Tim Ash: Leader in Improving Your Landing Page Optimization
In the fall of 2017, Tim Ash, CEO of Site Tuners, was the keynote speaker for the digital marketing conference Ungagged. Typically, keynotes at conferences like this are described as stand-offish, snooty, and unapproachable. Those keynote speakers who claim that they are “approachable” will excuse themselves from conversations with conference attendees as if they are a surgeon rushing to the OR.
And then there is Tim Ash.
We observed for well over an hour Ash spent time with two attendees discussing everything from their respective online businesses, politics, and how to improve human relations. It was apparent Ash is well read, astute, and genuine. His respect toward the female attendees was also observed, with Tim neither assuming or treating women like the “staff” or “secretaries” of their male cohorts. If you’re unaware, this is pretty rare at these kinds of conferences. While no gold stars should be handed out for normal and proper behavior, with the news being flooded with negative experiences in this area, it was a welcomed sight.
What can you learn from Tim Ash? Here is a sampling of his best selling book, Landing Page Optimization – The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions.
Tim likens conversion to the weakest link in the customer acquisition and retention process, as more focus is pointed to traffic generation and email follow-ups. But the actual time spent in optimizing landing pages for the highest conversion isn’t high on the to-do list at most agencies.
This is what separates Ash from most experts in the field.
There are mostly three types of people who will visit your landing page. Those who will say “no,” those who will say “yes,” and those who will say “maybe.”
Most experts will have you focus on one of the first two groups, figuring out why the visitors are saying “no” and fixing it, or getting the “yes” group to buy more.
However, Ash recommends ignoring the first two groups altogether and instead, put all of your energy into the third group.
Understanding who your visitor is, what they are trying to accomplish and then clearly presenting simple choices for them to consider is the most basic and simple approach to customer acquisition, but it isn’t done 90% of websites.
Instead, most landing pages give a plethora of choices and options. Ash cuts through all the noise and presents simple solutions. Looking back at your college years, what would happen if you were taking a test and after reading the first question, there were 22 multiple choice answers? You’d probably run out of the room screaming.
There is a reason test answers have 3-5 options because of more options than that and the brain shuts down. It’s called “decision fatigue.” Even if it is a subject we know well, our chances of success drop significantly the more possibilities that are present.
When we understand our customer and what they want to do, then give them one of three options, and also highlight the “most popular” or “best” option, and then position that option as a “hero shot” on the page, conversions increase as well as retention rates.
This isn’t rocket science; this is marketing to your customers the same way you want to be marketed to. Presented with the information, respecting your time, and giving you solutions that make sense in your mind and also in your wallet.
Tim’s parting words that with all the information that is available, the most significant stumbling block agencies have is their failure to take action and DO the suggestions in his book. He suggests starting small, taking baby steps, and to test something as simple as the text on your “buy button.” Even if the test fails you will learn something, and that knowledge will help you improve the outcome of the next test.