The Art of Conversion Rate Optimization with Martin Greif
Brought to you by Salim Omar and the Ecommerce Money Map podcast and special guest Martin Greif.
Who is Martin Greif?
Martin Greif is a conversion rate optimization expert, author, speaker, entrepreneur, and senior executive team leader with over 25 years of sales and marketing experience. He is responsible for driving revenue growth, establishing and nurturing partner relationships, and creating value for Site Tuners broad customer base.
Greif has a degree in marketing and worked as a computer programmer before being approached by a software company to work in marketing due to his technical experience and sales and marketing background. He rose through the ranks of publicly traded companies to become a VP of sales and marketing. He also started a couple of companies. 20 years ago, he started his first internet company, where he was introduced to conversion rate optimization.
"Conversion rate optimization involves getting more people to take the desired action on a website. For example, for an e-commerce site, it would be getting someone to make a purchase, or for a lead gen site, it would be getting someone to become a lead," says Greif.
Greif studied and applied persuasion techniques to his website to improve its conversion rate. He became friends with the then-president of Site Tuners, who helped him increase the conversion rate of his website. After the president retired, the CEO, Tim Ash, invited Martin to join the company and take it to the next level. Greif soon fell in love with conversion rate optimization and eventually bought the company.
If you're interested in learning more about conversion optimization strategies or want to reach out to Martin Greif, you can visit his company's website at www.sitetuners.com.
Conversion Rate Optimization(COR) Explained
According to Greif, Conversion Rate Optimization(COR) is about making changes to a website in order to increase the percentage of people who take a desired action, whether that be making a purchase on an ecommerce site, becoming a lead on a lead generation site, or any other desired action. The conversion rate is the percentage of people who take that desired action out of the total number of people who visit the site. So, if 100 people visit an ecommerce site and one person makes a purchase, the conversion rate is 1%.
"COR involves making changes to the website that will make it more persuasive and remove any barriers to conversion, making it more likely that people will take the desired action. This can involve things like changing the design of the website, improving the user experience, making the website more trustworthy, and more. The goal is to optimize the website in such a way that more people feel safe and comfortable making a purchase, resulting in a higher conversion rate," says Greif.
How Do You Test To See Which Method Is Working Better?
According to Greif, it's not just about testing, it is about understanding the customer and what it is that they're looking for.
"If you can understand what it is that they're looking for and understand what it is that motivates them to make a purchase, then you can tailor the website to that experience. You can remove the conversion barriers. You can make it a smooth and seamless process. That's what it's all about‐making it easy for the customer to buy, making it easy for them to understand what it is that you're offering and why it's valuable to them," says Greif.
According to Greif, testing is one aspect of it, but it's not the whole picture.
"The whole picture is understanding the customer and understanding what they want and what they need, and tailoring the website to that experience," he says.
The Importance Of CRO For Generating More Traffic To A Website.
When asked if businesses should invest in CRO before spending money on traffic generation, Greif explained that it is the best practice to do so. He compared the cost of increasing traffic by 50% with a 1% conversion rate to the cost of increasing traffic by the same amount with a 1.5% conversion rate. In the former case, the business would need to spend an extra $60,000 a year to achieve the desired revenue growth. In contrast, if the business worked on improving its website's conversion rate first, it could maintain its current $10,000 monthly ad spend and still achieve the same revenue growth. According to Greif, CRO is the gift that keeps on giving, as the benefits of a higher conversion rate continue to accrue over time. He also noted that once a business has improved its website's conversion rate, it can then ramp up its advertising efforts for even greater impact.
What Are The Questions That Every Person Visiting A Website Is Asking?
According to Greif, when someone lands on a webpage, they typically ask themselves three questions:
1. Am I in the right place, how do I feel about this, and what am I supposed to do here?
The first question is critical because people are looking for a solution to their problem, and if they don't find what they're looking for quickly, they'll leave the site.
2. The second question is about trust, and the most important trust symbol on a website is a phone number, which shows that the company is real.
Even if some website owners don't want people to call, providing a phone number can increase conversions by showing visitors that the company is trustworthy.
3. The third question is about what visitors are supposed to do on the website, and adding barriers to the buying process can be frustrating for visitors and lead to lost sales.
To increase conversions, website owners should make it easy for visitors to find what they're looking for and remove any barriers to buying. These three questions are important, not only on the landing page, but also on every page of the website.
The Visitor Journey on a Website
According to Greif, the visitor journey is one of the most important things to consider before designing or improving a website.
Greif begins by stating that everyone is selfish, including website visitors. "As animals, it's instinctual for people to worry about themselves. Therefore, the visitor journey should be designed in a way that caters to the motivations of the visitor," he states. Greif emphasizes the importance of understanding the problem the visitor is trying to solve and how the website can help solve that problem.
"When a visitor first lands on a page, they want to know if they are in the right place. If the website answers that question right away, the visitor will feel good about being on the site," he says.
Greif also notes that social proof, such as reviews and star ratings, is important for making visitors feel safe and comfortable on the site.
Finally, the visitor needs to know what to do next. "Rather than focusing on what information the entrepreneur needs, the focus should be on what the visitor needs to feel comfortable taking action. By mapping out the visitor's needs and the steps they need to take to go from landing on the page to putting in their credit card information, sales can increase," says Greif.
According to Greif, the visitor journey is an essential aspect of website design and improvement. By understanding the visitor's motivations, addressing their problems, and providing social proof, entrepreneurs can create a journey that makes visitors feel comfortable and confident in taking action.
The Importance of Understanding the Visitor Journey on a Website
Greif emphasizes that the visitor journey is critical to consider before designing or improving a website, and that it's important to understand the motivations of visitors before they arrive.
Greif argues that visitors are inherently selfish, and that their primary concern is whether the website can solve their problem. To address this concern, Greif proposes a simple, three-question framework for designing the visitor journey:
- Am I in the right place?
- How do I feel about it?
- What am I supposed to do next?
By asking these questions on every page of a website, Greif believes that entrepreneurs can create a customer-centric design that addresses the needs and concerns of their visitors. "By focusing on what will make the visitor feel comfortable and what information they need to take action, rather than what the entrepreneur wants, websites can be optimized for sales and conversions," says Greif.
The Importance of Tracking Visitor Behavior Through Analytics and Heat Mapping Tools
When it comes to optimizing your website for visitor experience, having the right tools and analytics in place is key. Greif says that analytics, whether through Google Analytics or your ecommerce platform, will allow you to measure and track visitor behavior on your website. Without accurate analytics, you won't be able to identify areas for improvement or measure the effectiveness of changes you make.
Heat mapping tools take this a step further by providing visual representations of where visitors are clicking, scrolling, and spending the most time on your website. Popular tools include Hotjars and Microsoft Clarity, but the most important factor is choosing a tool that your audience is comfortable with.
Overall, Greif stresses the importance of tracking and measuring visitor behavior to make informed decisions on how to improve your website's user experience. "Make sure your analytics are correct and invest in the right tools to understand your visitors' journey and make impactful changes," advises Greif.
Closing Statement
eSenshi is an accounting firm specializing in assisting eCommerce businesses. We provide a variety of services such as Virtual CFO services, Sales Tax Services to assist eCommerce businesses. Catch Salim Omar and Shawheen Amirkhizi with more special guests on their popular Podcast—eCommerce Money Map.
Martin Greif is the president of Site Turners. Martin also is part of The Conversion Conference, a gathering of speakers from various companies and agencies who share their expertise in conversion optimization.
Salim is a straight-talking CPA with 30+ years of entrepreneurial and accounting experience. His professional background includes experience as a former Chief Financial Officer and, for the last twenty-five years, as a serial 7-Figure entrepreneur.
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