Problems with conversions

[AccurateWeb]

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place.

I recently re-designed a site for a client (www.tub1day.com). He only had a home page and a couple of form pages to which his Google and Yahoo! PPC campaigns were directed. He had been having trouble with people not filling out his form after they got there and he thought re-designing the site would increase conversions.

Well it's only been a few days since the redesign has been live and he has gotten a few responses but not enough for his liking. I told him to change the landing page to match the content of his ad. We'll see if he does that.

I was wondering if anybody with a little experience with this kind of thing has any advice for me.

Thanks

[Ted S]

There's lots going on here that may be contributing to the lack of responses but there's probably a few tweaks that will have a major impact before you have to worry about the fine details.

- The form button is ugly, doesn't stand out and is only on the end of the page
- The button is for a quote, a quote requires money but offers nothing in return. Where's the incentive?
- Every form field is required. Why?
- If I don't fill out a form field the error I get is "Entry is Required" what on earth does that mean?
- There's a reset button on the form. Why?
- Subtle offer. I see a free quote but it's very hidden and really, what is a free quote? Go for a stronger offer and make it stand out.

That should be enough to get you started. If you want some great advice on landing pages, I highly suggest the articles at Marketing Sherpa or even better, their Landing Page handbook.

P.S. When you say bad conversion, just how bad is it? And just how many people make it to the second step (the form) versus the homepage?

[BlueMoon32]

I don't know...I like that button. It has cool design to it.

But for the ones who don't like it, or have mix feeling s about it, I don't think that would stop them from clicking on it. Would it?

How many daily hits is he getting, and how many are clicking?

I love how you did that background color, with the drops in it. Do you hire yourself out to Webmasters who are not in your area for something like that?

[AccurateWeb]

Thanks for your input Ted S. Here are my responses to your points.

- The form button is ugly, doesn't stand out and is only on the end of the page

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as evidenced by BlueMoon32's response. I can see your point about it being only at the end of the page but, otherwise, how does it not stand out in your opinion?

- The button is for a quote, a quote requires money but offers nothing in return. Where's the incentive?

I suppose I could change the wording to "Free Quote". In my experience I've never had to pay for a quote of any kind before. That would be a service not an estimate cost for services, no? The incentive should be in the text before the quote request. I'll have to take a critical look at that text and consider re-wording.

- Every form field is required. Why?

Well, he needs to know who he will be calling to set up an appointment to gather the info needed for the quote. As he operates in a limited area, where the prospect lives is important. I suppose we could get away with only requiring town and maybe state. We can probably do without the phone number so long as we get an email address. I'll run that by my client.

- If I don't fill out a form field the error I get is "Entry is Required" what on earth does that mean?

Yeah. Funky wording huh? I'll change that.

- There's a reset button on the form. Why?

Yes. Why? Consider it gone.

- Subtle offer. I see a free quote but it's very hidden and really, what is a free quote? Go for a stronger offer and make it stand out.

I've since added another page (Find out why you should remodel your bathroom) with a little more info and steps to the whole process. Is this what you mean?

Thanks for your input. I look forward to your response.

[AccurateWeb]

According to Google Analytics the site is only getting a handful of visits each day. I'm talking 10 to 20 and that's up since the re-design.

For the last month 89 visitor have come from his Yahoo! PPC campaign and only 6 have filled out the form. I'm certain that a few of those were from him testing out the new form.

3 came from his Google PPC campaign and none filled out the form.

7 came from direct visitors with only 2 filling out the form. Again 1 or both of them were him testing out the new form.

I haven't done any marketing for him as he only paid me to do site redesign thinking that would make a difference to his PPC campaign click throughs.

[Ted S]

But for the ones who don't like it, or have mix feeling s about it, I don't think that would stop them from clicking on it. Would it?

Cool isn't the goal -- appealing is... the right size, colors & copy allmake a huge impact. There have been tests where the only change to a button was color and the results (in some cases) have been amazing. Never under estimate the power of a button.

[AccurateWeb]

BlueMoon32,

Thanks for your compliments. I'm always looking for side work. We can talk.

[AccurateWeb]

Ted S,

Good point. Let me ask you this then...What is it about the button that doesn't appeal to you personally?

Is it the color? Placement? Size?

Thanks

[Ted S]

For the last month 89 visitor have come from his Yahoo! PPC campaign and only 6 have filled out the form. I'm certain that a few of those were from him testing out the new form.

That's almost a 7% conversion rate and while your sample is way too small to know if it will hold... 7% is a good rate for lead capture. With some tweaks you may be able to raise that but you'll really need to get more traffic to know your conversion. It generally takes a few thousand visits (or 100+ submits) before you can start to get anything statistically normalized to test with.

[Ted S]

I suppose I could change the wording to "Free Quote". In my experience I've never had to pay for a quote of any kind before.

There's a few places in the world where you pay for quotes but for the most part they're free... however, it's still a great hook. The bottom line is you want to give the person something for becoming a lead -- a free quote isn't a great value but it's a start and since you're already giving it out, make that more visible.

I've since added another page (Find out why you should remodel your bathroom) with a little more info and steps to the whole process. Is this what you mean?

No, but that's ok. An ideal offer is something of value... "act now and we'll upgrade you to pretty blue tile for free!" or "10% off if you mention this ad". Something that's limited time and of perceived value to get me to fill that form out now.

[AccurateWeb]

An ideal offer is something of value... "act now and we'll upgrade you to pretty blue tile for free!" or "10% off if you mention this ad". Something that's limited time and of perceived value to get me to fill that form out now.

Ah. I see what you are saying. Obviously that is up to the business owner. That is something I will have to suggest to him.

Thanks for your input. I'm getting a lot out of this exchange.

Anybody else want to chime in? I'd like to get a few perspectives.

[2synapses]

ok, I'll toss in a $.02 opinion.. But first, what's the purpose of the web site? Is it to showcase the work the company has done? Is it to drive more sales to the company?

I like the feel of the the site as it stands, I think that overlaying FREE QUOTE onto the quote button couldn't hurt.

Web sites are like catalogs... We are just high tech mail order, and crafting the pitch for mail order is a complex task.

I would sit down with the owner, and ask my two questions again, and see if there is anything that they might suggest to influence how your setup and tweaking might proceed.

[AccurateWeb]

Thanks for your input.

what's the purpose of the web site? Is it to showcase the work the company has done? Is it to drive more sales to the company?

Well, the purpose of the site is to give the prospect enough information and produce interest in requesting a quote. From there it's up to the business owner to "make the sale."

[BlueMoon32]

For the last month 89 visitor have come from his Yahoo! PPC campaign and only 6 have filled out the form. I'm certain that a few of those were from him testing out the new form.

You're not going to believe this, but that is average. In addition to talking to Webmasters and doing marketing and advertising, working the numbers is old hat for me, so...

Look at how many walk into a brick and motar store, look around, and then walk out again without buying. It's worse online. And that includes filling out a form.

If the Webmaster of that site was there with his visitors in person, he would take that form and put it right in front of them, and hand the mthe pen. Right. So he should do it in his site.

There are a lot of "eh" visitors who poke around, and then leave. That's just the Internet. Click here, click there...

Some suggestions you can kick around...

1.) Put the form and the picture of the elderly couple right there on the first page. If it is right there in front of them, you may be able to get the clicks up to 10%, which will be very good.

2.) Put just a little bit more "what can this do for me?" on the page, along with a couple of more pictures. Get their imagination going...thinking about their bathroom.

3.) If he has a lot of visitors who are indeed elderly, increase the font size up to 12.

4.) "In as little as One Day, Jamik will transform your old, moldy, ugly bathtub into one that you will be proud to show your neighbors."

Repeat it again, and combine it with "tired of your old, ugly bathroom?" Put it just above the form, in big ol' letters.

5.) Ask the ones who already filled the form out how to get more to fill it out. Get opinions from them and customers.

6.) Give prices of some of the work. If the Webmaster can wow them with a good price, along with a nice-looking picture next to it, I know he will get more people filling it out.

I sent you an e-mail. I'd like to talk to you about what you can do, if anything, with my site.

Hope to hear from you soon.

[Animedude]

Get the quote form on the first page. Remove the (required) because people would fill in all field.

[programPHP]

I don't know if I'm posting this in the right place.

I recently re-designed a site for a client (www.tub1day.com). He only had a home page and a couple of form pages to which his Google and Yahoo! PPC campaigns were directed. He had been having trouble with people not filling out his form after they got there and he thought re-designing the site would increase conversions.

Well it's only been a few days since the redesign has been live and he has gotten a few responses but not enough for his liking. I told him to change the landing page to match the content of his ad. We'll see if he does that.

I was wondering if anybody with a little experience with this kind of thing has any advice for me.

Thanks

Conversions with Adwords is difficult. Thats why you need SEO. Free traffic is better than paying per click.

[Animedude]

Conversions with Adwords is difficult. Thats why you need SEO. Free traffic is better than paying per click.

Goodjob, you said the obvious. Who in the damned world do not know that FREE IS BETTER THAN PAY!

[Ted S]

Conversions with Adwords is difficult. Thats why you need SEO. Free traffic is better than paying per click.

It's really not that simple... all the SEO in the world isn't going to guarantee you a steady flow of traffic which is what a business needs. PPC is great way to drive steady, cost effective traffic to a site and can be extremely profitable if managed right. And realize, SEO is not free, you just don't pay for the individual action.

[AccurateWeb]

All right. I've made some of the changes that were suggested. I change the quote request button, I removed the reset button on the form and changed the way the form validates.

I also added a little blurb at the bottom of the form that says we don't sell or share personal info.

The other changes suggested need approval by the site owner but these will do. I'd like to get feedback.

Thanks.

Oh yeah. The site again is www.tub1day.com.

[programPHP]

A good SEO campaign generally has a much better ROI than PPC. Think of SEo as a longer term investment.

[Ted S]

A good SEO campaign generally has a much better ROI than PPC. Think of SEo as a longer term investment.

While that is often true, ROI is not the only factor in marketing and often not the most important one. When you have a business you need sales and waiting results is rarely acceptable. Having great ROI is wonderful but if you can't scale the campaign it's not going to be as valuable as something you can find growth in. Thus SEO should be focused on as one aspect of a marketing campaign but it's only one channel among many.