Building a CTA Button Your Leads Can't Help But Click

It's the great marketing paradox. We spend hours brainstorming and months testing the copy of our calls-to-action, but whether we ask our users to Sign Up Now, Start a Free Trial, Get Started, Request Access, or Learn More, all we really want them to do it click the button.

Just click the button.

So why do so many of our quality leads fail to comply with our simple request? The way your CTA button is set up on a landing page is just as important as the CTA itself. Otherwise, it's a button to nowhere.

Make your CTA pop on a pretty page

Visual appeal is everything. Before they see your CTA button, your landing page is the first impression your potential customers will have. Choose attractive, simple imagery – if your page is cluttered, your visitors won't know where to look. Color scheme also is important: Using complementary but contrasting colors help a page to pop.

Notice how the below example from PopSurvey is coordinated with shades of blue, allowing the pink in the logo and CTA to pop out on the page. The secondary CTA, “Pricing & Sign Up” in the header is a slightly duller pink that still stands out but doesn't distract from the main call-to-action button.

Ensure your page is easy to read and draws the attention of your customers' eyes – don't make them strain to read the text. The following landing page from Website Magazine is cluttered, has too many distracting colors, and small text. It's impossible to know where to look!

Get to the point

Customers won't have the patience to stay on your page if they don't know what you're offering. Use clear, strong wording to elicit the quick reactions that all good Calls-to-Action invoke.

Active verbs like “join” or “discover” can make people feel like they'll be a part of something or learn something new. Negative questions like “worried?” and “confused?” can tap into human fears – always an attention-getter. And make it personal and urgent – use pronouns like “your” or “my” to convey ownership, as well as time-sensitive words, as in “Get my free newsletter now.”

Dollar Shave Club is the perfect example of this. They speak to men (notice the “No commitment”) in a take-it-or-leave-it offer. Do it or don't. Either way, it's impossible to miss that big CTA.

The copy here is also fantastic. It flows well, the value proposition is clear, and each sentence subsequently gets shorter up to the CTA.

At Socedo, one of our landing pages, is frill-free. We're still A/B testing variations around “Start My Free Trial” or “Start My 14-Day Free Trial.” Regardless, previous testing has confirmed that the phrase “Free Trial” is crucial to our CTA buttons. It's simple and to the point, and users know exactly what will happen when they click the button. No matter where you look on our site–the landing page, the navigation, or the blog–you'll see a blue button with the “Free Trial” copy.

But just like any marketing strategy, you should always be A/B testing. What works for one brand might not work for another, and things can change over time.

Lead to the button with benefits

Drive more leads by offering your unique selling point. When a customer clicks on your CTA button, they should know why it will benefit them. Start with a confident headline on the page that conveys a key value you offer, and support it with a subhead that explains it. Follow with clear button copy that encourages users to claim these benefits.

If you're like everyone else – boring and wordy – you won't get your customers to pay attention or even to think about clicking your CTA. Add personality, emotions and enthusiasm to help draw in customers.

This landing page from Manpacks is fantastic and hilarious. It has a header with a clear benefit, in this case convenience on men's essentials. Then the subhead explains exactly what Manpacks offers. By the time the user reaches the CTA button, they already know what they are going to “Get Started” with.

Sqord is a fitness and game tracking wristband for kids. Their landing page isn't bad. It has a coherent color theme that reflects the audience and the product, the button pops, and it gets to the point. The headline is catchy but not very specific, and the subhead only provides a few more surface-level details: “Sqord is your online world, powered by real world play.”

By the time the user reaches the button text “Buy Sqord Membership & Gear” it's hard to know what they're actually buying. Is it the wristband, the app, or both? And why should I care?

Instill fear of missing out

You always want what you can't have, right? It's all about urgency. Customers hate missing out on a short-term offer. Focus on deadline phrases such as “limited time” or give them and end date. Add exclusivity to your product, when appropriate, with phrases like “while supplies last.” And CTAs that save money will always be a winning tactic. Customers can't ignore it.

This landing page from Slope, a visual marketing platform, creates FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) by implying only a limited number of people will be allowed access to the beta. In addition to avoiding this negative, the button creates a positive experience of exclusivity. If you're one of the select few who request early access, you'll be part of the inner club–the talk of the town at your next marketers' get-together.

Be creative

You'll probably notice a pattern to the successful landing page CTAs mentioned here. They all have a high-benefit header, an explanatory subhead, and a button with active verbs. They all have a coordinated color palette, with the button standing out. They all get right to the point.

Most importantly, they all have some level of creativity. You can read as many prescriptive tips for CTA buttons as possible, but at the end of the day, it's the unexpected element of your page that will give you the edge for higher conversion rates.

About the Author: Aseem Badshah, Founder and CEO of Socedo. Socedo helps sales and marketing professionals leverage social media data to discover, qualify, and nurture leads, automatically.

Make Your Cold Prospecting Emails Feel a Little Less Cold

Email marketing is often praised as one of the most effective marketing channels, and for good reason: you're reaching out to people who have already expressed interest in what you're doing.

But sometimes, especially in the realm of B2B, there's a case for reaching out cold…

I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe?

I'm talking about cold prospecting emails: reaching out to someone you don't have a direct relationship with and starting a conversation.

Now, this isn't about blasting them with info about your business. It's about providing immediate value and serving up an irresistible next step.

It's worth noting that there's a fine line between cold prospecting and spam, so please read up on laws for your country. But when done right, reaching out cold can be an easy way to pull in highly qualified prospects - especially when you're A/B testing to perfect your strategy.

And that's exactly what this post is about.

Here are five recommendations for improving your cold prospecting email copy and subject lines - pulled from real-life testing data.

Let's dig in.

1. Get up close and personalize

If you don't have a relationship with the person you're reaching out to, you can at least demonstrate that you've done your research.

Mentioning the prospect's name and demonstrating familiarity with their business can help in easing that initial friction… in some cases.

Have a look at this A/B test we ran for a social media SaaS tool:

Subject A: If you chat with only one social media firm this year, make it {COMPANY}

Subject B: {PROSPECT} + {COMPANY}: let's work together

Subject B was the winner with a 38% lift in open rates (statistically significant) and more clicks. I found this somewhat surprising result because A, unlike B, mentions the subject matter - showing that the company has done their research.

However, I've found the combination of mentioning the prospect and client names in conjunction tends to beat many worthy subject line opponents.

Pro tip: Some of the most effective personalization comes before you send your first email - by getting your targeting right. Here are some key targeting elements to you get started:

• Geography


• Title


• Industry and company size


• Age, gender and other demographic criteria

Filtering by these factors will help you create and test hyper-targeted messages that prospects will be much more likely to find relatable.

The bottom line here? You can't send relevant messages before knowing who your prospect is.

Do your research and target your emails - the more personal, the better. (For extra credit, check out great Quora thread on why segmentation, targeting and positioning are important in your marketing efforts.)

Want more help writing emails that convert?

Check out our Smart Guide to Email Marketing Conversion for more pointers.

By submitting your email you'll receive more Unbounce conversion marketing content, like ebooks and webinars.

2. Prove your pudding!

There's a big difference between saying you improved something and demonstrating it.

When introducing your company to a prospect, get into the details of how you've helped other others. In particular, provide before-and-after statistics, usage numbers and any other data that demonstrate the impact your involvement had.

Take these two approaches to email body copy, for example, which we wrote for social media image recognition tool Ditto Labs:

The version on the left was the control that focused on concisely summarizing who uses the product and core benefits. Although well written and concise, it lacked any proof through hard numbers.

Our hypothesis was to sacrifice brevity for working in meaningful statistics and specifics around how the technology works.

The result?

The version on the right won… by a lot. It had a 61% higher CTR and 119% higher conversion to scheduled meetings.

What do I think contributed to the success of the challenger? A few things.

• The value proposition is super clear and encapsulated in five words: “Visual search for social media.”


• The second paragraph jumps right into what differentiates this technology from competitors.


• The third paragraph gets super specific about where Ditto gets it data.


• The fourth paragraph drives home the technology's value through hard numbers and data.

But most importantly, the second to last paragraph makes the next step crystal clear, which brings us to…

3. Sell the next step with a clear call to action

Forget about closing the deal in one email.

Focus instead on asking for a next meeting and getting in-depth on how it will be of huge benefit for your client, regardless of any future next steps.

Getting back to the Ditto body copy A/B test, take a look at the call to action from either variation:

Are you open to learning more?

In the losing version, the CTA feels abrupt and vague:

In the winning body copy, the same call to action is much more contextualized and therefore more actionable:

We make it clear that the way in which you'll learn more is via a 20-minute call. There's no guesswork - it's ”Yes” or “No” to a 20-minute call.

Here are some other questions and calls to action you can borrow to be even more direct in your cold email prospecting call to action:

• “What are a few times that work best for you over the next few days for a call?”


• “Please reply to this email with whether you're willing to talk further.”


• “When works for you tomorrow to jump on a quick call?”

The wording should fit your writing style and sales process, but be sure your call to action achieves three things:

1. Give context and specifics around the next step


2. Make the next step low pressure


3. Convey that the next step will be of value to your prospects, regardless of whether or not they become customers

At the end of the day, you're starting a conversation.

So be real ask to continue the conversation in a meaningful way.

4. Get the subject line right

The subject line sets the tone for your future relationship with your prospect - which should carry from the email to the landing page to the conversion and beyond.

If this sounds like a tall order, it's because it is. And there's no “hack” or “cheat” to get it right.

Ultimately, you need to test subject lines that feel and read true to you and your value proposition.

I'm about to show you a couple of subject line tests. The takeaways here are meant to serve as inspiration more than firm guidelines. Just because you see A/B testing data here or elsewhere does not mean it will apply to your business.

With that in mind, let's dig in.

Subject line test 1 for an anonymous company:

Subject A: You've got to see the new {product name}

Subject B: If you demo one {type} tool, make it {product name}

Subject C: Take 20 minutes to demo {product name}. It's worth it.

Winner? Subject C with a 44% higher CTR than A and 21% higher CTA than B.

Notice this is the only subject line of the three that talks about the length (20 minutes) of the demo. Also notice that it starts with a verb: “Take.” This subject line was probably the most successful because it's an upfront and specific call to action to take a 20-minute demo.

Subject line test 2 for another anonymous company:

Subject A: Save {prospect} significant time & money.

Subject B: This is the *one* {type} tool you must demo in {year}

Subject C: {Type} software that's 10% faster and actually pleasant to use.

Winner? Subject line B with 62% higher open rate than C and 18% higher than A.

What's my two cents? “10% faster” isn't that exciting in email copy, and “significant time & money” is pretty vague. Subject B skips the unimpressive stats and vague promises for a direct and upfront call to action.

So what's the point of sharing all this testing data?

To show that the words you use in prospecting email really matter. What message is going to encourage prospects to click and take the leap to set up a conversation with a stranger?

Choose your words carefully or get really wild - only a test will reveal what resonates best with prospects.

5. Keep the momentum going

You've tested for the most clickable subject line, and you've crafted a compelling CTA.

So what happens when prospects decide that they want to take you up on your “next step”?

Will you let them navigate to your website themselves and scramble for your contact information? Well, you could… but that's likely to kill the momentum you worked hard to build.

Instead, link to a dedicated landing page that continues the conversation you started in your subject line and email body copy. Reassure prospects that they're in the right place and that they're closer to receiving the value you promised them.

And if really want to get that landing page experience right, check out Unbounce's Landing Page Conversion Course.

Cold prospecting emails don't have to feel cold

Cold prospecting emails shouldn't feel cold.

It's the beginning of the relationship with your future prospects, so talk to them as you would your favorite client. And test all the things to be sure you're doin' it right.

April Fools' Day 2016: Google gets the ball rolling with Flick keyboard, Gmail mic drop & more

Google wasted no time getting into the April Fools' Day spirit, making a number of fake announcements before the day even started.



Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.

The Two Types of Programmatic Advertising and Why Programmatic Matters

Before we get to the topic at hand, a definition of programmatic advertising. We define it simply as “Automated advertising buying coupled with machine learning.” Digiday defines it as "ad buying what typically refers to the use of software to purchase digital advertising, as opposed to the traditional process that involves RFPs, human negotiations and manual insertion orders. It's using machines to buy ads, basically.” 

Marketing Land, on the other hand, says programmatic advertising "helps automate the decision-making process of media buying by targeting specific audiences and demographics.” 

In terms of the different types of programmatic advertising, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB)-which is an industry organization geared toward ensuring standards across the advertising ecosystem-there are two types of programmatic buying (the process in which you're buying advertising):

1. Programmatic Direct

Also known as Premium Programmatic Advertising, this is an automated technology-driven method used for buying, selling, or fulfilling advertising. It provides for an Automated Guarantee Systematic automation of sales process. No insertion order (IO) or master services agreement (MSA) covered within the partnership.

2. Programmatic Real Time Bidding (RTB)

Two types of RTBs are Open Auction (audience targeting) and Private Marketplace Deals-which require a private marketplace and allow for fixed pricing and data overlays. We are beginning to see more and more of this type of programmatic advertising being used every day. 

Why does programmatic matter?

The shift to programmatic tactics means a few things for marketers and the industry as a whole. In essence, it has validated and delivered against the need for data- driven, and accountable ROI-based media delivery. Additionally, it has enabled an efficient method for publishers to monetize core inventory.

That said, some advertisers have struggled with premium inventory falling outside of the standard programmatic categories and are still being required to fulfill unique and exclusive campaign needs.

Regardless, the entire programmatic category is seeing increased spending across the board due to its predictive yield and ROI for marketers and publishers alike, not to mention easy insertion processes and lower barriers to entry for most advertisers. 

In a nutshell, programmatic advertising aligns media with brand lift metrics for real ROI and only spends money where it will be effective. 

Download The Programmatic Guide For Modern Marketers, Publishers, And Media Planners to get the basics of using programmatic advertising and a lot more including the other questions marketers need to ask themselves as well as the needs agencies need to address. 

[eBook] Influencer Engagement: 15 Ways to Fail & 25 Ways to WIN

Schadenfreude (n.): Pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.

Who doesn't like watching a good fail? As long as the subject isn't seriously injured, we can all enjoy a hearty laugh at the guy who slips on the banana peel, the woman who gets her shoe caught in a grate, or the kid getting bopped by the family cat. Even if you're the one who fails, you know eventually it will be a funny story you can tell at parties.

While these minor pratfalls are all in good fun, failing at influencer engagement isn't as entertaining. Instead of a few bruises and an amusing anecdote, an influencer outreach fail can end your campaign before it starts. And there are far more ways to fail than you might imagine.

But you don't have to be a cautionary tale. There are more ways to win at influencer engagement than there are banana peels in your way. At TopRank Marketing, we create and manage influencer marketing programs for  some of today's top B2B and B2C brands. We made the mistakes so you don't have to. Over time, we have built a solid strategy for building lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with influencers.

To help you avoid being the object of other marketers' schadenfreude, we created a new eBook, 15 Ways to Fail & 25 Ways to Win with Influencer Engagement. We asked some of our favorite marketing influencers how people have failed to build relationships with them in the past, then added advice based on our years of experience.

The result is a first-hand account of how to succeed in influencer marketing, with insight from both influencers and the marketers who excel at creating relationships with them.

Here are a few ways marketers failed to engage our influencers:

Reaching out cold: “I get requests from people I know really well every week. What makes you think I'll make time to work with you if I've never interacted with you before? Take some time to comment on my posts, rate my podcast, review my book. I'll return the favor in a heartbeat.” Andrew Davis, Founder, Monumental Shift Click to Tweet

Inappropriate asks: “As in asks for promoting your product (books, webinars, conferences, etc.) in exchange for affiliate revenue: Please DON'T.” Carlos Gil, Head of Global Social Media, BMC Software Click to Tweet

Asking too soon: “My pet peeve is when someone follows me on Twitter or Instagram and/or fans me on Facebook and immediately reaches out to me with a request to check out their business.” Kim Garst, Bestselling Author and Keynote Speaker Click to Tweet

Using the wrong communication channels: “Sending me a message about LinkedIn using Facebook.” Jason Miller, Group manager, Content Marketing & Social Media, LinkedIn Click to Tweet

Impersonal pitches: “When companies send out generic en masse pitches, like a robo-call, but via email. The personal touch can make or break an influencer's decision to engage.” Chad Pollitt, Co-Founder & VP of Audience, Relevance Click to Tweet

Lack of credibility: “Competition for effective influencers' time is high, so reaching out using a Gmail address and pointing to a little known brand hosted on a hyphenated domain with poor design isn't going to motivate anyone to engage.” Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Marketing Click to Tweet

Lazy duplicated messages: “When you get that really interesting Tweet inviting you to take a look at something and then when you click through to it you also see that they have composed basically the same message to 579 other people on Twitter.” Jon Jantsch, Founder, Duct Tape Marketing Click to Tweet

Delegated, impersonal outreach: “Reach out to me directly yourself. Do NOT delegate this critical step to your marketing agency, PR professional, team member, assistant or intern. Do it yourself and make your note personal. If you want me to respond, I expect you to do the asking yourself.” Heidi Cohen, Chief Content Officer, Actionable Marketing Guide Click to Tweet

Asking without giving first: “Not greasing the skids. Influencers are most likely to add commentary if there is some kind of existing relationship. This means at least some kind of history where the person reaching out has already been sharing the influencer content.” Joe Pulizzi, Founder, Content Marketing Institute Click to Tweet

Being too salesy: “Asking for 30 minutes of my time to discuss a “partnership” – which actually means you want me to sell your stuff to my clients.” Ardath Albee, CEO & B2B Marketing Strategist, Marketing Interactions Click to Tweet

Asking them to sell for you: “Your influencer is there to help you increase the awareness, association and consideration of your brand in a certain space – not to shill for you.” Gerry Moran, Global Head of Social Media, Cognizant  Click to Tweet

Too much focus on the brand: “Don't tell me your story, let me tell my story. 'LESS fabrication, MORE facilitation' = a boost to your Return on Relationship, #RonR” Ted Rubin, Social Marketing Strategist, Evangelist & Acting CMO, The Rubin Organization Click to Tweet

Placing too many demands on the influencer: “Set the tone and rules upfront. Influencers can't be expected to take part in everything you do, so say that. Set the ground rules and expectations.” Bryan Kramer, President & CEO, PureMatter Brand Marketing & Interactive Click to Tweet

Spamming with automated messages: “Signing up for an app that spams your “top influencer” with automated messages is a sure path to a rocky relationship.” Glen Gilmore, Principal, Gilmore Business Network Click to Tweet

Failure to follow up: “Not following up with that blog post, eBook, or copy of the interview the influencer contributed to. Influencers are indeed interested in seeing the fruits of their labors.” Rebecca Lieb, Principal, Conglomotron LLC Click to Tweet

If you have a few scrapes and bruises from your past influencer marketing attempts, it's time to be an example instead of a cautionary tale. Check out the SlideShare below for the tips you need to start winning:

Take these tips with you wherever you go: Download your copy of 15 Ways to fail & 25 Ways to Win with Influencer Engagement.

Learn Even More Influencer Marketing Wins at Social Media Marketing World

On April 19th, TopRank Marketing CEO Lee Odden will be presenting the “Influencer Marketing Playbook: How to Identify, Qualify & Recruit Effective Influencers” at Social Media Marketing World in San Diego. If you like what you saw here and want to learn even more from one of the top authorities on influencer marketing, be sure to check out Lee's session details.

Disclosure: LinkedIn Marketing is a TopRank Marketing client. 

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Value Focus: Which aspect(s) of your product should your marketing emphasize?

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As a MarketingExperiments blog reader, I can already assume a few things about you. You're an evidence-based marketer. You are an effective communicator. You have an exceptional understanding of marketing. You are skilled at analyzing campaign effectiveness. And you have experience in a wide range of marketing disciplines.

But if you were pitching yourself at a job fair, and could emphasize only one of these elements about yourself, which would it be?

Savvy marketer that you are, I'm guessing you would first size up the company you're applying to - ask questions of the recruiter, take a look at the booth and read some of the literature - before deciding what value to highlight when presenting yourself.

The way you approach marketing your products and services should be no different.

 

Don't bury the lead

Almost every product or service has several ways it benefits customers. Your challenge is to determine the value focus - which element of value will you lead with in your marketing.

You may highlight more than one element of value as secondary benefits on your website, in your print ads and in your email marketing. However, there likely is a place within your marketing where you have to choose what the primary value focus should be - the headline of your print ad, the hero space on your homepage or, perhaps, the entirety of an email.

Let me give you an example from my own customer journey.

 

Connect with customer motivation

Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns

I recently purchased a Nissan LEAF. In looking at other cars compared to the LEAF, the car I chose offered many elements of value that Nissan highlights on its website:

• Save money when you use the car - The car is 100% electric, so, as Nissan's site says, you will “Never Pay For Gas Again. #KickGas” Another benefit is lower maintenance costs since it doesn't need oil changes, belts, etc.

• Nerd out - The car has a certain appeal to early adopters, just because it is electric. Plus, you can access several features (like turning the A/C on to have the car cool down before you get in it) from an app or through a portal on a website using something called telematics. It also has one of those wireless keys that you keep in your pocket when you start the car. Nifty. One headline on Nissan's microsite for the LEAF is “High-Tech. Low-Impact.”

• 100% fun - This is from a Nissan tagline: “100% electric. 100% fun.” This is kind of hard to quantify since some people will have fun driving a 4×4 pickup truck through a muddy field, which is a very different experience than what the LEAF offers. But I do find the car fun to drive, almost like driving an iPhone.

• Save the planet - Since it runs on electricity, the car does not pollute directly. In fact, Nissan stamps “Zero Emission” right on the side of the car.
  
  

  Photo: RACC

• Performance - Some carmakers sell their cars by screaming about a HEMI or horsepower or overhead cams. Nissan promotes “100% torque, 100% fun.” Because it's an electric car, the engine doesn't have to rev and shift gears to accelerate. It has instant torque. Now I'm not a car guy, so I don't really understand or care about what that means. But for driving on the highway, acceleration is important. And for a small car, it does accelerate quickly.

• Safety - Again, it's a smaller car, so safety could be a concern. It does have airbags all over the place - popping out of seats and the roof. Though this would seem to be an important issue to car buyers, I didn't see any prominent mention of safety on Nissan's microsite for the LEAF. 

These are just a few of the possible value elements that popped into my head. I'm sure there are many more.

When I was at the car lot, the salesman was able to size me up, ask me a few questions and determine my motivation. This meant he could easily pivot from one value focus to the other based on my responses.

Nissan has a bigger challenge on its microsite for the LEAF. Which points should it emphasize most prominently?

The path Nissan has taken at the top of its microsite is not to include a value focus at all. In fact, there isn't even really a headline.

 

The closest thing to a headline is “2016 Nissan LEAF®.” This does serve to orient the visitor that they are on the right page, but it doesn't present any value.

The other two major emphasized elements do not focus on the value either. Rather, before presenting value, the LEAF microsite communicates the cost (in this case, the starting price of its base S model) and an anxiety reducer (in this case, range anxiety, by highlighting how far the car can drive).

Below the fold, the microsite starts communicating value with a rotating animation of six banners (what used to be known as a Flash banner) listing different elements of value.

 

Simply put, Nissan has not chosen a value focus for the LEAF on this microsite. (This is not unique to the LEAF for Nissan; this microsite is a template it uses for all of its car models.)

Now, one could make the argument that visitors to this microsite are already so motivated that they don't need any value communication and their bigger concerns are price and range anxiety.

However, even if they are already motivated, you should reinforce that value once they hit the site. After all, a car purchase is a major decision, and you want to keep driving them up the funnel. It's also a way to let them know the LEAF is the car for them. “Hey, we understand you. You're among friends.”

Also, there are likely many less motivated car buyers who are just kicking the tires on several cars, and thus visiting many car sites. By leading with value (and the right value focus), you have the opportunity to turn those few moments of interest into deeper research about the vehicle you're selling.

If we take a look at the nearest competitor to the Nissan LEAF - the Tesla Model S - we can see that its landing page does lead with value. (It might be a stretch to consider these two models competitors due to the huge price discrepancy - and therefore, possibly differing motivations of its buyers - but they are the two best-selling all-electric cars in the U.S. and comprise 58% of all pure electric cars sold in the United States in 2015.)

 

Like the LEAF's page, the headline is pure orientation - “Model S” - however, the copy below focuses on value such as “Highest Safety Rating in America” and “Autopilot with Autosteer and Summon.”

 

How to determine your product's value focus for your marketing

We've discussed how it's important to communicate value in your marketing. But how do you determine what the value focus should be? Here is a simple process to get you started:

Step #1. Understand the product

Effective marketing merely clarifies the value inherent in the product, so begin with the product itself. What elements of value does it provide to customers? If you weren't involved with the product creation, talk to product developers, business analysts or business leaders who were. Then read professional ratings and customer reviews of your product to get an outside perspective on how well the product delivers on that intended value.

Step #2. Determine the persona

As I said above, there are many reasons to love a LEAF. If I were running a print ad about the car in “Organic Life” magazine, I would focus on the zero emissions and environmental/sustainability aspect. However, if I were writing an ad for “WIRED” magazine, I would focus on the techie/early adopter aspect. Your products likely has more than one customer segment. Before creating the messaging for a specific customer touchpoint, determine which segment or segments you will be communicating with.

Step #3. Ask the customer

Interview current and previous customers. Those who didn't buy. And those who are just in the segment you're targeting who may not even know about your product. Participate in forums and LinkedIn Groups that are popular with different customer segments. Talk to customer service, sales and other customer-facing positions in your organization. Read the magazines, blogs and Tumblrs that your ideal customers read, listen to their podcasts, and monitor their communication on social networks. Conduct focus groups. These are just some examples of ways you can ask customers what element of value most resonate with them.

Step #4. Test

The customer is always right. But the customer doesn't always know what he wants. So it's not enough to just ask your customers about value. This data simply helps you create hypotheses to test with real-world customers to see which value focuses generate the best response. Test value focus in your email. Test in your PPC ads. Identify elements of value that could be the most compelling value focus, and then run follow-up tests throughout the customer journey to discover how to best message that value focus.

 

You can follow Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content, MECLABS Institute, @DanielBurstein.

 

You might also like

3 steps for laying your value prop testing groundwork

How to use social media to help discover why customers buy from you

Value Proposition Development  [Online course from MECLABS Institute]

 

Building a CTA Button Your Leads Can't Help But Click

It's the great marketing paradox. We spend hours brainstorming and months testing the copy of our calls-to-action, but whether we ask our users to Sign Up Now, Start a Free Trial, Get Started, Request Access, or Learn More, all we really want them to do it click the button.

Just click the button.

So why do so many of our quality leads fail to comply with our simple request? The way your CTA button is set up on a landing page is just as important as the CTA itself. Otherwise, it's a button to nowhere.

Make your CTA pop on a pretty page

Visual appeal is everything. Before they see your CTA button, your landing page is the first impression your potential customers will have. Choose attractive, simple imagery – if your page is cluttered, your visitors won't know where to look. Color scheme also is important: Using complementary but contrasting colors help a page to pop.

Notice how the below example from PopSurvey is coordinated with shades of blue, allowing the pink in the logo and CTA to pop out on the page. The secondary CTA, “Pricing & Sign Up” in the header is a slightly duller pink that still stands out but doesn't distract from the main call-to-action button.

Ensure your page is easy to read and draws the attention of your customers' eyes – don't make them strain to read the text. The following landing page from Website Magazine is cluttered, has too many distracting colors, and small text. It's impossible to know where to look!

Get to the point

Customers won't have the patience to stay on your page if they don't know what you're offering. Use clear, strong wording to elicit the quick reactions that all good Calls-to-Action invoke.

Active verbs like “join” or “discover” can make people feel like they'll be a part of something or learn something new. Negative questions like “worried?” and “confused?” can tap into human fears – always an attention-getter. And make it personal and urgent – use pronouns like “your” or “my” to convey ownership, as well as time-sensitive words, as in “Get my free newsletter now.”

Dollar Shave Club is the perfect example of this. They speak to men (notice the “No commitment”) in a take-it-or-leave-it offer. Do it or don't. Either way, it's impossible to miss that big CTA.

The copy here is also fantastic. It flows well, the value proposition is clear, and each sentence subsequently gets shorter up to the CTA.

At Socedo, one of our landing pages, is frill-free. We're still A/B testing variations around “Start My Free Trial” or “Start My 14-Day Free Trial.” Regardless, previous testing has confirmed that the phrase “Free Trial” is crucial to our CTA buttons. It's simple and to the point, and users know exactly what will happen when they click the button. No matter where you look on our site–the landing page, the navigation, or the blog–you'll see a blue button with the “Free Trial” copy.

But just like any marketing strategy, you should always be A/B testing. What works for one brand might not work for another, and things can change over time.

Lead to the button with benefits

Drive more leads by offering your unique selling point. When a customer clicks on your CTA button, they should know why it will benefit them. Start with a confident headline on the page that conveys a key value you offer, and support it with a subhead that explains it. Follow with clear button copy that encourages users to claim these benefits.

If you're like everyone else – boring and wordy – you won't get your customers to pay attention or even to think about clicking your CTA. Add personality, emotions and enthusiasm to help draw in customers.

This landing page from Manpacks is fantastic and hilarious. It has a header with a clear benefit, in this case convenience on men's essentials. Then the subhead explains exactly what Manpacks offers. By the time the user reaches the CTA button, they already know what they are going to “Get Started” with.

Sqord is a fitness and game tracking wristband for kids. Their landing page isn't bad. It has a coherent color theme that reflects the audience and the product, the button pops, and it gets to the point. The headline is catchy but not very specific, and the subhead only provides a few more surface-level details: “Sqord is your online world, powered by real world play.”

By the time the user reaches the button text “Buy Sqord Membership & Gear” it's hard to know what they're actually buying. Is it the wristband, the app, or both? And why should I care?

Instill fear of missing out

You always want what you can't have, right? It's all about urgency. Customers hate missing out on a short-term offer. Focus on deadline phrases such as “limited time” or give them and end date. Add exclusivity to your product, when appropriate, with phrases like “while supplies last.” And CTAs that save money will always be a winning tactic. Customers can't ignore it.

This landing page from Slope, a visual marketing platform, creates FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) by implying only a limited number of people will be allowed access to the beta. In addition to avoiding this negative, the button creates a positive experience of exclusivity. If you're one of the select few who request early access, you'll be part of the inner club–the talk of the town at your next marketers' get-together.

Be creative

You'll probably notice a pattern to the successful landing page CTAs mentioned here. They all have a high-benefit header, an explanatory subhead, and a button with active verbs. They all have a coordinated color palette, with the button standing out. They all get right to the point.

Most importantly, they all have some level of creativity. You can read as many prescriptive tips for CTA buttons as possible, but at the end of the day, it's the unexpected element of your page that will give you the edge for higher conversion rates.

About the Author: Aseem Badshah, Founder and CEO of Socedo. Socedo helps sales and marketing professionals leverage social media data to discover, qualify, and nurture leads, automatically.

Make Your Cold Prospecting Emails Feel a Little Less Cold

Email marketing is often praised as one of the most effective marketing channels, and for good reason: you're reaching out to people who have already expressed interest in what you're doing.

But sometimes, especially in the realm of B2B, there's a case for reaching out cold…

I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe?

I'm talking about cold prospecting emails: reaching out to someone you don't have a direct relationship with and starting a conversation.

Now, this isn't about blasting them with info about your business. It's about providing immediate value and serving up an irresistible next step.

It's worth noting that there's a fine line between cold prospecting and spam, so please read up on laws for your country. But when done right, reaching out cold can be an easy way to pull in highly qualified prospects - especially when you're A/B testing to perfect your strategy.

And that's exactly what this post is about.

Here are five recommendations for improving your cold prospecting email copy and subject lines - pulled from real-life testing data.

Let's dig in.

1. Get up close and personalize

If you don't have a relationship with the person you're reaching out to, you can at least demonstrate that you've done your research.

Mentioning the prospect's name and demonstrating familiarity with their business can help in easing that initial friction… in some cases.

Have a look at this A/B test we ran for a social media SaaS tool:

Subject A: If you chat with only one social media firm this year, make it {COMPANY}

Subject B: {PROSPECT} + {COMPANY}: let's work together

Subject B was the winner with a 38% lift in open rates (statistically significant) and more clicks. I found this somewhat surprising result because A, unlike B, mentions the subject matter - showing that the company has done their research.

However, I've found the combination of mentioning the prospect and client names in conjunction tends to beat many worthy subject line opponents.

Pro tip: Some of the most effective personalization comes before you send your first email - by getting your targeting right. Here are some key targeting elements to you get started:

• Geography


• Title


• Industry and company size


• Age, gender and other demographic criteria

Filtering by these factors will help you create and test hyper-targeted messages that prospects will be much more likely to find relatable.

The bottom line here? You can't send relevant messages before knowing who your prospect is.

Do your research and target your emails - the more personal, the better. (For extra credit, check out great Quora thread on why segmentation, targeting and positioning are important in your marketing efforts.)

Want more help writing emails that convert?

Check out our Smart Guide to Email Marketing Conversion for more pointers.

By submitting your email you'll receive more Unbounce conversion marketing content, like ebooks and webinars.

2. Prove your pudding!

There's a big difference between saying you improved something and demonstrating it.

When introducing your company to a prospect, get into the details of how you've helped other others. In particular, provide before-and-after statistics, usage numbers and any other data that demonstrate the impact your involvement had.

Take these two approaches to email body copy, for example, which we wrote for social media image recognition tool Ditto Labs:

The version on the left was the control that focused on concisely summarizing who uses the product and core benefits. Although well written and concise, it lacked any proof through hard numbers.

Our hypothesis was to sacrifice brevity for working in meaningful statistics and specifics around how the technology works.

The result?

The version on the right won… by a lot. It had a 61% higher CTR and 119% higher conversion to scheduled meetings.

What do I think contributed to the success of the challenger? A few things.

• The value proposition is super clear and encapsulated in five words: “Visual search for social media.”


• The second paragraph jumps right into what differentiates this technology from competitors.


• The third paragraph gets super specific about where Ditto gets it data.


• The fourth paragraph drives home the technology's value through hard numbers and data.

But most importantly, the second to last paragraph makes the next step crystal clear, which brings us to…

3. Sell the next step with a clear call to action

Forget about closing the deal in one email.

Focus instead on asking for a next meeting and getting in-depth on how it will be of huge benefit for your client, regardless of any future next steps.

Getting back to the Ditto body copy A/B test, take a look at the call to action from either variation:

Are you open to learning more?

In the losing version, the CTA feels abrupt and vague:

In the winning body copy, the same call to action is much more contextualized and therefore more actionable:

We make it clear that the way in which you'll learn more is via a 20-minute call. There's no guesswork - it's ”Yes” or “No” to a 20-minute call.

Here are some other questions and calls to action you can borrow to be even more direct in your cold email prospecting call to action:

• “What are a few times that work best for you over the next few days for a call?”


• “Please reply to this email with whether you're willing to talk further.”


• “When works for you tomorrow to jump on a quick call?”

The wording should fit your writing style and sales process, but be sure your call to action achieves three things:

1. Give context and specifics around the next step


2. Make the next step low pressure


3. Convey that the next step will be of value to your prospects, regardless of whether or not they become customers

At the end of the day, you're starting a conversation.

So be real ask to continue the conversation in a meaningful way.

4. Get the subject line right

The subject line sets the tone for your future relationship with your prospect - which should carry from the email to the landing page to the conversion and beyond.

If this sounds like a tall order, it's because it is. And there's no “hack” or “cheat” to get it right.

Ultimately, you need to test subject lines that feel and read true to you and your value proposition.

I'm about to show you a couple of subject line tests. The takeaways here are meant to serve as inspiration more than firm guidelines. Just because you see A/B testing data here or elsewhere does not mean it will apply to your business.

With that in mind, let's dig in.

Subject line test 1 for an anonymous company:

Subject A: You've got to see the new {product name}

Subject B: If you demo one {type} tool, make it {product name}

Subject C: Take 20 minutes to demo {product name}. It's worth it.

Winner? Subject C with a 44% higher CTR than A and 21% higher CTA than B.

Notice this is the only subject line of the three that talks about the length (20 minutes) of the demo. Also notice that it starts with a verb: “Take.” This subject line was probably the most successful because it's an upfront and specific call to action to take a 20-minute demo.

Subject line test 2 for another anonymous company:

Subject A: Save {prospect} significant time & money.

Subject B: This is the *one* {type} tool you must demo in {year}

Subject C: {Type} software that's 10% faster and actually pleasant to use.

Winner? Subject line B with 62% higher open rate than C and 18% higher than A.

What's my two cents? “10% faster” isn't that exciting in email copy, and “significant time & money” is pretty vague. Subject B skips the unimpressive stats and vague promises for a direct and upfront call to action.

So what's the point of sharing all this testing data?

To show that the words you use in prospecting email really matter. What message is going to encourage prospects to click and take the leap to set up a conversation with a stranger?

Choose your words carefully or get really wild - only a test will reveal what resonates best with prospects.

5. Keep the momentum going

You've tested for the most clickable subject line, and you've crafted a compelling CTA.

So what happens when prospects decide that they want to take you up on your “next step”?

Will you let them navigate to your website themselves and scramble for your contact information? Well, you could… but that's likely to kill the momentum you worked hard to build.

Instead, link to a dedicated landing page that continues the conversation you started in your subject line and email body copy. Reassure prospects that they're in the right place and that they're closer to receiving the value you promised them.

And if really want to get that landing page experience right, check out Unbounce's Landing Page Conversion Course.

Cold prospecting emails don't have to feel cold

Cold prospecting emails shouldn't feel cold.

It's the beginning of the relationship with your future prospects, so talk to them as you would your favorite client. And test all the things to be sure you're doin' it right.

April Fools' Day 2016: Google gets the ball rolling with Flick keyboard, Gmail mic drop & more

Google wasted no time getting into the April Fools' Day spirit, making a number of fake announcements before the day even started.



Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.