Measuring Phone Conversions from Website Traffic

For quite some time, the field of online commerce has been a tough sell for executives and managers because it has so many levels of uncertainty. Despite being based around a technical framework, websites don’t have an easy way of quantifying where conversions came from, and it is easy to underestimate the value of website traffic if visitors choose to make their purchases over the phone. Even if the site is the primary channel for attracting new visitors, it can be difficult to see which campaign, initiative, or search engine brought in the best leads.

There are a few ways to find out if a web visit resulted in a phone call, and even to distill that information into segments which specify the campaigns and offline ad initiatives that resulted in a sale. Here are a few popular methods for finding out is your marketing campaign is creating sales dollars for your company.

• Get a trackable phone number. Our parent company, Web.com, makes it possible to design a site with a custom phone number. You can monitor how many people call, how long the calls are, and even if the call resulted in a sale. By having a phone number that is different from your main business line, and exclusive to your website or a particular campaign, you can get a quick read on how well a campaign is going. From a pay-per-click standpoint, you can have multiple 800 numbers, each of which is assigned to a different initiative. By using phone tracking software, you can integrate your phone and order/CRM system to see where the calls are coming from.
• Set up different website addresses. If you pay close enough attention to infomercials or direct response ads on TV, you may notice that the website address on the screen is different even though the rest of the commercial is exactly the same. The phone number is usually different, and the announcer will say to “call the number on your screen.” We once had the opportunity to ask a direct response advertising company about this tactic, and they told us that different TV channels and networks got different versions of the same commercial. As a result, they were able to track sales results based on viewership, and they were even able to determine whether viewers on a certain channel would be more likely to call or to go online. Naturally, you can extrapolate this practice into different online ad channels, so content ads may land on a different site (or part of a site) than search ads, and you can even segment Google, Yahoo, and Bing ads to different pages for more study.
• Offer a special coupon code. If you have a coupon code in your paid ad, people will still use it when they call in. Any phone call that applies the code can be used to see how well the ad worked. Naturally, you will want to adjust your pricing to compensate for the code, or change the offer to include a free item of nominal value instead of a discount.
• Ask. This is the least accurate way of finding out how your sales came in, but it is still a good business practice. It is inaccurate because some people may visit your site, bookmark it, and come back weeks later. Additionally, your employees may not always ask “how did you find us” when they are taking orders, especially if there are better incentives for unassisted sales. Though the accuracy is suspect, the value in asking often helps you learn about other ways people are hearing about your business.

The value of having phone support for a website cannot be underestimated. In fact, many businesses will only run paid online advertising when their call centers are staffed, because the conversion rate is that much higher. An unusual paradox in the online world is that people won’t trust 256 bit encryption in a secure online shopping cart, but they will read out their credit card number to a complete stranger over the phone. In many cases, people will also need a single question answered (like “is it in stock?”) before completing their orders, so even though you may not be able to track that particular call as a conversion, your bottom line has improved as a result. Even though phone support for an ecommerce business takes a lot of setup and monitoring, the value of a well integrated phone and online ordering system can give you precise intelligence about which ad campaigns are working.

Conversion Rate Optimization

If you’re running any kind of enterprise that depends on internet traffic, then you know that conversion rate optimization can be the difference between getting by and getting ahead. Whether your website traffic comes exclusively from search engines or from radio and television ads, websites that are optimized for conversion can turn clicks into sales. Even if you only improve your conversion rate by one half of one percent, you can increase your sales exponentially based on the volume of traffic that comes to your site. In fact, an optimal scenario for conversion rate optimization involves cutting back on your online advertising spend while your sales increase.

Here are a few fast tips for conversion optimization, starting with the most basic.

1. Look at the site. This may sound unusual, but in many cases executives and online store owners who aren’t aware of how their current websites look. If you plan on pushing a significant volume of traffic toward the site, ask yourself if you would buy a product from the site. Next, try to buy a product or finish a transaction on the site itself, and ask yourself if the process was easy enough for an average person.
2. Test the site on an average person. Get someone who hasn’t used the site to perform an action, or follow the shopping process up to the checkout section. Watch how they are using the site without offering suggestions on how to find something. Note that if you have to personally point out the required steps to making a transaction, your site may need a redesign.
3. Copy your competitors. If you know that one or two of your rivals are making a lot of sales online, you may want to emulate the shopping process. (Note that you should never copy site content or trademarked terms.) Ideally, you should have looked at 10 or more of your competitors in the sponsored and natural search engine results, and made notes on what aspects of the site a customer may find appealing. It may feel like cheating, but a window shopper in your field will develop a certain expectation about the look and feel of a site selling your product or service. If your site is significantly different from ones that sell similar wares, you may have a problem.
4. Land paid traffic on relevant pages. The closer you can match a keyword to a page that matches the search query, the more likely you are to make a conversion. In the world of sponsored traffic, “landing pages” are specific to their search terms, and some of the top ecommerce sites have multiple landing pages designed to closely match the end user’s search query. Even if you don't want to create new pages, dropping PPC on more relevant site pages can result in improved sales.
5. Learn about conversion enhancers. There are a lot of landing page optimization tricks for getting better results. Many different factors go into improved conversions, from clear calls to action, to trust indicators, to reduced friction in the buying process. Sometimes a single change can double a conversion rate, but usually it takes a lot of little changes to make your site work the way you want it to. There are even sites like MarketingExperiments.com which have case studies related to various conversion enhancement techniques.
6. Fix your Pay-Per-Click advertising. In some cases, a website is already adequate for conversion optimization, but the traffic being sent to the site is no good. If you’re managing PPC in-house, it always pays to get a second opinion, either from a consultant or an outside agency. If you pay an agency to manage your online marketing, ask to see the list of keywords and average conversion rate for each keyword. While there are a lot of factors in pay-per-click marketing, the average conversion rate should be at least 2.5% on a search-matching campaign.

One of the best ways to instill the need for higher conversions is to impress the cost of web traffic on your employees and outside agencies. Depending on the size of your operation, you may be spending a few thousand dollars a month or several million, whether this money goes to online sources or traditional media. If you can identify the value of a single customer, you can quickly calculate the potential ROI improvement that comes from optimizing your conversion rate. In some cases, a new customer or lead may only be worth a few dollars, but there are some companies (particularly those with longer sales cycles) that can make millions of dollars of a single client. In a high value case, a cost per conversion of ten thousand dollars may be a bargain, but most online stores would like to keep their CPA below a certain percentage (like 15%) of an actual sale.

Finally, it cannot be stressed enough that conversion rate optimization is a never ending process. Testing and improvement should be continuous, since your online rivals will be periodically updating their own sites, adding new features, and keeping up with general trends in ecommerce and site design. At Web.com Search Agency, we have taken on new clients who previously had a great conversion rate, but lost market share over time because they did not keep up with advanced conversion practices. Having a fresh, easy to follow site that presents limited obstacles in the sales process is a fantastic way to increase sales, even if the amount of traffic to your site stays the same or goes down.

What Does “Above the Fold” Mean?

“Above the Fold” is a newspaper term that has been adapted to web design. Originally, it referred to the information that was on the front page of a newspaper on the top section. Newspapers are sold on street corners, in vending machines, or at newsstands, so the biggest stories had to have easy to read headlines in an obvious place in order to get purchased. In website design, “above the fold” is equally applicable in the sense that the most important or actionable information should be visible without people having to scroll down.

As a selling point, having a clear message above the fold on your website is more important than it ever was for a newspaper. Most ecommerce and lead generation websites pay far more than the cost of a newspaper to get one person to visit the site. Whether you are purchasing traffic through an agency or Pay-Per-Click (PPC) service like Google Adwords, you will quickly find that the best converting keywords can cost anywhere from fifty cents to twenty seven dollars per click! If you’re investing this kind of money in one set of eyeballs, you should make sure that the landing page (the relevant page on your site, which should be the best match for your keyword) presents information to the reader quickly and encourages them to take action right away.

Eye tracking studies on popular sites like Google show how much value the top of a webpage contains. On a search engine, 100% of the people see the first three results, which is why people use search engine optimization techniques or Pay-Per-Click marketing to appear in these spaces. The shape of the “heat map” for eye tracking on Google is called the “golden triangle,” because of the value found in that section of above-the-fold space.

On a regular website, people have been conditioned to look for information in the center for information, and the top right for phone numbers, so there should always be a clear message at the top of just about every page on your website. Remember that you don’t have a lot of control over how or where people land on your site, so useful information should be built into the top and center of every page. As a side note, it has been observed that placing a contact form on the right margin “marginalizes” it, so it gets less attention than it would get if it were closer to the middle of the webpage. For people who get most of their customers through form fill-outs, even a small increase in conversion rate can be the difference between profitability and bankruptcy, so this should be one angle that is exploited whenever possible.

Another industry term used in website conversion optimization is “hero shot” which essentially refers to your product or service as the “hero” of the page. Logically, the image should convey that the product/service is the heroic solution to whatever problem or need that the customer wants addressed. People respond to images more quickly than they do text, so a picture showing how the product solves a problem will get a reaction. Depending on the landing page, the hero shot should be as relevant as possible to the search term. It generally goes in the upper center of the page below the header, which is sometimes called the "hero space."

One way to find out how well your on-page content is working is to use click tracking and analytics tools. Google Analytics has an overlay feature that shows which links people click on. Crazyegg and Clicktale offer even more advanced features which will either show you a heat map for user behavior or actual movies of mouse movement. This kind of advanced analytics is invaluable for testing site design and conversion features, because you can get unbiased information about how your site is performing.

The best information to put above the fold is your phone number, a brief contact form, or your top product categories and pricing. Secondarily, trust is a huge factor in turning visitors into customers, so you should be showing trust indicators like secure site logos, accreditations, and BBB membership information where people will see it right away. If you take credit cards and PayPal, you should have the logos visible right away, since acceptance of certain cards may be the difference between a sale and a lost visit.

The most important takeaway for the “above the fold” philosophy is that you want to create a quick value proposition that encourages people to stay on your website and get the information that they need. In the same way that newspapers offer a concise and attention grabbing headline to sell all the pages inside, your landing page’s above-the-fold (or "above-the-crease") space should do the same thing. No matter how traffic comes to your site, or what pages people land on, the "above the scroll” information is going to be the factor that determines whether you keep your audience or lose a potential customer.

Landing Page Optimization

In most cases, getting people to visit your website takes time and money. Unless you have a popular site with built-in traffic, you are probably counting on offline advertising, pay-per-click, search engine optimization to bring people to your online business presence.

If people are coming to your website and leaving without buying anything, you definitely want to “optimize” the page for conversion, which is somewhat different than “search engine optimization,” which makes your site popular with search engine robots. Landing page optimization is the process of improving any page that gets direct traffic from search engines, banner ads, marketing initiatives (including TV and Radio), or email.

Here is a list of the most common landing page optimization factors that improve your conversion rate:

1. Trust Indicators. The most common indicators are similar to the Hackersafe Logo, which shows that the site is safe, and the Verisign Logo which tells the user that your transactions are secure. If you’re part of the BBB online program, then using their seal is highly recommended on the landing page. Note that a modern looking site with a clean user experience is a very big trust indicator in itself, so if your website has grainy images, stark shopping cart pages, and an antiquated look, it will lose conversions.
2. Credit Card Logos & PayPal – People want to see the cards that you accept and the PayPal logo (assuming you take PayPal.) Even though credit card acceptance is assumed by most people, they aren’t always sure you’ll take their card, especially if it is a Discover or Diner’s Club card. Better yet, if you do take card types that are less common than Visa and MasterCard, these users have more of an incentive to use you in the future.
3. Accreditations – Similar to trust indicators, accreditations give third-party evidence that you are a reliable source. If you’re a private school, there are private school associations that have accreditations. If you’re a university, you can reference the state or federal agency that accredits your school, library, laboratory, or instruction program.
4. Calls to action – You can never be too obvious when you tell people what you want them to do. If you want them to fill out a form, put it in the middle of the page. If you want them to call, say “call now” in the brightest colors on the page. Many sites have multiple elements competing for attention, but the call to action should be the biggest draw.
5. Phone number – If you take phone calls, you should make the phone number visible on every page of your website, and especially the landing pages. Sometimes the biggest key to online success involves adding a phone number, which can create more leads than a form or shopping cart.
6. Message Matching – If you’re running an online ad for “zebra shirts” then the landing page should have the same term prominently placed in the text above the fold, or a picture of a zebra shirt should be present right away. Site users should not have to look very hard to find the product that they are already looking for. No matter what the offer, product, or point of view, customers will stick with you if you can keep the promise you made in your ad text.

The optimization of landing pages is a continuous process which is well worth the effort. If your site is profitable, you can improve your margins by making the shopping process easier. If your site is getting traffic that doesn’t convert, you will want to test out different landing page configurations before giving up. If you are running different ads for the same product, you can test out messages, colors, image placement, and many other factors in order to see which approach makes the most money.

Finally, a landing page should convey the same amount of trust as your homepage, if not more. Most savvy marketers will land paid traffic on a specific landing page with messaging designed to match the offer or product in the ad. This page has to create instant confidence in the mind of the user, so many of the same things you would put on your homepage are applicable to a landing page as well. Similarly, the rest of the shopping process should continue the trust theme, right up through the order confirmation. By having confident customers who believe in your website, your conversion rate can beat that of your competitors, which allows you to expand your online business while improving profitability.

Web Page Conversion Optimization and My “Phone Book” Rule

Before I get to my "phone book" rule, I want to share some ideas about how customers view the web pages they land on. When it comes to customer conversion optimization, here are a few guiding principles that every webmaster should keep in mind when designing a website, or updating it:

1. Every Page is a Selling Page. Even Contact and “About Us” pages.
2. If someone comes to your site by way of a search engine, they have a pretty good idea about what they’re looking for.
3. You can’t be too obvious when telling your customers what you want them to do.
4. Too many bright colors can be confusing.
5. Any "auto play" animation or video that is not part of the call to action will distract the viewer. The same goes for sounds and music.

So what is my “phone book” rule? Simply stated, it says that you shouldn’t leave out any information on a web page if you would normally put it in a phone book ad. First and foremost, this means placing your phone number on every page, assuming you want people to call you. If you’re selling anything online, you will be surprised at the number of people who are afraid to complete an order through a secure shopping cart, but not afraid to give a credit card number to a complete stranger over the phone. Secondarily, there are people who will not complete their transactions until they talk to a live person.

Continuing with the phone book rule, you should have a brief, compelling message about your services. You should indicate what credit cards you accept, and you should use the BBB logo if you are a member. If you have any accreditations, endorsements, association memberships, awards, or endorsements you can legally use in an ad, you should consider adding them to the website unless you have so many that they become obtrusive.

How does the phone book rule integrate with the principles of conversion optimization?

• Search Engines will land customers on whatever page of your site is most relevant to the original search query. Therefore, since every page is a selling page, the customer will get the message. If you know anything about “bounce rates” (the ratio of visitors who leave your site after landing on only one page) then you are aware of the need to communicate before your potential customers click the “back” button.
• Customers have something in mind when they get to your site. The messaging “above the fold” on the page should reinforce the search query, and explain the product/service in more depth as the page goes down. If you're buying paid traffic that isn't getting results, we have PPC Management services that can help you find out why.
• The call to action should be remarkably clear. If you want people to fill out a form, put the form in the middle of the page, and make sure it is the most obvious piece of visual real estate. To see this principle in operation, take a look at eSurance.com. Better phone book ads take advantage of this principle by making the phone number the most prominent item in the ad.
• Bright colors attract the human eye. Yellow on black seems to work better than red. Green and orange also draw attention. If all these colors are on the same page, the reader suddenly doesn’t know what to do. Until a few years ago, the only other color you could get in a phone book ad was red, and it cost more because it worked wonders.
• Granted, there are no animations in the phone book. It doesn’t need them. Video and animation can work very well for conversion optimization when they include a call to action and are the focal point on a page. If not, the human eye focus on any animation that is automatically executed (doesn’t require a click to begin) and your message could be missed. When it comes to sound, you should remember that quite a few people surreptitiously shop online while at work and they will click away from your site if it suddenly becomes audible.

My “phone book” rule almost always comes to mind when I speak with prospective customers. Almost all of our clients come to us with a website that has been active for some time but has not gained much traction. Several prospects have good traffic but aren’t making sales. In most of these cases we can jump-start the process with a simple addition of a phone number to every page. After that, the conversion optimization process can really begin.

Every website is different, and every customer niche has its own pattern of behavior. The advantage of a website vs. a phone book is that you can change the site’s message frequently until you get the results you want, or use multivariate testing to see what approach gets the most conversions. You can even use customer tracking software to record visitor interactions with the site, and follow recorded mouse movements to see what people are looking for. Once you have enough knowledge, you will have a web page that turns visitors into sales, and you might even think about dropping that old ad in the phone book.