8 Factors to Increase Conversions by 200% to 700%
Everyone wants to explode their click rates and conversions and I have some really cool quick tips to help you along the way. Best of all, they are completely free and you can start implementing them on your site and ad campaigns right now.
A couple weeks ago I did a review on a new lead generating contest solutions I was using called Incentivibe. Since they are running their tool on a ton of sites and seeing massive volume, they’ve been able to pull together some awesome figures to help us all with our ad campaigns and engaging with our audiences.
Here’s what you should know about the data and test results before we jump into what worked and what didn’t.
Data: We analyzed 3 million visitors from 100 of our client websites between the period of March 15, 2013 and April 15, 2013.
- No announcement: The giveaway contests ran only on individual client’s landing pages – they were not featured or announced elsewhere. This ensured that only the targeted organic/paid traffic saw and converted from these contests.
- Call to action: Each contest asked visitors for their name and email to either subscribe to their newsletter or stay in touch.
- Shared Prize: These clients used our shared-contest-prize service to offer a $500 contest prize for a minimal cost, and put our black contest widget with their name as the co-sponsor.
Moving on to the Results!
There were 8 factors that increased conversions from 200% to 700%… the factors were a combination of placement, wording, action taking place, dates, branding and much more. I break each of these factors down below.
Lightboxes Really Do Work
– Many of us are using on site subscription forms for newsletter sign ups. Some of us are also using a “lightbox” which shows the form over your page. The user has to take action or close out the pop form. It’s really no surprise that this one see’s a huge increase of 62% in conversions!
Branding is Very Important
– How many of us buy something simply because it has a certain name or logo on us? Probably the most of us. The same holds true for when you are promoting stuff online. When possible, be sure to include brand names or site name vs. being generic. The addition of “Unbounce” (site name) in this example brought a 28% increase in conversions.
Images are Key
– You only have a few seconds to grab someone attention online. This one is also a no brainer… the usage of an image shows a nice spike of 22% in conversions.
Tell People What To Do
– Look at the comparison below and it might take you a few seconds to find the difference, yet there was still a 33% increase in conversions. The difference is a “Enter” button vs. a “Enter in Seconds”. Small difference, big roi!
Where Should Your Forms Be?
– Many people already know that when people come to your site they read from top left to right bottom. So what would be a better spot to put your call to action. I almost always see them on the bottom right… and there is a good reason why… 125% increase in conversions!
Facebook or Email?
– With over a billion people on Facebook there are plenty of opportunities for you to engage with your audience. We all want more FB likes for our sites, but this test shows that more people prefer to submit an email versus using their Facebook account to LIKE your page.
Contest, Promotion or Sweepstakes?
– There are plenty of different words out there for you to use when it comes to running a contest on your site. Believe it or not, but the one you choose will actually make a big difference in your how promotion performs. In this testing “Giveaway” was the clear winner, with “Sweepstake” right behind.
Make Your Content Time Sensitive
– Unfortunately the internet is loaded with promotions and contests that never seem to end. Engage with your audience and put a time sensitive date on your call to action and you might just see a 40% increase in your conversions.
How Can You Put These Call to Actions In Place?
Simple… in this examples about it was all about free giveaways and contests, but these same principles can be applied to nearly any ad campaign. Play around with your text ad copy, how your landing pages are created (dating landing page examples), different ways for people to engage and sign up and much more. When you are dealing with a lot of volume, even a small increase of 5-15% in conversions can make up for a lot of leads and money over the course of a few months.
Actually really good stuff, I like it. 🙂
I like telling people what to do, for example "Step 1: Enter Your Email Address"; what's what I use and it works.
The little things, pointing people to your opt in box, giving them only 1 option and no other 'escapes' to do something else, looking legit, it's the little things. Good post.
Some great info here Zac, I'll be bookmarking this for future reference for sure!
Can you recommend a good newsletter signup lightbox pop-up plugin for WordPress?
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We love studies thanks Zac – Most people only have one Facebook account and they only use it for keeping in touch with family. They do not want apps or adds posting on their timeline crowding out what's going on with the family, so I can understand email winning out. That being said it still seems to be a great place to advertise!
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Thanks for sharing. This post is educative and I will start to implement it on my campaign right away.
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Great post, Zac. The images really help make your points. Valuable stuff. Love the lightbox.
I like how you have created comparisons for each test. Again, great post!
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Awesome post , great share will definitely implement these tips to increase my conversion rates 🙂
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I remember running giveaways on my blog several months back and these are some factors I neglected most of the times, may be that's why I ended up not getting the desired results. It's amazing how a fading background can affect conversions!
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wow. such a niece piece. I am already looking for ways to implement it on my landing pages
Hello zac,
Well these are best tips to increase conversion rate.I really whole post and learn lots of things.A image will grab more attention rather than a normal text.I have recently added facebook popup on my blog and getting god amount of likes from it.
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Thanks Zac.. Wonderful tips for running new content. I was in search of some ideas to run my 1st giveaway on BloggingSlogan. This will definitely work good for me 🙂
Do you have any article on finding Sponsors for the content???
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I visit this blog first time. what ever you mention in this article which is right. i usually use right time to my post and using facebook to promote my content. some information i did not know but your article aware me about that so thanks.
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Good tips. I've been looking for a pop-up thing that works for the blogger platform, to ask for facebook like.
I'd like it to show up towards the end of the post. I found some that pop up right away, and don't look too good either. Not sure I want to use that.
This incentivibe thing looks cool.
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WOW, So much of super informative things, I never knew that such little factors play such a HUGE ROLE IN conversions. !
Thanks a ton for this.
A picture is worth a thousand words – well I didn't even read a single word and all your images explained everything to me… clearly. Besides, great info. My take away from this – importance of branding and facebook vs email.
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Hey Zac,
The stats you presented are very intriguing and of course something to consider!
I intend to start tweaking my approach and testing these findings immediately but certainly appreciate you collecting this data and presenting it here!
Hope to be back with a report of much success on my attempts!
Thanks Z
TJ
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Great article as always!
Thanks Zac!
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You have done a very thorough test and breakdown on what seems to work best. I am quite impressed and only wish l was clever enough to implement the techniques you have suggested…… just a beginner here !!
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Thanks for this very great tips you have here, i appreciate your efforts.
Like you rightly said "Everyone wants to explode their click rates and conversions and I have some really cool quick tips to help you along the way. " this is very true, it is one thing to know what you are looking for, it is another thing to know how to get it.
well done sir!
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You are really awesome man… your blog is the best for the ones who want to become professional affiliaters 🙂
I am writing to you as an Arab affiliater 🙂
Cheers
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This is a really useful post. A lot of that may be obvious, but I was surprised at the conversion rate for "Enter in Seconds" being 33 1/3% higher than just "Enter". I can understand that if there was some mention within the optin box of it being time sensitive, but there isn't. I'm curious what the psychology behind that is, and what made you try that specific phrase. Very impressive.