Why Conversion Optimization is like Potty Training
I love being a dad. It's my favorite job and it forces me to draw parallels between internet marketing, my other passion. Even now as I am mopping up accident # 1,127 (this month) I am realizing how trying to "convert" my daughter to big-girl underpants is a lot like lead generation.
My two year old daughter, much like my customer base, is intelligent, curious and unfortunately extremely independent.
Potty training her has been quite the experience - one that I can directly correlate to my experiences online as I strive constantly improve website conversion rates.
Here are a few observations:
1. Test where you use incentives - are your current list building or lead capture efforts falling flat?
When I first started this potty training experience only a bathroom SUCCESS, defined in one of two ways (and I will leave that alone) earned incentives.
An unforeseen problem soon arose - my daughter lost her will to even TRY because most attempts failed and were not rewarded. She was performing the desired action, (trying to potty), which I loved. The problem was that the lack of proper up-front incentive was not overcoming her desires to continue playing, reading or watching tv.
I started offering a small incentive for each potty attempt and a larger incentive for the successful completion. Conversion increased significantly.
Lesson: Try breaking up your lead generation efforts into mini-steps and testing incentives along each step. Or most importantly, along the step that you have identified as the key leverage point in your lead generation or shopping cart funnel - where you lose most of your visitors.
2. Incentives can lose their effectiveness - how are your incentives converting? How has that conversion changed since you first started offering the incentive? When my daughter began potty training it took only a single pink M&M candy to get her excited about trying to use the potty. Now I am up to 4 M&M's of various colors (she is quite the negotiator).
Lesson: Test different incentives or repackage some of your current offers in a way that adds to the perceived value. This also offers you a great opportunity to see what resonates with your audience.
3. Social Proof can be a powerful ally - when I first realized that my daughter was only having accidents at home, I was perplexed. What was it about being at school with her friends that kept her potty training on track so well? And then it hit me - SOCIAL PROOF. Most of her friends at school were already potty trained - she just wants to fit in and be "normal". At home, other motivations change her behaviour and the accidents happen every day. The same thing can happen with your website.
Lesson: Test adding elements of social proof to your offer copy. Use graphics that indicate the immense popularity of the action that your visitors are about to take. Share with your visitors how many people have downloaded your free whitepaper or have purchased your new widget. They will feel the same tug to "fit in" and this social proof will often times overcome the anxiety that in inherent in your call to action.
As I test these concepts on my own websites and with my clients I look forward to seeing what my daughter will teach daddy NEXT - you can be sure that I will share it!