If you still think that your online marketing success is defined by the number of visitors to your website, your click-through-rate (CTR) for your paid campaigns, or the open rate for your email campaigns then you may be missing a very large piece to the puzzle.

I often find myself telling people that optimization, (whether it is search engine optimization, business optimization, conversion optimization- same concept applies) is a long term strategy and process, not a one time project or campaign. So often I hear clients asking to optimize a web page, a PPC campaign, and they never move beyond that into true online business optimization.

It will not only require careful planning, detailed implementation, measurement, analysis and improvement- it also requires the commitment of the business owner or executives to see and understand the larger picture. Yes, there will be short term successes on the way- but do not stop there to see the real ROI.

Optimization should (at the very least) address these areas:

• Maximize the quality (and quantity) of leads delivered to sales.
• Measure online and offline campaign results based on sales metrics beyond the lead.
• Align sales and marketing so that the messaging matches the customer experience.
• Increase conversion rates on key marketing initiatives.
• Understand not only who did what and where it was done but also why it may have happened.

With average campaign conversion rates anywhere from 2-10 percent, the vast majority of your visitors are simply not converting to customers. Somewhere in the sales process they bail out- where and most importantly-why?

If you're only measuring visitors, click-through rates, open rates, and the like you have no means to identify and plug these leaks in the conversion funnel. This represents a huge untapped opportunity and money being left on the table. To tap into this opportunity it will require not only the right tools to measure, but also the expert knowledge to leverage the numbers to make improvements through testing and implementation.

What will you optimize for your business? Wondering where true conversion optimization starts? Contact us!