Follow the Data, Not the Crowds: 3 Common Experimentation Myths Dissected

Follow the Data, Not the Crowds: 3 Common Experimentation Myths Dissected


Yesterday we held a workshop for Mutiny’s conference, The Second Lever.?In the spirit of making information accessible to all, below is a quick summary of Spiralyze’s workshop: Follow the data, not the crowds - get equipped with tools to avoid following?common experimentation “myths” and instead leverage data at the core of your optimization program.??

Introduction:

When it comes to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), there are plenty of “myths” and misconceptions to navigate. In this workshop summary, we'll dispel three that 97% of B2B companies commonly fall prey to:

1) Low converting pages equates to low hanging fruit;?

2) To optimize paid conversions, you should optimize the ad; and

3) Cheaper is better in the eyes of your audience.?

It's easy to see these trends being followed by competitor sites, but what works for one will not always work for all. So, what should you do instead? Follow the data, not the crowds.

Myth #1: Low Converting Pages = Low Hanging Fruit

Imagine a marketing team needs to increase pipeline by 15% next quarter. In order to meet this objective they prioritize CRO (sounds all too familiar, right?!). To increase website conversion rates, the team looks into analytics and which pages aren’t converting well.

Investigating where there is company dissatisfaction with conversion rates is intuitive and, of course, valuable; however, when pipeline growth is the objective, it’s also important to consider how quality pipeline is generated.?

The pages and customer journeys that tie directly to quality pipeline generation can be prioritized based on volume to maximize impact. Where there is a larger audience, there is a larger return. A 20% lift in form fill completions on a page that only sees 68 form fills per month is only an incremental 13-14 form fills per month, whereas a 20% lift in form fill completions on a page that sees 237 form fills per month equates to an additional 47-48 form fills per month.???

While it is tempting to optimize based on page performance (CVR %) or traffic, to feed into the overall marketing team’s objective of growing pipeline, it is more impactful to prioritize optimizing the pages that receive the highest volume of high intent conversions. It's critical to have your conversion optimization aligned with the whole project objective.?

Tool you can use to follow the data:?

A tool that can be leveraged to identify the most fruitful areas to optimize is what Spiralyze calls a Conversion Map. This outlines both where conversions occur and the website journey of converted visitors - ie. where did they convert and how did they get there.?

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How to create a Conversion Map:

  1. List pages with Thank You Page URLs and their Google Analytics conversion numbers per month.?
  2. Record ‘Flowthrough’ conversion volumes.?
  3. Analyze Direct and Flowthrough data to see where the most fruitful places to optimize for pipeline generation are. Be sure to keep in mind considerations such as landing pages, device type, etc.?

The Conversion Map reveals where you should test and how many tests you will be able to run.


Myth #2: To Optimize Paid Conversions, You Should Optimize The Ad

It is crucial that your landing page and ad are aligned in keywords, offers, and user expectations. Too often, there is a disconnect between landing pages and their paid ad counterparts.

For example, if a marketing team is running a display ad on Google for their scheduling software, they may choose to use phrases like "Scheduling Tool for Teams", "See Plans and Pricing", or "Get Started Today". However, when the user clicks on the ad, they are brought to a general page that outlines the various services offered by the company: scheduling, payroll, and time tracking. The lack of continuity between the ad copy and the landing page creates a relevance disconnect for the user.

It is important to a) align your ad copy and landing page and b) continuously optimize your landing page to adjust with shifting user behavior.?

Tool you can use to follow the data:?

In this case, a recommended tool is the process of end-to-end analysis. This includes analyzing your search data, ad, and landing page. Here are some steps you can follow to get started:

  1. Analyze keyword interest in Google Ads
  2. Optimize ad copy to reflect selected keywords?
  3. Optimize/build a landing page with relevant ad copy?
  4. Continuously optimize!

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Rather than starting at the landing page layer for optimization, it is critical that marketers are optimizing the landing page experience from keyword all the way through to the landing page.


Myth #3: Cheaper is Better.

It is often perceived that emphasizing a trial is free is key to reducing friction for your audience. However, data indicates that when the value proposition is aligned with user priorities above price, conversion rates increase. This means that users have varying priorities, and the price is not necessarily always at the top of the list.?

For example, a company is offering a free trial that lasts for 14 days and provides users with immediate access to all available features. Which call-to-action (CTA) would be best to persuade them to sign up:

  • Start 14-Day Free Trial?
  • Start Free Trial?
  • Get Started Now
  • Get Started For Free

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We tested all of the above CTAs site-wide across a client site and found that "Get Started Now" was the most effective CTA in this case. These findings show that the immediacy and lack of barriers suggested by the "Get Started Now" CTA resonated with the intended audience and removed friction. Removing the word “free” also helps to alleviate user fears that the trial may be a watered-down version of the full program and will not include all features.?

Tool you can use to follow the data?

There are several tools that you can use to learn more about what your intended audience is prioritizing. Heat mapping is a great way to learn about how far down the page your users are scrolling and where the most important information lives on the page.?

Objection polling will give you insight into why users are hesitant to commit to your product and help you decide where their priorities lie. For example, if a common objection is “I am looking for a tool that I can use today”, you then know that immediacy is important when deciding on a product.?

The final data tool that we would suggest would be session recordings. These recordings allow you to view exactly where users move to when they arrive on your site. Do they immediately look for the “Book a Demo” button? Or do they read more about your product before deciding to commit? These insights will be useful when deciding on copy that aligns with their motivations.?

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Takeaways:

There is a lot of noise around what is effective in conversion rate optimization and temptation to follow known trends, referred to here as “myths”. Rather than falling prey to these myths, equipping yourself with the tools to identify and overcome them will enable you to follow the data, not the crowds, creating and growing a data-driven experimentation program.?

Malahim Nadeem

Build Security By Design → UI/UX Designer Enhancing Security & Privacy By Design.

2 年

#FollowTheDataNotTheCrowds Amazing session, very helpful and valuable.

Stewart Hillhouse

Head of Content at Mutiny | Sharing big ideas about growth and marketing

2 年

Loved this session –?and great summary!

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