the great cro conspiracy revealed

#SMX #14B3 @larrykim

Larry Kim, Founder of WordStream, Inc.


What do Pope Francis & Larry Have

in Common?


Both Obsessed With Conversions!


You are a member of the CRO Rebellion …

and a Traitor!


Download Slides: bit.ly/big-cro


EPIPHANY #1:

The Classic

A/B Test is a

Fairy Tale


Typical Conversion Rate Optimization Test

• The early lead disappears! • Gains don’t persist over time.


EPIPHANY #2:

Most Marketing

Departments

Are Delusional

about CRO


CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION

I WANT TO BELIEVE


TYPICAL A/B TEST IS OVERRATED


Small Changes Usually Result in Small Changes

The percentage increase you think you got is probably not real.


A/B Testing Strategy is Often Like Rearranging Deck Chairs on the Titanic


CRO EPIPHANY #3:

CRO Often Just Increases Quantity

of Leads at the Expense of Quality

VS


Higher Conversion Rate = (Much) Lower % Marketing Qualified Lead Rate

Landing Conversion Rate

% Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)

1% 2% 4% 7%

18%

2%

5%

9%


EPIPHANY #4:

(HIGHER THAN YOU THINK!)

What is a Good

Conversion Rate?


Forest vs. Trees


What’s a good Conversion Rate?Search Conversion Rate Distribution

Median: 2.35%

Top 25%: 5.31% and Above

Top 10%: 11.45% and Above

SH

AR

E O

F A

LL

AC

CO

UN

TS

SEARCH CONVERSION RATEWordStream Client Data, not Official Google Data.


Donkeys vs. Unicorns

Distribution Point Conversion Rate Vs. Average Comments

AVERAGE 2.35% - DONKEYS

TOP 25% 5.31% 2X AWESOME

TOP 10% 11.45% 5X UNICORNS

UNICORNS CONVERT 5X BETTER THAN DONKEYS


Aim for 3-5x Increases, NOT 3-5%


Most Conversion Rate Optimization Efforts Actually More Like …


How to make:Conversion Rates Go Up & Stay Up Forever & Not Kill Lead Quality


Big CRO: 5 Conversion Rate Hacks That Yield Massive 3-5x Conversion Rate Improvements


Larry’s #5 Big CRO Hack

Eliminate Landing Pages


Rethinking the Marketing Funnel:Two Parts to this Story

1. You can

bypass this

funnel entirely!

2. You can

eliminate or

invert entire

sections of

this funnel!


Skip Landing Page! Use Call Buttons


Call Buttons are Game Changers

Desktop Search Conversion Funnel

Mobile Conversion Funnel

1. Sees Ad

2. Clicks on Ad

3. Vists Website Landing Page

4. Lead Captured

1. Sees Ad

2. Calls Business

3. Lead Captured

No Leaky Landing Page!

Golden Rule of Mobile: “Calls to businesses are worth +3x more than clicks to websites”


Dramatically Increase Contact & Qualification Rates

Contact rates significantly drop off after 5 minutes. Why? Declining interest, alternate solutions, etc.

CONTACT RATE100x decrease from 5 min to 30 min

QUALIFICATION RATE21x decrease from 5 min to 30 min

CO

NTA

CT

RA

TE

TIME

Source: MIT


Force Mobile Searchers to Call You

Users are 9x more likely to

place a call from a mobile

SERP than a desktop.


Literally just pay for

calls to your business!

New Call-Only Campaigns in AdWords


Larry’s #4 Big

CRO Hack

Eliminate Landing Pages Using New Ad Formats


New Facebook Social Direct Response Ad Formats


Twitter Lead Generation Card Format

User’s Name, Email

and Twitter Name are

automatically emailed

or posted to you!


Larry’s #3 Big CRO Hack

Make Site Visitors More Likely to Convert


Conversion Rate

is Defined as:

(Captured Leads /

Website Visitors) *100%

Huge leverage in changing

the “Website Visitors” part

of the equation by sending

more qualified traffic.

How?

Captured Lead

View Landing Page

Website Visitors

CLOSED DEAL!


Shopping Ads Steal all the Conversions!

Price & Image Info Communicated

*BEFORE* Clicking Ad!


New Automotive Ad Formats More Likely to Inspire Actions

Image Carousel With Detailed Info

Call or Get Directions


New Mobile Hotel Ad Experiences

Ratings Info!

Click to Book!


New Shopping Experiences

Expandable Product Card

Reviews and Ratings

Local Inventory Ads


Compare and Buy Insurance Online

Expandable Product Card

DetailedReviews

CallLocal Agent


Use Google to Get a Credit Card

Compare Rates

Support for Regional Banks


Get a Mortgage!

Latest RatesRatings

and Details


Google is Taking All the Conversions


As sale ends (or quantity

goes to zero), CVR

increases up to 3x!

Use Ad Customizers to Create Urgency & Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

Urgency impacts

Conversions


Go Nuts With Ad Customizers

Consider doing “Perpetual Sales”


Clone Your Audience List Using Similar Audiences!


In Facebook and Twitter: Upload Customer Emails, Phone Numbers, Social IDs.

Leverage the Power of Ad Platforms to Find

the Needle in the Haystack For You!


Summary: Three Ways to Make Visitors More Likely to Convert

• New ad experiences

inspire action

• Ad customizers create

urgency

• Find more converters

with similar audiences


Larry’s #2 Big CRO Hack:

Super

Remarketing

I’LL BE

BACK


What’s The Biggest Difference??


Super Remarketing = Be Picky!

In Super-Remarketing, Cast a Narrow Net, Maximize Conversion Rates.


Precise Ad Targeting Boosts Engagement Rate


Demographic Ad Targeting in Facebook


Behold The Power of Super-Remarketing!

Behavioral & Interest Targeting =

They’re interested in your stuff

Remarketing = They Recently

Checked Out Your Stuff

Demographic Targeting =

They Can Afford to Buy Your Stuff

Target a Narrow

Audience That Meets

all 3 Criteria = $$$


Power of Super Remarketing

So Push HARD OFFERS (Sign-Ups,

Consultations, Downloads, etc.)

Engagement

Rates!

Conversion

Rates!

3X2X


Weird Thing About Remarketing

Conversion

Rates

Increase With

More Ad

Impressions


Remarketing CRO Hack: Be Bold!

• Set Membership Duration: 3x Avg. Sale Cycle

• Set Impression Caps to Unlimited!

• Run Multiple Ads Per Campaign!


Larry’s #1

Big CRO Hack

Change Sign-Up Flow


Typical Software Download Form


New Sign-Up Flow: Register at End


Example #2: Change Sign-Up Flow By Letting Users Decide + Emotional Triggers


Larry’s Bonus Big CRO Hack

Change Your Offer (in a Big Way)


Free Trial vs. Free AdWords Grader Report


Rethinking CRO:

3 Key Takeaways


Conventional CRO is Table

Stakes, Not a Growth Strategy.

Focus on BIG CRO instead!

PLACE

MINIMUM BET

Larry’s #1 CRO Takeaway


Big Changes

=

Big Changes.


Small Changes

=

Small Changes.



Don’t Settle For Average.

Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys!


Thank You SMX East!