So let's talk about your web page copy...
Questions, Put to me while visiting my favorite watering hole.
As my favorite bartender poor's my second bourbon on the rocks. (Maker's Mark) She leans forward and Gives me a big smile and a little wink and asks me if I could help her with something. Helping this young lady do anything would be fine with me.
So I said, Sure what is it. Can you tell me why my e-mail newsletter for the bar isn't working as good as it used to.
Dam!
OK here you go, Cindy.
I reviewed your newsletter and I would suspect it's not your newsletter it's your website, in particular your landing page that you send your newsletter readers to. Your newsletter does a good job of motivating the reader to take the next click. It prompts the visitor to click through to the social calendar page. I can see from your visitor's logs that 22% of your newsletter readers click through. Which by the way is a good number. Here's where you start running into problems, it's your page copy. Your logs clearly show you're losing them on your landing page. So let's talk about your web page copy.
The old question that has plagued advertisers and
marketers long before the Internet, To use long
or short copy? In the past, many studies have shown
that long copy is more effective in certain situations.
However, a recent study from Marketing
Experiments come to the conclusion
that there are four factors that should influence
your decision about whether to use long or short
copy.
1. The cost of what you are selling
2. The perceived risk
3. The commitment level
4. The motivation.
So, if you are selling a high priced product and asking for a lot of personal information, use long copy. On the other hand, if you are giving away something for free without commitment and selling with emotion, use short copy.
MarketingExperiments identifies six elements that affect the performance of landing pages:
1. Friction - how much work the visitor has to do (this includes the reading)
2. Incentives - extras that are thrown in to sweeten the deal
3. Visitor motivation - how much they want what you have
4. Value proposition - the perception visitors have of you and what you are selling
5. Anxiety - the perceived risk to the visitor
6. Credibility - how well you convey trustworthiness
To increase site conversion, you should focus on these elements. It is important to understand that just a few changes will in themselves make dramatic differences. Since you are in fact the owner of the bar and your e-mail newsletter has been in the past an effective marketing tool I have the following suggestions.
1. Your web site features both the bar and your restaurant, suggestions:
a. Create a separate web page for each and optimize the copy for the search engines.
b. Wright long copy for the restaurant itself.
c. Wright short copy for the bar.
d. Since your calendar section is your landing page for your newsletter develop a fresh look that more accurately portrays the elegance of your establishment.
And finally If your going to market online, it is imperative that you develop a platform to do your own research. The simplest way to do this is to use split A/B testing its easy. It involves splitting traffic randomly between two pages that are identical except for the factor that is being tested. A split A/B test will quickly give you answers about how you should be marketing, and is very simple to implement. I'll speak to you about this in-depth when I stop in next time.
Now for the rest of you if you have any questions after reading this article please feel free to contact me by e-mail.
