Ask Us Anything with Customer Success: How to increase conversions

[Madelynn]

Thanks to everyone who attended our webinar on Conversion Strategy and Optimization. Let's continue the conversation! Ask your questions below.

When: January 25 - January 29
Where: Right here! Ask your questions in the comments below.

Hey HubSpot Community,

My name is Madelynn, and I'm a member of HubSpot's Customer Success Team. We talk to customers everyday about their top priorities. Regardless of size or industry, we often hear the same question: How do we get more leads?

With that in mind, my fellow Customer Success Manager, Ilana Hamer (@ihamer), and I created this thread for a week-long discussion about all things conversion strategy and optimization.

So what types of questions should you ask here? Here are a few to get you started:

• What are tips and tricks for improving conversions?
• What integrations can help with conversions?
• What tools can enhance my conversion optimization?
• How do I report on my conversion strategy?

Ask away!

[LBirney]

Hi Madelynn! Im interested in testing multivariate CTAs. I've set up the multivariate CTA but am wondering how to test internally to ensure that each of the 3 diff variations display when I deploy.

thanks!

Lori

[Madelynn]

Hi @LBirney! When you've created the multivariate CTA, you can preview your different versions of the CTA by clicking Preview when you hover over the CTA.

To preview how these variations will look on the page, you'll want to go to the page you're editing and click preview in the upper right corner of the screen. 

From there, choose the option to view the page as a contact. As you click through a few different contacts, you'll see the different CTA variations appear on the page.

[CWagner1]

Hi! I was unable to attend the webinar. I downloaded the slides, but would love to watch a recording. Is one available? Thanks!

[ihamer]

Sorry we missed you @CWagner1! While we don't have a recording, we do hope to run the webinar again this spring. Feel free to reach out to your point of contact at HubSpot to get the details when the time comes.

[Madelynn]

During Wednesday’s webinar we had a few questions pop up around what types of content and organization should offer. Two that stood out to me were:

• We’re in the process of optimizing our website for conversions, and our product doesn’t lend itself to free giveaways. Should our main goal for visitors be for them to contact us or to read more about our solutions? Both?
• What are some good alternatives for consulting businesses? Other than Request a Quote for a main conversion

Let’s start with some suggestions on types of content to offer. Start with thinking about which stage in the buyer’s journey you’re creating your content for:

Consumers want to see what they’re getting before they make a purchase. For many organizations, that will come in the form of demos and marketing. But for those with freemium offers or free trials, that reduces the cost of acquisition and burden the sales team experiences and gives your leads a more hands-on opportunity to see the platform. Keep in mind that freemium to paying conversion rates generally hover somewhere between 2-5%, free trial products that require credit cards are close to 30% or higher (more on that here).

Remember your homepage has the widest audience so you want your conversion opportunity on the homepage to apply to the widest audience. Whether it’s Try for free, Subscribe for updates, Let’s Talk, Sign me up, or to download a lead magnet, you should continuously run tests to optimize your homepage for conversions.

16 Creative Lead Generation Ideas to Try

A/B Test CTAs:

Your homepage CTAs should stand out. Testing variations in size, color, text, and image will let you continue to optimize your conversion paths. Steps to A/B Test your CTAs can be found here.

Use Smart CTAs:

Conversions help you guide your audience through the buyer’s journey. Smart Content lets you show your visitors different information based on the data we have stored in HubSpot. Creating Smart Content based on lifecycle stage, for example, will allow you to have one CTA that shows awareness stage content to your leads and consideration or decision stage content to your MQLs.

[ihamer]

Thanks to everyone who attended our webinar on Conversion Strategy and Optimization. We saw a few questions come in about A/B testing and content offers that we’d love to address here. Stay tuned for more information over the next couple days!

[ihamer]

Optimizing conversions allows you to boost your number of highly-qualified leads, increase revenue, lower acquisition costs, obtain greater value from your current leads and customers, and grow better. What could be more important?

Of course, testing your conversions is often easier said than done, so you may decide to leverage A/B testing to see which of two pages performs better with your visitors. While I could go on and on about A/B testing, this article provides an in-depth overview that I think would be helpful to anyone looking to learn more. 

Please note: the ability to A/B test pages is now available to Marketing and CMS Hub Professional and Enterprise customers. As you read through the resource above, please don’t hesitate to let us know if any other questions arise!

[junijunijuni]

Can you suggest a good process flow within hubspot for optimizing conversions?

[ihamer]

Absolutely @junijunijuni! A good process flow includes evaluating your work to date, setting SMART goals, and continuously testing to further optimize conversions. Let’s break it down:

1. Gather metrics on current conversions. Take a look at your reports in HubSpot and determine the average conversion rate across your site. Are there clear conversion paths on your highest traffic pages and how are they doing? What conversions are underperforming and what might be the barriers?
2. Review your current content offers. Does one content offer outperform the others? Where else does that content offer make sense on your site and how can you use it to move leads through the buyer’s journey? What makes that offer particularly successful and how can you replicate that quality in other offers? 
3. Consider where there may be gaps. Which persona(s) need further guidance? Should you share additional information on a new landing page or blog post or does it make more sense to edit your existing homepage or pricing page? Do you need to create a new content offer or further leverage an existing one? What type of conversion (CTA, form, chatbot, meetings link, etc.) will work best for your target audience? 
4. Create 3-6 month goals for lead generation and conversion points. Are these goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound? Check out this resource for more information!
5. Continuously test. In other words, revisit the questions in the first step. Is it time to run a multivariate test on a CTA or A/B test on a landing page? What offer, copy, image, or form fields are most engaging to your target audience and how can you change things up to address these learnings?

What stands out to you about this process flow? Continue the thread in the comments, and share any additional steps that have helped you optimize conversions in the past.

[TPevahouse]

• What ideas do you have for Managed Service Providers? I feel as if our target buyer personas are high-level prospects so the audience is limited.
• Tips on social media etiquette? How formal should you be? Is Partnered content best suited for this or email campaigns?
• What tools can improve our conversions?
• When scheduling social media content, how often should you? What are the optimum times to do so?
• What's the best way to get form submissions utilizing search engines?

[Madelynn]

Social media tends to be more casual. Feel free to be more conversational but stay true to your brand. Partnered content works great here because it can help get you in front of another audience. I wouldn’t consider it an either/or scenario when thinking about where to share partnered content. Use tools like campaigns to tie together all your assets (including social and email) around a single conversion piece of content.

This blog post contains some really interesting insights on social posting but to highlight a couple:

• According to HubSpot's Not Another State of Marketing Report (2020), out of 3,400 marketers surveyed, the majority post between 1-6 times per week.
• Best time to post: 
• Twitter: timing doesn’t have a major impact on clicks
• LinkedIn: Post during business hours
• Facebook: Timing doesn’t have a significant impact on clicks, focus on content instead

HubSpot has a Social Media Certification that I’d recommend for anyone looking to upskill in this area. Social Media Marketing Course: Get Certified in Social Media Strategy

[Madelynn]

Thanks for your question @TPevahouse ! Here are some recommendations to help drive more conversions:

• Start with in-depth audience research. This is first and foremost. You can’t get anywhere with conversions without knowing who is involved in the buying process. Look for what motivates them (this post has some ideas to get you started) what they expect in their buying experience. Is your audience going to be drawn to a ‘free evaluation’ or do they expect a ‘free trial’? The Make My Persona tool here can guide this process and help you determine what’s important to consider.
• Make clear, value driven calls to action. While your SEO strategy is designed to drive more traffic to your site, CTAs will keep them from bouncing. What do you want someone to do when they land on your site? If you want them to request an evaluation, don’t leave it at just that, use your headline to address why they need the evaluation. 
• Add relevant conversion opportunities. It’s essential that you provide the right content at the right time. What can you infer about a visitor based on what you know about their persona and how they’re interacting with your site? If you have a blog post about tips for hiring an MSP, can you offer a related downloadable piece of content? On your homepage, where your audience is a little more general, do you have a button to ‘Subscribe to updates’ or ‘Try for free’? Does your pricing page eliminate friction and allow your audience to easily connect with you on their terms? Consider adding live chat to your pricing page or a meetings link to book with you.
• Write to and for your audience. MSPs can find themselves getting caught up in industry jargon. If you’re writing for a highly technical audience, great, keep that language going. But if you’re writing to a more executive audience, make sure you’re using language they are going to connect with and understand. They should see their own interests reflected back to them in the content you’re creating.
• Leverage ads. Retargeting ads in particular can be very helpful in increasing conversions. Ads are also a great way to narrow in on the language that works best for your audience. When you’re creating ads with the goal of lead generation, I’d recommend you link those ads to a landing page. The language of your ad should match that of the landing page - your audience should never be surprised when they reach a landing page.

Conversion tools I love:

• HubSpot: Landing pages, CTAs, Forms (both standard and pop-up), A/B testing, Smart content
• BuzzSumo: This is a great research tool. Here you search a keyword and it will give you the most shared and linked to content on that topic.
• Hotjar: This is a heat mapping tool that will let you dig deeper into how your visitors are engaging with your site.
• For more tools, check out: 23 Conversion Rate Optimization Tools for Research, Feedback, Analytics & More

Here are five of favorite HubSpot posts on conversions:

• 10 Simple Ways to Optimize Your Website for Lead Generation
• 8 Types of CTAs You Should Absolutely Try on Your Blog
• The Beginner's Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
• 9 Real-Life Conversion Rate Optimization Tests to Try Yourself
• 9 Best Practices for Creating a High Converting Pricing Page (With Examples)

[Anonymous]

We are B2C - new construction / homebuilder and have found that progressive forms can cause a contact to submit the same form multiple times in a row (for example they submit the form on a home they are interested in, despite going to a thank you page, when they return to look at the home again, they see the form pre-filled with just one blank and submit again, and sometimes again...especially if they are browsing multiple homes (same form is used)).

Like B2B, we tried progressive form fields to minimize the form length, and while getting all of the information is helpful, it does trigger multiple email notifications internally, it messes with our conversion data, and some of our customers have expressed frustration with multiple confirmation emails (we've since removed progressive fields and settled on the ideal fields to include to keep length at bay). I imagine there is probably a workflow we could enroll them in that could replace the auto-thank you email on the form.

So, my question is, what are the best practices for B2C progressive fields and/or would you recommend a secondary form that is longer on a thank you page - giving them the opportunity to provide additional information? 

Would love to know if any other B2C customers have an elegant solution for multiple form submissions and data/conversion management.

[ihamer]

Thanks for your question @Anonymous! If your pages are hosted in HubSpot, you might consider using smart content to change an entire form depending on your website visitor and their viewer characteristics. For example, if a visitor fills out your initial form, we can add them to a list. If that visitor appears on the page again in the future, they will then see an entirely different set of questions with the addition of smart content. Check out this resource for more information!

I'll also note that if you’ve found that prospects who are interested in multiple homes are more likely to purchase, you might consider asking about this on your initial form and sending a set of follow up emails (using the workflows tool) that guide customers to additional content. Make sure that the content highlights a new conversion opportunity (or a few) so that you can gather additional information about the visitor while guiding them through the buyer’s journey. 

Outside of using smart content and workflow automation, putting a longer form on a thank you page is a good option. Have any other B2C customers tried out any of these practices?

[AnaTodorovic20]

So what are tips and tricks for improving conversions? That will be big focus for this along with generating more leads.

[ihamer]

That's a great question @AnaTodorovic20! Here are a few of my favorite tips and tricks:

Create a professional brand (for free):

--Use Canva with HubSpot to easily and quickly create professional-grade graphics for use in your marketing content and online brand-building. Just think how awesome you could make an image call-to-action button using this integration! Check out this academy lesson for next steps.

Continue the conversation through email: 

--Create a seamless follow-up email for a visitor to receive after submitting a pop-up form on your site. Believe me, this is much easier than building a full blown marketing automation system when all you need is to get them a link to a content offer. Check out this knowledge based article for next steps.

Data doesn’t lie, neither does an A/B test:

--Run an A/B test on your landing page to see which of two versions performs better with your visitors. No more wondering what offer, copy, image, or form fields would be most engaging to your target audience - now we know for sure. Check out this knowledge base article for next steps. 

Have you tried these out yet? Continue the thread in the comments, and share any additional recommendations that have increased your conversions.