1 Click Analytics

The 2-for-1 Basketball Strategy applied in Web Marketing to Boost Conversions

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:37:40 -0400

In a meeting recently a client and I had a discussion about how much analytics can tell you about how to create something on the web for the best possible yield. We are beginning a test of multiple landing pages and tailored messages. The client was concerned that some landing pages would not perform at the same conversion rate as the current single page system. So I had to explain that even if a particular page underperformed, because of the increased engagement of visitors coming down the funnel, the overall yield is still beneficial. In nearly all engagements I have had every tailored page has had and improved conversion rate. Seeing all the Boston Celtics memorable on the wall I felt it was more than appropriate to use NBA and the end of the game 2 for 1 scenario as an analogy for what I would be doing in this test.

The basic situation sets up like this. If there are approximately less than 45 seconds left on the clock at the end of the period of a game, a team has an option of electing to use its entire 24 second clock for one shot, leaving their opponent with 16 seconds on the clock.

The alternative is the 2 for 1, where the team can elect to push up the court for fast shot leaving 30 seconds left of the clock. Pushing the ball up court like that guarantees the team originally with the ball a second possession of the ball to score.

On the surface it may not seem like the cautious team’s (or organizations) way to do business. So let’s dig into the numbers a little deeper. Or better yet let Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey explain it:

From the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, BS Reports with Bill Simmons Podcast

“A 2-for-1 is really a scientific thing now; if you’re not doing it you’re making a mistake. Two bad shots are better than one good one no matter who’s doing it.”

What does this mean in terms of web conversions is, two qualified visitors is better than one really qualified visitor. It is time for organizations to open up their sales/conversion funnel with multiple landing pages, and tailored messaging. If there is a single landing page for everybody, that organization is missing the opportunity to convert all of the other visitors.

I will take a moment here make a note that everyone taking a shot in a NBA game is qualified. So assuming all the traffic an organization is getting is qualified then the 2-for-1 holds true. Some agencies have been known to buy poor traffic, which is tremendously unqualified. I performed an audit of a smaller but well-connected Boston Agency and caught them essentially red handed using traffic from China, to improve their CPC ratio, essentially making it look like the traffic was quality.

Granted a 2-for-1 goes against conventional wisdom, but much of the webs conventional wisdom was formed well before the Internet became the true powerhouse commerce and information ecosystem it is today. Much the same way multiple landing pages break from what some consider being best practices, it works and if you are not trying to increase engagement of visitors then your organization is missing out.

Forbes misses the point in Conversion Optimization "Its about the Consumers Stupid"

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:42:00 -0400

Here is an article recently published by Forbes.com where they relate things websites should do to improve Conversion Rates.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/03/28/what-are-some-top-strategies-for-conversion-optimization/

1 Click Analytics, as a company that is dedicated to the practice of conversion optimization, as soon as the Google alert popped up in my email I gave the article are read. Surprised by the content or lack there of i read it again.

Firstly what the article touches on is not bad or incorrect information, some of the ideas touched upon are standard best practices and I would never want to infer that they hurt conversion rates because I dislike the article.

The reason for my unwillingness to embrace and article with some good information in it, is because in my opinion the article is fundamentally flawed in the approach it suggests to increase conversions. Mostly because it fails to directly address the truly most important thing in any conversion scenario, the consumers.

What the article talks about is window dressing and parlor tricks while analytic insights (hard science) is barely discussed when it appears at the end of this long article. If the title had been “Secondary changes to further optimize conversions” I would have applauded the number of ideas put forth. But the article focuses on plain usability techniques with very little substance as a main solution to improve conversions.

You could all these “tricks” and i would guarantee that 1 Click Analytics conversion optimization methods would beat those 9 out of 10 for the simple reason that tailored messages speak to the consumer where as “tricks” speak at the consumer. Tailored messages dramatically increases engagement and at the end of the day a conversion is an emotional decision for a consumer. The question asked of the individual in conversion scenarios is “Is the reward worth me giving up my personal information” and in some cases it may be personal information and a monetary component. So while button placement and page speed plays a factor, how your website engages the consumer is much more important to the eventual outcome.

Without addressing the emotional core of every consumer decision that occurs on the internet environment how can true conversion optimization occur?

To take artistic licence to James Carville’s famous quote “Its about the Consumers Stupid”

If you want results start at the true source, the consumers. AB testing is a great method to see what makes consumers tick but tailored messaging and specific content again increases engagement and builds trust with the consumer and ultimately provides the best movement in the Conversion Optimization needle.

Website all fixed sorry for the Android problems, click to see

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 22:41:09 -0400

Tonight: A $640 Million Lottery Jackpot and A Lot of “Skewness” http://t.co/CtEEbEtZ —...

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:08:51 -0400

Tonight: A $640 Million Lottery Jackpot and A Lot of “Skewness” http://t.co/CtEEbEtZ — freakonomics (@freakonomics)

longreads: How the TED conference exploded in...

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:19:46 -0400

longreads:

How the TED conference exploded in popularity—spawning a host of competitors, copycats and aspiring TED talkers:

Until recently, the universal self-actualizing creative ambition was to write a novel. Everyone has a novel in them, it was said. Now the fantasy has changed: Everyone has a TED Talk in them. There are people on YouTube who upload webcammed soliloquies about whatever and title them things like “My TED Talk.” There’s now even a genre of meta–TED Talks. For a TEDActive talk in 2010, Sebastian Wernicke, a statistician, crunched the data of extant TED Talks to reverse-engineer both the best- and worst-possible talks. Elements common to the most popular TED Talks, he determined good-humoredly, included using certain words (“coffee,” “happiness”), feeling free to “fake intellectual capacity and just say et cetera et cetera,” and growing your hair long. He created an app, the TEDPAD, a kind of TED-omatic that can generate “amazing and really bad” TED Talks.

“Those Fabulous Confabs.” — Benjamin Wallace, New York magazine [Not single-page]

See more #longreads by Benjamin Wallace

Will Kindle's Free Samples Change the Structures of Plots? - The Atlantic

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:59:00 -0400

Will Kindle's Free Samples Change the Structures of Plots? - The Atlantic:

Intresting read on how SEO has shaped what we read in headlines and how Amazon is set to perhaps do it again.

The new 1 Click Analytics Website

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:53:31 -0400

Candidates use YouTube to rally, not persuade | Marketplace from American Public Media

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:54:27 -0400

Candidates use YouTube to rally, not persuade | Marketplace from American Public Media

Great article by Avinash Kaushik

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:44:42 -0400

A Big Data Imperative: Driving Big Action - Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/big-data-imperative-driving-big-action/

Insightful Consumer Engagement

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:59:00 -0400

Hello,

Introducing 1 Click Analytics

More will be posted about our mission in the coming days, but for now come see our website at 1clickanalytics.com to learn more about our mission and how we can move your company past simple web reporting to true analysis.

Cheers!