Why focusing on small improvements can lead to greater-than-expected growth
“From Little Things, Big Things Grow” – Paul Kelly, (see the end of this post for a treat)
We recently ran a test for a client who offers a particular urgent service Australia.
Here was the situation before we got involved:
They were generating quality leads on a daily basis using pay per click advertising.
The website was converting almost 10% of visits to qualified enquiries/leads. So for every 100 visits to their site, 10 would have a genuine enquiry. Already a very strong conversion rate.
The cost per lead was also good, enabling the client to make a healthy 40% margin.
We were faced with a conundrum. How do you make an impact for a business that is already performing at a high level?
Back to that quote. By focusing on making strategic small improvements, we were confident that over time, the compounding effects would produce significant ROI.
We focused on achieving one simple goal. Increase the conversion rate (amount of leads coming in) and decrease the cost per lead. Even small improvements to these metrics can lead to significant advantages down the road.
How were we going to do this? We knew from historical traffic data that approximately 90 in every 100 were not enquiring. So we discussed the idea of offering an incentive with any bookings made. These included:
– Free movie tickets
– Free shopping vouchers
– Free personalised products
– Discount voucher on other relevant/complimentary products the company deals with.
We decided to go with the last option of a discount voucher. It’s an attractive offer and it didn’t cost the company any extra to do this so it made for good economics.
After we installed the discount voucher, we focused on making small improvements throughout the entire marketing funnel. These included implementing strategic Google Ads management and Conversion Rate Optimisation techniques. An example of this was making some graphic design changes to the website to aid in promoting the new offer.
This is what we achieved within the first fortnight from running the test offer:
- Conversion rate increased by more than 53% on average, with more than 60% in some segments.
- Cost per lead decreased by more than 30% on average, which means more profit for the company.
- Cross-sell and up-sells also benefited with some big ticket sales coming through.
We reached the goal we set out to achieve, with flow on benefits. And by introducing the new clients to other products the company sells, we increased the long term value of each client.
>> Want to see how we could get you similar results? Book a (completely free, no strings attached) Strategy Session here. <<
Too often we tend to focus on making big, impressive changes in the way we do things. But we can see from this example that the power of small and simple changes should not be underestimated. Well-thought-out small changes can and do have big impacts on performance – whether it be in business, behaviour, or life in general.
The next time you’re planning out your marketing, think about and list out all the areas you could make small improvements in. If you add these small improvements up, you‘ll find that over time they can compound to become greater than the sum of its parts. Companies who optimise daily (think Toyota), thrive and outlast their competition.
What small changes have you made that reaped larger than expected returns for your business? Comment below.
Good on you for reading this far, as a bit of a treat have a listen to this inspiring track, written by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody about Australian Indigenous rights and recognition (see below).
