October 8, 2009

Eye Tracking Without The Eyes - AttentionWizard.com Beta

Eye tracking studies can be a very valuable tool that can help identify significant problems with your website or landing page. Unfortunately eye tracking requires expensive and specialized hardware and software to be used, and live test subjects to observe and measure.

In-page Web analytics can also provide detailed heatmaps of people's clicking and scrolling behavior. But these also require the landing page to be properly tagged and measure the behavior of real site visitors. This data takes time to collect and can only be gathered from "live" pages.

Recent advances in the study of computational attention and human visual processing now offer a new and exciting alternative. Computer algorithms can be used to simulate where people will look during the first few seconds of interacting with your site and create a detailed attention heatmap of your landing page.

This approach has several advantages:

Instant results - upload an image of the landing page and get your answer
High degree of accuracy - 75%+ correlation with eye tracking and mouse tracking
Works with page mock-ups - can be used with in-progress mock-ups before the page goes live

SiteTuners.com has recently announced the launch of a FREE private beta program (limited to the first 5000 sign-ups) for it new AttentionWizard.com visual attention simulation tool. Free daily heatmaps will be available for all participants for the length of the beta program. A paid version with per-image based pricing is expected by Q1 2010 for individuals, companies, and interactive agencies.

Posted by Tim Ash at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

July 27, 2009

Category Vs. Product Pages: Which One Tests Better? (You Might Be Surprised)

When Al Scillitani set out to do a little landing page testing, he was convinced he knew which page would win. But when the results came in, he was suprised.

Scillitani conducted an A/B test to see whether category pages or product pages would test better. He used email and homepage promotions to drive traffic to his test. He guessed that product pages would fare better. But it was the category pages that won the day.

The promotion involved 6 products that were on sale. In test A, the image of the 6 products was broken down to link individually to the product page. There was also a link to the category page. In test B, the image was kept as a whole and linked directly to the category page.

The email results didn't show much of a difference in conversion rates, but the order size was 40% higher for test B.

Meanwhile, test B was also the winner for the homepage promotion, but in a different way. The conversion rate was 15% higher and brought in 10% higher revenues. However, test A actually did produce a higher order size, by 5%.

So, why did the category page test so well?

"The products we were offering were way below our competitors. I feel this is the reason B performed better," wrote Scillitani on his blog. "Once the B people clicked and went to the category page, they not only saw the product they clicked on, but 100's of other products priced way below the competition. This combined with the "only a few days and limited quantities" messaging triggered more sales."

Of course, you can't use this test and assume it will work for your site.

"Run your own A/B tests. It is the only way to really evaluate what works and what doesn't work based on your product prices, product availability, the marketing message, and your customers, concluded Scillitani. "There are very few absolutes when it comes to online marketing."

Full disclosure: Al Scillitani was the boss of me at a North Carolina-based search engine marketing firm a few years back. I still meet him for coffee at Starbucks, where everybody knows his name.

Do you have a search marketing story to share? Contact me here.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 15, 2009

"Why Conversion Optimization is Now a Must-Have!" - Free Webinar 5-19-2009

I have been speaking about improving conversion rates for years in my Search Engine Watch regular column as well as conferences and workshops worldwide. It seems that people are really starting to listen. In these tough economic times you have to do everything possible to improve the efficiency of your online marketing programs.

OnDialog is hosting a free webinar that I will be headlining from 1-2pm EST on Tuesday, May 19th entitled "Why Conversion Optimization is Now a Must-Have!"

The free webinar will cover:

Landing page optimization basics
Real-world case studies
The pros and cons of various landing page testing tools
The emergence of 2nd-generation tools that put marketers in control

For more information visit the webinar page.

Posted by Tim Ash at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 7, 2009

Using Video Spokespeople to Increase Landing Page Conversions

When I speak on the topic of landing page optimization I am often asked about embedded video and the use of the walk-on video spokespeople that appear from the lower right corner of the page.

Of course the effectiveness of embedded video players and spokespeople depend on the offer, product, and of course the context and intent of the audience.

Do spokespeople actually increase conversion?

To readers of my column the answer should be familiar by now - test it. We often include the addition of spokespeople in our landing page tests.

Recent tests on companies using Innovative Media Group's video spokespeople suggest that dramatic gains can be realized:

- ClosetWorld added embedded video to their landing page and then a video spokesperson as well. This increased conversion rates from 0.5% to 1.0% and 2.2% respectively.

- Tanberg increased the conversion on their lead-generation page from 0.75% to 2.2% by adding a spokesperson.

Big companies are piling onto the bandwagon as well. Other recent successes include Napster, Service Magic, and Rhapsody.

Check out the DishyMix audio interview and transcript with Innovative Media's CEO John Cecil.

Posted by Tim Ash at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

August 19, 2008

WebTrends Launches New Service to Reduce Wasted Ad Dollars

WebTrends estimates that $4.5 million will be wasted in search advertising this year. That's why they're launching a new service: Ad Director. Debuting at SES San Jose, Ad Director uses self-learning technology to optimize millions of combinations of keywords, landing pages and ads across the major search networks. WebTrends says that companies using the solution have seen their return on ad spend increase an average of 44 percent.

“We have customers that are realizing over 1,500 percent return on ad spend after switching from their old bid management tools,” said Alex Yoder, the newly minted WebTrends CEO. “But more importantly, all WebTrends Ad Director customers have seen substantial gains over bid management, while reducing the manual overhead associated with these outdated solutions. With WebTrends Ad Director, we have struck the optimal balance between what machines can do best — repetitive analysis, testing and updates on a massive scale — and the insight and perspective humans bring to search marketing decisions.”

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

SEW Experts: What's on your Mind?

Anyone engaged in the practice of search has at one time or another struggled to motivate searchers. Motivation comes in the form of click action, triggered by text. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "What's on your Mind?," Kevin Ryan reminds us that the action starts long before reaching search results.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 30, 2008

Testing Applies to Widgets and Accessories, Not Just Landing Pages

The Google Website Optimizer blog is serving up a helpful tip on testing widgets and other site accessories.

They gave an example of a popcorn company that tested their current trust seal against an upgraded one they were being pitched. The test also included a factor where there was no seal shown to visitors.

Having no seal at all performed poorly. But there was little difference between the old trust seal and the upgraded one. The popcorn company was able to put their money to better use than having a new seal on their site.

Do you test your widgets? Have any tips? Leave your advice in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 11, 2008

Your Baby's Ugly - Why You Need Landing Page Optimization Now

All new parents think their drooling, wailing, wrinkled little midget is beautiful - and that's as it should be. The same seems to be true of landing pages. If an online marketing campaign is making money, it's taken as proof the landing pages are beautiful--and don't need further improvement.

In fact, landing pages typically range from barely acceptable to horrible. They are often at direct cross-purposes with the desired conversion action and stated goals of the business.

In this sorry state of affairs lies a terrific opportunity - fixing your landing pages can often lead to long-lasting double or even triple digit gains in conversion rate. This can change the economics of your business overnight.

Landing page optimization is no longer optional. It's one of the core activities that all online marketers must pay serious attention to. Landing page optimization spans the important topics of usability, copywriting, web design, and information architecture.

But landing page optimization also requires a proper grounding in math and test design. The messy reality of real-time marketing rears its ugly head. Organizational considerations required to build a testing program are key. You may need to change the mindset within your company.

I've covered these topics and more in my recent book Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions (John Wiley Press 2008). The book even got a really nice unsolicited writeup from SES London Chair Mike Grehan in his How To Avoid A Crash Landing column (and I didn't even have to pay a dime from the giant stash of payola money that I have available for such plugs).

I want to start a conversation and a revolution, but first we must break down the walls of denial:

Repeat after me: "My baby is ugly..."

Posted by Tim Ash at 8:19 PM | Permalink

February 20, 2008

SEW Experts: Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute

As a search marketer, you need to understand landing page optimization because it impacts your results. Higher conversion means a bigger impact for everything you do with search, and the availability of more dollars to invest back into search marketing. In today's By the Numbers column, "Landing Page Optimization for SEM: Design and Execute," Eric Enge outlines some of the best practices outlined in Tim Ash's new book, "Landing Page Optimization."

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

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