Search Marketing: Six Ways to Succeed — Post-click
August 2007 By Joe Keenan, senior associate editor, Catalog Success
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Industry projections show that just 3 percent of search clicks convert with a purchase; certainly plenty of room for improvement. A recently published whitepaper by Bronto Software, called Beyond The Landing Page: An Introduction to Post-click Marketing, offers up several ways to increase search conversion rates. Below are six of the most useful tips.
1. Be truthful from the start. For longer conversion paths, let consumers know where they are in the path. Clearly display how many total steps there are in relation to their current location in the path. This, the whitepaper authors point out, helps build trust with consumers and lets them know how much time they have to commit to you.
2. Relay only essential information. Don’t give consumers any more data than what they need to know to make the next choice. Give them the big picture with big selling propositions, and they’ll click for the details as they want them. This makes respondents feel involved in the buying process by providing the necessary details, while giving access to more in-depth knowledge upon their choosing.
3. Avoid ads. If your conversion path is nothing but a series of ads linked together, you’ll likely lose your audience early on — probably at screen one or two, the whitepaper points out. Use your conversion path as a forum to earn consumers’ trust and respect, not as a medium to bombard them with an advertisement at every possible moment.
4. Gain valuable information with every click. If your conversion path requires consumers to make choices, give them choices whereby the information contained in their answers narrows the selling message and segments who they are. Allow them to choose features they’re looking for, things that interest them, their hobbies, etc.
5. Operate quickly and efficiently. Your conversion path needs to load fast and look clean and simple. Consumers won’t waste their time waiting for the next screen to appear or wading through useless information, such as a CEO’s bio. They’ll simply leave your site. Make your screens short and to the point, the whitepaper says.
6. Test all paths. Testing will allow you to fine-tune every nuance to maximize your yield. Put up multiple, simultaneous versions of your path and see which ones convert the best. By tracking your results based on segmentation, you can tweak your message even further to speak specifically to consumers. Follow what works and what doesn’t, the authors point out, by respondents’ choices and where they drop out of the path. Identify problems, make adjustments and monitor results to determine if you’ve fixed the problem.
1. Be truthful from the start. For longer conversion paths, let consumers know where they are in the path. Clearly display how many total steps there are in relation to their current location in the path. This, the whitepaper authors point out, helps build trust with consumers and lets them know how much time they have to commit to you.
2. Relay only essential information. Don’t give consumers any more data than what they need to know to make the next choice. Give them the big picture with big selling propositions, and they’ll click for the details as they want them. This makes respondents feel involved in the buying process by providing the necessary details, while giving access to more in-depth knowledge upon their choosing.
3. Avoid ads. If your conversion path is nothing but a series of ads linked together, you’ll likely lose your audience early on — probably at screen one or two, the whitepaper points out. Use your conversion path as a forum to earn consumers’ trust and respect, not as a medium to bombard them with an advertisement at every possible moment.
4. Gain valuable information with every click. If your conversion path requires consumers to make choices, give them choices whereby the information contained in their answers narrows the selling message and segments who they are. Allow them to choose features they’re looking for, things that interest them, their hobbies, etc.
5. Operate quickly and efficiently. Your conversion path needs to load fast and look clean and simple. Consumers won’t waste their time waiting for the next screen to appear or wading through useless information, such as a CEO’s bio. They’ll simply leave your site. Make your screens short and to the point, the whitepaper says.
6. Test all paths. Testing will allow you to fine-tune every nuance to maximize your yield. Put up multiple, simultaneous versions of your path and see which ones convert the best. By tracking your results based on segmentation, you can tweak your message even further to speak specifically to consumers. Follow what works and what doesn’t, the authors point out, by respondents’ choices and where they drop out of the path. Identify problems, make adjustments and monitor results to determine if you’ve fixed the problem.
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