we examine top mistakes made by web-pros when designing client websites, which factors hurt conversion, and what you can do to get better results. Dive into visitor psychology, ideas that can significantly impact engagement, and watch Andy review sites submitted in real-time, based on his wealth of experience in content and design.

1. Presentation Title
Subtitle
Month, #, Year
How to turn client websites into
conversion engines
Get more value from every visitor forever

2. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Google Thank You
Page

3. Type of Conversion Contact Content Brand
Lead 🙋
Customer 🙋
Donor 🙋
Event Registrant 🙋 💡
Subscriber 💡
Downloader (guide, ebook, whitepaper) 💡
Webinar Registrant 💡
Follower / Fan 💡 ⭐
Member ⭐
Reviewer ⭐
Job Applicant ⭐

4. How to Increase Conversion Rates
LEAD

5. How to Increase Conversion Rates
CUSTOMER

6. How to Increase Conversion Rates
DONOR

7. Traffic x Conversion Rate = $

10. image source: Marco Verch, Flickr

11. Why don’t visitors convert?

13. How to Increase Conversion Rates
source: NN Group
Causes of User Failure

14. How to Increase Conversion Rates
QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

15. Why do people convert?

16. Recently hacked
Narrowing the options
Is this cloud-based? Does it integrate with X?
What are the service level agreements?
Show uptime statistics.
Schedule a demo.
Triggers
Decision Stage
Q’s and
Objections
How we can help?
Dave, Systems Engineer
Buys technology for his financial firm.

17. Recently hacked
Narrowing the options
Is this cloud-based? Does it integrate with X?
What are the service level agreements?
Show uptime statistics.
Schedule a demo.
Triggers
Decision Stage
Q’s and
Objections
How we can help?
Dave, Systems Engineer
Buys technology for his financial firm.

18. Recently hacked
Narrowing the options
Is this cloud-based? Does it integrate with X?
What are the service level agreements?
Show uptime statistics.
Schedule a demo.
Triggers
Decision Stage
Q’s and
Objections
How we can help?
Dave, Systems Engineer
Buys technology for his financial firm.

19. Recently hacked
Narrowing the options
Is this cloud-based? Does it integrate with X?
What are the service level agreements?
Show uptime statistics.
Schedule a demo.
Triggers
Decision Stage
Q’s and
Objections
How we can help?
Dave, Systems Engineer
Buys technology for his financial firm.

20. Recently hacked
Narrowing the options
Is this cloud-based? Does it integrate with X?
What are the service level agreements?
Show uptime statistics.
Schedule a demo.
Triggers
Decision Stage
Q’s and
Objections
How we can help?
Dave, Systems Engineer
Buys technology for his financial firm.

21. “I need some marketing technology...”
Can I put this behind my firewall?
“In the cloud or on-prem options available”
Logos of financial firms that use it
Chat with a data-security expert >>
QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

22. “I need some marketing technology...”
Can I put this behind my firewall?
“In the cloud or on-prem options available”
Logos of financial firms that use it
Chat with a data-security expert >>
QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

23. “I need some marketing technology...”
Can I put this behind my firewall?
“In the cloud or on-prem options available”
Logos of financial firms that use it
Chat with a data-security expert >>
QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

24. “I need some marketing technology...”
Can I put this behind my firewall?
“In the cloud or on-prem options available”
Logos of financial firms that use it
Chat with a data-security expert >>
QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

25. QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

26. ANSWERS UNCERTAINTY

27. 20 Questions
Let’s play

28. Questions to ask your
clients/customers…

29. Take me back to that moment when
you first realized you needed help.

30. What else did you try?
What didn’t you love about it?

31. What almost kept you
from buying from us?

32. What made you confident enough
to give us a try?

33. What made this
the best option for you?

34. When evaluating options,
what was most important to you?

35. What can you do now (or do better)
that you couldn’t do before?

36. Can you give me an example of when
this made a difference for you?

37. If you couldn’t work with us ever again,
what would you miss the most?

38. What’s the #1 thing you would tell
a friend if you wanted to convince
them to hire [company]?

39. Questions to ask
your top salesperson…

40. What questions are you just sick
and tired of answering?

41. What should people ask you,
but they usually don’t?

42. What is the A-ha moment
prospects have during sales calls?

43. What analogies do you use to
explain what we do?

44. What is the biggest number
you can get up to?

45. Fill in this blank: people can work
with us even if they ______.

46. Useful Words and Phrases

47. Because
“We offer on-site installs because not
everyone wants their data in the cloud…”

48. Should
“You should have access to your data,
anytime from anywhere.”

49. Already …still
“You’ve already upgraded your network, but
your still having performance issues.”

50. The fact is / The truth is
“The truth is that cloud-based applications
still crash, no matter what they promise.”

51. Even if
“You still have 100% access from anywhere
even if your services are on-site.”

52. QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

53. When evaluating
options, what was most
important to you?
Security was
the top priority,
then scalability.
Security
Marketing Client
Scalability

54. How to Increase Conversion Rates
When evaluating
options, what was most
important to you?
Security was
the top priority,
then scalability.
Security
Marketing Client
Scalability

55. How to Increase Conversion Rates
When evaluating
options, what was most
important to you?
Security was
the top priority,
then scalability.
Security
Marketing Client
Scalability

56. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Give me an example of
when this helped you?
You guys really
saved my bacon that
one time… “You guys really saved
my bacon…”
Marketing Client

57. How to Increase Conversion Rates
What was the biggest
challenge you were
hoping to solve?
I wanted better
insights, not just
dashboards
You already have
dashboards, but you’re
still not getting insights.
Marketing Client

58. How to Increase Conversion Rates
What can you do now
that you couldn’t do
before?
Now I don’t have
to run that report
every time
Stop running the same
reports again and again
Marketing Client

59. How to Increase Conversion Rates
What analogies do you use
to explain what we do?
On-site installation is
like owning your
own home
It’s like your house.
You should own your
own home.
Marketing Sales

60. How to Increase Conversion Rates
What is the biggest
number you can get up to?
We have 14,000
total end users
Trusted by 14,000
professionals
Marketing Sales

61. How to Increase Conversion Rates
What questions are you sick
and tired of answering?
“What if I want to
cancel my contract?”
Cancel anytime.
Marketing Sales

62. How to Increase Conversion Rates
What questions should people
ask you, but they don’t?
Prospects never ask
about our testing and
documentation
The fact is, 80% of
software installations
are never fully tested
or documented
Marketing Sales

64. source: B2B Service Page Checklist
The Anatomy of the “Perfect” B2B Service Page

65. 1. Short descriptive headline
2. Keyword focus
3. Quick visual credibility
4. Meaningful subheads
5. Answers to top questions
6. Short paragraphs
Service Page Checklist
7. Testimonials / social proof
8. Strong supportive visuals
9. Faces of your people
10. Data and statistics
11. Clean, simple flow
12. Depth and detail (800+ words)
13. Compelling call to action

66. They ask. You answer.
Marcus Sheridan
The Sales Lion

67. The Backyard BBQ Test
“So, what do you do for a living?”

69. This headline doesn’t clearly
describe the service

72. This headline says
exactly what they do

73. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Most homepage visitors don’t scroll
Composite scroll heat maps for 10 lead gen
website homepages (desktop only).
On average 73% of homepage visitors
do not see any below-the-fold content.

74. Descriptive Navigation Labels

75. How to Increase Conversion Rates

76. How to Increase Conversion Rates

79. First things first…

80. Sales pages have
two kinds of content

81. How to Increase Conversion Rates
ANSWERS What they came to find Clear
Meet visitors’
expectations
Answer questions
Address objections
Examples:
• “Can they help?”
• “How do they do it?
• “Who are they?”
EVIDENCE What we want them to find Compelling
Reasons to believe
Support our answers
Purpose / Passion
Examples:
• How well we do it
• Who we’ve done it for
• Why we do it this way

83. QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

84. EVIDENCE UNCERTAINTY

85. There are two kinds of evidence

86. Sales pages have
two kinds of content

87. How to Increase Conversion Rates
BIG EVIDENCE Quantitative numbers Appeals to the mind
with reason
Examples:
• % Increases, ROI
• Dollars / hours
saved
• Years in business
• Number of
happy clients
• Best seller
SMALL EVIDENCE Qualitative Stories Appeals to the heart
with emotion
Examples:
• Testimonials
• Case Studies
• Reviews

88. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Big Evidence: Data and Statistics

89. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Logo
Headline
Face, name, title,
company
Target keyphrase
Elements of a great testimonial

90. source: B2B Service Page Checklist
The Anatomy of the “Perfect” B2B Service Page

91. Put your best evidence …on a rarely visited page?

92. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Message, messengers and formats

93. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Message, messengers and formats

94. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Message, messengers and formats

95. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Message, messengers and formats

96. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Message, messengers and formats

97. Who’s the best messenger for this message?
What is the best format?

98. Movement is more powerful than images.
Images are more powerful than text.

99. How to Increase Conversion Rates

100. Calls to Actions

101. QUESTION
ANSWER
EVIDENCE
CALL TO ACTION

102. Specificity drives conversions

103. source: Michael Aagard

104. source: Michael Aagard

105. How to Increase Conversion Rates

106. How to Increase Conversion Rates
BENEFITS COSTS

107. How to Increase Conversion Rates
RETURN INVESTMENT

108. How to Increase Conversion Rates

109. How to Increase Conversion Rates

110. How to Increase Conversion Rates

111. How to Increase Conversion Rates

112. How to Increase Conversion Rates

113. How to Increase Conversion Rates

114. How to Increase Conversion Rates

115. How to Increase Conversion Rates

116. How to Increase Conversion Rates

117. How to Increase Conversion Rates

118. How to Increase Conversion Rates

121. How to Grow Your List
Start with your mission

124. Our content is where…
[audience x] gets
[information y] that offers
[benefit z].

125. Our content is where…
[audience x] gets
[information y] that offers
[benefit z].

126. Our content is where…
[audience x] gets
[information y] that offers
[benefit z].

127. Our content is where…
[audience x] gets
[information y] that offers
[benefit z].

128. Our content
[audience x]
[information y]
[benefit z]
1. Our blog, articles and resources
2. Our newsletters
3. Our social media posts
4. Our videos, events, podcasts
…and every other format we use

129. Our content
[audience x]
[information y]
[benefit z]
1. Potential customers
2. Anyone we can help through our
expert advice

130. Our content
[audience x]
[information y]
[benefit z]
1. Tips, advice, insights, strategies
and checklists
2. Stories
3. Ideas and inspiration
4. Research and reports
5. News and trends

131. Our content
[audience x]
[information y]
[benefit z]
Why they should click, visit, read,
watch, listen, share
…and pay attention to your content

132. Where digital marketers find practical advice
on content, analytics and web design
to get better results from their websites.

133. Where digital marketers find practical advice
on content, analytics and web design
to get better results from their websites.

134. Where digital marketers find practical advice
on content, analytics and web design
to get better results from their websites.

135. Where digital marketers find practical advice
on content, analytics and web design
to get better results from their websites.

136. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Source: Content Marketing Institute

137. Marketers who document their
mission statement are 3x more
likely to succeed.

138. Source: Content Marketing Institute
“Do you have an editorial mission statement?”

139. Turn your mission
into your email CTA

140. Where digital marketers find practical advice
on content, analytics and web design
to get better results from their websites.

144. The 3 P’s of email signup forms

145. 1. Prominence
2. Promise
3. Proof
source: Email Signup Forms, Orbit Media
The 3 P’s of Signup Boxes

146. Find and Fill the Gaps

147. What’s missing from your website?
...unsatisfying

148. What’s missing from your website?
...unsatisfying
...weak

149. What’s missing from your website?
...unsatisfying
...weak
...not compelling

150. Out of context answers
FAQ Page

151. Out of context evidence
Testimonials Page

152. Before and After

155. The ROI of CRO

161. THANK YOU!

162. The (data-driven) case against sliders.
And the (data-driven) case for stacking.

168. What drives Local SEO?
Many, consistent instances of the company
NAP (name, address, phone number)

169. How to Increase Conversion Rates
Source: David Mihm, Whitespark