We’ve conducted a number of A/B testing with regards to landing pages
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 6:56 am
Most (not all) of our paid search clients are B2B technology organizations. Their products and solutions are expensive, and the buying cycles are lengthy. They use paid search to kazakhstan whatsapp number generate leads – form fills mainly – which is challenging in today’s competitive technology space. What we find more often than not, is that generating a click through to a landing page, while challenging, is not the hard part. The hard part is getting that form fill!
(see Jason’s blog here for some of the results) and played with short forms versus long forms all with some success, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the offer strategy.
First, let me back up…
Changing the number of required fields in a form does affect our conversion rates. People are simply more warry of providing their contact information today than ever. Makes sense, right. I mean how quickly does that first email come when you provide your email address in return for something? Pretty quickly! We’ve found, however, and it’s likely no surprise, that a short form beats a long form. In fact, we often recommend to our clients just asking for name and business email. We do this for a couple of reasons…
Most companies today use some form of sales force automation tool. Armed with a business email address, our clients can set up drip marketing programs that work to build a prospect profile over time. If they appreciated the offer they responded to, providing the next offer along the buying cycle might require the proffering of a little more information, and so on.
Most of our technology clients are generating leads in low numbers. They aren’t selling inexpensive solutions, so the value of a lead is much greater to them than if they’re selling a boxed product. As such, they can fill in prospect data armed with just a name using tools like LinkedIn or business directories. The data appending would be too cumbersome if they weren’t selling an enterprise solution.
While shorter forms generally convert better than long forms, at the heart of the conversion is the offer strategy. Before jumping into digital marketing 10 years ago, I spent 12 years rooted in direct marketing – both agency and client-side. I’ve been part of many direct response campaigns that integrated media including direct mail, email, online (now digital), and even telemarketing. All of these tactics and touches played a role in the B2B lead generation campaigns I managed, and all of them had different levels of success. Like any campaign, the tactics worked together to move a prospect along a decision path to engagement and dialogue. Depending on where in the buying cycle or decision process a prospect was ultimately determined when along the campaign touch points, they chose to engage.
The alignment of offers in a B2B buying cycle
Today, while integrated programs are still viable, I’m rooted firmly in one aspect of the overall strategy – paid search. Paid search can mean many different things in today’s digital landscape. For our clients it mostly means Google Ads, LinkedIn, or Facebook given the nature of lead generation for B2B clients in particular. And given that B2B nature, sales cycles and the decision process is rarely short (more on this in another blog). Suffice it to say, that depending on where in the cycle your ad targets, the offer needs to align. The below is a generalization of the decision stages in the B2B and the subsequent offer types that align best with that stage – of course this can vary greatly depending on what’s being sold, price points, etc. so don’t get too caught up in nuances:
(see Jason’s blog here for some of the results) and played with short forms versus long forms all with some success, but at the end of the day, it comes down to the offer strategy.
First, let me back up…
Changing the number of required fields in a form does affect our conversion rates. People are simply more warry of providing their contact information today than ever. Makes sense, right. I mean how quickly does that first email come when you provide your email address in return for something? Pretty quickly! We’ve found, however, and it’s likely no surprise, that a short form beats a long form. In fact, we often recommend to our clients just asking for name and business email. We do this for a couple of reasons…
Most companies today use some form of sales force automation tool. Armed with a business email address, our clients can set up drip marketing programs that work to build a prospect profile over time. If they appreciated the offer they responded to, providing the next offer along the buying cycle might require the proffering of a little more information, and so on.
Most of our technology clients are generating leads in low numbers. They aren’t selling inexpensive solutions, so the value of a lead is much greater to them than if they’re selling a boxed product. As such, they can fill in prospect data armed with just a name using tools like LinkedIn or business directories. The data appending would be too cumbersome if they weren’t selling an enterprise solution.
While shorter forms generally convert better than long forms, at the heart of the conversion is the offer strategy. Before jumping into digital marketing 10 years ago, I spent 12 years rooted in direct marketing – both agency and client-side. I’ve been part of many direct response campaigns that integrated media including direct mail, email, online (now digital), and even telemarketing. All of these tactics and touches played a role in the B2B lead generation campaigns I managed, and all of them had different levels of success. Like any campaign, the tactics worked together to move a prospect along a decision path to engagement and dialogue. Depending on where in the buying cycle or decision process a prospect was ultimately determined when along the campaign touch points, they chose to engage.
The alignment of offers in a B2B buying cycle
Today, while integrated programs are still viable, I’m rooted firmly in one aspect of the overall strategy – paid search. Paid search can mean many different things in today’s digital landscape. For our clients it mostly means Google Ads, LinkedIn, or Facebook given the nature of lead generation for B2B clients in particular. And given that B2B nature, sales cycles and the decision process is rarely short (more on this in another blog). Suffice it to say, that depending on where in the cycle your ad targets, the offer needs to align. The below is a generalization of the decision stages in the B2B and the subsequent offer types that align best with that stage – of course this can vary greatly depending on what’s being sold, price points, etc. so don’t get too caught up in nuances: