This is the fifth posting in a series aimed at helping you as a Marketer evaluate conversion optimization services providers so you make the best possible decision of who to hire. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 4 here.

Q5: “Do you work with any of my marketing services partners?”

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).