Visual Contenting February 2016 | Page 32

EXPERT TALKS It’s all about provoking action as quickly as possible. I guess you all know that most of our buying decisions are actually spontaneous regardless of the attempt to justify them by rational thinking … When it comes to spending money appearance is the most important selling point. It’s a general assumption that 9 out of 10 buying decisions are influenced by the design of a product. Your website and social media presence are also part of your product, part of your brand. Always keep in mind your message match. When you advertise a product or service and link to a website, people should see (!) the connection between the two otherwise they will get confused and leave. Use the same images from your banner ads or social media posts on your website (and vice versa) to increase conversion. What do you think will be the trends for social media in 2016? Honestly? I have no idea. The times of planning ahead are long since gone. We live in a world of reaction, adoption and bootstrapping (sorry for using this buzzword but I think it fits in pretty well here). Visual Contenting Our social communication is already developing towards a more personalized dialogue (via social networks, email and especially messaging). Talking about messaging, this might become a trend. After all, some brands, big and small, are already experimenting with this particular format. When I look at the use of mobile apps for communication I definitely see video content on the rise. Whether it’s Periscope for streaming, Facebook for sharing or snapchat for sending video messages like we used to send texts. Again, remember what I said above about visual content …? Conversion rate optimization is a popular phrase yet still many marketers don’t know how to get started with it especially when it comes to design elements, what tips/ advice do you have to help them with this issue? Okay I have three tips here: First, read some books from experts like Tim Ash or Chris Goward (sorry, mine’s not ready yet and will be written in German ^_^). Head over to big blogs like Unbounce, ConversionXL or the like for further reading. Don’t just focus on “conversion” as such but dig deep into A/B testing, web design and website optimization. I’m not saying you should become an expert yourself, but you want to understand why conversion optimization is important and what a professional approach looks like. Then, secondly, find an expert who will help you. If you find the right one he will ask for your marketing goals, characteristics of your target audience and access to your Google Analytics data. Give it to him. If you followed my first tip you will know what this guy is doing and you can control his actions. You’re there to make the decisions, let him do the spadework. Thirdly, make sure your hypotheses are purposeful or else you will start testing and “optimizing” elements of your website that don’t actually have any impact on your revenue. That’s what everything comes down to in the end, so don’t just play around but focus on your business goals. What are your recommended conversion optimization best practices for beginners? Beginners should stick to some guides and pick out the easy parts first to get an idea of the craft.