If you haven’t subscribed to the new Clicks ‘n Conversions blog yet here’s a sample of what you’ve recently missed. Even if you have subscribed to the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog, maybe you missed one or two of these.

Where to start a program to increase your website visitor-to-customer ratio.

Will pay-per-click advertising will work for you?

New disclosure policies for marketers and bloggers – what they mean to you.

The secret to marketing measurements that drive action.

How to make big improvements in your marketing in 2010.

Three critical reasons to keep your mailing list clean

Are you getting enough website traffic?

If you’re one of the few who haven’t subscribed, it’s easy to do. Just go to the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog and click on the RSS icon at the top right.

See you there.

Recently I sat in on a presentation by Ronny Kohavi, GM for Microsoft’s Experimentation Platform. The talk was called Top Seven Testing Pitfalls.  Among other things, it gave me some good ammo to share with you on the subject of why constant testing is so critical.

As a lifelong marketer, I am thrilled – thrilled – that we can now track, test and measure visitor movement through a website and use that data to improve how well a site turns visitors into paying customers or sales-ready leads. And we get to do this without even once having to sit through a 3-hour meeting to discuss the color of the logo or where it should go on the webpage.

But then I’ve spent most of my career working with engineers, scientists and other logical thinkers for whom statistically significant data ranks right up there with oxygen. The need to quantify decisions rather than going with mere opinions has rubbed off on me. I also like being able to prove that our work produces good results.

I admit, though, when faced with the opinions of a room full of “experts” – especially if you’re one of them – it’s tempting to make decisions based on intuition, instinct or experience. That’s okay as long as it’s just a starting point. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my decades of marketing it’s that you just can’t be sure what people will do. No matter how positive you are you are right – people will regularly prove you wrong with their actions.

How often are we wrong?

Ronny Kohavi had some very good data (yes, data) on that subject from some of the world’s great testing companies. These are companies that test EVERYTHING and each test clears a number of hurdles including web designers, usability experts, copywriters, marketing geniuses and executives before it is run. Everyone believes the challenger page in the experiment has a good chance to deliver better results than the existing page.

Amazon finds that half of the experiments they try fail to show any statistically significant improvement.

Microsoft finds that about one third of their experiments have a positive effect while one third have negative effects and one third have no significant effect at all.

Why test if most tests won’t give you positive results?

Because you don’t know where the positive results lie until you test! If the experts gathered by the likes of Amazon and Microsoft guess wrong most of the time, far be it from me to be able to tell what works by just looking at it.

And I prove that to be true over and over again with our own experiments.

Keep testing.

Note: The Tatum Marketing blog will stop publishing soon. Don’t miss our future articles. Subscribe to the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog now.

Technorati Tags: testing, A/B testing, website, conversion optimization

Talk of Exclusive News Corp – Bing Deal Continue
Stories continue of Rupert Murdoch’s threat to remove its publications – including the Wall Street Journal – from Google’s search and news pages and provide them exclusively to Bing, which is willing to pay for it. That’s one way for Bing to increase its share of the search market. Read more at The Daily Finance.

US Online Ad Spending Down in 3rd Quarter – or Up
Depending on how you look at it, online ad spending in the US was either down or up in the 3rd quarter. It was down 5.4% from the same period a year ago, but up 1.7% from the 2nd quarter. And Google reports a 7% increase in search revenue. Bottom line – search spending is increasing while other online spending such as banner ads is decreasing. The dip in non-search spending is enough to drop overall online ad spending for the first time since 2002. More at Media Post.

Reminder – the Tatum Marketing RSS feed is coming to an end. To keep following our posts, please resubscribe at the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog.

It’s Thanksgiving week here in the US and like most Americans I’m thinking about all the things I’m thankful for. Naturally, the first things that pop to mind feature my family and friends. But there are a few marketing and business-related subjects for which I am genuinely happy. May not something I’d share with the loved ones around the table on Thanksgiving Day, but you might find them relevant.

Here’s my list.

• Awesome clients. At Clicks ‘n Conversions I have the privilege of working with truly remarkable people and their truly remarkable products. The intelligence, curiosity, talent and just plain goodness of our clients are energizing enough to get me up every morning eager to face the day. Working together with our clients and their products, we’re able to regularly and predictably produce the kind of results that put a smile on your face and let you sleep well at night. Thanks to all of you – you know who you are!
• Great team. If you ever want to make sure your business doesn’t get stale, just partner with someone young enough to be your son or daughter. (Maybe they really are your son or daughter). My business partner, Andy, has not only brought a 20-something successful entrepreneur’s view of marketing and business to my world, he’s assembled a world class team of experts and support staff to help us help our clients. Thanks Andy. And thanks Mona, Karen, Louie, Eric, Erica, Nina and Rizaldy!
• Transparency. Gone are the days when marketing performance was about as transparent as black magic. The curtain has lifted and now any marketer – no matter how small or how inexperienced or how rushed for time – can get a crystal clear view of what is happening with their marketing investment. I think accountability makes us all do a better job. Not sure who to thank for this one, but I’m thankful anyway.
• Data-Driven Decisions. As much as I hate math (and I really hate math), the ability to use numbers to guide marketing decisions has completely changed the way we market products. It has removed the “opinion” card from the table. We now have an opportunity to see – in nearly real time – what potential customers respond to best. As a result, we spend less time in meetings discussing what might work, and more time delivering measurable improvements to our clients. For this I thank the internet, Google Analytics and even the recession.
• Audio books and MP3 files. The amount of information we all must digest on any subject that remotely interests or affects us is astonishing. Even those of us who really like to read (and I count myself among them) have a hard time keeping up. With audio books, I can listen to the latest from the world’s great and near-great minds while I walk our dogs, sit in traffic or just try to ignore the people around me. Thank you audible.com, Apple and whoever invented the MP3 format.
• Social Networking. The truth is – like many of you – I get bored easily. If marketing was the same old same old all the time I’d have changed careers by now. But it’s not. And just as the internet changed how we relate to customers, social networking is doing the same thing all over again. Keeps us on our toes! Thank you Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the rest.
• Blog readers.  And last but certainly not least I thank the folks who read this blog. We share a common interest and it’s great to know you’re out there. Thank you all.

Whatever you’re doing this Thanksgiving. Whether you celebrate it or not. I hope you find many, many things to for which to be thankful.

P.S. If you’re reading this from the TM RSS feed, please go to the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog and subscribe there. The Tatum Marketing feed is going to cease to exist soon. Thanks!

Last week I wrote that you needn’t worry about signing up for the RSS feed at our new blog on Clicks ‘n Conversions. I’d been told all subscriptions would be automatically moved from Tatum Marketing to Clicks ‘n Conversions.

Seems I was wrong and you DO need to sign up. Please go to the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog now and get signed up so you don’t miss anything!

Susan

I know we’re just talking about software, but consider for a moment what your product represents to new prospects. Sure, it holds the promise of efficiency or cost savings, but it also has the potential to disrupt, and to personally jeopardize their future and social standing at the company if, per chance, they were the one that recommended buying a software that ultimately failed to deliver.

Having survived the axe for one–plus years, people undoubtedly are stressed out and less willing to stand out from the crowd. Therefore, when we go knocking on a prospect’s door, we’ll stand a better chance of them opening it if our marketing collateral and messaging reflects their current frame of mind.

Scientific studies have proven that autonomy (that is, a sense of control) is an effective stress reducer. Nursing home residents are happier (and healthier) when they’re given more control over decision making. Franchise owners believe they have a better work-life balance, even though they earn less and work longer hours than they did as a corporate employee.

And in a more recent example that played out at town hall meetings throughout the country this past summer, U.S. citizens are extremely passionate when they fear they’re losing their choice in healthcare.

In the Chicago area where I live, AT&T is using the “freedom of choice” technique in their own advertising war against Comcast. While both companies offer triple-play packages, AT&T’s TV ad spots make it clear that with Comcast, there is no choice. All you get is cable, home phone, and Internet. AT&T, the ad continues, lets subscribers choose between home phone, Internet, TV, and wireless. While I’m not privy to the results of each campaign, my guess is that choice leads to more customers.

Likewise, as high tech marketers we can foster autonomy by emphasizing the options that already exist when doing business with our company. Here are four possible ways we can convey the sense of control when communicating with prospects and customers:

Choice #1: Options that cater to different types of users.

A choice in packaging to suit casual and power users, different licensing options (SaaS versus perpetual), and flexible payment options alleviate cash-strapped customers and prospects that may want to “get their feet wet” before fully committing to your product.

Choice #2: Collateral that encourages and promotes participation.

ROI calculators the prospects can fill in with details specific to their own companies, and case studies that demonstrate how different customers achieved similar goals by taking different paths to success, are two ways to encourage active participation (and control) on the prospect’s part.

Choice #3: Direct control over the communication process.

Newsletter subscription forms that let people choose how often they want to hear from you as well as the topics they’re interested in, and auto-responders that adjust to our readers’ behavior, can keep lukewarm prospects in the fold.

Even something as simple as giving website visitors a choice in how they contact us can foster a sense of control; with my personal favorite being the “live chat” option.

Choice #4: The freedom to proceed at their own pace.

A common complaint I hear is that eager ISVs push too hard to get prospects to “buy now.” During stressful times, we’d do better if we created multiple paths that allow potential customers to proceed through our sales funnel when they’re ready, which means we’ll have to be patient while we nurture prospects through an ongoing campaign.

Once you’ve identified the many ways that you give prospects and customers the freedom to choose, it becomes a matter of clearly articulating these choices in your marketing collateral and website copy.

In the end, it’s only human nature: We don’t like monopolies, and we don’t like being told what to do. “Choice” can be the start of a sales conversation.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sue Anderson-Lenz

Marketing Lure, Inc.

We’ve just about finished our transition from Tatum Marketing to Clicks ‘n Conversions – and I personally am excited but ready for it to be done!

The new website (www.clicksnconversions.com) and our blog focusing on Remarkable Marketing Strategies for Remarkable Products and Services are live. They’re still being tweaked and you may find a few glitches, but check them out anyway.

This is probably the last post for Tatum Marketing. If you’ve subscribed to us via email or RSS, you don’t need to do anything. Your subscription will be automatically moved over to the Clicks ‘n Conversions blog.

Thanks for reading us on Tatum Marketing. See you at Clicks ‘n Conversions!

Technorati Tags: tatum marketing, clicks n conversions, remarkable marketing, marketing strategies

Most online advertising is performance-based.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), in the first half of 2009, 58% of all internet advertising dollars was spent on performance-based advertising – search plus other pay-per-click buys. Non-performance based advertising (ie, display ads) tends to be brand or image type advertising. Although the percentage spent on search advertising is steadily growing, brand advertising still claims a surprising (to us) 42% of the dollars. For more info, read the IAB Ad Revenue Report.

Google introduces comparison ads.

This week Google began testing Adwords Comparison Ads which lets users quickly and easily compare multiple offers – right there on the Google Search page. Currently these ads are showing only to a small number of U.S.  users and the test is limited to select advertisers in the mortgage/refinance sector. But that will certainly change.

8% of internet users count for 85% of display ad clicks.

The number of people clicking on display ads seems to be plunging. comScore recently released research showing that in March 2009 only 16% of internet users clicked on display ads. This was down from 32% in July 2007. The study also found that 8% of all internet users count for 85% of clicks on display ads. Put your ad dollars into search.

Senior IT managers concerned about SaaS security

A new study from NCC Group has found that 45% of IT managers and directors at large firms are worried that SaaS suppliers are not doing enough to protect their data. 41% of managers at mid-sized firms and 31% of managers at small firms share the same concern. Are you doing enough to remove this worry for your customers? Read more about the SaaS Study.

To recap, neural scientists have discovered a link between social needs and survival, a link which could trigger prospects to react to our marketing efforts as if we were a rabid dog.

I know what you’re thinking: “The software we sell isn’t going to harm anyone’s social status. If anything, it will elevate their status when higher-ups in their organization see how much money, time, and/or resources our software saves them.”

That might be true, but before prospects buy your software, they need to buy your story, and logic won’t work if they perceive you as a threat.

There are some techniques –- i.e. qualities –- that a recent strategy+business article suggests can be used to keep the threat response in check. One such quality is certainty. As human beings we crave it, and when we don’t get it, the uncertainty registers as a gap in our brain, causing us to pause until the conflict is resolved.

As marketers, we need to understand that any conflict we create in the prospect’s mind will either slow down the sales process, or stop it altogether. To keep the momentum up, create the perception of certainty. Here are six tactics that will make prospects feel more certain about you and your product.

Certainty-Building Tactic #1: Case Studies

We always knew that case studies can sell, but maybe now we understand a little better why they work: Prospects that relate to the people in our stories gain a sense of familiarity about our product.

Since no two people are identical, however, we need to have a portfolio of case studies that address the industries, geographical regions, organizations, and types of people we serve.

IT folks working in a Windows shop will relate to stories about other Windows-centric IT folks working in similar-sized organizations, government workers will relate to case studies that highlight other government workers, and so forth.

Certainty-Building Tactic #2: Analogies and comparisons

If you’re selling a bleeding-edge product, try to create a sense of familiarity by comparing yourself to a product or concept that was once unfamiliar, too.

Remember when we feared online banking? Nowadays, we don’t give it a second thought. If you can relate your product to something else that once conjured up similar feelings of uneasiness, you’ll help prospects “see” that your product isn’t as far-fetched as one might think.

Certainty-Building Tactic #3: Slower, more manageable steps

Nobody wants to have their name associated with a failed project, especially these days when budgets and job security weigh heavily on our minds. Marketers that sell large-scale, enterprise solutions can create a sense of certainty by helping prospects visualize a path to success.

Here again, case studies work because you can tell stories about how other clients achieved success by breaking down a large project into manageable chunks that fed off incremental successes.

Another way to accomplish this is to develop product offerings that let people buy only what they need right now, while at the same time showing them how your product will grow with them. In effect, people don’t want to buy a super-sized meal when all they need is a mid-afternoon snack.

Certainty-Building Tactic #4: Your own skin

Put some of your own skin in the game by finding ways to show prospects that you believe in your own product.

Money-back guarantees, technical support, and training are just a few good faith efforts that will make them feel more certain about their decision to go with you and your product.

Certainty-Building Tactic #5: Communities

While case studies are great, you can’t ask questions, and there’s always the suspicion that the story glosses over less-desirable bits.

Marketers can eliminate doubts by building into their website a means by which readers can send an e-mail or chat with the people in your stories.

Of course, this requires a bigger investment on your case study participants’ part, so if that seems unreasonable, set up an online community where prospects can freely discuss you and your product with existing customers.

Certainty-Building Tactic #6: An online sandbox

Remember how you felt when you installed Microsoft Office 2007? Despite the fact that I had been using Word for 20 odd years(!?), Word 2007, I found, was extremely unfamiliar and frustrating.

Let’s not follow Microsoft’s lead. Many software companies already offer free trials, but even then, people have to take the time to install the software; a task which can quickly become a roadblock to the sale.

If your software supports it, why not create a sandbox online where people can play with your product? The sandbox environment can be an extremely powerful tactic because 1) it makes it incredibly easy for prospects to demo your product to other people in their organization, and 2) it gives you unique insight into how customers actually use your product.

Stay tuned for my next blog post on November 17th, where I’ll cover the second psychological quality that will keep the rabid dog response at bay.

Sue Anderson-Lenz
Marketing Lure, Inc.

LA Selects Google Email

Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to outsource its email system to Google. It will be moving 30,000 city employees to Google’s so-called cloud over the coming year. Contract value is $7.25 million. Read more at the LA Times.

Google Testing Social Search

Google Social Search became officially available this week through Google Labs, which lets users test experimental search functions among other things. Apparently Google pulls publicly available Web content from your social circle through blog posts, status updates, tweets and pictures. The set of connections, or social circle, provides the network. Read more at Online Media Daily.