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The Reason Your B2B Website is No Longer Effective

The 1907 Quakers from the University of Pennsylvania were the juggernauts of college football. Heading into a home field matchup with the Carlisle Indians they had not only won, but dominated their previous seven games by a combined score of 189-10.

Their October home game on Franklin field against Carlisle wasn’t expected to be much different. Although the Indians were also undefeated, they were a group of unheralded, undersized players that the 22,800 fans in attendance didn’t give much of a chance against their mighty Quakers.

So what happened? Carlisle demolished Penn 26-6. The most notable play of the game was fullback Pete Hauer’s 40 yard perfect spiral pass that sports historians would later call one of the “three or four signal moments in the evolution of football” and “the sporting equivalent of the Wright brothers taking off at Kitty Hawk.”

These historians attribute Carlisle’s stunning upset that Saturday to Carlisle coach Pop Warner’s exploitation of a rule change that was adopted a couple of years earlier. In order to curb the surging violence in football schools adopted a number of rules changes, most notably legalizing the forward pass.

Warner decisively capitalized on this rule change, confusing the Quakers with long passes and new formations. Penn was playing by the old rules, and caught completely unprepared for the new era of football that they had the misfortune of writing into history that day.

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By Arun Sivashankaran|2018-10-20T21:47:07-07:00March 7th, 2018|Uncategorized, The Funnel, Strategy, SaaS, B2B|0 Comments

Identifying Sales Funnel Leaks . . . For Dummies!

I’ve got a real problem with the term sales funnel.

Ask yourself, what does a funnel do? It re-directs all fluid from the source into a container. Now, I don’t want to be that guy, but I’m yet to come across a sales funnel that directs all traffic from source to your checkout, let alone converting them all into paying customers! Let’s be honest here, all sales funnels leak prospects, and I’m glad they do, if they didn’t, I’d be out of a job!

I know I’m being pedantic and that we’re using the verb form of funnel meaning to direct prospects through your sales process. What’s most important here though is that sales funnels leak. They all do. Some leak a lot while others only a little.

Losing a certain percentage of your prospects throughout your sales funnel is a fact of life for a marketer. You’re never going to convert 100% of the traffic that comes to your website. However, that’s not to say you should be happy with the current percentage of prospects you’re losing through funnel leaks. (more…)

By Peter Boyle|2015-09-21T11:11:12-07:00September 22nd, 2015|The Funnel|0 Comments

How One Email Marketing Technique Can Help Recover $2.5 Trillion Dollars for Retailers

There’s one trend in email marketing that every marketer and entrepreneur needs to pay attention to: cart abandonment emails or retargeting. While the topic is always relevant, it should be top of mind for retailers moving into holiday marketing mode. Retargeting is a follow-up marketing strategy that goes after the customers who loaded items into their shopping carts on eCommerce websites, and then left without completing the purchase. The reasons for abandonment vary, from frustration with the checkout process to real-life distractions that come up while the customer is trying to finish processing a sale.

On average, across the eCommerce industry, The Baymard Institute estimates that 67% of attempted purchases end in abandonment. Other sources suggest that numbers are rising, as high as 74%. The real costs of these abandonments to the economy’s bottom line are all over the place, but one recent Inc piece estimated it was in the region of $4 trillion dollars. But according to Forbes, a startling 80% of big retailers are doing nothing about it. Even though the numbers aren’t 100% in agreement across sources, one thing is clear: they’re high, and there is a tremendous opportunity for businesses to use retargeting technology. (more…)

By Arun Sivashankaran|2014-11-05T23:25:10-08:00November 6th, 2014|The Funnel|2 Comments

Mobile Path to Purchase Study: Optimizing the Mobile Funnel

Intent to purchase: it is perhaps the least discussed and most important aspect of conversion optimization. Ultimately, you focus on improving your website conversions to attract leads, build better relationships with customers, and most of all make sales. The ability to identify when a customer has a firm intent to purchase gives you a clear advantage. But how can you identify the intent to purchase and take steps to foster it in today’s mobile environment? One new report is offering powerful insights for marketers, entrepreneurs, and data analysts thinking about this issue.

Telmetrics recently released their third annual Mobile Path to Purchase study, in partnership with XAd and the Nielsen Company. Each year, the study seeks to find data, trends, and patterns on what factors are influencing mobile device use in the United States. By extension, the analysts are able to identify consumer mobile usage behaviors and the implications for intent to purchase.

The results provide specific insights into a range of verticals from retail to travel. But there are major takeaways that can inform any mobile strategy.

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By Arun Sivashankaran|2014-09-04T12:42:49-07:00September 5th, 2014|The Funnel|0 Comments

How to Create an Awesome User Experience with Multiple Communication Channels

We live in a time of unprecedented choice.

From custom TV packages with thousands of channels to creating the perfect station on Pandora, consumers have come to expect plenty of options to suit their unique tastes.

Are you giving users different options to connect with you once they land on your website?

Or are you limiting them to email and online contact forms?

Putting the power of choice in users’ hands – opening up multiple communication channels – can lead to more leads and customers.

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By Corey Pemberton|2014-07-28T09:09:50-07:00July 29th, 2014|The Funnel|0 Comments

What Pixar Studios Can Teach Us about Storytelling and Conversions

Chris Haddad started out like most information marketers: struggling.

He created a product in the dating niche designed to show women how to find the man of their dreams. But when he put a sales page together and launched it on ClickBank, it only converted at around 2%.

So Haddad tweaked his sales copy. He revamped the page by telling a personal story of all the techniques his girlfriend used to get his interest and keep it.

And the result? His conversions went up to 8%, and his product went on to become one of the best sellers on ClickBank.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful techniques to engage users and turn them into customers. A lot of businesses aren’t taking advantage of it.

But you can.

Keep reading to see what some of the best storytellers around, Pixar Studios, can teach you about telling stories and increasing your conversions…

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By Corey Pemberton|2014-07-11T00:07:01-07:00July 11th, 2014|The Funnel|0 Comments

Mapping Your Funnel: How to Find the Microconversions that Matter

If you ask the majority of firms doing online marketing what their most important conversion goals are, most will tell you that it’s to make a sale. A few firms that are tuned into the broader marketing discussion might tell you that they’re focused on building their email lists or customer contact database. But far fewer will tell you that they are focused on reducing friction along the buying funnel.

Yet for most businesses, it’s understanding the universe of small conversions that lead up to the sale – and eliminating obstacles along the way – that ultimately yields the best results. Here’s a closer look at microconversions and how they affect your firm’s performance.

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By Arun Sivashankaran|2014-06-27T09:34:55-07:00June 30th, 2014|The Funnel|2 Comments

How to Use Data About B2B Buyer Behavior to Improve Conversions

Unless you’re selling low-ticket items that cater to impulse buyers, most of your visitors won’t buy from you immediately after visiting your website.

Smart marketers create sales funnels to turn visitors into leads and nurture those leads into buyers. They encourage visitors to join email lists, request price quotes, or schedule product demos. Those initial steps are essential to identify leads and separate them from the rest of your visitors.

But you can’t stop there…

All of the leads in the world aren’t worth a dime unless you can turn a good percentage of them into buyers.

What’s the best way to do this? Most B2B businesses understand the importance of this, but many struggle with execution. But you use data-driven insights to develop your own lead outreach “best practices” and convert more customers.

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By Corey Pemberton|2014-05-27T21:30:22-07:00May 28th, 2014|The Funnel|2 Comments

5 Suggestions for an About Page that Converts

One of the most important areas for your prospective customers is the About Page. By optimizing this space on your website, you can generate engagement and establish a relationship with potential customers. You’re giving visitors a taste of your skills and credentials while telling potential customers what you can do for them.

As easy as it sounds, there is a right and wrong way to go about optimizing an About Page to increase sales and build customer support. This page can be one of the most important driving forces in building a reputation and converting your visitors into customers.

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By Arun Sivashankaran|2014-04-22T11:08:31-07:00April 16th, 2014|The Funnel|0 Comments

3 Optimization Tips for Increasing Your Average Order Value

There’s a pervasive myth in the conversion optimization world: that it’s only about increasing the percentage of visitors that convert to customers. It’s true that we spend a lot of time looking at that rate and finding ways to improve it. By removing roadblocks and friction to conversions on your website, you’ll ultimately see your customer base, revenue, and profits grow.

But a good conversion optimization strategy is fundamentally about improving your bottom line, and that can also be done by improving other metrics; including the your average order value and lifetime customer value. Acquiring new traffic is expensive and labor intensive. Making the most of customers that are already on your site and willing to buy is good business sense. Here’s how to get started.

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By Arun Sivashankaran|2014-04-21T14:46:35-07:00April 4th, 2014|The Funnel|2 Comments

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