Recently, I spoke to a channel marketer who mentioned her company was having issues converting people with their online marketing efforts.
So, I asked her: What is the flow, or path, to conversion for this program?
She responded with ...
- First, the user has to 'like' the brand on Facebook
- Then, the user is directed to sign up for the brands e-mail newsletter
- Finally, the same user receives an email that must be clicked on. This final action will take them to the brand website, where the user converts
My next question for her: Have you ever gone through your own conversion path?
Her brand was suffering from the fantastic delusion that consumers actually cared about the extraneous channels they were being exposed to during the path to conversion. They were overwhelming users, causing an alarmingly high percent of users to drop off during the path to conversion, an issue I talked about in this blog post.
Here are a couple best practices to examine when your conversion paths are underperforming ...
- Do Consumers Know Where to Start: Look at the conversion path on your site -- is there a clear starting point that is emphasized?
- If you bury the 'start here' button at the bottom of your homepage, it's likely that you'll have issues getting users started on the conversion path
- Keep Your Path Focused: Brands make the mistake of mashing multiple programs together that don't truly belong -- for example, asking a consumer to 'like' you on Facebook in the middle of the shopping cart check out process is a little off base.
- Are you trying to sell product or promote your Facebook page? Make up your mind, as they're two very separate initiatives.
- How Much Are You Asking For: Use the K-I-S-S analogy -- Keep it simple stupid. Asking for too much, too personal or irrelevant information (in the eyes of the consumer) will lead to fall off during the conversion path.
- For example, to get a free Square mobile payment reader Square wanted to know my social security number. It was that one question that made me abandon sign up at the very last step of the conversion path.
Please share any experiences you've had in the comments below.
