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Retention, huh? It's like interviewing for a job and getting to the last stage of the interviews - just to realize it's not going to happen. We spend money on getting people to our website, visitors spend eight seconds on the page and 98% will never return. Boy, that hurts It is especially painful for SaaS businesses because of their lengthy sales funnels and high acquisition costs. A while ago we decided to gather data on how to attract visitors, move them down the marketing funnel and make sure they love using our tool. But before we get into the details, let's go through what retention rate optimization is and how data can be helpful in improving it. What is Retention Rate Optimization?Retention rate optimization is the process of improving the rate of customers returning to use your services. It sounds like something you should be doing, right? In numbers it looks like this:
This means that only one or two people out of 100 will keep paying to use our services. So naturally, improving this number became a big priority for us. This is where retention rate optimization comes in, trying to boost your profit on every potential customer who lands on your page. Now it's time to explain the path we took. Behavior AnalysisFirst of all, you have to try to understand your customer's behavior:
The best way to test your assumptions is by simply by talking to your customers via emails, calls, live chats or Skype calls. Anything will do. One low-key method we tend to use is Hotjar's Poll. To set it up you simply implement a small code snippet - similar to setting up Google Analytics - and set up the question sequence. It looks like this: the question is triggered few seconds after you visit a page. Ask simple, open-ended questions and soon you will have a lot more insight into why your customers do what they do. Let's get Ready to Monitor DataHave you ever heard the statement, 'Numbers don't lie'? Trust numbers more than you trust anyone. Period. Google Analytics won't cut it in delivering the insights into customer behavior you need. You will need funnel and event data monitoring software to help to visualize your events. In this case, Kissmetrics is the perfect tool for this job. The metrics these kind of tools offer is what one might need to investigate customers' behavior. Setting it up is a bit more technical than with Google Analytics because you have to assign tracking to every event you want to monitor. This will take some time if you don't have developers at your disposal. What's great about behavior analytics' tools is that they offer easy-to-schedule demo calls, in case there is something you struggle to understand. Once everything is set, let's see how we can use this data to improve your retention. Improving the Onboarding ProcessIn general, users who have tested different features of your tools can be retained for longer than those people who haven't tried such tasks. Designing user onboarding shouldn't be left to gut feeling. Instead, make sure to tailor it to the features your users find the most useful. Once you can track events and see the impact your onboarding has on user retention, you can then form a set of assumptions. These assumptions should then be tested to see if iterating your onboarding could improve your retention rate. Retention rate analysisWe discovered that people who used a key feature of our tool have a retention rate of 20.1%. This key feature was also the first step of our onboarding. The second step was to connect our tool to Google Analytics. As it turned out, people who did add Analytics stayed for an average of 12 days, with a retention rate of 7.69%. Compare this to the 1.69% retention rate for people who skipped this step. We kept exploring the actions people took using our tool. Interestingly, people who used the disavow feature were much more likely to return - this cohort's retention rate for 12 days was stunning 10.2%. We had a 24% retention rate increase just by suggesting a few spammy backlinks to disavow. Once you spot opportunities like this, your assumptions must be tested to see if seemingly useful changes actually deliver the expected outcome. Imagine the impact if all of your customers would have the same experience as your star customers who make the most of your handy features. From Free Trial to Paid PlanOnce you know the precise likelihood of people sticking around after performing action X, you can assign a value to this activity. For example, ProdPad gamified their 7-day free trial by giving extra free days for each action people performed on the page. This makes a lot of sense. Any free days you give to your customers are useless if they don't use them to do things that will make them stick around. You can even take this one step further. Investigate which actions increase the chance of people switching from free trials to paid plans. Have a look at the data on activities that improve conversion rates between steps in your funnel. In this case, it's customers moving from free plans to paid plans. We discovered that people who linked Google Analytics to our service were 32.5% more likely to use paid plans, compared to those who didn't link. This is what we found using the same correlation for the cohort that used our disavow tool: The disavow tool is seemingly so crucial to our retention rate that it more than doubles the conversion rate from free to paid plans. Once you start seeing this kind of data, it's then time to test to approve or disapprove your assumptions. Improve Your Marketing FunnelThere are different ways to test your assumptions. Here are two:
Obviously, the second option sounds a lot easier, right? Easier means faster to test and that's what we like. After each interaction with a business, we internet users usually get bombarded with upgrade or discount offers. Indeed, it's a shame not to help your users find their way back to you - and take the action they for some reason avoided. Setting up Facebook for retargeting adsFacebook offers amazing retargeting capabilities, allowing you to target any specific action that a specific group of people took. First, clearly lay out the actions people can take on your site. Once you know the impact these actions have on retention you can make sure people use your tool to its full capability. What's more, I will show you how to display ads after almost any event-taking place while people use your tool. First, let's start by setting up the tracking. We will need to implement two things:
Creating AudiencesOnce that's done, we need to define the specific cohorts (audiences) that we wish to guide further down the funnel. Every event that occurs on your site is tracked by Facebook's pixel and people who fall into specific categories can be shown specific ads. We know our highest retention rate came from people who had used the disavow tool. Moreover, we know there were quite a few people who didn't do that. To start, head over to Facebook's business manager, (1) then to Ads Manager (2), and finally, click on Audiences (3). There you will be able to create cohorts or custom audiences (1). Next, create a custom audience based on website traffic. Then you will have to define the event. In this case, we want to target people (1) who visited in the last 30 days (2) visited Linkody's dashboard (3). Specifically, the ones who didn't use (4) the disavow tool (5) in this period of time. Make sure to exclude the other groups of people. There is no need to show ads to people who have already done what you will be asking them to do. Showing Ads for the Right AudienceNow you can reach out to this cohort. Show your customers the benefits of performing a particular action. Teach them what this feature can do for their business. These people have most probably not grasped exactly how useful your tool or service is - the exact reason why others love it so much. A great way to educate people about this is with video guides or blog posts. Film a walk-through or write a how-to guide describing the benefits of taking this action. Then head over (1) to the Ads Manager (2) and create an ad of your choosing. Next, select the ad's objective: I suggest choosing between traffic (1), engagement (2), or conversions (3). Then, all you have to do is select the custom audience you created before. Done! Now all you have to do is check if your retention rates are improving. This will help you to quickly prove or disprove the assumptions you made before. Go Ahead and Optimize your RetentionThis guide can help you to get the best return out of the money you've already put down. So why not go ahead and test it to see if you, too, can boost your profits. To quickly recap what we went through:
One thing to note is that this is just one test. In most cases, retention optimization will be an ongoing process. Happy optimizing and let us know if there is anything you need help with! About the Author: Helvis Smoteks is an SEO-mastering, content-smithing marketer who spends his days at Linkody helping SEOs monitor their backlink data.
Lead generation is an indispensable part of business. If you want to have paying customers, you need to gather a reliable stream of leads. That's the bottom line. But generating leads isn't as easy as one might think. In fact, it requires quite a bit of finesse and a whole lot of time. Reportsshow that 65% of businesses say generating traffic and leads is their top marketing challenge. That doesn't surprise me at all. There is encouraging news though. Marketers now have a lot more avenues to target potential customers. At the forefront of that is social media. And if we're talking about the highest-quality leads, LinkedIn is the clear winner. It's a bit shocking, I know. You expect a giant like Facebook to be leading the pack. Not in this case. More than 80% of B2B leadssourced from social media come from LinkedIn. That goes to show the power of this platform. Here's the kicker though: many people are failing at using LinkedIn for lead generation. They're spending too much time in the process. And they do not see a return on that time investment. That's a frustrating problem to have, and I'll show you how to fix it. Here's how you can generate leads on LinkedIn without wasting your time. 1. Target the decision makersIt's imperative you consider the sales cycle when you're generating leads. I am referring to the entire process it takes for you to sell a product or a service. It includes everything, i.e., generating a lead, nurturing that lead, and eventually making the sale. Here's a map of what a typical sales cyclecan look like: Some of us have the good fortune of being in a niche where it can take as little as a few minutes to close a sale. For others, it can take months and even years. Whatever camp you fall in, there is a simple solution to shorten the sales cycle. Find the decision maker. Here's what I mean. Unless you're targeting a solopreneur, most businesses have select people who ultimately make the purchasing decisions. Wouldn't it be wise to direct your efforts at someone with authority to close the deal? Of course, it would! Now, the decision maker is not always the CEO. In fact, it's rarely the case for most businesses. I'm not saying you shouldn't target CEOs. It depends on what you're selling, what business needs it will serve, and what your goals are. Let's say you're a freelance writer looking for new clients. The best people to target when prospecting would be marketing managers or someone in that field. Anyone else would likely be a waste of your time. The decision makers usually have the following positions:
These are mainly for B2B leads, but the premise doesn't change when you're targeting individual consumers. There's usually (not always) someone they have to consult with before making a purchasing decision. Tailor your efforts and your messaging to take that fact into account. 2. Follow up with old leads before targeting new onesI'm sure you've heard that lead generation is a numbers game. Target enough people, and eventually you'll land a sale. That's true in a sense. But the quality of these leads is also important. Many people collect a bunch of leads, initiate contact, and stop there. Then, they restart the process. The problem with that? There's no follow-up. And if you know a thing or two about lead generation, you know the follow-up is crucial. We know 80% of sales need five follow-ups, but almost 50% of people only send one. Wires get crossed. Your message could be missed. Your prospect could get distracted. Especially on a social media platform, it's common for your message to get buried beneath all the noise. If you don't send a follow-up message, you miss out on a potential customer. You also waste time and effort it took to generate those leads. When is the right time to send a subsequent message? In my experience, three days is ideal for the first follow-up. You should check in with your prospects several times. It can even be automated. If you've collected email addresses, you can set up an autoresponder series. This way, it becomes a hands-off process. Businesses who use marketing automationexperience a 451% increase in qualified leads. 3. Put lead generation on autopilot with content marketingOne of the most powerful features on LinkedIn is its publishing platform. You can publish content natively on LinkedIn Pulse, or you can republish posts from your business blog. Either way, it's one of the smartest strategies for generating leads. For one, it allows you to demonstrate your expertise to potential customers. There's no better way to convert a customer than to show them how knowledgeable you are in your field. It can also shorten the sales cycle. Think about it. If you're consistently educating prospects and solving their problems with your free content, they'll be easier to convert. Doesn't content marketing take time though? It does, but here's the thing. You won't find another audience as receptive as the network on LinkedIn. The platform is filled with professionals waiting for you to educate them. They are ready and willing to do business. If you publish helpful content, your job is half done. You'll be on your way to generating the kind of leads that turn into lifelong customers. You can also repurpose content you've already published on your blog. I've done this before, and it works exceptionally well. Here's some crucial advice for publishing content on LinkedIn:
4. Stop harvesting cold leadsThis one takes the prize for time-wasters. Here's what many people's idea of lead generation looks like:
There are many things wrong with this approach. The biggest is these people have not demonstrated an interest or a need for what you're selling. Your leads are not targeted enough, and they're not qualified. It means the chances of these leads converting to solid sales are slim. The solution? It's a multi-step approach. Step #1:Establish what you want your prospects to doThe first thing you need is a goal. You're generating leads, but what's the purpose? What's the next step? You may want your prospects to download a free resource, schedule a free consultation, attend a webinar, hop on a call, or something of that sort. Decide what your goal is before even starting the lead generation process. Step #2:Create a hit list of hyper-targeted prospectsWhat's the typical process for finding leads on LinkedIn? You type in a job title in the search bar, hit enter, and get a plethora of results. These become your targets, right? That doesn't work. You need to conduct a more focused search. Here's how. First, click on the search bar and scroll to the bottom, where it says search for people with filters. This will allow you to filter your results so you can focus on a targeted group of leads. Your number of leads will be smaller, but their quality will be greater. Here are some of the filters available: Step #3: Initiate contactAfter you've put your hit list together, you can connect and send a personal message. When you hit connect, some of the options will prompt you to enter an email address. If you connect as a friend, this isn't necessary, so select that option. Also, ensure your connection request has a message attached to it. You only have 300 characters, but that's more than enough to send a thoughtful message. Don't send the same generic message to every prospect. You can still have a template to save time, but personalize it. I recommend going through the prospect's profile so you have more information to go on. Step #4: Build a relationshipIt's critical you continue to engage with your LinkedIn connections. This could be by engaging with their content and sending them messages. That's what's going to set the stage for a sales conversion later on. It's only after you've gotten on your prospects radars that you can start thinking about selling to them. Step #5:Funnel prospects to the top of your sales funnel outside of LinkedInLinkedIn should not be used to sell. It's a great prospecting tool. But you'll sabotage your lead generation if you sell prematurely. Use it to get prospects interested enough to join your permission marketing funnel. You can then take the sales process outside of the platform. I know this sounds like a tedious and long road. I promise you, this is way more effective than targeting a large list of unqualified leads. You will get nowhere fast. 5. Go premiumIf you're serious about using LinkedIn as your primary lead-generation tool, a premium account can serve you well. It can increase your efficiency and save you time. You've got several options, depending on your goal. You'll benefit from the features such as InMail, advanced search, and access to information about people who viewed your profile. Sure, the free account allows you to filter your searches. But with a premium account, you can conduct even more advanced searches. With InMail, you can message people not in your network. You can also look at all the people who've viewed your profile. This is a great way of gathering warm leads. These profile views represent people who have showed some interest in you. There are other features, but these three are particularly useful. Now, I'm not saying this is a must. It's not a necessity to have a premium account to succeed with lead generation. In fact, before you invest in a premium LinkedIn account, you should test the platform. If you see promising results, and you want to amplify your lead-generation efforts, premium is a solid path to take. 6. Join groups where your ideal prospects hang outLinkedIn groupsare gold. There's no better way to quickly and easily find quality prospects. You can also create your own group. But that requires a time investment-you need to build the group and then maintain it. If you want to save time, I recommend joining an existing group. You want to select groups relevant to your industry. It's also important to have an idea of your ideal prospect. This way, you can target people who will be receptive to your message and, eventually, your product. Here are some other things you should consider:
How do you find these groups? Conduct a group search. Type in your keyword in the search bar, and select Groups. You can also click on the Work tab in your top menu and click on Groups. Then, click on Discover. LinkedIn will display a list of groups: By default, they're filtered according to your industry. Since my field is marketing, I automatically get shown a bunch of groups relevant to that field (no search necessary). Click on the individual groups that interest you. Read the about this group section to get familiar with them and their rules. Check out the admins and the mutual connections you share with the group. If it seems it fits with your goals, go ahead and connect. ConclusionLinkedIn is hands down one of the best platforms for lead generation. If you know how to work it, you can end up with some quality prospects primed to become your paying customers. But as fruitful as lead generation can be, it is also a time-consuming task. If you don't use the right strategies to target the right people, it is easy to spend months and see no result. I've pinpointed some of the biggest time-wasters and ways you can go through this lead-generation process quickly. Use the strategies, and you'll see more leads of a higher quality, without a massive time investment. What are your best tips for generating qualified leads on LinkedIn?
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