a graphical label to indicate that it’s a Limited Special Bonus Offer.

3 - Finally, anytime we offer a “Total Price” calculation, we need to remind the Visitor that the Special Offer is only available for “A Limited Time.”

Longer Term Tests

There is a greater than zero percent chance that the SUBSTANCE of the Special Offer will influence the Urgency of the Visitor. In our previous Product Launch Grand Opening, the magnitude of the Special Offer was far greater than just an extended trial or a free training.

(Brainstorm) Some Additional Items to Include in the Limited Special Offer:

ll Free Upgrade - Elevate a Customer from a “Silver” level product to a “Platinum” level product, for example.

ll Access to Other Products - Give a coupon code for significant access (90-days, for example) to a sister product.

#12 - Humanize The Company

We came across an interesting Forbes article titled. . .

. . .And it occurred to us that it is practically impossible for people to like us unless they realize that they are buying our product from other people: Humans, Entrepreneurs, Moms and Dads, Brothers and Sisters, Sons and Daughters.






In the process of our current sales funnels, precious little about our company’s people is discussed. It’s not until our customers are interacting in our Support Forums and Facebook Group that they come to realize who we are and what we stand for. And in our opinion, our diversity is damn cool.

The point is, our sales funnels don’t even come close to demonstrating the Human aspect of our organization. And as we march decidedly (and rapidly) toward the 100th member of our team, we need to construct a way to indicate to our customers that their purchase from us will represent far more value to them than just Savings or Capability.

Now. . . how we do that without being full of kitsch or sappy sentimentality (cue forlorn piano music) is the real challenge.

It’s been our experience that there are fundamentally 2 types of Visitors.

ll Skimmers

ll Deep-Divers

The Skimmers are most interested in material value. In our case, that’s the horsepower of the software, the feature set, the price savings, the deal that they’re getting.

The Deep-Divers also concern themselves with these material points, but that’s simply the minimum required before they even consider the purchase to be viable. Before they finally buy, they invest themselves in the decision by validating it with more significant research, and in many cases they’re looking for the kind of information that is not easy to grade.

Sometimes we have to strategically be okay with the fact that not every portion of our sales message will appeal to every portion of our prospect base.

Our point is, it may seem like a display of the Human aspects of Genesis Digital will fall on unseeing eyes and deaf ears when it comes to measuring conversion rate.

But, it is our opinion that offering this kind of insight into who we are benefits the long game.

It’s for the advocacy of our company. The personal referrals. The polish of the Brand’s value. The approachability from Journalists and Influencers. The long term prospects of significant Joint Ventures and partnerships that are closer than just “Arms Length.”

For example: We’re in the middling stages of creating a relationship with one of the largest children’s hospitals in the country. We’re not particularly concerned with how this relationship immediately impacts the bottom line. We are interested in how this relationship increases our stature as a company that wants to contribute in places where there IS no expectation of compensation.






So, without expectation of a massive conversion improvement, let’s explore ways to bring the human element of our company into the sales process.

ll That may be something as simple as incorporating a “Who we are,” or “Get to Know Us” section on our landing pages, even if it STARTS with just a footer link.

ll It likely includes adding an email message of that nature to not only our “Stick” sequence, but also to our marketing follow up sequence.

Remember, this is for the long game, so we can let how we do this breathe and evolve organically.

#13 - Recency

There’s a reason that the only marketing word that competes with “Free” is “New.” (Well, another great marketing word is “Only.” But that’s a discussion for the next section.)

What motivates Entrepreneurs? A high aversion to making a mistake.

However, the concept of making a mistake can also mean limiting future options.

In our case, the fear is “Am I getting the latest version?” and “Is this company actively servicing the app?” These fears come from the 3rd Party Portal Distribution issue (see #10), and from the growing reality of stale and even abandoned software services that still take the Visitors’ money during a transaction.

We can overcome these hesitations by displaying evidence of recent activity on our funnel pages.

Brainstorm:

Time and Date Display

Simply indicate the current time and date on the checkout page.

Label our Special Offer with Date

Create an instance where our current Special Offer is labeled conspicuously as “November’s Special Offer,” etc.

“Latest Activity” Indicators

We may find that these are more suited to the Landing Page, but some may be useful for the Checkout Page.






Example “Widget Style” Notifications

ll “Latest Blog Post”, or “Favorites From the Blog,” where the Favorites would have a recent publish date.

ll “Favorites from the Facebook Group”

ll “Latest Tweets”

ll “Recent News”

ll “Latest Press Releases”

ll “Welcome New Kartra Customers” - We’ve used this technique during Live Casts where we would announce the First Name and State of new customers that purchased during a live cast.

ll “Hot New Updates/Features”. As we’re constantly improving the app incrementally, announce those technical updates as a sort of news stream.

ll Highlight LATEST Reviews — This is assuming that we reactivate a campaign that solicits customer reviews (Hint: We should). Having the very latest review be the first displayed would be The Jam (Har).

#14 - Value Summary

In our somewhat crowded space, we’ve instinctively picked our battles. Instead of trying to beat every single all-in-one or webinar service currently deployed, feature for feature, we’ve spotlighted half a dozen “Tent Pole” capabilities that truly set us apart from our competition.

In retrospect, we weakly marketed these features in more of a “Shot Across the Bow” fashion, versus “Picking a Fight” more decisively with them.

We MAY have been influenced negatively by the much discussed BMW vs. Audi Billboard Wars circa 2013 (which was very near the time the original WebinarJam was released).

It goes like this:

Audi, finally deciding that its vehicles deserved to be considered in the same category as its other German Automobile brethren, decided to Pick a Fight with BMW.

They went straight at it with this Billboard:






And while we applaud the effort, before one decides to throw down the gauntlet, one must be familiar with that old Chinese Dude that talks about how to not get your ass kicked. To wit:

BMW responded.

Heheh. Whoops.

Nothing but WIN here:

ll The conversation is SHUT DOWN in the same way Checkmate means THE END of a chess match. BMW had “The Last Word.”

ll “Checkmate” is on the high side of conceptual language (chess being a “Thinking Person’s” game), appealing to both brands’ customer demographics.

ll The Picture. The Audi looks like a 1/24th scale Revell plastic model that sat too long in the Arizona sun in August. The BMW looks like a Fighter Jet.

ll And, the Audi billboard is an institutional ad - no contact information. “Santa Monica BMW” is now considered to be the “Chuck Norris” of auto dealers.






So, we’re talking about “Value Summary.” It’s not very often that an advertisement with ONE WORD and ONE PICTURE can summarize VALUE so effectively...

. . .unless that summary is in the context of a COMPETITOR.

You with us?

How do we summarize value more effectively? This is likely to be in 2 Stages:

Stage 1 - Qualitative.Stage 2 - Quantitative

Summarizing Quality

First, acknowledge internally that our customers have a choice.

That means that in addition to all of the unique, situational considerations a customer makes before making a decision, they’re also measuring us against OTHER CHOICES.

Second, don’t make the Visitor “Guess” what is valuable.

We don’t want them to need two browser tabs open and have to bounce back and forth to synthesize a judgement about if the Quality and Quantity of our features will provide them value in comparison to another product.

We have to make the value of that feature OBVIOUS, even if it simply means Brute Forcing it and saying “HEY - THIS IS AWESOME!”

Third, OWN what’s OURS.

We have the distinct privilege of having actually INNOVATED. We were first to market with many significant features, and many recent features stand alone. We ought to make that crystal clear.

Some QUALITATIVE Ideas to work with:

While “Free” and “New” reign supreme as words that capture attention, those words are generally applicable to just about ANY company or offer. There will always be “Free” Trials and “New” Features.

The word we want to deploy is “Only”






Some example Bullet Points:

ll Only Kartra has pre-written campaigns for you to use, created by world-class marketers, like Frank Kern.

ll Only WebinarJam has Feedback Flow to keep your attendees glued to your presentation.

ll Only Kartra gives you the functionality of 8+ apps, without integrations OR hefty monthly fees.

ll Only WebinarJam has Attendee Spotlight to make your attendees the star of the show.

ll Only Kartra has BAM technology which can show a prospect, an email subscriber, and a customer the same page…but with a unique message for each of them to increase conversions.

ll Only WebinarJam’s Message System can intelligently react to Attendee Behavior.

ll Only Kartra has powerful in-video call-to-actions, to increase conversions at the moment it feels most right.

ll Only WebinarJam lets you Inject Pre-recorded Video effortlessly into your Live Webinar to create incredible multi-media demonstration with the highest fidelity.

ll Only Kartra can reduce customer service headaches with a self-billing portal for your customers to manage.

ll Only WebinarJam’s Analytics Dashboard shows statistics as detailed as “Earnings Per Registrant” and more.

ll Only Kartra instantly gives you a clear view of what’s working and what’s not with real-time, 360-degree analytics.

ll Only WebinarJam gives your Attendees an Interactive, Clickable Call to Action.

Example Headline:

The Only Webinar System that manages a complete Live Stream Event — From Registration to Replay.

In terms of Summarizing Value, what have we done with the word “Only”?

1. We acknowledge that the customers have a choice because if we have WebinarJam or Kartra Only Features, that means there are other choices, but WITHOUT something.

2. We don’t make them guess what is valuable. If we’re going to take the time to tell them that we have features exclusive to our product, they’ll assume that they’re valuable.

3. We’re OWNING it.






Summarizing Quantitative Value

On the surface, this is simply a quantifiable measurement of objective values (Duh).

Examples:

This Sony Receiver has 110 Watts Per ChannelThis Single Story Home has 3 BedroomsThis iPhone has 64GB of Storage (Plus, it won’t explode into flames like the Galaxy Note 7)Our Pro Plan gives you a maximum of 500 Participants (LOL. And they call it “Pro”. . .)

Straightforward, eh? If it was only that easy. . .

Car A has 370 Horsepower.Car B has 460 Horsepower.

Which one is better?

One of the above cars goes from 0-60MPH in 3.7 seconds. The other takes 4.2 seconds.


One of the above cars costs $92,600, the other costs $55,450.


Without using the Google, tell us what brand belongs to this tag line:

“There is no substitute…”

“Porsche” is the right answer. One of the above Cars (A or B) is a Porsche.

Now, tell us which CAR is better?

Initially, the Higher Performance is given the most value. It’s not until the inclusion of a known brand and price is factored into the equation that the judgment become cloudy.

The takeaway is that, a price and brand judgement is INEVITABLE. However, we are influenced by quantitative values and will factor those values into the overall value proposition as a whole.






Current Status:

Currently, most of our Summary Statements (and Bullet Points) are heavy on Concept and Quality:

Example 1:

Example 2: This currently running test does a better job of getting the Quantities upfront:

Still, we can do better. . .

Things To Test:

#1 - “The Big Numbers”

Most Quantitative Values represent obvious value — let’s get those upfront in summary statements or bullet points.






These can be listed in several places in the funnel:

1 - Summary Boxes on the SAAS Landing Page

2 - Checkout Page Bullet Point Lists

And in the body of the SAAS Page. . .

(Note: This is not copy, just concepts):

ll We can host 5,000 attendees during a webinar without breaking a sweat.

ll Kartra has hundreds of professionally designed templates to get a site launched in minutes.

ll Customers can have Unlimited Webinar Sessions.

ll Kartra lets you turn on a host of automations based on your recipients’ behaviors.

ll We’ve got 31,000+ Members in the FB Group.

ll Done-for-you campaigns, created by leading experts in the marketing world.

ll We’ve got like 400 Help Documents that literally cover everything from Getting a New Password to Doubling Your Registration Rate.

ll We offer 7 Hours of Advanced Webinar Performance Training (Webinar Genesis).

ll We’ve got like tens of thousands of customers.

ll Kartra sends over one MILLION emails a day and keeps a very close eye on email deliverability in real time

ll Our Biggest Webinar almost broke the World Record for Live Attendees – We’ve got a screenshot somewhere showing like 10,400 people on a webinar

ll Etc. Etc.

#2 - The Package Deal

Let’s be “On the Nose” when defining the deal the customer is getting.

So, a summary statement or list of bullets might go like this:

For WebinarJam:

ll Included: 5,000 Attendee Capacity and More if you need it.

ll Included: Access to 31,000 Member Private Community.

ll Included: 7 Hours of Advanced Webinar Performance Training.

ll Included: Massive Pre-Built and Highly Customizable Registration Page Library.

ll Included: Your Webinars in our Traffic Getting On-Demand Marketplace.

ll Included: Unlimited Webinar Replay Hosting.






For Kartra:

ll Included: Written, designed, and set up done-for-you campaigns, created by the world’s top marketing experts.

ll Included: Hundreds of professionally-designed website and email templates

ll Included: Powerful email deliverability that ensures your emails always end up where they need to

ll Included: A Built-in helpdesk that you can easily embed directly on your site.

ll Included: Powerful automations that let you cut out hours of daily work (while still earning around the clock).

ll Included: 360 degree analytics so you always know what’s going on.

Then, we can mix it up with some other Copy Anchors, like “NEW”:

For WebinarJam:

ll NEW! Multi-Video Playlists. Playback a full set of pre-recorded videos during your live stream.

ll NEW! Cloud-Cast. Upload your presentation slides to our high-bandwidth cloud servers and never worry about your internet connection again!

ll NEW! Password Protected Webinars. Keep it Secret. Keep it Safe.

For Kartra:

ll NEW! BAM technology. Show a prospect, an email subscriber, and a customer the same page… but with a unique message for each of them to increase conversions.

ll NEW! Action Analysis. After sending 10 emails, Kartra will analyze your open rates and give you the ideal time to send for maximum results.

ll NEW! Background Video. Create a dynamic experience and boost conversions.

And then even use our “Only” anchor as icing on the cake:

For WebinarJam:

ll Only WebinarJam has Attendee Spotlight to make your attendees the star of the show.

ll Only WebinarJam’s Message System can intelligently react to Attendee Behavior.

ll Only WebinarJam’s Studio Control Center lets your Moderators be effective WITHOUT using important bandwidth.

ll Only WebinarJam has Replica Replay, treating people who missed the webinar to a superior replay experience.

ll Only WebinarJam lets you Inject Pre-recorded Video effortlessly into your Live Webinar to create incredible multi-media demonstration with the highest fidelity.

ll Only WebinarJam’s Chat System intelligently categorizes Questions from your audience.

ll Only WebinarJam’s Analytics Dashboard shows statistics as detailed as “Earnings Per Registrant” and more.

ll Only WebinarJam gives you One-Click Webinar Registration.

ll Only WebinarJam gives your Attendees an Interactive, Clickable Call to Action.






For Kartra:

ll Only Kartra has a built-in 4-day Cash Machine Campaign to bring in thousands in mere days.

ll Only Kartra provides multiple price points and multiple payment methods, so you can rapidly reduce buyer resistance and grow your revenue.

ll Only Kartra gives you built-out, done-for-you campaigns that just need to be customized so you can launch faster than you ever thought possible.

ll Only Kartra instantly gives you a clear view of what’s working and what’s not with real-time, 360-degree analytics.

ll Only Kartra gives you a customizable player, with advanced in-video actions so you can get more conversions, shares and sales.

ll Only Kartra’s Affiliate Marketplace lets you find affiliates in a second and become one yourself.

ll Only Kartra’s helpdesk gives you One-click access from your web pages.

ll Only Kartra Offers 1-click upsells and downsells. And tags customers for automatic follow-up if they abandon the cart.

And THAT, friends, is one hell of a Value Summary.

#15 - Support & Contact Options

Our competition, and most big B2B SAAS Companies (like DropBox, Salesforce, Asana, Slack, etc.) make sure to spend time addressing what some might think are mundane concerns.

A Typical Set of FAQ’s goes like this:

ll What form of payment do you accept?

ll How do I cancel my subscription?

ll Whom do I contact if I have a billing question?

ll How do I change my plan?

ll My Credit Card expired, how do I reactivate?

ll How can I review what I am being charged for?

ll Do I pay Tax?

ll How Secure is my information?

ll What does my subscription include?

ll How does the Free Trial work?

ll Etc.






So, we will dangerously assume that:

A) The size of these businesses means they’ve got some smart people running them, and. . . B) They invest in increasing conversion and retention. . . C) These companies all find value in having (strikingly similar) FAQ Pages.

So, we could do worse than to take a page from their book. Right?

Takeaways & Action Items

#1 - FAQ’s

Add a “Frequently Asked Questions” list of common Admin and Package Related Questions and Answers onto the SAAS Landing Page (action item).

We should also construct a similar (but truncated) form for use in the Checkout page.

#2 - Conspicuous Contact Information

As many of the FAQs are oriented to a scenario where the customer needs to contact US to get relief, let’s get our contact mechanisms front and center in the checkout process.

#16 - Accurate Visual Representation of Product / Hero Image

If only…

So, this second to last section is a bit of a synthesis of an idea from previously unrelated experiences and testing. We’re not able to draw a direct path from what we want to suggest DIRECTLY to a reduction in cart abandonment. And that means that this idea is really just a shot in the dark. It’s only merit is the possibility that 1+1 = 3.

If we were backed into a corner and asked “What is the number one thing you can do to increase conversion rates?” we would answer:

“Increase the Visitors’ Consumption of Your Content”

Within your content are all of the answers. All of the features are listed, all of the benefits are explained, and all of the tricks of the trade are revealed...

If they would just carefully read ALL of your content, or watch ALL of your Video Sales Letters, Demonstration Videos, Case Studies, etc...

. . .Your conversion rates would explode.






A recent 4-Video Product Launch we did supports this theory:

Visitors that saw ONLY the Video Sales Letter converted at 3.2%Visitors that saw more than 2 Pre-Launch Videos converted at 8.9%

Additionally, during our “Cart Open” Campaign (Where we sent Case-Study Content to subscribers while the Shopping Cart was Open) in the emails that were sent, an Animated GIF was included as a Hero Image.

For example (If you’re viewing the PDF, imagine a dude “Talking with his Hands”):

The result of including ANIMATED Images vs. Static Images was an increase in Click-Through-Rates of over 80% for the ANIMATED Images.

Why?

Studies say, if a user is clicking on an Image, it’s because the image has created curiosity and desire for more information. The urge to close that loop is strong enough to attempt to engage — starting with a Click.

In the above Animated GIF of Jeff Walker, he’s making grand gestures with his hands, and it’s a safe bet he’s “dropping a knowledge bomb”. To get said knowledge, one must click.

What does our Engagement Analytics tell us?






The more information our Visitors consume (which BTW 35.5 minutes average time on our Kartra landing page is INSANE), the higher their conversion rate. The deeper they scroll into the page, the higher their conversion rate. The more “Attempted Clicks” on an image...

. . .the Higher the Conversion rate.

So, our Hypothesis is, Animated Images will generally cause a viewer to pause and consider what information is being delivered in that image.

It’s in that consideration where we can remind them of a Desired Potential Outcome (Doing a Great Webinar), if the image is good enough.

Currently, Kartra is represented with an image like this:

What does this image indicate to the User?

WORK. Hard. Learning Curve. Ouchie.

What can we do instead to convey Success?

How about an image with motion conveying success, maybe even with a human in it looking happy.

That real-life human can become the Avatar for our customers — using our Service Successfully.

For WebinarJam, this concept becomes even simpler. Show an image like this:

A happy, smiling, engaged woman using our product






As opposed to something like this:

Take-away:We suggest showing an actual Webinar interface of a Webinar In-Process, versus showing our Administration and Configuration interface. Remember, the End Result is the goal for people purchasing our service, so let’s make sure we show what a successful Webinar or Kartra account looks like (showing lots of sales never hurt).

Bigger Picture Idea: : In a world of Unlimited Time and Unlimited Resources, we would love to see EVERY screenshot on our SAAS Landing Page have some form of Movement.

(Author’s Note: Perhaps someone in a Unicorn Mask giving a webinar...?)

#17 - Cart Abandon SOP’s

This document wouldn’t be complete without some comments on a Cart Abandon Procedure. We think it’s safe to say that the industry-wide abandonment rate of 69% was only achieved using every trick in the book, and Cart Abandon Follow-Up is definitely a trick worth getting good at.

There’s a great study from a company called “See Why” on Traffic Source Conversion Rates in Shopping Carts:

Email, baby.

Couple of initial thoughts:

1. Get the Visitor to the page with Email as often as possible.

2. When they leave, get them BACK to the page with Email as often as possible.






We recently modified our funnel to satisfy #2.

Our old funnel worked like this:

Landing Page >> Shopping Cart

Our new, modified funnel works more like this:

Landing Page >> Account Creation >> Shopping Cart.

When someone clicks to start out trial, an pop up window appears:

This can also be tested as an “InLine” form (where it’s already on the landing page, replacing the current Add to Cart Buttons).

Procedure:

The result of the Name and Email Capture would be those records going immediately into a “Cart Abandon” Autoresponder Series.

The trigger for the first Email Autoresponder from that Series would be about 20 minutes after their “Account Was Created.”

If the Visitor completes the checkout, we simply have Logic that removes that email record from the Cart Abandon AR series, and places them into the Customer Follow-Up Sequence.

If they do not complete the checkout, then the Cart Abandon Series begins until either they do complete a check out, or the series ends.






Why 20 Minutes?

According to a 2012 report from SalesCycle, merchants that sent the first Cart Abandon Email within 20 minutes experienced a lift of 5.4% in conversion. Our personal experience tells us that sending the first Cart Abandon Recovery Email within the first 60 minutes of recovery would have similar results.

WARNING: The above comes with a degree of risk and breakage.

The above metric is specific to eCommerce and Physical Products. Specifically, where BEFORE a Visitor can complete a transaction, they have to create an Account.

This is why you will often see a “Check Out as a Guest” option on major eCommerce sites.

That said, let’s not ignore the idea that this additional step may cause breakage in our situation.

Be on the lookout for:

A. Reductions in Landing Page Conversion

B. When a Pop-Up is being used, let’s measure the completion rate of the Name and Email Capture to synthesize a new Conversion Per Click Metric from the SAAS Page.

Email Topics for Follow Up

Until someone beats it, the most opened Email Subject Line sent in a cart abandon series that I’ve ever used is: “We screwed up.”

The body of the email is along the lines of some difficulty that might have prevented them from completing the transaction. We make no assumption in the email, other than falling on our sword and indicating that it was probably our fault. Because let’s face it, it is.

Our invitation to complete the transaction comes with:

ll A link directly to the shopping cart

ll A brief review of the Special Offer they were about to receive, and. . .

ll A quick Power Summary of what makes buying the product a Risk-Free Decision.






Make sure and include the SAME Product Image that was seen on the checkout page, and in our perfect world that would be an animated GIF.

Finally, this email invites them to contact Customer Service DIRECTLY in the event they have technical difficulty ordering, or if they have any last moment questions that only a human can answer.

Retargeting Abandonment

Because we can Pixel Visitors on the checkout page, and then burn down that pixel when they complete a transaction, we should have an ongoing Retargeting Campaign that reaches BEYOND Facebook, via RTB (Real Time Bidding) services like SiteScout, Traffic Oxygen, Etc.

Ad Creative will be the key, and while there isn’t a TON of Cart Abandon Retargeting Case Studies out there, Marketing 101 is likely to be the smart play.

Example:

Ad - “You forgot your Free Done-For-You Website Templates” Ad - “Woops! There’s only 2 days left for your Special Kartra Offer” Ad - “Just Added — 5 New Advanced Webinar Training Videos” Ad - “There’s still time, but only a little. Your Free Trial Account is 50% complete”

And so on, etc. blah blah yadda yadda yadda.

:)






Closing Thoughts

What started out as a Mindmap, then turned into a checklist that became a Marketing Sprint, has evolved into a short eBook.

And it evolved because while we were doing the outline, we realized that approaching Customer Acquisition is really a series of lessons in communication.

We’ll leverage possibly our all-time favorite quote from George Bernard Shaw:

“The danger of communication is the belief that it actually occurred”

Do they know?

Do they understand?

Is it obvious?

Is that how we meant to come across?

If we’re asking those questions, not only as a part of our Shopping Cart Conversion Increasing Project, but also in every aspect of how we communicate with our market, we sincerely believe that interesting things will happen.

We call precious few people “Mentors.” But one we were lucky to have was a believer in “Happy Accidents.” He believed that in order for a Happy Accident to occur, the fundamentals that brought all of the forces together in the first place needed to work together so effortlessly that the addition of a “Crazy Idea” every now and then would make the outcome something far more than the sum of its parts.

And so our goal needs to be creating the conditions for “That Crazy Idea” by making sure that everything else we do on a daily basis is buttoned up tight.

XOXO

The Genesis Digital Team



