Two of the most important metrics that are tracked with Google Analytics are Time on Site and Bounce Rate. There are direct correlations between the time spent on your site and the likelihood of conversion. The bounce rate (the proportion of people who only view a single page on your site and then leave) is an indicator of how well your site draws people in.

From a website optimisation point of view, you want people to look at as many of your pages as possible and to spend as much time on your site as possible. So it was interesting this week to receive Google’s Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter, which has collated data from hundreds of thousands of websites that have opted in to their anonymous data sharing pool. The results for time on site and bounce rate are interesting, not so much from the range of results but from the geographic results. It seems that countries that we think of as being more leisurely do in fact spend more time on websites, and have a lower bounce rate.

In the graphs below (taken from the Google Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter 2nd July 2011), you can see that the countries such as Aruba, St. Lucia and the Bahamas have a very low bounce rate and, on average, spend longer on each site. In the middle are the Western democracies (UK, France, Spain) and the more technologically advanced nations such as Japan. Then at the far end are North Korea, Cuba and China.

So why is it that testing is so full of surprises?

Recently I ran a test in which the original page was a list of prices for the services my client offered.  The original page was a mess with so much text that the prices were hidden and I had no clear idea of what to do next.  My hypothesis was simple:  An easier to read price list with clear instructions on how to contact the company will produce more leads.

So I took a logical approach and created three variations.  First, I removed all the extraneous text from the original so that the prices were visible.  This was variation 1.  Second, I increased the font size on the prices and coloured them green – this was variation 2.  Finally, I added some bright red banners with instructions on how to contact the company – this was variation 3.

In my own mind, each variation should have been better than the last.  However the results were as follows:

Variation 1 – 12% better

Variation 2 – 44% better

Variation 3 – 6% worse

So I had somehow managed to create a much better page in variation 2 and then completely ruined it (beyond the state of the original) by adding some clear and helpful instructions.

We can never be completely sure of the reasons why such things happen, and this is the reason why we continue to test.  The technique described in variation 3 is well documented (don’t make me think – Steve Krug) to improve conversion rate, but for whatever reason in this case it put visitors off.

I have analysed the page using various tools and the main issue seems to be that visitors are trying to click on the instructions.  They were not designed to be clicked on and the banner certainly doesn’t look like a button, but this is how they have been perceived.  So, my next step is to test other ways to make it clear on how to convert.  Perhaps I could make the banner clickable with a link through to a conversion page (seems sensible).

Why is testing so full of surprises?  It’s because humans are complicated and it only takes a small thing to change our behaviour.  We must test in ways that allow us to see the effect of each small change.  Imagine if I had assumed Variation 3 was the best and so only tested that against the original…

2011 is tipped to be the year that most search advertisers take a look at where they are sending all the traffic they pay for and think “I need a better vehicle”.

The key message for 2011 is to optimise your website for conversions and the best way to do this is to test, test hard and fast!  If 2010 opened our eyes to the concept of improving conversion rates through testing, then 2011 will open up the throttle as the race for bigger and better conversion rates begins!

If you are not doing tests on your site then you may be left behind as more and more of your competition start running their first tests and seeing improvements.  However, for the savvy marketer, now is the time to get an early start.

So here are my top tips for a great race this year:

Check Your Tires – preparation is key.  You should plan out the pages you want to test on, and think about the ideas you want to test.

Get A Quick Start – the route is easier to see when you start moving.  Don’t worry if your plan is not robust, or your ideas are not brilliant, or even if your variations are not designed to perfection.  Just get moving as soon as possible.

Take Smooth, Regular Pit Stops – stop and consider what you’ve achieved and how to keep going, but don’t dither!  It is important to keep considering whether you are testing the right pages and doing the right tests, but don’t stop – just make adjustments to your plan if necessary.

Hit The Highest Gear – don’t slow down.  It is easy to sit back and enjoy a test result, but you should start a test immediately after one finishes.  In my experience you should have the next test implemented, checked, and ready to go live before the conclusion of your current test.

Take risks – fortune favours the brave.  Don’t be shy and stick to variations that are similar and comfortable.  Try some completely radical tests.  Potentially you will skid off the track – but you might just find yourself at the front.  A radically different variation is likely to have a much worse conversion rate, or a much better one – worth the gamble if you ask me…

And there you have it – some 2011 resolutions for your Conversion Rate Optimisation campaigns. You may also want to take a look at what you should be doing this year with your SEO and PPC strategies.

Oh and be sure to read my colleagues’ posts on SEO resolutions for 2011 and PPC.

Benchmarking

First things first, always have a benchmark so you have an idea of where you’re coming from. This could include the online visibility or current ranking positions for key terms of all the websites individually, prior to the site merge. Something else you might want to consider is the traffic statistics and trends of all the websites individually. Once the merger is completed one can fall back on the benchmark to see if there been an success with the merger or not.

Website crawling

Next step, crawl all the pages of the website to be merged. With this, we’ll get a list of all the available pages within the websites. One of the easier ways of doing this is to use a site crawler like Xenu Link Sleuth. This would give you a list of the pages and possibly broken pages as well. This would also be a good time to do some cleaning up and fixing all broken pages on the website. Once you’ve complied the list of active and broken pages we can move on to making good use of this list.

Mapping webpages

Once we have a list of all webpages from the sites to be merged and an equivalent list of pages for the new websites, we can start mapping pages. This involves mapping one webpage to another based on its relevance. For instance, all contact pages should be mapped to the new contact page. If there isn’t an exact page to be mapped to, it is worth considering if a new page should be created or not. This needs to be done systematically to avoid any broken 404 pages and wrong mappings.

Setting 301 Redirects

After the webpage mapping has been completed for all the websites we need to create 301 redirect rules. Using the mapping document we setup rules to point one page to another. Setting up the redirection rules depends on what server is being used – Microsoft or Apache – either way, the redirection code needs to be setup and put in place in preparation for the site migration.

Setup Google Webmaster Tool

This should be one of the tools used to monitor the progression of the site migration when it’s finally set in motion. GWT should be used to submit a sitemap.xml page to give Google crawlers access to all the webpages found on the newly merged website. It’s also a handy tool to check for missing webpages which are being linked to internally and externally.

Crosschecking Redirects

When the site merge has been completed, it’s a good idea to cross check that all the old pages are actively being redirected to the right page. If a redirect has not be setup or is broken this can be highlighted and updated accordingly.

Site migration can be pretty straight forward or a complete nightmare, it all depends on how it is approached. One of the most important things to take away when doing a site migration is to plan and plan some more, then take it systemically to avoid errors. All in all, it should be quite straightforward especially with these tips.

Over the last few years there have been a number of tools and cool features that have been released that allow you to get a better idea of how clothes will look and fit.  I wrote a blog about one of these features a few months ago, which looked at the outfit builder.

The outfit builder that I have had experience with is on H&M and French Connection.  It’s good because you can piece items together and create a good look.  This feature is proven to increase conversion rates and the average order value for websites who use it.  The only problem with it is that you still don’t really know what it’s going to look like on you.

A key challenge for fashion e-tailers is overcoming the high level of returns that are generated through online sales.  One of the key reasons for these returns is that items don’t fit well.

Over the last year or so a couple of companies have tried to come up with a solution to these sizing issues.  MyShape, one of the pioneers in this area have developed technology that enables women to forget about the size labels and find clothes that will fit them based on their exact measurements.

This requires women to submit their measurements and preferences to find clothes that not only fit but also flatter.

More recently a company based in Estonia launched a new site called Fits.me.  Fits.me is a virtual fitting room which uses a shape-shifting robotic mannequin to match your sizes so that you can see exactly how clothing will look on you.  Hawes & Curtis are one of the first UK companies to use this functionality.

The tool is slick and shows perfectly how your shape and size will look in one of their shirts.

It still isn’t as accurate as seeing an item on you in a changing room mirror, but it’s the closest thing available in the market today.

Generally, these periods are good for businesses, but it can be the case that the performance doesn’t quite match the increase in traffic. Too often, businesses simply label the visitors as lower-quality traffic, and adjust their bids accordingly, but this can be totally wrong.

Suppose that a business has a significant lead time between a visitor hitting their website for the first time, and the time of the sale – more than a week, perhaps. When traffic volumes are stable, so are the conversions, but what happens when you add seasonality to the mix?

Here’s some (obviously) fictional traffic data to a website that sees a spike in its clicks in the middle of summer:

Imagine first that when somebody makes a purchase, they always do so on the same day. For the sake of an easy-to-read graph, we’ll say they have an unlikely 20% conversion rate:

So far, no problems. The conversions increase at the same time as the clicks, and the conversion rate remains constant, at 20%.

Now consider a business where people take more time to consider the alternatives before converting.

What happens to the above example if you still have a 20% conversion rate, but 5% convert one week after the initial visit, 10% after two weeks, and 5% after three weeks?

Suddenly, the conversion rate is all over the place, dropping without any obvious reason in the early spring, then increasing through until late autumn. What’s caused this?

Quite simply, if you see an increase in your clicks, but the conversions don’t come until later, your conversion rate will fall. Put another way, your conversions are still being driven from past clicks (which were lower).

In the above case, I’ve used a fairly improbable sinusoidal curve for sales. What happens if sales are usually flat, but there’s a sudden, sharp increase?

I’ll use the conversion-delay distribution from before, with the following click distribution:

The variation in conversion rate caused by this seasonality is huge:

The conversion rate drops from 20% to 15% immediately, the moment the clicks start to increase. It starts to recover, but the moment the clicks start to fall, the conversion rate goes through the roof.

The Catch

Looking at the above graph, it’s fairly clear what’s happened. But understanding what’s happened in real time from looking at the data isn’t all that easy. Look at the performance data from the above graph up to week 21:

What are you going to conclude at this point? A lot of analysts, even quite experienced ones, would assume that the additional traffic to the site is of lower quality, and will cut the bids.

Of course, this is completely the wrong thing to do – the clicks aren’t worth any less.

Similarly, when the conversion rate increases, there’s a temptation to increase the bids:

Again, this is the wrong move – the clicks are worth the same in reality, so the bids shouldn’t change.

The Bottom Line

Individually, seasonality and delays between clicks and conversions don’t really do much harm. Combining them, you see some eye-opening variations to your conversion rate, which can lead you to make some very bad decisions.

This is also a problem if you decide to significantly change your budget and bids. Suddenly driving more or less traffic to your site can make a big change to your conversion rate. Have you ever seen that your conversion rate drops when you increase the bids, or climbs when you cut back? It may not be a reflection of the position of your adverts, but a natural result of the lead time on your conversions.

As long as you know that this is a possibility, you should be able to respond in a more measured way, but how many PPC Analysts look at the delay between the click and the conversion on a campaign? I would strongly urge anyone with seasonal demand or long delays between first click and conversion to check this out before their next peak or dip in business.

The tool has an in-depth interface which will show not just the source, but call times, unanswered calls, time of the phone call etc.  This kind of information can easily shape your marketing campaigns.  There is also a recording of each call available – something most companies pay thousands of pounds for!

The implications for Website Optimisation are huge.  It is now easier to run almost any test – as the tool will help you track the change in telephone call rates.  During any Website Optimisation test, you should be tracking how your calls differ for each variation.  If you made changes to emphasise your online form – the online sales may increase, but did your overall sales fall? AdInsight will show you if your call volumes have suffered on the new variation.

You can assess how changing your product descriptions changes your average call times.  If you give customers more information about a product before they call, is the call more likely to become a sale?

There are many other applications in Website Optimisation, such as placing a different telephone number below your call to action than the main number in the top right.  You can then see which number your visitors are responding to the most.  You could even have a different telephone number on each page of your site to establish the exact point a visitor thinks “I’ll give them a ring”…

The pricing of this tool is not too bad, and if your agency offers it as a resource, then it should only be a small cost per call.  I would recommend that any business who generates value over the phone, should install this tool and discover the value it can add to your online campaigns.

PPC Campaign 2009

The campaign began in January, so hopefully you can forgive the poor performance initially.  The company also have an SEO and a banner campaign for which I have estimated profits.  Over a 2 year period, the company profits from online activity may (with my estimations for the other 2 campaigns) look like this:

What would have happened if they had started the campaign with 12 months of website optimisation too?

Let’s assume the cost of development is £1000 per month and the agency fee is £1500 for research, design and implementation.  The work will increase the conversion rate of the website by an estimated 0.05% per month, which doesn’t sound like a great deal and would be perfectly achievable for this website which has never been optimised.  Here are the stats for 2009 with optimisation and 2010 without any further website optimisation:

PPC Campaign 2009 & 2010 with Website Optimization During 2009

In 2009, the extra profit from the conversion rate increase covers the cost of the work, leaving the profits the same as without optimisation.  However, in 2010 the campaign profit is suddenly doubled since they are no longer paying for optimisation, but still reaping the benefits of the work in 2009!

Even better, let’s look at the change to all media ROI:

Or if you want to look at it another way, here is the ROI of the website optimisation:

In this case, website optimisation has a higher return on investment than any of the media spend – so what are you waiting for??

The first thing to consider is that all year your visitors have been considering whether your products are right for them. All of a sudden, your visitors are considering whether your products would make a good gift for someone else. So, why not start showing off the gift potential of your products?

Your money back guarantees are a great selling point, but not now – buying on the basis of easy return is akin to admitting you don’t know your friends!! Try some new selling points like easy size/colour exchange or free gift wrapping service.

Next – delivery – if I don’t get my item in time, the embarrassment will ruin Christmas! Can you guarantee I’ll get it? I don’t particularly care if I have to pay another 50p, so long as I’m not empty handed on Christmas day.

Finally, remind me that it’s Christmas soon. I may only be shopping for myself, but with a festive theme to the website I may remember to add a gift or two to my basket for friends and family.

Epiphany has opened up the offer to any company with a high traffic website that has analytics and conversion tracking data available, and is accepting a maximum of five companies on a quarterly basis into this new programme.

Epiphany, which is one of only a few agencies in the UK to be certified a Google Conversion Professional and is the fastest growing search agency in the country, is shocked at the number of companies who aren’t maximising their websites’ potential.

Shane Quigley, Chief Executive Officer of Epiphany said: “The report suggests that high levels of dissatisfaction around conversion rates are caused by a lack of resource and a lack of budget.

“Therefore, we are saying to anyone who’s unhappy with their current conversion rates, we’ll prove we can enhance them and we won’t charge a penny unless we hit pre-agreed targets.

“It’s an open invite for businesses to submit their sites and every quarter we’ll choose five companies to put on our no win, no fee service – it’s as simple as that.”

Google Conversion Programme Manager, Alan Wrafter, says “We welcome the idea with open arms. Our Google Conversion Professionals offer many different payment structures and plans so that they can meet the needs of the market. No win, No fee is an ideal way for businesses to kick off their conversion maximisation projects. We encourage businesses of all sizes to try it out!”
[Source: Alan Wrafter, Google, 05/11/2009]

To register for Epiphany’s No Win, No Fee offer, email webconverter@epiphanysolutions.co.uk

Epiphany’s knowledge of website optimisation was approved by Google when they awarded us the Website Optimisation Authorised Consultant (WOAC) qualification.  At the same time, our analytical & technical ability was acknowledged when we became Google Analytics Authorised Consultants (GAAC).

The final acceptance to the highest tier, Google Conversion Professionals, is testament to the experience we have in the field of website optimisation as a whole.  Google are more than willing to pass their clients to us for consultancy, with the confidence that we will deliver a world-class service.

For our existing clients, the GCP accolade will provide peace of mind that Epiphany offer the highest quality of service available.  New clients will be excited about the extra level of service they can expect when working with Epiphany.

The GCP programme not only proves our company, but will help us move even further ahead of the curve with exclusive access to some of the latest tools and some deeper insight in Google Analytics available to us.  By invitation only, we have several employees involved in focus groups set up by Google, where the brightest and most experienced website optimisation analysts share thoughts and new ideas.

Not only are Epiphany leading the way in conversion rate optimisation, but will get even further ahead in the future!

The Leeds-based business has been certified a Google Conversion Professional (GCP) and is now in an elite band of companies in the UK – including global management consulting company, Accenture – endorsed by Google as being an expert in website optimisation.

In order to receive GCP status, companies must first apply for and achieve two separate Google accreditations – Google Analytics Authorized Consultant and Google Website Optimizer Authorized Consultant.

The final stage involves months of detailed analysis and interviews to ensure rigorous qualification standards are met.

Rob Shaw, managing Director of Epiphany, said: “This is a fantastic endorsement of the expertise which resides within the agency and cements our position as one of the UK’s leading digital agencies.

“Google doesn’t give this accreditation lightly, they have created a robust qualification process and we appreciate that. To be part of an exclusive club including the likes of Accenture is a tremendous achievement for us.“It demonstrates the maturing of our business into a commercially aware agency with a results-orientated approach. We have always said that we wanted to build a world class digital marketing agency and this latest accolade is a further step to achieving that objective.”

Next week, Epiphany will be attending a four-day conference at Google’s headquarters at Mountain View, California.

There are simply too many advertisers, bidding too much for PPC to be highly profitable for every advertiser – in short, it’s becoming a dog-eat-dog world. Every sale that you make is one that your competitors don’t get, and vice-versa.

Once you’ve got your account in order, optimised your keyword list, grouped it into nice, neat Adgroups, tested many adverts on each, found your sweet-spot for each Adgroup (the most profitable bid) and tested the Content Network and all the various options that Adwords et al offer, eventually, your account’s performance is likely to plateau.

So how do you take your PPC to the next level? It can be particularly frustrating if you’ve got a well-optimised campaign, but are still only appearing 6^th or 7^th – somehow, your competitors are getting most of the sales, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

The answer is to improve your conversion rate. If visitors to your website are more likely to buy something, then you can afford to pay more for them. And the amount that you can afford to pay for a click is the basis of the whole PPC auction.

Unless the people advertising above you are complete numpties, the only way that they can stay ahead of a well run PPC campaign (and still make money) is to make more money out of visitors to their website than you do.

Website Optimisation is currently Google’s big pet project at the moment – they understand that higher conversion rates are a win-win-win situation.

· If clicks from Google are worth more, people will pay more for them, and Google make more money.

· Better-designed websites can only be a good thing for people that use Google – the fewer websites somebody has to visit in order to find what they are looking for, the happier they are.

· If an advertiser’s website converts better, it gives them an advantage over their competitors, allowing them to spend more on advertising, and make more money. Not just from PPC, but from all advertising media.

Whilst better-converting websites are important for all advertising, it’s particularly important for PPC. And generally speaking, it’s easiest for PPC as well.

After all, if you’ve got the right list of keywords, and a well-written advert (filtering out irrelevant traffic), almost all of the PPC visitors to your website will be looking for your product or service. All you have to do is to convince them to buy.

There is a whole world of literature out there about how to optimise a website, and there are few genuinely hard-and-fast rules (or Website Optimisation would simply consist of website design, rather than a process of testing). But some things are clearly important.

· The user needs to be able to find all of the appropriate products quickly and easily. Navigation should be easy to find, intuitive, and shouldn’t force the user to discard products that may be relevant.

· The user needs to be able to choose the product for them easily. They shouldn’t have to click on every single product page to see which product is right for them. Key differentiating facts should be visible on the category (thumbnail) page, such as price and critical features. If there are a lot of products, filtering and sorting are also important.

· Trust is critical. There are still a lot of people out there, sceptical about buying products online. Websites should look professional, and your contact details should be easy to find. Testimonials are good as well, as are product reviews.

· The average user has the attention span of a goldfish. Long, complicated processes for ordering can really put them off. Keep the ordering process as simple as possible.

In reality, it’s not quite as simple as it sounds. If it was, there’d be no need to test changes to the site, and all websites would end up looking virtually the same.

So, does your website offer users a good experience? Pretend to be your target customer, click on a couple of your adverts, and find out. Get your family and friends to try it as well.

If your business is large enough, it’s worth hiring an Agency to optimise your website. There is nothing more valuable in website optimisation than experience, and a good Agency can do more to improve your conversion rate in 6 months than you’ll be able to do in years, in all probability.

Google are releasing a new qualification, the Google Conversion Professional qualification: http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/landing/conversion/#. Unlike previous qualifications from Google, this one carries a bit more weight, as Google recommend agencies that pass this qualification.

At the moment, finding a reliable Agency to perform your optimisation is a hugely difficult task – they all claim to be experts. Separating the wheat from the chaff based solely on their websites is almost impossible, and many sound good even when you speak to them in person.

The new Google qualification should help hugely – they won’t recommend anyone that doesn’t know what they are doing, and any agencies failing to deliver on their promises will lose their qualification in no time.