With all this failure, why are we so sure we\u2019re right when it comes to our analysis?<\/p>\n
Enter the brand jerk<\/h2>\n
We all know the brand jerk.<\/p>\n He or she rolls in out of left field reigning in our ideas or making us update high-converting pages with topical campaign driven brand messaging. \u201cBut wait, that might hurt the conversion rates!\u201d we moan.<\/p>\n Even worse, they\u2019ll actually insist on\u00a0removing site elements<\/a>\u00a0that improve conversion rates\u2026 on purpose!<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need that discounting messaging because it\u2019s not aligned with brand,\u201d they say.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut, but, but\u2026 math,\u201d we mutter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s at this point that the epic battle of CROs vs. Branding begins.<\/p>\n One of the principles we follow at\u00a0WP Engine<\/a>\u00a0is to take an \u201coutward facing mindset.\u201d The fundamental approach is to understand the objectives of people you interact with or service. It\u2019s a great way to improve the effectiveness of the work you do.<\/p>\n We use this philosophy extensively to make sure we provide mindful service to everyone from our entry level WordPress hosting customers to customers running huge enterprise WordPress sites like\u00a0TechCrunch<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Warby Parker<\/a>.<\/p>\n Through this lens, I think it\u2019s important that both CROs and Branding folks understand where the other is coming from.<\/p>\n As CROs, we know our existence is focused on the bottom line. We\u2019re trying to pick apart the interactions of websites, mobile apps, and customer platforms in order to increase sales and conversions. We salivate over the next idea that will boost conversion rates and make the digits in our spreadsheets even bigger.<\/p>\n Our purpose seems undeniable and absolute. Everyone else is wrong. Math!<\/p>\n But what about that Brand person? If you steal a quick glance at a Brand person\u2019s computer screen you might see mood boards with pictures of puppies and sail boats.<\/p>\n Weirdos.<\/p>\n But, maybe there\u2019s more going on.<\/p>\n The Brand person is focused on telling a narrative that customers can identify with and that helps paint the picture for your company\u2019s future. They\u2019re trying to convert minds.<\/p>\n See, a large part of branding is storytelling, something that consumers crave and something that is very effective when done well. As a\u00a0Neilsen study showed<\/a>, consumers \u201cwant a more personal connection in the way they gather information.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s easier for us to remember stories than cold hard facts, because,\u00a0according to Fast Company<\/a>, \u201cour brains make little distinction between an experience we are reading about and one that is actually happening.\u201d<\/p>\n All this is to\u00a0say that branding deals with<\/a>\u00a0memory, perception, value, and emotion in a way that CROs don\u2019t usually measure.<\/p>\n Brand people obsess over stats like\u00a0Share-of-Voice<\/a>,\u00a0Unaided Awareness<\/a>, and\u00a0Net Promoter Score<\/a>. Their ultimate \u201cconversions\u201d however are hidden deep inside your potential customers\u2019 brains and can be nearly impossible to detect with accuracy. There are no conversion pixels on a neuron.<\/p>\n But brand conversions are real. And they\u2019re powerful. And when they happen in combination with your work, amazing things can happen.<\/p>\n If a stranger walked up to you on the street, would you let them take a picture of your credit card and promise to mail you a wifi router later?<\/p>\n Of course you wouldn\u2019t, but people do something similar to this every day on millions of websites. Why?<\/p>\n The reason is because of branding.\u00a0When people see brand logos<\/a>\u00a0they recognize they tend to have a positive emotional reaction and when they see brand logos they don\u2019t recognize, they have a negative emotional reaction. The job of branding is to turn yourself from a stranger in the street into a trusted friend.<\/p>\n The top companies in the world don\u2019t put this much money and time into logo design and branding for nothing.<\/p>\n Brand campaigns consist of several components that lay the foundation for your future conversion rates. The story behind your brand, cringeworthy \u201cbrand awareness\u201d ad campaigns with very little tracked conversions, and continuity in messaging all create a framework of awareness and trust that eventually convinces customers to pull out their credit cards.<\/p>\n Simply put, the conversions you get today are the result of groundwork from the past and the conversion rates of tomorrow are the result of groundwork laid today.<\/p>\n As a CRO you can support fCRO efforts by accommodating brand campaign driven website elements into your testing schedule. Don\u2019t look at your pages as static rows in a spreadsheet, but as dynamic organisms which support the ever-evolving story of your brand. A\u00a0culture of experimentation<\/a>\u00a0is compatible with this. Converting neurons today will help fire conversion pixels tomorrow.<\/p>\n Also, look for ways to incorporate evolving brand messaging into your landing page approaches. By supporting brand campaigns in your landing page approaches, you\u2019ll paint a consistent message for the customer which connects synapses in the potential customer\u2019s brain leaving an impression that can help you convert immediately and in the future.<\/p>\n It\u2019s quite clear that there is no real \u201ceither\/or\u201d decision to make here. Balancing and aligning branding and CRO is the real answer. As\u00a0ChiefMartec wrote<\/a>, \u201c[branding vs CRO] is\u00a0a false choice: you can \u2014 and should \u2014 do great on both dimensions.\u201d<\/p>\n Remember, be nice to future you and make sure your brand campaigns and A\/B testing are aligned.<\/p>\n One of the more famous examples of\u00a0branding success is \u201cIntel Inside.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0This graph shows the rise of Intel\u2019s revenue after the launch of the now famous brand campaign.<\/p>\n I like to perform a thought experiment related to this example where I imagine I was a CRO working on the Intel website around the time of the brand campaign launch.<\/p>\n In my thought experiment, a brand person comes to me and asks me to start incorporating \u201cIntel Inside\u201d branding on my landing pages where I\u2019m selling processors directly on an ecommerce page.<\/p>\n Imaginary me complains, \u201cBut what is Intel inside of? That slogan is about our chips inside of computers and this page is selling the chip itself. It doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Begrudgingly, imaginary me runs an A\/B test and the conversion rates are worse with the \u201cIntel Inside\u201d messaging.<\/p>\n Imaginary me was right! Math!<\/p>\n Of course, imaginary me didn\u2019t realize that \u201cIntel Inside\u201d would be a rallying cry for consumers when buying computers and that continuity in messaging would lead to this effect. The \u201cIntel Inside\u201d rallying cry led to major computer manufacturers buying millions of processors from Intel and vaulting the company to superstar status.<\/p>\n Oops. Guess I was wrong.<\/p>\n Remember that\u00a0brand campaigns can often be supporting the evolution<\/a>\u00a0of what the company will become in the future. Even campaigns that hurt conversion rates can set the stage for changes that can have insane impacts on the future of your company.<\/p>\n *Sometimes* being wrong is right.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re super hip, you may be aware of\u00a0Unconversion Rate Optimization<\/a>\u00a0(uCRO), the practice of A\/B testing cancel and refund pages in order to plug up the bottom of your funnel and create \u201cnegative net revenue churn.\u201d<\/p>\n Negative net revenue churn is when the revenue you get from existing customers grows instead of shrinks (even after accounting for customers who do refund\/cancel). Accomplishing negative net revenue churn exponentially increases the LTV of conversions on your landing pages, boosting your CPA tolerance and your ability to dominate your competitors in ad channels.<\/p>\n Interestingly, when you include brand campaigns on your top of the funnel landing pages, you can\u00a0actually influence the probability<\/a>\u00a0that your customers will upgrade or continue buying from you in the future.<\/p>\n Starting way back in 1879\u00a0German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus<\/a>\u00a0began documenting how the order and frequency of information affected a person\u2019s ability to learn. It wasn\u2019t long before groundbreaking marketers like Thomas Smith started applying these principles to advertising as made famous in his\u00a01885 publication \u201cSuccessful Advertising\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which detailed his thoughts on brand effectiveness over 20 occurrences of exposure.<\/p>\n The application of order and frequency in advertising also led to\u00a0famous rules of thumb like<\/a>\u00a0\u201ca person needs to be exposed to a brand 5-7 times before they buy.\u201d I wonder how many times a customer needs to be be exposed to a brand before they keep buying?<\/p>\n \u201c80% of your company\u2019s future revenue will come from just 20% of your existing customers\u201d \u2014\u00a0Gartner Group<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The impression of your brand on the customer\u2019s brain starts with wispy awareness campaigns, escalates to solution searching, cumulates on your landing pages, and continues on through their experience as a customer.<\/p>\n By ensuring brand continuity on your landing pages, you\u2019ll be ingraining a narrative into the customer\u2019s brain that can result in repeat purchases, lower cancellation rates, and lower unsubscribe rates.<\/p>\n Including brand continuity at the top of your funnel can help create negative net revenue churn which will make your conversions more valuable than ever.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/99066032771aa0efb33449c86a06ee67-1-568x177.png?resize=568%2C177&ssl=1\")
<\/a>\n
Outward facing mindset<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/mood-board-apps-niice-568x280.jpg?resize=568%2C280&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Future Conversion Rate Optimization (fCRO)<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/ube-vs-ube-1.jpg?resize=512%2C285&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/storytelling-568x400.jpg?resize=568%2C400&ssl=1\")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/brilliant_post-click_marketing_600-554x426.jpg?resize=554%2C426&ssl=1\")
<\/a>\u201cIntel Inside\u201d doesn\u2019t work<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/pasted-image-0-3-568x422.png?resize=568%2C422&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/conversionxl.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/5mz_m06fc9g-roman-mager-568x426.jpg?resize=568%2C426&ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAccomplish Negative Net Revenue Churn<\/h2>\n