How to these stats compare?

14 replies
Hi all,

So my course has been on the market for over two weeks and for the majority of that time I've had an aggressive PPC campaign going which uses a few hundred keywords that I managed to research.

My site is a 2-page approach. First page is the sales letter. Second page is the order / price info.

I think my copy is pretty solid and most people have told me the same (people who would be honest).

I have setup Google Analytics to measure my "goal" of having people get to the price/order page. So far it runs about 10%, which I do not think is that great.

That said, if 10% of people went to the order page, and 10% of those bought, I'd have a 1% conversion rate which I think is very acceptable. Unfortunately my conversion rate is worse than this by a long shot.

My gut tells me I need to fix my PPC campaign to make sure I'm targeting the right audience, and this may take some time / tweaking.

But I'm curious what you folks consider to be "acceptable" for the percentage of visitors who click through to the order/price page.


NOTE: A blog with real content will be attached to this site (added to menu in header) and I think that will help keep the bounce down, but not necessarily improve click-through to the order page.
#compare #stats
  • Profile picture of the author jonhel
    Chris,

    Are you using all the tools at your disposal in Google Adwords to finetune your targeting such as negative keywords and testing different landing pages etc.?

    In my experience this can make a big difference to the performance of your campaign.

    Jonathan
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    I'm not testing different landing pages yet. I have added negative keywords this week. I also changed the opt-in thank you page from the aweber default to one that is more direct in telling people they need to double-opt-in. This has accelerated my opt-ins to an acceptable level. But bounce is still higher than I would like.

    I think I am going to start playing with Google Website Optimizer (to vary headlines, etc) and then I may also add a new layout and new sales letter entirely to put testimonials in with the sales text rather than in the right margin.
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  • Profile picture of the author Debbie Songster
    what does your google analytics tell you are the keywords people are bouncing on?
    You may want to tighten your keyword campaigns using only exact match and phrase match keyword terms. Broad match will attract all kinds of clickers who generally bounce off the site because the content isn't exactly what they are looking for.

    If you haven't already - create campaigns that contain a small group of keywords / phrases so its easier to see what works. You said you have a lot of keywords. Personally I find several fine tuned campaigns work better, are cheaper and easier to evaluate than a large group of words. I know its more work initially but you can really fine tune your ads to match your keyword groupings this way.

    For example you might only have
    [parenting toddlers]
    "parenting toddlers"
    [parenting my toddler]
    "parenting my toddler"

    Then in another group
    a totally different small set of similar keywords

    You probably already know this stuff.
    Your analytics should tell you what keywords people are bouncing on.

    Also to get the best quality score which = lower prices
    Make sure your ad contains your keyword (The Secret To Parenting Toddlers )- AND that keyword phrase must appear on your landing page

    Also if I may offer a suggestion - lighten the blue on the side bar that contains your testimonials. Make it the same color blue as you used in the headlines. The darker blue makes it too hard to read the text of the testimonials.

    As for the % of people who go to the order page 10% isn't very much - I would tweak the adwords campaigns before doing anything to the sales page
    Make sure your ads are targeted. You want to measure the reaction of targeted buyers to your sales page before you make any changes to the sale page. Right now I'm guessing your visitors are not targeted enough. Your stats should show you the percentage of people visiting for the different time breakdowns.

    Hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    Debbie - thanks a lot for the advice. I appreciate your time evaluating my site, etc.

    Funny thing .. the testimonial sidebar is the same color of blue as the headline, it just doesn't seem like it. Optical illusion? I'll double check but I'm 99% sure of this.

    My PPC is 100% broad match at this point and I think it would make sense to change it entirely to phrase match or maybe even exact match. Right now each single keyword is in its own adgroup, and the ad that shows up uses the keyword in the subject line (all easy to do with MS Excel and Adwords Editor as I learned)

    My campaign average click through rate is about 1.5% right now, which I think is not bad. I can probably improve it.

    I'll make some changes to the campaign tonight to see what happens.

    What is your feeling about my main headline? My checks on Analytics show that the term "influence" is not helping me. None of my adwords clicks involve that word, and I'm wondering if I need a stronger headline such as "Learn the Secrets To Getting Your Toddlers to Do What You Want and Stop Suffering from the Stress of Parenting"

    Perhaps more of a "move away from pain" headline rather than a "move towards pleasure" headline.
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  • Profile picture of the author jonhel
    Chris,

    What about creating a landing page/squeeze page which is aimed at getting users to subscribe in exchange for the free lesson instead of going for the one step sale?

    I've always found this a better approach than going for the straight sale.

    Jonathan
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  • Profile picture of the author Debbie Songster
    Chris
    Your right about the color - I just checked and they are both the same. Funny the headings looked softer.
    Maybe try #ACDDEC instead or change the text in the box to white.

    I rarely use broad match for my keywords. Convert them to exact and phrase match so you can see which ones perform better. You should strive for 5% or better. 1.5% is too low and will result in a lower position placement and higher costs.

    If you get rid of the broad match, you will see whats truly working and whats not.
    Obviously your quality score should be as high as possible so make sure your sale page contains the keywords you really want to use. If you are using a lot of different keywords, this will mean creating different sale/landing pages to fit the campaign.

    Your new headline title is good. You should always encourage the reader to say "yes" throughout the entire sales page

    Good luck
    Hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author Jim Pearson
    Chris;

    A few quick questions:

    Did you create this course or are you just re-selling it?

    Also do you have the ability to change the copy in the sales page?

    My reasoning is this:

    Your dealing with parents with young children..you want to start a relationship...a conversation with them about the problems they are facing with their young children. This can't be done with a sales page alone.

    My suggestion would be:

    A) Go out to parenting blogs and start surveying what the top three problems parents say they are having with toddlers.

    B) Then place PPC ads offering free solutions to these top three problems, offering a short audio and whtie paper/ checklist that they can download (written to solve each of these three problems). Providing them also with a weekly newsletter of parenting tips.

    C) Now upsell the product that you have.

    D) Now offer a monthly membership whereby the parents can ask you questions by email about specific parenting problems that they are facing.

    I hoped this helped.

    If you would like a membership site for this product, contact me privately. As a warrior member you would receive a discount.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    Thanks to everyone for all of the additional feedback so far.

    Debbie: I changed the entire campaign to phrase match last night. I have noticed that today my CTR is nicely above 2%, so this simple change made a difference. I will start split-testing ads also, along with dropping phrases that have very low CTR. I'm bidding so that my ads show up in the 3-7 position, not 1-2 and not 8.

    Jim: it is my product. I spent about a year developing and creating it. I am pretty sure that my huge keyword list is telling me what the typical problems are. Especially now that it is phrase match, I can monitor impressions, which tells me how often the phrase is typed into Google by a potential customer. That is the best, most accurate data possible to gauge the frequency of various problems.

    I like Jonathan's idea of a squeeze page to capture the lead and sell via email later. I could easily re-do my audio intro along with a nice slide show to create a video squeeze page.

    I think that writing a free report would be hard for me right now because I put so much content in the audio course that I would be hard pressed to come up with a report that was high quality while simultaneously being different from my actual product. Basically, I teach a bunch of tools and a lot of variations/examples on how to use the tools. If I give away tools for free, what's in it for the customer when they buy later? Yes, there would be even more tools in the full course but I would hate to just sell them an audio version of what I already gave them for free.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jim Pearson
      Chris;

      Key words searches whether they are broad or specific only tell us what individuals are searching for...Not the underlining reason for their search.

      It does not matter whether you are selling a product off or on-line, people want to identify with someone who they think can solve their problems. You clearly have spent quite a bit of time in creating this product and making sure it is of high quality. If you spend a little time in tweaking what you have here, you can quickly position yourself as an expert in this niche market.

      That is why it is important to talk with your community ( parents, prospects & clients) Survey them all and find what the top 3-5 problems the are trying to find solutions for. Key words alone can not tell you this.

      In regards to giving away your material...people need and want to see that what they are buying has value...so if you don't have the time to write a intro piece...then aslow the visitor to download the first 15-20 minutes of your program with one free lesson(you can also take parts out from the middle of your course if it would sell bettter). This will show them the quality of your product and make them want to buy more.

      To accomplish this I would take Jonathon's suggestion and have the visitor go to a squeese page first. On the squeeze page take the identified 3-5 main problems that your audience is trying to find solutions for and then give them your one free lesson and audio file as a partial solution.

      Lastely I would seriously think about raising your price...This will help increase the true perception that you are offering true value in this product.

      I hoped this helped
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      • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
        Thanks many times over to Debbie and Jim for the last two replies. Debbie - what you said about using verbage that identifies with the audience is bang on. I was reviewing the copy with my wife the other night and comparing it to some other successful courses in different markets on clickbank. She told me I was not engaging enough and that basically gave me similar feedback as to what you said. So I'm listening! I will re-write the page. I think at first it felt like a great sales letter, but I am not my audience. My opinion doesn't count!

        Jim - I totally understand what you mean now. I'll start interviewing my friends on this exact topic and I very well may switch to a squeeze page format, and give away part of the course. That's a good idea.

        I may test two formats. 1) Straight sales page (re-written) along with 2) Squeeze page + free lesson. I could send half of my traffic to one, half to the other using Google Website Optimizer.

        The good news is that I have my own product ... now I just need to make it sell.
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  • Profile picture of the author Debbie Songster
    Chris
    A few extra tips
    When you make new ads - don't write over existing ads. Make new ones. If you change existing ads you lose your stats which are very valuable. Just pause the ads you don't want to use.

    Also be ruthless and pause the ad campaigns that don't have a high click through rate. Continue to group like words and phrases. Your ad campaigns should stay small - less than 10 keyword phrases per campaign. That way you can create more targeted ads.

    Given the price of your product - you should strive to pay $0.47 per click or lower.

    Personally I would put a brief audio clip from your product right on the page. I see you have an optin for an audio lesson - keep that but put a teaser right on the page itself.
    You might want to record a couple short "stories" illustrating the use of a technique - tell about the problem, what you did and the outcome.

    Change the testimonial text to white or some light color thats easy to read.

    I also listened to the audio clip you have at the beginning.
    You have one of those names (Chris) that can be either male or female that works to your benefit as women like to identify with women (until they hear your audio and discover your a man)
    I think I would move that clip near your first price/info button and perhaps put your guarantee there too (a graphic ) I know its an introduction audio but it ends with talking about the guarantee which I think is premature in the spot its in right now.

    It would be great if you could get some women to record a brief story or testimonial of how the techniques worked for them.

    My kids are grown up but my other "life" is as an OB nurse so I deal with families all the time.
    This is my observation and belief.
    Women will identify with your system / techniques if you can get a woman to "sell it". If you survey families you will find its the women who are more frustrated dealing with the kids then the men. The men are usually at work and so their daily exposure is less. Your demographic is probably 90% women. I think you need to use a woman's voice to sell it - and be careful of the terminology

    Influence, covert, communication strategies - are all words/phrases that are mature and almost clinical. Becareful who you write for. If someone has a PHD they probably have a nanny too.

    After reading your sales copy more - I think you need to get more personal and talk directly to the reader
    For example
    How often does a husband come home from work to find his wife incredibly frustrated from trying to deal with the kids all day?
    Could be...
    How ofter does your partner come home from work to find you incredibly frustrated from trying to deal with the kids all day.

    Give the reader something to identify with - as if you are talking to just to them.

    Families now days are comprised of:
    • men who work and women who stay home to care for the kids
    • women who work and men who stay home to care for the kids
    • men and women who are married or just living together (so be careful using the married lines)
    • roommates with children
    • gay and lesbian couples raising kids
    Personally I don't like the term influencing
    "When it comes to influencing toddlers, there are plenty of ineffective methods..."
    When it comes to working with toddlers ...

    Give your readers terms they can identify with. Soften the terminology.

    These are just my thoughts and opinions
    I hope they help.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jim Pearson
    Chris;

    Glad I could help.

    I have a relationship with a large working Mom based website which might be a good place for a JV offering your product. If your interested in discussing this send me a PM(private message) and we can set up a time to talk.
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    • I checked out your site.

      For my two cents;
      I would try the squeeze page route.
      Maybe try some headlines that focus on your prospects pain
      and how you can solve it.
      "Tantrums got everyone on edge? Want a quick fix?"
      "I dreaded taking my toddler to the supermarket, then I found this course!"
      etc. etc.

      Best of success!
      FBT
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Thompson
    Hey everyone. I re-did the entire sales letter for my site. In addition, I took out any other option for the visitor so they can't click away from the sales page (other than hitting "back"). No opt-in, no blog link, no anything, just the sales page.

    I'm testing this. I will also likely add a squeeze page and send 1/2 my traffic to the squeeze page and the other 1/2 to the main sales page. I would then test the two results. I'm listening to another warrior (actually several) who said "only give your visitors one desired action".

    Open to thoughts! I will likely re-record the audio sample also, and maybe even make 2 or 3 samples to explain (in spoken words) what my website says already.
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