When marketers optimize, many times it’s with blinders on. Email copy tweaked to boost click-to-open rate. A social media ad image is changed to drive more click-throughs. If those numbers increase, the job is seemingly done.
But what happens after the click?
The truth is, many marketers can’t tell you. And if they’re making these pre-click optimizations without matching them to the post-click landing page, chances are the bottom line isn’t getting maximum benefit. They’re leaving revenue on the table by neglecting marketing optimization opportunities on the post-click landing page.
Marketing optimization in the buyer’s journey
Throughout the history of advertising there’s been one unchanging principle of purchase: buying starts with a problem. How prospects solve that problem, though, has been anything but constant.
Paths to purchase now span myriad devices, channels, and mediums. New behaviors give insight into buying readiness. But the major difference between traditional advertising campaigns and online ones is what does the selling. Where once the advertisement drove prospects to act — to sign up or buy via mail or phone — online, the post-click landing page now does.
- Traditional, offline advertising: Prospect sees, hears ad → Prospect evaluates product based on the ad → Prospect converts or does not.
- Online advertising: Prospect sees, hears ad → Prospect decides whether or not to click through to evaluate offer further → If there’s a click-through, prospect evaluates offer based on the post-click landing page → Prospect converts or does not.
This introduction of the post-click landing page as a persuasive powerhouse has divided advertising campaigns into two parts:
- Pre-click: Everything that impacts whether a prospect clicks your ad. This could be platform, time of day, media type, targeting, etc.
- Post-click: Everything that impacts whether your prospect converts after clicking your ad. This could be message match, post-click landing page visual hierarchy, pricing structure, etc.
Despite this shift in the way people take action, major emphasis is still put on pre-click marketing optimization opportunities like:
- Ad copy adjustments
- Email subject line changes
- A/B tests for ad media
- Search ad extensions
- Platform comparisons
And while it’s perfectly acceptable — even required — to make the best of marketing optimization opportunities in the pre-click stage, the post-click stage must be equally optimized to create the seamless transition from ad to post-click landing page. When it’s not, the result is a major disparity between click-through rate and conversion rate.
An email example
The graphic below depicts a typical email campaign, and the actions taken by a prospect who has shown some interest in the product. As such, he will be sent a middle-funnel email with a call-to-action (CTA) to have them register for a webinar:
As you can see, it’s quite possible to achieve a high open (25%) and click-to-open rate (16%), but it’s much harder to get anywhere close to that for post-click landing page conversion rate, which lingers around 3% on average. In the end, all of the marketer’s hard work on this campaign
could result in 1-2 new deals if they’re lucky. So, how do you capitalize on all the pre-click success in the post-click stage?
Missed marketing optimization opportunities
No wasted clicks. That’s the goal of conversion rate optimizers for the post-click landing page. But while the stage has been set for pre-click optimizers like display ad managers and email marketers, it’s not so much for anyone whose responsibilities fall after the click.
Key concepts and strategies for pre-click optimizers are everywhere. So is software to enable it. But post-click optimizers aren’t as fortunate. That’s why we created a quick and easily consumable resource for anyone getting started with post-click optimization. Inside you’ll discover the basics of PCO, including:
- The three pillars of post-click optimization
- The three most common routes to enable it
- Eight specific things to look for in a post-click optimization solution
Find out how to start making the most of your post-click marketing optimization opportunities by downloading “The Marketers Guide to New Optimization Opportunities” guide.
