MecLabs Marketing Experiments has again delivered a fantastic web clinic–this time on the topic of “One-to-One” Marketing.
Here’s the basic premise: One-to-One marketing is the end-point of segmentation. After drilling down into your audience, defining segments and identifying the data relevant to each segment, you finally end up in the position to talk directly to an individual customer. And having a conversation with this customer is what one-to-one marketing is all about.
So, here’s the pain point: Although more and more individuals and companies are understanding the importance of segmentation in their marketing and branding strategy, not every company has the resources necessary to segment and drill down to an individual level
This Marketing Experiments clinic revealed, however, that there is a sweet spot between marketing to all and marketing to one. They call it marketing to “n”.
The presenters described the two key components that determine how personalized we can make a conversation with our customer.
- Customer insight: The amount of usable and actionable information on our customers.
- Internal capabilities. How far we can stretch our resources in order to personalize our messaging.
Most small businesses have little insight and few capabilities. The Marketing Experiments case study for this set of companies revealed a standout tip that I had to share with you: Simplify Your Online Forms.
We have all been in the customer’s shoes–searching to find a piece of information we want, only to be directed to a page that requires us to fill out a long form with multiple fields. And what do we do? We click the back arrow and go find easier-to-obtain information elsewhere.
From the company side, many of us add long forms to act as a catch-all for information, which allow us to provide a better quote or head into a call more prepared. However, cold, impersonal submission forms that require a lot of effort repel visitors, and we lose them before we even got to “hello”.
Better options for conversion
A shorter form is a better option. Even more conducive to converting a visitor is a customized form. Here are three super simple way to accomplish this:
- Make the form page more welcoming. Literally, by writing “Welcome!”–anything to make the process more friendly, personal and conversational.
- Break up your long form into 3 simple steps. When one step is completed, the visitor is directed to the next page with the next step.
- Change multiple open fields into one field with a drop down menu. This is an automatic segmenting process and a more personalized step for the customer.
After the Marketing Experiments folks changed the form page of their case study website, the site experienced a 109% increase in conversions and a 135% increase in leads. Yes–you read that right.
Even small companies without a lot of resources can take small steps to improve the online conversation with customers and present a more personalized message that better meets their needs. It’s the difference between marketing to customers and conversing with customers.
Visit the Marketing Experiments website to watch and listen to the other case studies presented during this clinic.
