RISMEDIA, August 9, 2010—(eM+C)—Conversion optimization is the process of testing your website and landing pages to improve conversion rates. The real estate industry average conversion rate sits between 2% and 4% percent, but organizations with conversion optimization programs in place are increasing their conversion rate as much as 10 times through continuous testing programs.
Optimizing your landing pages for conversions through testing and analysis will skyrocket your marketing return on investment to a whole new realm. You’ll be able to reduce spend while increasing conversions and impacting your organization’s bottom line.
In the first part of this series, I will discuss best practices around securing a landing page optimization budget from upper management. In part two, I’ll outline the website conversion team you’ll need to put in place for maximum landing page effectiveness, as well as best practices around landing page optimization testing.
Budgeting
There’s no doubt that conversion optimization can help your marketing department achieve a better ROI, but securing additional funds for your marketing budget may not be easy. Following are five tips for getting the budget you need:
-Have a detailed outline or plan for how you’ll the new funds for your conversion optimization program. Define how you’ll measure the success of the program by setting benchmarks and conversion goals, timelines and a resource plan.
-Demonstrate that you’ve assessed the risk involved with starting a new program, and show how you’ll handle any issues that arise.
-Model the minimum conversion improvement needed for the program to be a slam dunk—putting it in those terms shows the path to success.
-Use resources (e.g., ROI calculators, case studies, whitepapers, industry research, etc.) to demonstrate the value of a conversion optimization program.
-Start with a small pilot program to demonstrate success before jumping in deeper. Conversion optimization is the sort of thing you tackle one area at a time until your entire online marketing program has been impacted.
Anna Talerico is executive vice president of ion interactive, a San Jose, Calif.-based landing page optimization software provider.
For more information, e-mail Anna at atalerico@ioninteractive.com or visit www.ioninteractive.com.
