If you want better results on your website (and let’s fact it, who doesn’t?), at some point you’re going to have to face the facts:
“Conversion is first and foremost about measuring results.”
When you’re at that point, you’d do well to read Brian Massey’s book Your Customer Creation Equation.
Brian takes a scientific approach to conversion, adapting the scientific method for optimizing your website’s performance. But he keeps it simple, reducing the conversion rate to two tasks:
- Get more visitors to take action.
- Reduce the number of visitors to the site.
That’s right, reduce the number of visitors. That’s not something you’ll hear very often, but coming from the Conversion Scientist, it’s a valid approach.
Your goal is to improve your targeting, reaching a more precise segment of the market, then delight these visitors and “open the spigot of well-qualified traffic.”
What is conversion science?
Well, it isn’t a Madison Avenue approach to Web design.
At its most basic, it’s the transformation of visitors into customers. But rather than guessing how to do that, you use the scientific method to do it. Here’s how Brian outlines the process:
- Evaluate existing information.
- Develop a hypothesis.
- Test your hypothesis using an experiment.
- Measure your results.
- Take action on the new information.
How do you know when you’ve succeeded? Measure.
The conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors over a given time period.
So let’s say you have 1000 visitors to your website this week. In that time, you have 10 buyers:
10/1000 = 1%
But what if you followed Brian’s advice (above) and reduced the number of visitors? Let’s say you narrow the focus of your website and draw only 500 visitors. If you maintain 10 sells during the week, you essentially double your conversion rate:
10/500 = 2%
Then what if you rewrite the copy on your home page and landing pages, increasing conversions even more:
20/500 = 4%
See how it works? Small increases in conversion can deliver big increases in your bottom line.
That’s the Big Idea in Your Customer Creation Equation. And Brian does a great job of laying out strategies that will give you that incremental growth.
Here’s some of what you’ll learn:
There are five primary conversion formulas, or patterns, for websites.
No matter what your business or online strategy, your website probably fits into one of these five patterns.
Since each type of website comes with a formula for success, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. All you have to do is figure out which pattern is best for your business, then plug in the strategies that go with that pattern.
Simple!
After deciding on the right pattern for your website, you need to get the right pages in place.
Here, you’re focusing on micro-conversions that lead to the ultimate sale: first to awareness, then to consideration, and then to action.
Each page on your website has a micro-conversion goal. The types of pages you need depend on the pattern you’ve chosen for your website.
Create a unique website that’s optimized for your visitors.
Following one of just five website patterns, you might be worried that you’ll end up with a site that looks like every other site in your niche.
With the guidance Brian gives, you’ll have no trouble developing the “unique” in your selling proposition. Besides, there are a lot of variations within each pattern.
And with testing, you’ll refine your plan until you have a unique website that’s customized for your business.
A great introduction to a complicated topic
If you’re looking for an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand book on conversion science, I highly recommend Your Customer Creation Equation.
It’s a great introduction to and overview of a complicated topic. If you’re a novice, you’ll walk away feeling confident that yes, you have what it takes to implement advanced website-building strategies.
But it’s not just for beginners. Personally, I was fascinated by the five basic website patterns. As I read, I found myself recalling specific websites that fit the different patterns and understanding why certain strategies worked for them but not for other websites.
This book is:
- Engaging: yes
- Well-written: very
- Informative: yes
Have you read the book yet? What would you add?
