Lander Academy: Conversion Rate Optimization for people

Our March Lander Academy was great, this time we had the opportunity to listen to Xavier Colomés. But if you couldn't attend it don't worry, we summed up the most important things from our latest Webinar. Also you'll find in this post Xavier's presentation and the Webinar's full recording. This way you can see it in case you missed it or if you wanted to see it again.

This Lander Academy explained everything about Conversion rate optimization for people, not for visits. Xavier explained we need to think about Personas- the audience we are looking for - when we are designing our landing pages.

To understand the concept of Personas, we need to go through by another term first . We always hear about CRO, but what is it? Why it's so important? CRO is the group of techniques that allow us to increase the number of visitors completing a specific action (conversion): fill a form, buy from our website, download our brochure etc. Well we can achieve that by multiple ways.

In this free webinar we learned one of these techniques that allows us to develop a successful strategy for increasing conversions. It´s both a technique and a Mindset: Understanding the people behind our visits… using Personas.

Using Personas

But why do we have to work with Personas? Why we need to stop thinking just in visitors?
Changing this mindset is difficult. Visits are easy to work with, easy to segment (by keyword, by traffic source, by city, by browser, by landing page) We have plenty of data from our visits.

In the other hand, people is very difficult to analyze. What do we know about the people behind that visits? What are they like? How can we group them? How can deliver content that fits their needs? This is where Personas come to the rescue.

Let's start saying what a Persona is:

"Personas are archetypes that describe the various goals and observed behavior patterns among your potential users and customers." Kim Goodwin.

The average number of personas are from 3 to 5. Personas are not statistical or demographic representations of users.

How do I create Personas?

It's complex and time consuming. Said so, is a one time job that will give you an edge over your competitors. The secret is to identify the BEHAVIORAL variables and link them to goals and motivations. Having this is a cheat guide to succeed in our business

These are the 3 steps to build them:

Research

First of all you need to make your own research, where you have to identify the main roles, try to arranged an interview with you stakeholders, do some surveys. You need to get all the information to build a Persona.

Modeling

Now it's time to analyze all this information, you need to get some conclusions. You're suppose to be able to identify behaviors, goals, personalities. You should be close to create the Personas behind your visits.

Implement

You made the research, you analyzed that information, now it's time to get in action! You have to implement everything you got before. Design your main scenarios, attached Persona's goals with the business's goals. Identify what elements needs each persona to achieve their goals. More clear, now you have everything you need to create your Persuasion strategy: How to seduce each persona.

So this is how you create Personas: RESEARCH DATA + ANALYSIS + HUMAN PRESENTATION

EY! I don't have all that time!

OK, that was awesome! But… I either not have the time, the resources, or the need! of such a detail or complex work. Am I still eligible to work with this cool technique? Of course! We still have a lot to do. Depending on your needs, there are 2 approaches we can use.
Let's see each one of them.

1. Goal Oriented "Personas"

The goal oriented personas is a very easy framework. Modeling is based on the task that the user performs. Ask yourself: What users come to do to my website? Don't try to change user´s visit intent. Use it at your favor, help him to achieve it and be smart in how to seduce him. At least you'll have a chance: Not doing will lead to an certain exit.

2. Bryan Eisenberg's model: The 4 Buying Personas

There are some typical personas that you can always find, so you can work on it without doing the specific work we said before. Bryan Eisenberg, made this model where he explains that understanding the Four Personas is crucial to keeping prospects on your website and converting them to sales. Let's see the characteristics of each of them and what can you do to convert them.

1. Competitive

They're Logic and Fast.

Description: They're impatient, they don't want to lose any time. This kind of persona needs the fastest, the biggest-smallest, the best things! They like to have all under control, they have a leader spirit. They don't need much info, if they believe that is the right call.

How do I convert them: You have to use triggers like "new","exclusive", "just arrived". Also works using rankings, third experts reviews, use comparative data like 30% faster.

2. Spontaneous

They're Emotional and Fast.

Description: They have an easy going attitude, they use to buy first and think later. They don't like being overwhelmed with facts. They are going to decide really fast, they used past experiences and mental triggers to decide.

How do I convert them: Use trigger words like : "Now", "Limited offer". Try with scarcity and urgency strategies, use videos with product in action. You always need to know what is trendy

3. Methodical

They're Logic and Slow

Description: They have time to research and they enjoy it! They need details: pictures of the product standing alone, close shots, etc. They won't trust other user's reviews or ratings. Your Chat, telephone, contact must be accessible.

How to convert them: Use comparison tools and detailed facts sheets . The most data the better. Include expert reviews and don´t try to trick them, they'll read any small letter of your promos.

4. Humanistic

They're Emotional and Slow

Description: They're interested in helping people. They'll decide based on other´s reviews, they don't want to miss something popular. Make social every aspect of its life: share on social media, recommend, etc. They care about the people behind the product: wants human stories. The most stories you have for them the better.

How to convert them: Use Trigger words as: "trendy", "popular", "satisfied". Show them "what others purchased", allow them to mark products as favorite and wish lists. Ask for feedback: Will love to help. Make stories, show them your values and important facts like: "Our first shop", "Why our logo", etc.

Xavier's Presentation

Give a look to Xavier's presentation, if you missed something, now you have the chance to write it down.

So where do I begin?

So as Xavier explained you need to create your own Website Personas, but we know that the most difficult thing is always starting. Let's sum up and write down the most important steps you need to take.

Well let's begin doing some interviews with your customer and your prospects, you can meet with your service team to get involve with your customers like. This is a must! You need to know your customer, what he or she wants. Also you can start an online survey to find out what people is coming to do to your Website.

Once you've done that, you should know by now really well your customers, and be able to identify the main roles accessing to your website. So now ask yourself: Am I optimized for each one of them?

And if you don't have time to do all this work, now that you know the most typical kind of Personas, you can apply the 4 buying personalities model to your landing pages. Remember always check and see if you are impacting all personalities. Now you have all you need to start using Personas into your Landing Pages, making the correct content for each one of them will make a change in your conversion rate.

You're ready to start building the correct content for each Persona, but if you have any doubt we uploaded the video with the full Webinar. Enjoy it!

Do you have something to add about Personas? Are you already building the correct scenarios for each kind of visitor? Do you know any other model to work with Personas?

Stay tuned for our next Lander Academy! See you soon!