Linking advertising channels

Enabling more advertising channels can greatly develop any online store. If your business has a limited advertising budget, then you need to focus – at least in the initial stages – on the most effective channel. Then, successively, you can turn on new ones, when the investment begins to bring the first profits. This is a standard operating methodology, because most entities do not have the resources or the courage to invest large amounts of money in advertising, including multi-channel advertising. However, the example below shows that courage, supported by our experience and knowledge, pays off.

The discussed example shows that a quick and decisive investment of the advertising budget in even a new online store brings the expected results. It is also important to combine individual channels into one coherent communication vision.

Why is consistent, high-frequency display across multiple channels so important?

Because we buy impulsively. Some channels inspire us, in others we look for answers or recommendations, and still others find us at this “perfect moment” to buy. You need to be a brand at each of these stages. Otherwise the opportunity will escape to another company.

The presented data comes from an online store operating in the DOM and GARDEN industry. In January 2020, this store was not on the market yet.

SEO

Search engine optimization was the first service chosen by said client. Keep in mind that positioning takes time, and therefore attracting customers through only organic results in the initial stages of the store’s operation may be unsatisfactory. This is for two reasons.

First of all, we compete with other companies that have been on the market for longer and, after all, also invest in website optimization. The effectiveness and time horizon of taking over customer data also depends on the adopted strategy and budget allocated to activities.

Secondly, you can’t be aggressive when it comes to SEO. Creating a website on a step-by-step basis, not spread out over time, is an “unnatural” action for the Google search engine (or actually the indexing robots responsible for evaluating the page), and therefore will not be as effective as consistency in action. It can also be dangerous and result in a filter being applied to the page.

As a rule, therefore, entrepreneurs who initially invest in positioning immediately add another channel to it (e.g. Google or Facebook ads), which will quickly prove that a given store is prospective, and treat positioning as an investment in the future.

Let’s go back to positioning, however. In March 2020, when we started our cooperation.

SEO March 2020

Due to the infancy, it was therefore very fragile – the store simply did not exist in the consciousness. After 9 months of cooperation – in January 2021 – we gained visibility, which generated 60,000 dollars in revenue and, of course, will only grow in the coming months. There were a dozen or so phrases in top3, over 50 for top10 and over 300 for further positions, which heralds the arrival of even better results with the same commitment.

SEO January 2021

From the beginning of cooperation, the budget for SEO activities, in this case, was $ 3,500 per month

We have already written dozens of articles on our blog about Google Ads. Measurable, budget flexible and great for optimization. In addition, you only pay when a potential customer clicks on your ad.

In the case of Google Ads, there is no one-size-fits-all budget that will guarantee your success. Too small amount in your industry may prevent you from generating enough traffic to start converting and bring not only profits, but also specific data that allows you to optimize your campaign. On the other hand, there are industries where there is no point in spending more, because we will start to burn money into groups that convert less well.

Google Ads May 2020

At the beginning of the cooperation, the budget was $ 12,000. It generated $ 98,000 in revenues. Sounds good, but as it turned out, it could get even better.

Google Ads October 2020

Spending at $ 17,000, revenues grew to nearly $ 180,000 per month. Compared to May, the marketing budget in October increased by ~ 30%. Interestingly, however, revenues increased by as much as 47% compared to May. This happened for two reasons.

First of all, May 2020 was the second month of our cooperation in the field of running Google Ads advertising. The result was already satisfactory, but we knew that the “learning” campaign in the coming months would produce even better results. Our self-learning algorithms usually take 3 months to obtain repeatable and the best possible results from the right amount of data.

Secondly, we saw after the first weeks of the campaign that we had room to increase the budget. The client was open to this, which allowed us to more meaningfully divide the funds between the different channels.

The combination of an increased budget, a fully optimized campaign, but also the customer’s trust in our competences (sometimes this is the key) – all this allowed us to stabilize the campaign at a very satisfactory level.

Facebook Ads

Ultimately – to have everything under one umbrella of Paraphrase-Online.com and seeing that we can make it – the client transferred to us activities related to Facebook Ads and running a fanpage. In this case, it is best to see how the “learning” of the campaign pays off in the case of algorithms. The budget has remained the same, and there is no significant seasonality of sales in this particular assortment.

Facebook turned out to be a great sales channel in this case.

The Facebook Ads marketing budget was $ 2,000 and generated $ 12,000 in revenue. This result had to improve a bit and we worked hard on it. The real revolution came after the holidays.

Facebook Ads October 2020

In October, ad spend did not increase and remained at $ 2,000. However, revenues soared to over $ 90,000.

In addition, the client entrusted us with the issue of running a corporate Fanpage, which was faced with softer goals, such as strengthening brand recognition, working on the reputation and supporting the store’s users. This is of paramount importance for customers who, when buying, need more time and factors to finally decide on a given store.

Joining advertising channels – benefits

At the time of writing, the client’s cumulative budget for all advertising efforts is approximately $ 20,000 per month, which generates approximately $ 500,000 in revenue. Every dollar spent on marketing therefore generates $ 25.

Of course, it is not the case that every industry and every product will provide such a good return on investment. All this is a component of many factors – from the store’s UX, through well-optimized campaigns in each advertising channel and seasonality, ending with the store’s complaint policy or such nuances as the cost of delivery or the company’s tons of answers to users’ questions on the fanpage. We are also convinced of the exceptional need to combine advertising channels. Of course, when financial resources are modest, then you cannot divide them and focus on the most effective one. Overall, however, if you can invest more, you should be present on many levels. Connected channels work better together than each of them separately.

As there are many factors of success, cooperation between the client and the agency is also crucial. For our part, we always provide hints about the customer’s experience, the solutions he prefers on the websites, but also about advertising investments for a given industry. By running several thousand campaigns, we already have excellent insight into what works and what does not necessarily bring good results. We take full responsibility for this know-how.

Cosmetic Store Advertising: How To Get Started?

Advertising activities should never be a coincidence – unless you want to waste the budget you spend on them. This principle is especially important in the cosmetics industry – whether you run a drugstore that offers a very wide range of mid- and low-priced products, or an eco-friendly or professional store. Each of these niches has to face a lot of competition. And that’s a real challenge – especially if you’re starting from scratch.

So the question is: what to do if your advertising budget is not unlimited and at the same time you expect quick results? First of all, choose the most promising sales channel, i.e. the Internet. There is even the slightest doubt that it is in the Internet that you can get the best ROI from promotional activities. Why? Because this is where your potential customers are present, and you can reach them through many channels.

Before you start thinking about starting a particular campaign, stop for a moment and think… if you really want to take these actions on your own. If you do not have too much experience in the advertising industry and you have never set up a campaign on Google before, you may waste a lot of time, energy and money learning the basics.

Meanwhile, cooperation with a digital agency, although it involves a slightly larger investment, can be a really effective way to reach a wide range of customers. Specialists know how to make the best use of the budget entrusted to them and act according to a precise plan. It takes into account:
– clearly defined campaign goals,
– precise definition of target groups of customers to whom promotional communication is addressed – it must be remembered that a different form will be advertising a cosmetics store addressed to a person who does not know what products he needs, and a different message for a customer who is looking for specific cosmetics,
– careful selection of communication tools and channels – so that your advertisement is where your customers are,
– clearly defined budget.

If you want, you can of course go through all these steps yourself. However, think about whether it will pay off for you.

And what elements should a cosmetics store advertising include? Here they are.

Paid ad for a cosmetics store, i.e. Google Ads

Google Ads is a very wide set of tools that allow you to take precise promotional activities – those that will be targeted at carefully selected recipients. What does this mean in practice? It’s just that you will be able to reach people who are potentially interested in buying the cosmetics you offer.

What is the secret of success? The fact that Google ads are not displayed to random people. They appear on the screens of computers and smartphones of those people who have shown interest in your industry and offer. See what tools will be useful in particular for a cosmetic store.

Sponsored Links
Where are you looking for the cosmetics you want to buy? Perhaps you are just visiting a stationary drugstore, but a lot of people go to the web. Especially that on the Internet, products can be even several dozen percent cheaper. And if so, the Google search engine is the first source of information. The truth is that a website user will click on one of the first search results and … often stop there or even make a purchase.

Finding yourself at the top of the organic results are a real challenge. This is because the cosmetics industry is extremely competitive. However, you can jump over others by presenting your proposal in sponsored links. These are the ones that display over the results obtained by Google algorithms. And while they’re fairly clearly labeled as advertising, they’re eagerly clicked on by your audience. This means that sponsored links will allow you to quickly build more traffic on your website, which will translate into all other goals of the promotion: sales results included.

Product Listing Ads
… that is, advertisements displayed in the Google Shopping system. It is a form of promotion that will allow you to effectively present individual cosmetics and reach the recipient directly with a specific offer. If you use this tool, the link to the specific product related to precise customer search will be in the section above the organic results or on the side. It will be accompanied by a photo of the goods and the price. Therefore, it’s a good place to compete when you offer items cheaper than others. But not only. Being in this section also helps build your store recognition and brand strength.

Google Display Network
I am talking about contextual ads that are displayed to the user on external websites he visits – e.g. with news, lifestyle or any other websites that cooperate with Google in the display of advertisements. Their ranges are very large, and promotional messages are displayed to people with a specific range of interests, passions and demographic characteristics. Remarketing is particularly effective, i.e. activities consisting in displaying advertising banners to users who have already visited your store, e.g. those who have abandoned their shopping carts. An advertisement showing the products they are watching may prompt them to return to shopping.

Why Google Ads?

Advertising a cosmetics store in Google Ads is a natural and very sensible solution, because this promotion system allows you to very precisely reach people in the target group.

Google Ads is:
– quick building traffic on the website,
– support for short-term seasonal campaigns, e.g. aimed at selling specific products,
– strengthening the store’s brand,
– the ability to effectively monitor the effects of advertising activities – Google Ads campaigns provide a lot of analytical data that allows you to improve the conducted activities with a view to increasing their effectiveness,
– strict control over the budget – fees for displaying advertisements are charged in the PPC system, which means that you pay for impressions or clicks on the banner, and therefore for effective interaction with the recipient.

However, the question is: can such an advertisement of a cosmetics store be conducted on its own? In theory, yes. After all, all you have to do is reach for the tools commonly available on Google and pay for the campaign directly, right? However, in practice, the correct configuration of the campaign, as well as its testing and monitoring, are activities that require extensive knowledge and extensive experience. This is the only way not to waste the promotion budget. Therefore, it is better to invest in running a campaign with the help of specialists. You should also be aware that the effects depend both on the budget allocated to the promotion and on the competitiveness in the industry.

SEO of the cosmetics store

Cosmetics store advertising is one side of the coin. The second is SEO activities. Equally important, if not more important, because they bring the most long-term effects. How to run them? The goal is to get the best possible position in Google’s organic search results. To get this result, you need to take care of:
– page code optimization – so that it is friendly to all browsers and devices and displayed quickly and without difficulties,
– increasing the functionality of the website – e.g. its transparency, ease of passage through the shopping route or the possibility of searching for products,
– correct saturation of the content on the website with keywords – in the case of a cosmetics store, you will probably need “deep” positioning, i.e. penetrating the structure of subpages belonging to the website,
– improvement of page meta tags, URL structure and sitemap – so that they are more friendly to Google algorithms.

However, in order to start most of these activities, you need to very clearly define which keywords the positioning will be for. It’s not as easy as it sounds. In the case of a cosmetics store, it is not enough to choose keywords directly related to the main product categories, such as “shampoos”, “body gels” or “anti-wrinkle creams”. Yes, they are very important, but … your competition also promotes such slogans. This means that you need to invest in long-tail positioning. It is especially important for stores that offer hundreds or even thousands of products. By choosing to use the “long tail“, you have the chance to significantly increase your position on many queries.

Remember: positioning brings long-term results. Although you have to wait a few months for them, it’s definitely worth it.

Advertising of a cosmetics store on Facebook – is it worth it?

Facebook, as well as other social media like related Instagram or Pinterest, is also a great place to promote yourself. Facebook in particular offers wide possibilities of communication with recipients – both by running a fan page and contextual advertising, which are accounted for and monitored on the basis of similar principles to those offered by Google Ads. Likewise, Instagram offers a space to give your products a certain ‘entourage’ and character to your brand. All of this – especially in the cosmetics industry, is very important.

Why is blog content important?

Content marketing is also content marketing – everything we publish on our website. Thanks to it, we can reach more recipients and provide users with interesting information.

We can write them in the form of blog posts, reports, guides, product descriptions or interviews. Here, we can only be limited by creativity (and the scope of our activity), because there may be many ideas for showing uniqueness and the way of presenting content.

Articles on the site are usually created by copywriters, but not only. Articles can also be written by owners or people working in other departments of the company. Thanks to this, we can write more specialized articles on a given topic and save money.

Why does content matter in SEO?

Uniqueness, timeliness and high quality are of great importance for a good ranking of our website. Before the implementation of the algorithms: Penguin, Panda or Koliber, it was possible to “spam” the text with key phrases – this was often enough to achieve high positions in Google. Fortunately, we have long since passed away.

New algorithms evaluate the quality of our content, so we must ensure that it is of the highest level. The article not only has to meet the user’s requirements, but also has to be optimized for search engines such as Google or Bing.

SEO + Content are inextricably linked. Without content, we will not do internal linking well, we will not saturate the page with key phrases and we will not present the user with information about our company, product or values that we want to convey to him.

Content update – why is it important?

We already know that the content affects the position of our website and we should take care of it. So why are there articles that used to be 1st in Google, and then dropped? After all, we put a lot of time and work into them. There can be many factors that influence it. One of them may be that our content has become outdated.

Attention!
Of course, this is not the only ranking factor we should consider. Great content without any other SEO efforts may yield zero or very low results.

Over time, the information we post on the website loses its value.

Content that was created in 2017 may not be up to date this year.  Especially if in the article we referred to the legal provisions in force at that time (which were amended at that time), the prices that were in force at that time (during these 3 years the costs of products could change) or statistical data from that period.

Google tries to provide users with not only the highest quality content, but also tries to provide up-to-date information.

Content update – how to choose the ones that need to be changed?

A. Content that is no longer relevant
Over time, our content may become obsolete, and the things we wrote about no longer apply. We can then redirect them 301 to a similar entry or try to bite the topic differently if users are still looking for information on this topic.

Example:
A few years ago, we wrote an article about loans for own contribution. Currently, banks do not allow financing of own contribution from such a source.

However, they allow loans from developers for own contribution and some users are looking for information on this subject. We can rewrite the article from scratch in this regard to provide the user with the necessary and current news.

B. Articles with specific time periods
If we can – avoid giving dates in articles. If this is not possible, let’s make a spreadsheet in which we write down the content that has it and when we should update it. There are content that we can update annually, and there may be content that we should change every month.

C. Comments below the article that may expand it
Users often pay attention to things that the writer may not notice. The comments may contain interesting information or questions about which we can update our content. Not every user reads the comments posted under the articles (especially if there are many of them). Thanks to the expansion of the main content of the post, we can provide all readers with interesting information.

D. “Walls of text” without highlighter
We can try to make our content more attractive to the user to make it easier and more pleasant to read. Here we can use various types of sections, for example:
– highlighted examples,
– lists of bullets,
– quotes,
– graphical linking to other related articles,
– expert advice,
– summary,
– infographics.
Thanks to such measures, our content can be clearer for the reader.

E. General Content
It happens that we write an article that is very general or touches on many topics a little. We can expand it with new information or write new related articles, where we will explain all the issues to the user in detail.

Example:
We have a summary article about the most important Google algorithms. Each of them is briefly described to provide the most important information about them.

We can do 2 things with it:
– expand the article and describe each algorithm in detail. Thanks to this, we will have an article that is very extensive and comprehensive topic. When new algorithms are entered, we can add them to this article in an equally exhaustive way,
– we can write separate articles, where we will describe each algorithm in detail. From the base article about the most important algorithms, we can refer the user to separate articles on the topic that interested him by internal linking.

F. Duplication of content
It may happen that we have several hundred articles on the website and we forget that we have already written such an article. It turns out that our content cannibalize ourselves with keywords. Let’s check which article appears with a larger number of phrases and which users visit more often and combine it into one. Remember to redirect the article from which we resign to the content left on the website.

G. Is the article we wrote easy for the user or is it incomprehensible?
Remember that we do not write content only for Google – they are created primarily with the user in mind. It is he who will read the article and should understand everything from it. If it seems to us that the article we wrote is very specialized and we use heavy terms in it – let us read it to a person who is unfamiliar with this topic. If the reader does not understand a part – it is worth simplifying it, because another person may also have a problem with it.

Example:
One of our editors is a lawyer who uses many specialized terms or quotes from statutes. They may be incomprehensible to some users. By using examples where we realistically present a given situation, it may turn out that it will be a sufficient simplification of the content + we gain valuable content.

H. Short, low-quality content
If we have an article on the website on a topic that has a large number of searches – it is worth expanding it. Thanks to this, we can provide valuable information to the user and appear in the search engine for more searches. It is worth the article to be exhaustive and to convey everything possible.

Content update – minor changes

Let’s start with the content that is, for example, from this year and requires only minor updates. We don’t have to rewrite the whole article then (although it may turn out that a minor update will change the meaning of the whole article – then it is worth rewriting it) – we can only change a few small things in the article.

If we only make minor changes – it is worth adding the update date section in the article (we then show the user that the article is already on the website for a while, but is constantly updated).

Examples of what we can pay attention to with minor updates:

A. The prices given in the articles are no longer valid
If we are a comparison engine or we run an online store – the prices of our services or products may change dynamically. It is worth that the price offer that we present in the articles should coincide with the prices that we place in the product categories. This saves the user the trouble of figuring out which price is correct.

Attention!
This is especially important when we raise the price of a product. If we do this, and in the article the price we gave was lower and we did not mention the promotion there – the user may start looking for a product at this price on other websites and not come back to us.

B. The products we wrote about are no longer available for sale
If a product has been permanently withdrawn from sale, will the user want to read about it? What if the product has only been recalled with us? We can then expect 2 things:
– if the user is interested in this product – he can leave our store again and go to the competition, where he will get the product
– the user may waste time reading about a product that they will not get anyway. Here, too, negative emotions may arise because he will be disappointed with the inability to buy.

It is then worth updating the article and replacing this unavailable article with a product with similar parameters to the withdrawn one. Thanks to this, we will present the user with information about the products that he will surely get from us in the store.

Attention!
If the product has been temporarily withdrawn – it is worth mentioning with the product that it is a temporary shortage and we will give the user the opportunity to set a reminder when the product is available for sale again.
If the product has been permanently withdrawn – we can compare different versions of this product (if of course they are and we can compare them) or make a comparison with similar products. Then we can encourage the user to buy a new and improved model.

C. The links to which we referred the user have changed
Both external and internal links are important here. After all, we do not want to send the user to page 404, where he will not find the information he is interested in.
When updating your content, it’s also worth taking a look at because we may have missed some deleted link and not redirected it to the correct URL.

D. Title and meta description
If we change the content of the article – it is also worth updating the metadata. Thanks to this, we will show the user in the search engine that our content is up-to-date. If we change the whole and leave “2019 ranking” in Title -> the user can skip our entry and move to another, thinking that ours is not up to date enough.

E. Infographics
If we rely on infographics in our article, we must also remember about them. If we change the prices in the content and leave the old user in the infographic, he may get lost and not be sure which ones are up to date.

F. Legal regulations / sources we rely on
If we rely on legal provisions / statistical sources in our articles – remember that they may also change. When updating the content, let’s also take this into account so as not to unnecessarily mislead the user.

G. Structured data
More and more websites use the FAQ schema. It is worth checking whether the change of content on the website also causes a change in the structural data. It may turn out that the website is coded in such a way that IT sets this data. We must then remember this, because the schema should contain exactly the same information that appears on the website.

Attention!
If we update an article – remember to check the entire content. The update date indicates that it is up-to-date at the moment. If we update only part of it, the user will be misled by us because some of the information will be up-to-date and some not.

These are just a few examples that we can pay attention to – it is worth reviewing what we write about on our website and finding out for yourself which information, in our opinion, may be outdated for the user.

Examples of tools to help us update content

Google Analytics
We can check which content has a high bounce rate and a small number of hits. It may be the fault of the articles we published. Let’s find out what’s wrong with them and try to update them.

SERP
Let’s check TOP10 search results – thanks to this we will find out what is missing in our article. It is also worth using similar searches and Google hints.

Example:
We have an article on business activity. Thanks to Google’s hints, we can check what information users are looking for.

Ahrefs
Ahrefs provides a “Content GAP” feature, so we can compare our article with articles on the same competition. Here, we will also receive information on which phrases our article does not appear in the search engine.

Use pixel

For more experienced marketers it is obvious, but still entering the pages of various businesses is short of this short script that allows remarketing. Of course, not every website on the internet needs a pixel and Facebook advertising, but if we are thinking about this form of advertising or are just starting to operate on this platform, pixel is one of the first things we should be interested in.

Pixel is a tracking code that allows you to create remarketing groups. The script connects the person who enters the page with the Facebook account. Thanks to this, by creating an ad, we can reach people who, e.g. have visited your website within 45 days. These groups include people who know your brand through the website. It is therefore the hottest type of recipients, and not using them and letting them go into oblivion is a flaw for the marketer.

Delving into the technicalities and specifics of this script, you will soon discover that you can add conversion events and parameters to it. What does it mean? This means that you can optimize your campaign for a specific conversion, e.g. purchase or filling out a form. Thanks to event installation, you will also learn how many conversions and values were made after clicking on the advertisement. By combining pixels with a catalog (product feed), you can start displaying dynamic remarketing, in which you will show a personalized advertisement with a specific product to the person who has previously viewed the site.

Use Lookalike groups

The previous point concerned the remarketing group from the site. These are extremely valuable recipients. What about the moment when we want to reach new potential customers with the advertisement?

Of course, we can use the classic method, i.e. directing advertising to groups built on the basis of demographic data, i.e. location, age, gender, interests or behavior. However, we can let Facebook do all the magic for us. Then he will choose those who will most often use our services. Sounds beautiful? Indeed it is. The only thing we have to sacrifice to the platform are our remarketing lists. Of these groups, e.g. 5000 people who visited the site (data from the pixel) within 30 days, Facebook will prepare a list of 200,000 people in the country similar to these people. In the source, each of the 5000 people is hundreds of data that the platform analyzes and searches for profiles with similar characteristics within a given country. You can also create Lookalike based on the list of people who interacted with your Facebook page. Then even the remarketing list obtained from the website will not be needed.

As you can see, at first Facebook Ads are mainly groups of so-called standard, i.e. demographic. Over time, however, as you gain experience, you’ll start to use a combination of remarketing lists and lookalike groups.

Advertising creation

This is the only thing the recipient sees. Not your settings, not the purpose of the campaign, but graphics or video and text are the only point of real contact with the recipient – if this point fails, your campaign will not have a chance of success.

Settle in as the recipient. You are viewing the feed on Instagram or Stories on Facebook. In what form would you like to see your ad? Stock image without an ad slogan and unclear text, unmatched by mobile? Or maybe eye-catching graphics with a slogan in the form of Call To Action, the right button and a short, understandable advertising text? It is obvious. Unfortunately, advertisers often focus on complicated audience settings and bids, and neglect the only thing that the viewer really sees.

To create the perfect creation, I suggest you follow these guidelines:

Ad text – Probably your ad will be displayed on mobile, so try to include a maximally simple message in the first three lines that you will see in the preview of the ad in the mobile feed version. The text can be long and the recipient willingly clicks “view more” to read it, but you need to catch attention through the first, one or two sentences, e.g. to solve the problem of the recipient with the first few words. In the following you can write what you want.

Graphics / Video – does it also stand out in feed / stories? Gets attention? Is it clear and you know what the advertiser meant? Do you know what you, as the recipient, should do after the ad? Is the format adapted to the location? Is the graphics on Stories vertical (sample format 1080 × 1920) and in the feed square (1080 × 1080) which significantly improves the reception? Is the advertisement based on stocks that everyone already knows or maybe on their own interesting graphics / photos?

Ad headline – Short and succinctly, this should be the headline. It can take the form of a call to action.

Button – If you offer the sale of t-shirts, you will not use the “fill in application” button, eg “buy now”. The “more information” button has already taken care of everything, change it!

Test different solutions – audiences and ads

When launching a Facebook Ads advertising campaign, we set the target, audience in the ad set, and the ad itself. Let’s stop for a moment while developing the middle part, i.e. the group of recipients. We usually set up one and publish the campaign. But why not use two or more and give the algorithm some room to work? Almost every group can be divided into two, at least according to age, location or gender. Thanks to this breakdown and the simultaneous use of CBO, i.e. optimization of the budget campaign at the level of setting the advertising goal, we will allow the algorithm to experiment and select a group that converts better, i.e. results, e.g., at a lower cost.

We wouldn’t know about it by broadcasting a campaign with one audience.

The same applies to advertising in a set of ads, i.e. graphic or video creation. It’s worth testing different headlines, other texts or even entire graphics. After a while we will notice which performs better. Then we can stop the emission of the weaker creation and implement another one for testing, which may prove to be better than the one that won in the previous test.

Analyze on a representative sample of data

It happens that after one day we receive information from the customer that, e.g. one campaign or advertisement works better than the other, and that the worse one should be turned off. With a relatively low budget, absolutely one day of issue is not a representative sample of data on the basis of which you can make radical decisions such as suspending an element of the campaign (e.g. audience). Let the ads take a few days, 3-7 days is the right range to evaluate the effect of our actions.

In the past, direct interpersonal relationships have been a standard way of getting business contacts. Admittedly, there were occasions to establish cooperation by phone, although the human factor still played a significant role. The situation has changed significantly as a result of dynamic technological development.

It can be said that the expectations of contractors have turned 180 degrees. At present, business customers require more from interaction with sales representatives in the early stages of negotiations. They require in-depth attention known to them from other purchasing processes. And rightly so!

Mobile technologies are selling better

Google joined forces with The Boston Consulting Group to see how much impact the mobile market has on the realities of the B2B sector. Interactions carried out by mobile devices turned out to generate on average over 40% of revenues in leading organizations. Interestingly, the rule described applies more to enterprises that focus more on trade than marketing activities.

Mobile drivers, or influences, an average of over 40% of revenue in leading B2B organizations.

Who are the users of mobile devices?

Consumers are now comparing your options to the best digital experience they’ve ever experienced. Thus, mobile devices also play an important role in the B2B sector. According to statistics, as much as 50% of business queries come from smartphones and tablets. The Boston Consulting Group predicts that by 2020 the scale of this phenomenon will be 70%. However, it should be remembered that these data come from the US market.

However, business customers use technology at every step. They use mobile technologies to work, and also perform many tasks simultaneously using several screens. Employees are no longer attached to the desk. Instead, they are increasingly working from home. In addition, mobile technologies enable them to remain productive during business trips.

How to improve cooperation with business clients?

Customers from the B2B sector are also devoting more and more time to the use of mobile technology. Currently, research shows that they spend two hours in front of the display. Statistics in this matter are significantly overstated by younger generations of recipients. Forecasts show that by 2020 consumers will use smartphones and tablets for an average of three hours a day.

50% of B2B search queries today are made on smartphones. BCG expects that figure to grow to 70% by 2020.

Increased usage is not just empty statistics. This state of affairs directly translates into business results. BCG revealed that mobile technologies speed up purchasing time, which naturally increases revenues and reduces investment costs. The smartphone can reduce the purchase time by 20%. This state of affairs greatly facilitates decision making and facilitates team collaboration.

The skilful use of mobile technologies increases the level of engagement, which takes the form of search queries, increased website traffic, acquisition of potential customers and conducting transactions. The mobile market is also characterized by a higher customer loyalty rate. Along with positive experiences, loyalty and frequency of repeated purchases increase.

Benefiting from the use of smartphones and tablets requires an appropriate attitude. First of all, mobile technologies should become the basis of business strategy. It is also worth presenting the content in vertical orientation. Thanks to this they look much better on displays. In addition, you must combine your own data with information collected from recipients. The combination of these three factors will increase the effectiveness of operations.

What is the bounce rate?

The bounce rate also known as bounce rate tells you what actions and behaviors Internet users take on a given page (www subpage). Bounce rate is primarily interested in what percentage of users leave the subpage without performing any action, e.g. switching to a product card, blog, to the next article. The bounce rate is calculated for both the entire site and its individual subpages. Users’ actions that are included in the bounce rate are:

– Closing the card / page / subpage as soon as you enter it,
– Clicking the back button, i.e. back to the previous page,
– Clicking on the outgoing link,
– Entering a new URL after leaving the page,
– No activity on the site for 30 minutes after turning it on.

Where to check the page bounce rate?

The bounce rate is calculated using the formula. Self-calculation is not the best of ideas, however. To get to know him, it’s best to enter Google Analytics. It will show the bounce rate in different shots, e.g. traffic sources, paid campaigns, country or Internet device type. In Google Analytics, you can check the bounce rate for the entire site, as well as the most popular landing pages.

What should the bounce rate be?

The amount of bounce rate spends sleep on both website owners and SEO specialists. One of the most common questions is when the rate is too high, how much should it be, and is the bounce rate a situation that requires intervention?

Certainly the high bounce rate is not interesting for the site. It shows that the website or subpage is not interesting, encouraging for Internet users, and most importantly, it does not find the content they were looking for. A high bounce rate is a signal that you need to look at the website and make changes to it. What bounce rate should alarm and encourage corrective action? You definitely need to work on a page if your bounce rate is 80-90% for all sites or key subpages.

So what should be the correct bounce rate? There is no universal answer here. A different result will be a success for each site. Help in determining whether it falls in the “range”: may be the results published by Google, and telling about the average value of bounce rate for individual industries.

However, it is worth remembering that the bounce rate cannot be minimized to zero (if the bounce rate is actually around 0%, it is worth checking if the Google Analytics installation is not incorrect). Even in the case of the best websites, it has a level of 30-40%. It should also be borne in mind that a worthless visit to the website is not always included in the bounce rate. When measuring bounce rate, you always need to consider when you left the site. If, for example, an Internet user left the page after reading the blog article, then, as a rule, it should not be included in the bounce rate, even if then he did not make any other move. It is a desirable and expected action. Therefore, bloggers, news and current affairs websites may have a high bounce rate, despite the content they are interested in.

Therefore, measuring the ratio should be approached with great care. The recommended solution is to set the time in Google Analytics after which BR will turn on after e.g. 30 seconds.

In summary, bounce rate is an important parameter, but it is not the only determinant of page value. Analyzing it, it is also worth looking at other parameters, e.g. dwell time and on the basis of complete data giving possible corrective actions.

How do you reduce the bounce rate?

To reduce your bounce rate, you can do a number of things. Before you start, however, you must do an analysis of your site. At the beginning it is worth to select subpages that actually have a high bounce rate and analyze why a low bounce rate is recorded. This can be due to various reasons for specific subpages, e.g. home page – too low frequency of adding new content; product card – non-intuitive purchase process, contact subpage – no further way forward.

Knowing what causes a high bounce rate, you can plan and implement specific actions to counteract it. There are many possibilities here and you must always adapt them to the individual situation of the site.

The 3 most important things that reduce bounce rates

If you want to fight a high bounce rate, first of all you have to bet on 3 things. They significantly affect whether the site is friendly and attractive to the recipient.

– The first is good content, i.e. content placed on your website or blog.
– Another is to respond to users needs.
– The last is navigation intuitiveness.

If the first two points pose a problem with high bounce rates, then you need to correct the content and ensure better content. If the third point is a problem, then your site’s technical facilities will need to “fix”.

11 ways to reduce bounce factor

A. Simple and intuitive navigation
An Internet friendly website is the one on which it will be able to navigate simply and easily. It is worth remembering that what seems to be creative navigation for the creator, for the user can be an impulse to quickly leave the site and without getting acquainted with its content. The main menu, site map (larger websites), search engine, navigation buttons, call to action and other navigation elements should be designed so that the user does not think about the next step, but performs it automatically and moves to the next subpages.

B. Service readability
Even the best content or good quality product cannot be defended if it is presented carelessly. Lack of readability means that most Internet users leave the site faster than they appeared on it. So if you want to reduce the bounce rate, you should make sure that the content on the page is readable (large blocks of text are thrown away) – divided by headers, bulleted, bolded, written in clear font. Multimedia (movies and photos) should support the message. Readability is not only content, but also visual hierarchy, so-called whitespace (free space), consistent colors, adequate contrast, the right amount of information and CTA, consistent message delivery, detailing the most important information, e.g. purchase conditions.

In terms of page readability, it’s best to follow the KISS principle and remember that if the readability of the page is bad, all the rest doesn’t matter. It is also worth remembering that readability is closely related to design. And it’s not just about making the site look nice. Designing on a website should focus mainly on emphasizing the most important content, data, information, graphics and products.

C. Fast website loading
Today, nobody likes to wait – Internet users open their websites even more. You can check the page loading speed using Page Speed Insights. You should strive to make the tag as fast as possible, especially for mobile devices. If the tool shows that the speed of the site is unsatisfactory, then you will need, among others image compression, reducing the number of scripts or using the browser cache.

D. Compliance of website content with promises
Do you promise the client that he will go to the site, where he will find his dream vacation in France, and when he enters the site, he gets a vacation in Bali? Most likely, this means that it will leave the website quickly and thus be included in the bounce rate. To avoid this, you should work on matching your landing pages to search engine and keyword search queries. It is also worth suggesting immediately alternative articles / products on similar subjects and give the user a chance to make the next move, not to leave the site immediately.

It is worth mentioning here that in the title and meta description of a subpage, content should not use phrases that are readily searched, but have little in common with the content on the subpage. Even if a customer enticed by finding out something that interests him, enters such a subpage, it is almost a 100% guarantee that he will leave it quickly.

E. A large amount of practical information
Very often the reason for leaving the website quickly, if it lacks the most important information for the user. To help him find them, it’s worth including
– create a FAQ subpage,
– make sure the product card contains current and most important product information; the use of generalities is not recommended;
– is the website lacking information on how to order a service / product, price list, directions.

F. CTA leading to subsequent events
The CTA buttons are intended to persuade the Internet user to perform further actions on the website and move to its next parts. They should be designed and arranged so as to create a clear and legible path, e.g. for product purchase, contact form, quote. Call to action on the site can appear in the form of buttons, banners or external links. It’s best to mark them with a different font color that will stand out from the rest of the texts. On a site without CTA, the user will have to look for subpages to which he must go in a given order. This lack of help may result in you leaving the site quickly.

G. Social evidence
One of the conditions for staying on the website by the Internet user is its credibility. If he finds that the site does not inspire trust, he will deny the content on it in advance and leave it quickly. To avoid a high bounce rate, it’s a good idea to social evidence. Thanks to this, users will be shown from a good side. References, opinions, reviews, customer photos are considered social evidence.

H. Lack of intrusive advertising and pop-ups
Pop-ups, video gadgets and consent messages can effectively discourage you from staying on the site for a long time. If at the very beginning the user is attacked by various messages and cannot reach the information he is looking for, he will quickly leave the page.

I. Responsive website
It would seem that today you do not need to talk or remind anyone about responsiveness. However, it turns out that still many sites are not adapted for mobile devices. Meanwhile, much of the traffic comes from them – on average 70%. The user who browses the pages on the phone will almost certainly leave those that display incorrectly.

J. Accompanying events
There are subpages that naturally don’t generate any further activity. These include, for example, a subpage with a blog article or contact tabs. The user, finishing reading the article or checking the phone number, closes the subpage and leaves the website. However, there are ways to extend his presence on the site and encourage these activities. How to do it? It is enough to attach accompanying events to a given subpage. Behind this concept is, e.g. subscribing to the newsletter, completing the form / survey, clicking on the phone number or reading the product cards.

K. Regularity of content
If you run a blog, regular delivery of new content will affect your bounce rate. Most readers follow social media entries and reach their destination from there. Permanently sharing and redirecting to one and the same article means that the reader will quickly leave the text he has already read. Providing up-to-date content is not just important on a blog. If, for example, the data from the 2000 landing page is given, the customer may be discouraged and look for fresh information.

Summary

Many bounce rates are awake at night. Taming him is often not as difficult as it seems. The ground is a good analysis of the reasons for high bounce rate. In some cases it may turn out that it is not a bad thing. However, when the bounce rate is high, it’s worth starting to act. And then verify if the actions bring results. This is best done using A / B testing. They consist of saving the bounce rate for a given page, then implementing change (one) and verifying whether the bounce rate has decreased.