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One of the questions we get asked very often by prospective clients relates to what types of services they can expect from us when it comes to testing. While my standard answer is “we do the work; you get the glory,” it probably doesn’t really explain much – especially when these prospective clients are shopping for a testing services vendor.

Being very clear in understanding the services you will get from a conversion optimization services provider is crucial because, if you don’t have this absolutely clear, you may be in for a nasty surprise in terms of the total cost of engaging with them – and it might be too late to pull out.

So in this blog post I hope to provide you with guidance when considering hiring a Conversion Optimization services provider in terms of what you should be looking for.

Does your company deliver…? Yes or No

There is a fairly long list of tasks and services normally associated with conversion optimization. The list below represents the questions you should ask of the potential conversion optimization services provider (as in, “Does your company deliver…?”)

The conversion optimization services provider you select needs to identify up front what they will deliver vs. what will be expected of you and your team.

There are no wrong answers – but you must remember that, for any of the tasks and services they do not provide, you and your team will be expected to!

For each item where the answer is No, you should budget for additional amounts (and, to be honest, you should also question why they don’t provide these basic requirements to proper and thorough conversion optimization services).

Here is the conversion optimization services checklist:

Planning

• Alignment of your business goal online with experimentation objectives
• Web analytics research to inform the opportunities for optimization
• Competitive review
• The assessment of your technical environment to ensure compatibility with testing technology
• Testing technology recommendations
• Categorization of segments and traffic sources
• Traffic sources & volumes
• Post-conversion sales analysis
• Identification of the specific conversion funnel step objectives
• Identification and prioritization of all your conversion funnel experiment opportunities
• Conversion Optimization strategy (A/B/n, MVT, etc)
• Development of experiment Hypotheses
• Test design

Experiment Execution – for multiple test Variations

• Wireframes
• Layouts
• Graphic design
• Copy and content
• Mockups
• Variable content box placement
• All HTML and images

Technical installation

• Testing tool
• Variable content box code
• Experiment Combinations fully tested before launch

Results Analysis

• Periodic client updates
• Hard coding of winning variation
• Recommendations for future action

In summary, then, it is key to have roles and responsibilities well defined prior to the start of the conversion optimization project.

If you have internal staff not fully utilized and experienced in running online experiments, then the list above does not need to be fully supported by the conversion optimization services provider you select.

However, if time is of the essence and you do not have the internal resources available, you will want the conversion optimization services provider you select to be able to deliver as many of the required services as possible.

(Not coincidentally, we at WiderFunnel deliver all the services listed above because, you see, “we do the work; you get the glory”)

New research from comScore reflects that Google doesn’t just dominate the search market by a large margin; its users are also more loyal and more inclined to search in general than Yahoo and Microsoft searchers.

So marketers need to take note of the differences in their web traffic based on the selected search engine – and track conversion rates separately for each group. Most likely, the data will surprise you.

The highlights, according to comScore include:

• Google holds 84% of the overall search market.
• In contrast, recently-allied rivals Microsoft and Yahoo enjoy combined search penetration of 73%.
• Google searchers conduct an average of 54.5 searches per month — double the number of searches of Microsoft and Yahoo users combined (26.9 times a month).
• So-called “Googlers” are also more loyal. 70% of their searches occur on Google products.
• Yahoo and Microsoft users demonstrate significantly less fidelity, searching on either a Microsoft or Yahoo product 33% of the time — and also using Google heavily

At present, Google holds about 65% of the US core search market. Yahoo and Microsoft hold 28% (this figure was boosted in part by the popularity of recently-launched Bing, which gifted parent company Microsoft with a small search rankings boost in June. It remains to be seen if the trend will continue).

Tools like Omniture Test & Target do an excellent job at targeting traffic by source but even if you don’t have access to turbo-charged tools like it, through ‘sneaker power’ and your web analytics tool, you can determine if there are differences in web visitor behavior based on the search engine they came from – and take action.

The increase in conversion rates will most likely make the effort worth it.

Q6: “What is expected from my team?”

When you hire a conversion optimization services provider, you must start off with a clear understanding of what will be expected from you and your team. If you don’t have this clear understanding, you may be in for a nasty surprise in terms of the total cost of engaging with them – and it might be too late to pull out.

Understanding what the deliverables are from your conversion optimization services provider is closely related to them having a unique, repeatable and scalable methodology for optimization (already covered on an earlier post).

The conversion optimization services provider you select needs to identify up front what they will deliver vs. what will be expected of you and your team.

There is a fairly long list of tasks and services normally associated with conversion optimization. This list represents the questions you should ask of the potential conversion optimization services provider (as in, “Does your company do…?”)

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions – but you must remember that, for any of the tasks and services they do not provide, you and your team will be expected to!

So, for each item where the answer is No, you should budget for additional amounts (and, to be honest, you should also question in your mind why they don’t provide these basic requirements to proper conversion optimization services).

Here is the list:

Planning
• Alignment of your business goal online with experimentation objectives
• Web analytics research to inform the opportunities for optimization
• Competitive review
• The assessment of your technical environment to ensure compatibility with testing technology
• Testing technology recommendations
• Categorization of segments and traffic sources
• Traffic sources & volumes
• Post-conversion sales analysis
• Identification of the specific conversion funnel step objectives
• Identification and prioritization of all your conversion funnel experiment opportunities
• Conversion Optimization strategy (A/B, MVT, etc)
• Development of experiment Hypotheses
• Test design

Experiment Execution
• Wireframes
• Layouts
• Graphic design
• Copy and content
• Mockups
• Variable content box placement
• All HTML and images

Technical installation
• Testing tool
• Variable content box code
• Experiment Combinations fully tested before launch

Results Analysis
• Periodic client updates
• Hard coding of winning variation

In summary, then, it is key to have roles and responsibilities well defined prior to the start of the conversion optimization project.

If you have internal staff not fully utilized and experienced in running online experiments, then the list above does not need to be fully supported by the conversion optimization services provider you select.

However, if time is of the essence and you don’t have the internal resources available, your will want the conversion optimization services provider you select to be able to deliver as many of the required services as possible.

In my next post, I’ll discuss the question “What are some of the risks involved in an optimization project?” Make sure you get it by joining the email list below (you can always unsubscribe later).

Your conversion optimization services provider must be able to work with your multiplicity of marketing partners and other services providers, and in this posting we explain why.

First, some context.

While we strongly believe that Conversion Optimization is crucial to a strong and profitable demand-generation strategy (and this is the focus of what we at WiderFunnel Marketing do), we are not narcissistic enough to believe nothing else matters.

A fully thought-out and well-articulated demand-creation strategy is made up of three phases:

• Phase 1: Drive quality traffic to the website

It is here that marketers invest budget to drive new, quality traffic to the website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-per-Click (PPC), Affiliates, Direct Mail, Online Advertising, Email marketing, Offline advertising, Promotions, etc, etc.

Problem is, marketers often forget their job doesn’t end here…

• Phase 2: Conversion Optimization

In this phase of the strategy, marketers must convert anonymous web traffic into “relationships” such as ecommerce Buyers, Registrations, Gamers, Downloaders, etc, etc.

This phase, of course, is the focus of this series of blog postings: you want to be able to evaluate conversion optimization services providers so you make the best possible decision of who to hire.

And the best conversion optimization services providers do not compete with your other marketing services partners – in fact, they thrive working with them. (More on this below in this post.)

• Phase 3: Prospect/Customer Cultivation

Once marketers have driven qualified traffic to the site and converted the highest possible percentage into “relationships”, their job isn’t over yet and Phase 3 kicks in: the requirement to cultivate and nurture these “known relationships” into high-value conversions (transactions and sales) over time.

It is here where the hand-off to Sales takes place (for lead-gen activities) or where email marketing starts (to bring first time eCommerce customers back at a much lower cost per sale), etc, etc.

In other words, it is here that the net present value (NPV) of the relationship (for those of you who need to demonstrate financial results to your CFO) comes into play, because the first transaction – even if it is a sale – often doesn’t cover the acquisition cost.

So why is it important that your conversion optimization services provider be able to work with your multiplicity of marketing services partners and other service providers?

It is very important because:

• If they aren’t able to work with them successfully, then your hefty investments in Phase 1 and Phase 3 will underperform and your overall demand-generation ROI will be minimized

• Worse yet, if they compete with any of your Phase 1 and Phase 3 services providers then turf wars will emerge and you will end up having to adjudicate and referee (not the ideal team scenario, you will agree)

Beyond that, the learning that Conversion Optimization generates to your company through experimentation and testing of specific hypothesis needs to be formally leveraged and shared with all your partners.

If your conversion optimization services provider isn’t able to work with your other marketing services partners and other service providers then they will not be able to leverage the results of the experimentation.

Your safest bet is when the conversion optimization services provider you choose is only focused on Conversion Optimization (Phase 2). In that case, there is no chance of conflict or lack of motivation to collaborate with any and all of your partners.

(In case you are wondering, WiderFunnel Marketing is only focused on Conversion Optimization. This is all we do. In fact, we often get introduced to new clients by Search companies, Ad agencies and Web Design companies because, well, you guessed it, because this is all we do and those other marketing services partners are comfortable bringing us in to their client opportunities to strengthen the overall team and deliver the best possible outcomes for the client.)

In summary, then, the key question for you to ask your potential conversion optimization services provider is this:

Do you compete with any of my partners in Phase 1 and Phase 3 of my demand-generation strategy? (i.e., SEO Consultant; PPC Agency, Affiliate Network, Direct Mail Agency, Online Advertising Agency, Email marketing vendor…).

If the answer is No, then you stand a good chance to be talking to the right company.

In my next post, I’ll discuss the question “What is expected from my team?” Make sure you get it by joining the email list below (you can always unsubscribe later).

There are lots of people “out there” who know how to use tools like Google Website Optimizer, Omniture’s Test & target, Optimost and such. (And this is especially true of Google Website Optimizer because it’s an easy to learn, free tool). However, very few of those people know how to increase revenues consistently by using the tool.

To know how to increase revenues by using a testing tool, the company you work with must use a unique, repeatable and scalable methodology to optimization.

Tips and tricks are helpful for one-off experimentation — it’s easy to just go ahead and “run one experiment” (Is your call to action below the fold? Go ahead, test placing the button above the fold and see the conversion lift happen before your eyes). But what happens next? What do you test after you have ran your first experiment? And what do you test after that? This is where a methodology that includes testing strategy and conversion hypothesis come in.

• Make sure you ask your conversion optimization services provider how their methodology incorporates the development of the testing strategy and conversion hypothesis.

And who does the wireframing, the creative work, the design and layout? Who writes the copy and who produces the mockups? And after that, who does the testing of the tool and writes the code to run the experiment? Who cuts the HTML? And how do you make sure it all gets done on time and on budget?

• Make sure you ask your conversion optimization services provider to describe the full range of services in their methodology.

Ok, so you have launched one experiment on one web page. But your website has 10 different landing/entry pages with conversion funnels which are, on average, 3 steps long. This means that you could have 30 web pages that will need optimization. Whoever you are working with must be able to scale up, quickly and effortlessly.

• Make sure you ask your conversion optimization services provider how their methodology to optimization allows for scaling up

In my next post, I’ll discuss the question “Do you work with any of my marketing partners?” Make sure you get it by joining the email list below (you can always unsubscribe later).

Q2: What increase in conversion rates should I expect and can you guarantee it?

The conversion rate lift you can expect will vary, of course, depending on how poorly your current landing page (or website) is designed and the level of expertise of the Conversion Optimization company you select.

However, what you really need to know is what guarantee does the Conversion Optimization company you select offer to demonstrate how seriously they believe they can help you improve your conversion rate, and how much “skin in the game” are they willing to put.

To know this, there are two things you can do:

1. Check their track record. If their track record is that of success, demonstrated by screen captures of online testing tools showing statistically valid results as well as customer references and testimonials, that is a good indication they will deliver positive conversion rate lift for you as well.

2. Ask them for a guarantee. Companies like WiderFunnel actually offer a Conversion Rate Lift Guarantee. Our says “You will see a conversion rate lift or we keep trying”.

In other words, our clients will see a statistically significant improvement in their conversion rate before the retainer agreement expires or we extend the retainer services at no cost.

In a nutshell, this is what you must keep in mind:

To mitigate your risk and accomplish the best conversion rate lift possible, your best bet is to work with reputable companies that use on-demand tools to run statistically valid experiments where therefore the screens of past experiments are available for you to verify their claims and offer a guarantee in writing.

In my next post, I’ll discuss the question “What testing software do you use?” Make sure you get it by joining the email list below (you can always unsubscribe later).

However, since the launch of Google Website Optimizer (GWO) last year as a free tool, we started to see a dramatic increase in awareness –as well as a fast rate of adoption– of online testing as an extremely valuable strategy.

After all, GWO easily allows marketers to run experiments on their web pages and determine which layout, offer, creative and copy combination delivers the highest number of conversions – without having to spend additional dollars driving *more* traffic to the site.

But, as in most cases, technology is only part of the equation for success.

After testing staples like a red button (yes, they often do improve the conversion rate; just try it) and shorter registration forms (the shorter the better), marketers often run out of ideas of what to test next.

At the same time, some marketers who have the right ideas in terms of what to test, lack the internal resources to develop the needed test assets (such as the designs, the HTML coding, the technical install, the QA, etc).

Plus, executing a conversion optimization strategy and running experiments is not a one-off event: to generate truly meaningful lift in conversion rates, marketers need to be continuously and relentlessly focused on the strategy and launch the new experiment just as the current one completes.

All this calls for the right people, the right strategy and the right services to take full advantage of a free tool such as GWO (and also, for that matter, to take full advantage of the not-so-free tools such as Omniture’s Test & Target, Optimost, and the rest).

It is here that marketing services companies like WiderFunnel Marketing come in.

Lately, we have been getting an increasing number of calls and emails from prospects that report either having worked with these tools themselves, or with a marketing services company. When I ask them why they are contacting us, invariably I hear answers such as…

• GWO is easy to use, but we’ve ran out of ideas of what to test
• I don’t have the staff to do all the steps that are necessary, and do so on a timely basis
• No one in the company knows how to design experiments worth running
• The marketing company we hired designed an MVT experiment and it’s been 4 ½ months since we launched it but so far we have seen no results
• I can get consulting advice from marketing services providers but no one puts their neck on the line in terms of delivering results

To help prospective clients select the right marketing services company that will enable their conversion optimization strategy and deliver timely conversion rate lift, I have put together here a handy checklist, “How to Hire a Conversion Optimization Services Provider”

These questions should help you evaluate the firms you talk to and make the best possible decision for your company:

Q1: How long do experiments take to complete?
Since the whole point of running conversion rate optimization experiments is to make you more money sooner, experiments should be designed to deliver results within a few weeks – and never longer than that.

The experiments need to be designed with several key variables in mind such as unique visitor counts; expected conversion rate; numbers of variables to be tested; etc, aiming at delivering competed results within two or three weeks max!

Your best bet is to find companies that have a process designed to deliver results within predictable, short intervals. For example, here is a link to WiderFunnel’s proven, scalable conversion optimization process, the Kaizen Method .

In my next post, I’ll discuss the question “What increase in conversion rates should I expect?” Make sure you get it by joining the email list below (you can always unsubscribe later).

Jacob Nielsen says his latest report on web usage shows that web users are increasingly action-oriented and impatient. Think about it. On TV they’re lounging, on radio or outdoor they’re driving, in newspapers they’re getting a start on their day (not looking for products). But online they are looking for something. Whether they know what they’re looking for or not, they’re in search mode. (I can hear the objections around social media users already, but they are looking for entertainment, usually pictures of their friends)

This is why search advertising works online and banner ads don’t, but that’s another topic.

How fast and easy are you making it for users to complete their action?

Here are three starting points for making high performance ‘Action Pages’:

1. Guide. Put a ‘next step’ Call to Action at the bottom of each content page. The purpose of your copy is to convince the reader to do something. At the end of your copy, if you’ve done your job, they’ll be looking for a way to act. Why should they have to search through your navigation bar for a way to contact you or buy your product?
2. Focus. Cut your copy in half. When you’ve done that, do it again. Nobody wants to hear you talk as much as you do so get to the point as quickly as possible. Cut all unnecessary words. Adjectives should be the first to go.
3. Anchor. Include ‘Persistent Calls to Action’ in every page, preferably in the same spot on each page. These are the contact buttons, newsletter signup fields or ‘recommended products’ boxes in your right column or footer. These are high priority candidate areas for conversion optimization testing.

But don’t just go and make changes to your site without testing. You need a conversion rate optimization testing plan to learn and ensure you’re lifting your conversion rate with each change.

Note: We can help you get started with a testing plan that’s right for you. Contact a Conversion Optimization Expert for details.