THIS BOOK INTRODUCED YOU TO A FRAMEWORK that should apply to any marketing or sales effort you run online or offline. The principles of the Conversion Framework guide how you should interact with prospects, how they view your product or service, and whether they are persuaded by your offer. At the heart of the Conversion Framework is the belief that customers are the focal point of any successful marketing effort.
The first three elements of this deal with the initial part of the conversion process. These are:
Understanding your website visitors through personas
Gaining visitors’ trust and confidence
Designing your website for the different buying stages
These elements demonstrated how to translate marketing information into personas that have needs, wants, and fears. You no longer talk about a generic marketing segment, but rather about a specific persona that guides the creation of every element on your website. As visitors land on your website, your first task is to convince them to stay by gaining their trust. Visitors decide whether they trust your website in less than one second. And confidence is built through a long-term relationship with your customers. Of course, not every website visitor is ready to buy. Visitors come at different buying stages. Each stage requires you to present customers with various designs and information to persuade them eventually to convert. Designing for different types of personas at different buying stages is one of the most complex elements of conversion optimization.
The next three elements of the Conversion Framework deal with the latter part of the conversion process. These are:
Understanding the impact of FUDs that cause visitors to exit the conversion funnel
Motivating visitors to convert by utilizing offers and incentives
Creating a website that engages visitors and persuades them to convert
In a time where many ecommerce websites look like copies of each other, engaging visitors can set you apart from your competition. The longer customers stay on your website, and the more they are motivated to visit your website and refer friends to it, the higher the chances of a conversion. But this conversion does not happen without removing many of the FUDs visitors face when attempting to place an order. Even highly motivated prospects can lose interest if they start doubting your company. A good way to combat some of the FUDs is to use incentives at the right place.
The seventh element asks you to test every change you make against the original design. By testing, you judge the effectiveness of the principles of the Conversion Framework. In many instances, our clients have tried to skip the testing phase. They’ve told us they are looking for best practices to implement quickly on their sites, which is a shortsighted approach. Although best practices are an important consideration, it’s also important to remember that what works for one website may not work for another.