Conversion Rate Optimization Lifts Lead Generation by 91.4% for Green Tech Company

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1 WIDERFUNNEL MARKETING OPTIMIZATION CASE STUDY Conversion Rate Optimization Lifts Lead Generation by 91.4% for Green Tech Company Find out how The Green Guide, a publication offering expert advice on Green Tech investments, generated 91.4% more leads as a result of testing copy approaches and form placement on its paid search landing page. To say that we were surprised with the results would be an understatement. The conversion rate has more than doubled within a week of going live. Even though they are on the other side of the planet from us, WiderFunnel are a pleasure to work with. I really appreciate the energy, talent and graciousness WiderFunnel brings to the task. They listen to what we want, and more importantly, deliver all that they say they will, and in a very timely manner. Mushitak Dost Director, Trafford Consulting SL Marketing Agency for The Green Guide Business Sector Optimized Conversion Test Website Green Tech Financial Services Lead Generation A/B/n Test THE CLIENT: TRAFFORD CONSULTING Trafford Consulting is a marketing, public relations and advertising services company, primarily focused on providing expertise to emerging growth and new technology companies. Located in Barcelona, Spain, the organization has an international client base and works with a variety of service providers across the globe. One of Trafford s clients, the first large-scale carbon credits aggregator in the world, publishes a free investment report called The Green Guide as a lead generation mechanism. The guide offers investment information in layman s terms and is aimed at both private and public sector investors. THE BUSINESS NEED Trafford Consulting, on behalf of its large-scale carbon credits aggregator client, crafted a marketing plan using marketing tactics proven to be effective in their client s market space: traditional PR, advertising in industry publications and (c) 2010 WiderFunnel Marketing Inc. p. 1

2 tradeshows. Although successful, this approach was very costly, particularly because it needed to reach multiple global geographies, concurrently. As part of the strategy, Trafford built on its off-line efforts and began promoting The Green Guide online via a paid search campaign which directed traffic to a purposebuilt landing page. This migration to an online model provided the company with asyet untapped opportunities for lowering their client s cost of acquisition -- and Trafford wanted to get it right. The landing page was considered to be good at converting visitors into leads, but Trafford wanted to squeeze the most possible conversions out of their client s paid search investments to demonstrate the power of online marketing. So, in order to improve the conversion rate, Trafford decided it needed to embark on a testing and optimization strategy. THE CHALLENGES Trafford had tried a variety of techniques to improve the performance of The Green Guide landing page but reached a plateau. Management became frustrated with the failed attempts at tweaking the landing page to improve the conversion rate. Management knew it needed to improve the ability of the landing page to get a higher percentage of anonymous web visitors to complete the registration form, yet it lacked the internal resources expert in developing a sustainable experimentation strategy and alternative hypotheses that will measurably improve the conversion rate. THE SOLUTION Trafford brought WiderFunnel on board to optimize a number of web pages for Trafford s clients, beginning with The Green Guide landing page. As a specialized full-service conversion optimization and web analytics agency, WiderFunnel handled the conversion optimization project in its entirety. The team developed the complete test plan including hypotheses, wireframes, graphic design, copy and development and executed the test using Google Website Optimizer. The WiderFunnel team used the WiderFunnel LIFT Model to analyze the page and developed a Conversion Optimization strategy. The strategic outcome showed that a dramatic redesign A/B/n test, also called a variable cluster test, should be used in this first round, leading to Multivariate testing in future test rounds. (A variable cluster test allows many variables to change within each variation, which allows for significant conversion rate improvement to be realized quickly.) The WiderFunnel team developed and tested 3 dramatically redesigned variations of The Green Guide landing page, which included wholesale changes to the graphic design and copywriting approach. (c) 2010 WiderFunnel Marketing Inc. p. 2

3 Variation A: Simple This page variation used the same factual-based copy as the control, except for the headline and intro paragraph. Many design changes were made: The old 3-column layout was reframed into 2 columns A new graphic header area was created to guide the eyeflow An image of the guide cover was added to increase tangibility Distracting imagery was removed The color palette was adjusted to communicate credibility The form was redesigned Calls-to-Action (CTA s) were rewritten and increased in prominence. Variation B: Below the Fold In this page variation, WiderFunnel chose to test a different copy approach, using a long sales letter. In addition, the lead generation form was moved below the fold, allowing the story to unfold before the reader is presented with a CTA. The layout, colors and design elements were similar to Variation A. Variation C: Multiple CTA s For this page variation, WiderFunnel kept the persuasive copy of Variation B s long sales letter but also included a prominent lead generation form above the fold and multiple CTA s throughout the page. The layout, colors and design elements were also similar to Variation A. Each of the variations included design and copy tactics that have been shown to work in many similar lead generation tests so the team was not surprised to achieve a conversion rate lift. The magnitude of the lift, however, was a surprise. THE RESULTS: 91.4% INCREASE IN CONVERSIONS! All page variations created by WiderFunnel generated a conversion rate lift over the Control page (see Fig. 1), ranging from 60% to 91.4%. The winning page was Variation C Multiple CTA s (see Fig. 2) with its long sales letter copy and above-the-fold lead generation form. (c) 2010 WiderFunnel Marketing Inc. p. 3

4 Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Original (Control) Landing Page Winning Test Page: 91.4% Increase in Form Fills! NEXT STEPS: FURTHER REFINEMENT OF TESTING HYPOTHESES With a significantly higher conversion rate from A/B/n testing, the team is now able to continue the improvement through Multivariate testing. More importantly, the client can now take advantage of more costly traffic generation opportunities and still produce a profitable campaign. (c) 2010 WiderFunnel Marketing Inc. p. 4

5 LEARN MORE Learn how WiderFunnel can help you increase your conversion rates too. Visit to: Read more case studies Sign up for blog updates by or RSS For immediate help to improve your conversion rate, contact a conversion optimization expert. Call or Hello@WiderFunnel.com (c) 2010 WiderFunnel Marketing Inc. p. 5