We’re all online. In one form or another you have a presence in the digital world (I mean, unless you’re a monk living in the Paro Taktsang Monastery… then how are you seeing this?!). In the quarantine era it’ll be through your online presence that customers come to your business, so now more than ever it’s important to maximize conversion rates to your website.
With this in mind, we spoke with Clusterian and CRO specialist, Stuart Heggie of Wunderman Thompson, to get his thoughts on what practices and tips can help improve conversion rates. When asked what’s the biggest mistake most make is, without hesitation he responded…
SPEED
The speed at which your website loads is key to whether someone will engage with it or not. No one wants to wait around for a page to load like its 1999!
Many things can affect this, but according to Stuart, one of the most common is simply file size. Especially when it comes to photos. Most people will get a photo or design file from whomever created it, and chuck that up without paying much attention. This rush can lead some to unknowingly upload high resolution images over 12mb. When you think that the average webpage is roughly 4MB, you can understand how drastic that could be!
So, keep it simple with small JPEG or PNG files that will keep the quality of the image,but won’t leave clients with the spinning colour wheel of death! A handy onlineresource for this is https://tinypng.com/ which can optimise PNG & JPG images for web (try to keep images under 500kb)
Another factor that can slow you down depends on which plug-ins you’re using on your site. Unnecessary plugins on some websites often come bundled with extra JavaScript files adding to your page load times. To keep an eye on this, Heggie recommends building a test website (if you can) and test those plugins make sure that everything is working smoothly before making anything live to clients
LOW HANGING FRUIT
The trend in ecommerce is 60 – 70% of online traffic comes from mobile devices, a ratio that is likely to be similar for most websites.
“Ensuring that your web-app works well on a mobile has to be the number one priority. More broadly, ensuring that mobile users can digest your content easily, or find relevant content easily is vital,” Heggie explains. He offers up the following points to keep in mind when building/assessing your site:
· Reduce competing messaging
· Have one goal per page
· Prioritise important content above the fold (what’s first seen on your device)
· Optimise your site speed: Ensure images are web-friendly, remove old and unused plugins (wordpress)
· Clear navigation (Mega Menu/Hamburger Menus/Breadcrumbs etc)
MANAGE EXPECTATIONS
In the current climate, a lot of companies won’t be able to supply what they normally can. Especially true for sectors like Ecommerce who rely on products made overseas.If you can’t provide a service or product at the same speed as usual, let your client know early! If you manage their expectations sooner rather than later,you can avoid the passive aggressive emails you’d inevitably get when the that pair of sunglasses someone bought arrives in 4 weeks rather than 2. We’re all going though the same crisis at the moment, so understanding and compassion are at an all-time high!
NEED MORE HELP?
If you’ve read all of the above and still feel the need to know more, or perhaps you want advice more tailored for your company, then Stuart and a whole gaggle of CRO specialists have set up a great resource for you! It’s under the label, #COVIDCRAP, and they are pledging an hour of their time each week to any business who could use FREE CRO advice to improve their conversions. No obligations, sales pitches or hidden agendas, just a bunch of willing and able specialists who are wanting to help!
To take advantage of this amazing offer, check out the website: https://covidcrap.org/ or search for #COVIDCRAP on Linkedin or Twitter.
RESOURCES
You can also get a better picture of your website traffic and how visitors are digesting your content with the tools below:
Google Analytics – Free Tracking tool, measure goals & conversions
Google Tag Manager – Free Tool , add tracking tags & custom code
Google Optimize – Free AB Testing & Personalisation tool
FullStory Session Replay – Free trials available
HotJar Session Replay – Free trials available
BrowserStack: Free trial available for testing your web app across multiple devices
The following browser plugins are commonly used by CRO specialists to help with debugging and developing:
Tampermonkey: Direct javascript editor
BrowserStack: Browser and device tester
DataSlayer: Datalayer and events display
Google Tag assistant: Tag-checker
EditThisCookie: Cookiemanager and editor
Screencastify: Screenrecording for bugs or new interactions
SEO META 1 click: Metadata inspector
3whitehats: Structured data testing tool
Thanks again to Stuart Heggie for sharing his wisdom with us, as well as his home work station!
As the economy is left in a state of flux from the wake of COVID-19, many businesses will be relying on Government Grants to help see them through this pandemic. However, with so many grants being offered and each with numerous applicants, how can you make sure that you’re applying for the best one and that you get it?
Clusterian, Ben Cusack of Bulletpoint, is a specialist in Government Grants and has been helping small businesses secure them for years. We asked him what advice he would give to those seeking government aid and he offered up the following 5 tips!
1. GET YOUR KEY INFORMATION TOGETHER
Most grants only have a four to six-week application window, meaning a lot of the time you’ll only find out about a grant within a few weeks before its deadline hits. This coupled with the fact that it’ll take up to 40 hours to write a great application, it’s good practice to have your key information already written up. Which information is that? Well Ben recommends having the following ready:
• COMPANY HISTORY – Where did the business start and what have been some major milestones along the way?
• PRODUCTS/CUSTOMERS – What do you sell and who buys from you?
• 3 YEAR FINANCIAL SUMMARY – Is the business growing and profitable?
• KEY STAFF BIO – Who are the main drivers of the business success?
• TRACK RECORD – Highlight some previous successful projects.
• PROJECT BUDGET – Put together a summary of key project costs
2. ELIGIBLE AND COMPETITIVE
Perhaps the biggest mistake people will make, is going for a grant simply because they are eligible. When looking at the guidelines of a grant, many are written in a way that’ll portray most companies as worthy contenders. What you won’t be told is that only a few of those will actually be competitive. This can lead to businesses wasting time applying for grants that they were never going to get in the first place.
With the virus leaving many in dire straits and reaching for anything resembling a lifeline, it’s perhaps more important than ever to properly consider what you are applying for. Don’t try and make your company fit the criteria, as you’ll always lose to the ones that actually do. Take your time to research which grant will not only help you survive, but thrive!
Key thing to focus on is this criteria “able to demonstrate how the grant will help support your business or non-profit organisation in response to the impact of COVID-19.”
Most people read it
“I have been impacted by Covid-19”
Rather than:
“this grant will help me better respond to Covid-19”
3. LOOK LIKE YOU DON’T NEED A GRANT
Despite the perception that most Government Grants are aimed towards start-ups, many successful applications belong to companies that have already established themselves with strong revenue, net profit, employed staff and existing customers. Meaning, like most things in life, the most deserving will not be the most successful. You need to be seen as a low risk investment!
We’ve all seen shows like Dragon’s Den or Shark Tank. The entrepreneurs that are credible and viable (they know how to run a business and have proven they can) are the ones who walk away with the investments they hoped for!
4. LESS IS MORE
When applying for a grant, be sure to be succinct and clear. The reader shouldn’t have to slog through boundless paragraphs to understand your business and why you are a good candidate for a grant, it should be self-evident.
To quote Ben, “The aim is convey the main points to a grant assessor within a few seconds. As they read further they will know what to expect and look for supporting evidence.”
He recommends considering the following steps:
• LOW WORD COUNT – Minimize the amount of text when describing the main points of your grant application
• LOTS OF HEADINGS – Allow the reader to be able to skim the page to get the main points within a few seconds
• LOTS OF DOT POINTS – Keep each statement brief and follow up with a bit more detail
• INCLUDE IMAGES – Where possible, include some photos or graphs to break up the text
• SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS – You can always put additional information in an attachment
Ben offers up the following examples to help better understand this:
“Quick Example
Here is a quick example of a successful grant project summary (not written by me).
“There are 20 million showers taken each day in Australia alone. If every shower had our technology fitted we would save in excess of 200 ML of fresh drinking water per day. This saving also eliminates the need to treat the same volume as grey water and is additional to any savings made by flow restricting showerheads.” (57 words)
Do you have any idea what the product does? What does it look like? What is the benefit to the individual?
I don’t……
It was good enough to get a grant, but this is how I would convey it better.
– Our technology diverts cold water at the start of a shower to a storage tank.
– It saves 20L of water per shower.
– Each unit costs $100, is easily fitted and would save households $50 per year (36 words)
Is it better?
I like to think it tells the reader more about what the product is and what is does.
And for the keen eyed mathematicians,
• I did it in 37% less words
• And I used dot points!
And I just started that last sentence with a conjunction. No wonder my English teacher didn’t like me!”
5. MORE IS MORE
Finally, once all the main grant sections are complete, assessors will be evaluating additional information that you provide. Here’s where you can throw brevity out the window! They’ll be looking for the following:
• FINANCIAL MODELS
• IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
• PROJECT GOVERNANCE
• RISK ASSESSMENTS
• LETTERS OF SUPPORT
Although these have less sway in terms of assessment, they are judged on robustness. Would you rather see a Risk Management Plan that is only a single line, or one that is five pages long and details methodology and assessment matrix with sections on financial risk, timing risk, personal risk etc.?
Thanks so much to Ben and Bulletpoint for sharing their insight, and if you would interested in further tips to writing grant applications, than Ben has offered this link to a book he wrote last year:
“Top 10 tips to write grant applications”
We also recommend checking out Bulletpoint’s website for more articles and information on what Grants are on offer and finding the best one to suit your business!
https://www.bulletpoint.com.au/
Stay safe and well!