Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have in Common

Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have in Common

BEST-SELLING SITES: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have in Common People often describe a great book as a page turner. It is an apt description for a best-selling novel, but not necessarily for an e-commerce or business website especially if your website is turning potential customers away from its pages. With real-time web personalization, your website can share many of the same characteristics of a best-selling novel including the ability to absorb and draw the reader into the action. Every good book can be described as having a captivating beginning, an engaging middle and a satisfying ending. Ask yourself: Does my website do the same? Because a website experience that is captivating, engaging and satisfying will deliver increased conversions and ultimately more revenue. Let s explore your website the same way we might consume a popular novel. Chances are that, like a great story, what you learn about real-time web personalization will leave you wanting more out of your customer s online experience, to be precise. Upcoming Webinar! Regi ster N ow 2 Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have In Common

THE BEGINNING / THE OPENING LINE It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. So many great novels start with an unforgettable line - the hook that pulls you in. Without it, a novel can quickly become a forgettable experience. The same goes for your website. Most web experiences fail to capture the visitor s attention in a meaningful and relevant way. And although you might think that s a challenge with first-time visitors, it can be done. And it s a critical first step to improving engagement and conversion. A great way to start is by using the referring source. One of the easiest ways to grab your visitor s attention the moment they arrive is to acknowledge how they got there. Use the referring source -- a pay-per-click or email campaign, social media or affiliate website, or search engine -- to produce a personalized welcome. This simple approach using readily available information enables you to target a visitor based on his or her initial reason for visiting your website. With real-time web personalization, the visitor s experience can be more like this example. Sarah is searching on Google for a pair of blue heels for her weekend plans. She clicks on a PPC ad and is brought to a website where she is greeted with a personalized welcome message showcasing the item that she searched for. Since she s not sure exactly what she wants, she browses to a different section of the website in this case it s dresses. While she s there, a reminder message pops up to show her the blue heels again to remind her why she originally visited the site. By providing a personalized greeting, consumers feel welcome. Furthermore, optimizing content throughout your website continues that welcome, encouraging consumers to spend more time per visit. Both of these factors help increase your conversion rates. Now let s look at how real-time web personalization helps engage visitors in your story. 3 Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have In Common

THE MIDDLE / THE PLOT A great novel is typically driven by an engaging plot which could be characterized by compelling character development, interesting locations, dramatic action and, most importantly, compelling story devices that move the middle of the book along at an effective pace. The purpose of the plot is to get the reader to the story s climax, just as what happens on your website during a consumer s visit should be designed to drive him or her to an action. The end of your website s experience is (hopefully) a conversion. How do your visitors get there? Ideally, each website visitor should identify with your website s plot that is defined by RPI or Relationship, Persona and Intent. Marketers need to understand the visitor s relationship with your brand or product, their persona when perusing your website, and the intent of their visit. RPI is an essential formula for doing real-time personalization throughout your site and ultimately lead them to conversion. While most websites will present the same content and make the same offer to every visitor, real-time web personalization allows you to target individuals with relevant content in real time. Using RPI helps determine the very most pertinent content or offer and automatically serves it, page to page. With real-time web personalization, website experiences can be personalized like this example. Bob has previously visited and booked a trip through the Palms Resort Casino website. While planning an upcoming vacation, he returns and is researching vacation packages for next month. Bob has checked availability twice in the last two hours showing his interest but not purchasing. Using the principles of RPI, a static room page for the Palms Resort Casino has been transformed to provide a message tailored specifically to Bob s actions, prompting him to book a room in the next 24 hours. By personalizing the web experience, you enable your website to become a part of the visitor s story, understanding his character and the story devices that will moving him towards a dramatic action. Now let s go for the big finish. DEFINING RPI RELATIONSHIP What is the visitor s relationship with your brand or product? Are they a prospect or customer? Are they a browser or buyer? PERSONA Who is the visitor? What is their key demographic? What are their needs? Are they a loyal visitor or a casual browser? 4 Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have In Common INTENT What are they going to do on your website? Will they research or purchase? Will they look at one product or several?

THE END / THE CLIMAX One indication of a great book is an ending that leaves you wanting more. However, that s not necessarily what you want from your web experience. It shouldn t leave your visitors wanting more information. And it definitely shouldn t leave you wanting more revenue. Well, if you ve used the available data to deliver a more personalized welcome, and leveraged RPI to provide a more relevant web experience, you ve already made big strides towards increased conversions. But like a good book, there are some final story devices you can use to make sure your visitor leaves your website satisfied. In-Session Trigger: Automate a personalized call-to-action to visitors who show their interest by clicking through several pages or scrolling to the bottom of a page. Inactivity Message: Deliver a personalized message to visitors who are idle on a conversion page for 5, 10, 30 seconds to encourage the right action. Ensure your visitors respond to your targeted calls-to-action (CTAs) with: Second Chance: The visitor has come to your site for a reason. If they decide to bounce quickly, present them a helpful message or offer Dynamic Content: Present relevant content and offers based on past and in-session visitor behavior. For your visitors, the climax can look like this example thanks to real-time web personalization. Janet is spending several minutes on a software company s website, clicking and scrolling through several pages. She downloads a resource, but does not request a demo of the product. Janet returns for a second time. Since she has already browsed and downloaded, the website can determine that she is interested in its offerings. Janet is shown dynamic content that asks her to sign up for a demo, which she gladly does. There is a reason why real-time web personalization is the big story in the next generation of marketing websites. Help your visitors write their own success story as well as yours. 5 Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have In Common

MAKE YOUR WEBSITE A BEST SELLER / THE SEQUEL Consumers want relevancy now. It s time to make the most of your website experience for you and your customers. Evergage understands what s most effective in improving conversion rates across digital marketing channels, including increased customer engagement, better context through conversation, and more time on site and in your store. The proof is in how consistently we deliver these results for our clients: SIX TIMES INCREASES IN CUSTOMER ACQUISITION DOUBLE DIGIT INCREASE IN WEB CONVERSION RATES SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN BOUNCE PREVENTION AND AVERAGE PAGE VIEWS Real-Time Personalization Evergage s cloud-based platform empowers digital marketers to increase engagement and conversions of their visitors and users through real-time 1:1 personalization based on deep behavioral analytics and customer data. Contact Evergage at 888-310-0589 to speak to an expert about your needs today! 6 Best-Selling Sites: What Your Website and a Great Book Should Have In Common