Recently, we were able to generate a significant boost in conversions on our own website by using a tactic that we suggested to readers in our last issue of our monthly email newsletter: Selling by Design. In this article [3 Homepage Redesign Tests to Convert New Visitors] we suggest that marketers try promoting cross-channel marketing content on their homepages to encourage visitors from specific origins to click more deeply into the site.
When an article about our work with a client was published by MarketingSherpa, we jumped at the chance to test our own suggestion: we served content to MarketingSherpa readers that was targeted specifically to them. After all, we knew that they were interested in the content in the article, or they wouldn’t have clicked on the link. So we decided to offer content relevant to what they had just read. (To see the full-size image, click on the image.)
Here’s how it worked: on the lower right-hand side of our homepage, we created a “content slot” that allowed us to serve different content to visitors depending upon their place of origination.
Anyone who clicked through to our site from the Sherpa case study saw, in that slot, the MarketingSherpa logo, along with the text, “Cool Sherpa Article! Liked the MarketingSherpa article on Peet’s? Let us help you learn more about offer testing, emails, and more. Browse our library of articles and cases. Visit our blog. Contact us and let’s make it happen for you!”
Visitors coming from anywhere else (search engines, ads, typing the URL directly, etc.) saw the usual content - in this case, a section titled “How can it help me?” about Offermatica’s services.
Not surprisingly (but gratifyingly), those who clicked through from the Sherpa case study had double the conversion rate. That is, they clicked through to our contact page and filled out a form to receive more information significantly more often than the rest of our visitors.
That’s because they read an article that interested them enough to click through to the site and because we didn’t allow that interest to fade when they got there. Instead, we reinforced their interest by offering content relevant to what they had just read.
So consider this: choose a destination from which a segment of your visitors arrive (it could be a press mention that links to you, but it could also be an ad that you’re running, or another destination which you'd like to specifically target). Then, create a content slot for a section of your home page that allows for changing content.
To general visitors, serve the usual content that runs in that space. But for visitors from the targeted destination, offer content relevant to what they just read: Did CNET just run a review of one of your products that emphasized how great the product is for listening to music on the go? Then offer more content about on-the-go music.
Then, reinforce the message by, perhaps, including an image of that product along with the headline, “As reviewed by CNET.”
You can bet that conversions will rise. Better yet, as you learn to do this on a regular basis, your site becomes increasingly dynamic, offering targeted content to specific groups of visitors in a way that improves their site experience, their brand loyalty and, ultimately, your bottom line.