Monday, 3 October 2016

Announcing the Updated Kissmetrics Funnel Report

The Kissmetrics Funnel Report is our most popular report, and for good reason.

Seeing where potential customers drop off and segmenting traffic to find the most valuable marketing channels are game changers for businesses.

And today we’re announcing new features in our Funnel Report that will make it even more powerful.

Let’s start with the new design.

1. More Flexible Design

Previously in the Funnel Report you’d create steps horizontally, like this:

adding-steps-old-funnel-report

Now, to be consistent with the design of our People Search, we’ve changed the layout so you’ll create steps vertically, like this:

adding-steps-new-funnel-report

This new design flow allows for greater flexibility of some new features we’ve added (more on that later).

The visualization has also been updated. Instead of seeing something like this:

old-kissmetrics-funnel-report-design

You’ll see this:

new-kissmetrics-funnel-report-design

Finally, many of our customers have four or more steps in their funnel. In our previous Funnel Report, there was no way to easily see a funnel with five or more steps.

Now it’s as easy as scrolling side-to-side to view additional steps:

sliding-in-kissmetrics-funnel-report

2. Drag and Drop

Did you accidentally create your steps in the wrong order? With the drag and drop feature, you don’t have to go back, delete steps, and then re-create them. You just drag and drop the steps into the correct order.

drag-and-drop-kissmetrics-funnel-report

3. And/Or Conditions

Let’s say you’re a marketer for a SaaS company. You have two ways for visitors to get in touch with your sales team. They can request a demo or sign up. You want to know which one is more effective at driving people to start paying for the product.

Now you’ll be able to see people who have done both events or one or the other. So, in our case, we’ll create a funnel report that looks for people who have visited the site and then signed up or requested a demo.

We’ll create our first step, Visited site, and fill in the second event, Signed up. Then we’ll add a condition by clicking on the button that the red arrow is pointing to:

and-or-funnel-report

Click on that button and we’ll get to choose and/or conditions.

and-or-dropdown-kissmetrics

We’ll keep it as or and add the event Requested demo. This will ensure that regardless of whether a person signs up or requests a demo, they’ll be included in this funnel.

visited-site-signed-up-requested-demo-funnel

We’ll run the report and get our data:

signed-up-or-requested-demo-funnel

You can see that Signed up and Requested demo account for a 3% conversion rate.

Want to see the individual numbers for each? No problem, just click on one of the two, and the Funnel Report will show you.

comparing-funnels-kissmetrics

We can see that we’re getting a lot more signups than demo requests.

We can take this even further by adding additional steps to our funnel report to see how one condition may affect the funnel. Let’s continue using this example to illustrate this important point.

If the next steps after Signed up or Requested demo are activating the product and then upgrading, we can see how each condition affects the funnel. Let’s first look at how the funnel performs when people sign up:

comparing-funnels-new-funnel-report

And now we’ll compare that to demo requests:

comparing-funnels-new-funnel-report-2

Big difference! We can see that while 245 people requested demos and 4 of those activated the product, 0 of them continued along in the funnel to paying for the product. All the success of the funnel is due to signups, not demo requests. As marketers, we now know we should focus more of our attention on driving signups and not demo requests.

Now let’s do something similar with a property. We’ll look at all the signups and demo requests that came from San Francisco. Here’s how:

Click on the arrow sign next to the condition:

add-property-to-event

And we’ll add the property “KM City” with San Francisco:

km-city-san-francisco

Visited site and KM City are automatically tracked in Kissmetrics. This means that we track it whenever someone visits your site, and we also look at what city they’re coming from.

So this way we’re telling Kissmetrics to find all the people who visited our site who came from San Francisco.

We’ll then add the second step in our funnel – finding those people who either signed up or requested a demo:

km-city-funnel-signed-up

And run the report:

signed-up-demo-san-fran-funnel

We can see that of the 435 people from San Francisco who visited our site during the selected date range, 9 of them converted to signing up or requesting a demo, giving us a 2.1% conversion rate.

Let’s use one more example. Let’s say we just ran an ad campaign on 10 different sites. We are linking back to our site, and we tagged the URL with UTMs. We gave the “campaign source” as adsfall2016. Now we’ll create a funnel report that looks only at people who came from a UTM with that campaign source.

ad-campaign-hit-funnel-report

You can see that the first step we have in this funnel is finding the people who have visited the site and whose campaign source was adsfall2016. We’re also using the event Ad campaign hit, which triggers whenever someone comes from a URL with UTMs tagged. Ad campaign hit is automatically tracked in Kissmetrics along with any UTM parameters you have tagged.

We’ll add two more steps – viewing a product and purchasing:

funnel-with-ad-campaign-hit

So now you can see how people progress through a funnel when they are coming from a campaign.

4. Numerical Values for Properties

We’ve added the ability to add numerical values to properties in the Funnel Report.

Got all that?

Here’s what it gets you:

Say you’re an e-commerce marketer and you just launched your fall campaign. You want to see the conversion rate for the people who have visited your site and made a purchase of at least $99.

We’ll add the property Order amount to the final step and tell Kissmetrics to find anyone who spent at least $99.

order-amount-with-any-value-kissmetrics

We’ll select the “greater than or equal to” option and place 99 in the text box:

greater-than-or-equal-to-funnel

We’ll run the report and get our data:

ad-campaign-purchased-funnel

This will make finding a specific customer segment even easier.

5. People Who Do Not Have Conditions

With our new Funnel Report, you can find people who have not done an event or do not have a property.

So if you want to find the people who have signed up but have not viewed a product video, you can do that with the Funnel Report. Or, for another example, you can see the people who purchased who did not use a coupon code.

Here’s how to do that:

We’ll create a funnel report that looks at people who have visited our site, have not viewed our product video, and signed up.

We’ll create our first step, Visited site, and then select people who have not done an event. We’ll choose Watched product video as the event.

has-not-done-event-funnel

We’ll add the final step, Signed up, and make our date range the last 30 days:

funnel-wo-viewing-product-video

Now let’s get our data:

did-not-watch-video-funnel

We see that a minority of people visiting our site do not view the product video before signing up. If we want to compare funnels by adding an or condition to our second step, we can do that too:

has-has-not-product-video

Now let’s run the report and click on “Watched product video” to compare the funnels:

watched-product-video-compare-funnels

This shows us that most of the people who signed up had viewed the product video and that people who viewed the product video have a higher conversion rate (2.3% compared to .2%). If we want to improve our site and signups, we’ll want to consider showcasing the product video more prominently as it seems to be an effective conversion driver.

Two Smaller Changes

Finally, we made two minor updates:

1. Design changes to advanced settings

Previously you’d change your advanced settings here:

advanced-settings-old-funnel-report

Now you’ll find those settings here:

advance-settings-new-funnel-report

Click on that gear icon, and you’ll see the attribution, formatting, and conversion rate options:

advanced-settings-new-funnel-report

By default, the Funnel Report will display the conversion rate from the previous step. What’s changed is that now you have the option to view the conversion rate from the first step. Here’s where you’ll find the conversion numbers:

previous-step-conversion-rate

You can easily change the setting to see the conversion rate from the first step by clicking on the First step button:

first-step-conversion-rate

2. Checkbox changed to person icon

In some cases, people enter a funnel in a different order than the steps you have set up. For instance, you may have a funnel like this:

  1. Visited site
  2. Watched product video
  3. Signed up

But what if a customer viewed a product video after signing up? Their steps are:

  1. Visited site
  2. Signed up
  3. Watched product video

By default, the Funnel Report will exclude these people. But you can include them by checking this box:

entered-funnel-checkbox

Now you’ll find that feature here:

funnel-report-copy-change
We are changing the copy to better reflect the feature

Click that icon and you’ll be able to compare the funnel with all traffic. Here’s how it looks:

funnel-with-all-traffic

Take the New Funnel Report for a Spin

If you’re already using Kissmetrics, you can sign in to your account, and the new Funnel Report will be ready for you.

If you’re not already using Kissmetrics, this is a great time to get started.



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3 Important Lessons about Sponsorships that Will Make You More Money

sr-sponsorship-lessons

Do you want to make more money from your podcast? Rhetorical question. :-) Of course you do! We all do. One of the clearest paths to revenue with a podcast is sponsorship, but it can also be the most difficult to tap into it, especially for newer or niche shows. In this episode, Jerod shares three lessons he learned recently when he signed a new sponsor on to one of his shows.

In another yes-we-kept-it-to-less-than-30-minutes episode, Jerod and Jonny discuss:

  1. Why you always need to be on the lookout for potential opportunities — and what, specifically, you should look for
  2. How to be ready for those opportunities when they hit
  3. The benefits of being a showrunner, not just a podcaster, and creating an experience for your audience that goes beyond your podcast

Plus, Jerod discusses how he handled the legal and payment aspects of the sponsorship.

Listen, learn, enjoy …

Listen to this Episode Now

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How to Sustain a Profitable Creative Agency

sp-bourne-creative

On this week’s episode, we’re joined by Brian and Jennifer Bourn of Bourn Creative. They are a vibrant, creative studio that delivers purpose-driven design and engaging experiences for businesses who want to stand out and step into the spotlight.

Brian and Jennifer love challenges and deadlines, and are brand-building, WordPress-wielding, Lego-playing nerds dedicated to creating beautiful, flexible, and powerful platforms for rapidly growing businesses.

In this 38-minute episode Brian Gardner, Jennifer Bourn, and Brian Bourn discuss:

  • The founding of Bourn Creative
  • Using Genesis within a Creative Agency
  • Choosing a business size that fits your lifestyle
  • Tips for maintaining a consistent workflow from home
  • Creating a work/life balance that revolves around family
  • The importance of scheduling and client communication
  • Building a profit margin into your client services
  • Creating partnerships to create recurring revenue streams
  • Evaluating expenses on a consistent basis
Listen to this Episode Now

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How to Find the Optimal Pricing for Your Membership Site

mo-membership-pricing

Are you struggling to find the right pricing model for your membership site? In this episode, we provide you with a detailed framework to make it an easy decision.

Finding this optimal pricing for a membership website can be very difficult. While there are many tactics to improve your pricing strategies, there are not many general frameworks that you can use from the start.

But if you listen to this episode, you will learn a simple and proven technique for finding the optimal pricing for your site — helping you increase your revenue while generating a substantial profit.

And best of all, this episode includes a companion SlideShare deck that walks you through all the concepts we discuss.

In this episode, Sean Jackson and Jessica Frick provide a comprehensive pricing framework, including:

  • The #1 Rule when it comes to pricing
  • Why your costs matter and how they are different from your expenses
  • The target financial goals you should set for your revenue, profit margins, and subscriber base
  • And how to package that pricing model to make it a compelling premium offer
Listen to this Episode Now

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Email Marketing: What’s Really the Issue With Confirmed Opt-In?

It’s been an interesting couple of weeks in the discussion surrounding confirmed opt-in (COI) and the direction that the industry is headed. I wrote about the inevitability of confirmed opt-in becoming the standard at some point in the future. The discussion began with a rash of Spamhaus listings, which were supposedly generated from a list bomber. We didn’t discuss the merits of how the “list bomber” got the Spamhaus trap addresses, whose anonymity are key to their credibility.

We didn’t talk about how the “list bomber” targeted mainstream marketers who used larger ESP’s. We didn’t talk about just how Spamhaus knew exactly which marketers to list. I bet you didn’t tell Spamhaus if you were hit by this. You can draw your own conclusions from what’s been written, and also what hasn’t been written. It was also interesting timing for this to “randomly” happen just before the holiday period.

So, it’s out there, and one could argue that this was a concerted effort on behalf of someone to drive senders to this practice. The funny thing is that COI isn’t even a radical concept anymore. Think about when you purchase or sign-up for many programs these days. You get a please confirm your email address, confirm your subscription, or confirm your preferences message right away.

Companies do this for the security of their customers. They don’t want to send your information to the wrong person, just because someone made a typo. COI is already a common email practice. You sign up for a Gmail account, and you have to confirm your email address. Nobody sees that email and freaks out, it is standard operating procedure.

Pradeep Mangalapalli, Director of Deliverability Operations, wrote a post last week which highlighted some extensive metrics that we pulled from across the marketing universe (Not just Oracle, we looked at senders regardless of ESP). We found that these campaigns perform at a very high level. Open rates are high, and read rates are also very strong. The spam complaint rate for these types of email is almost zero.

That’s because we understand that for the most part, these messages are now part of the expected back and forth conversation with someone we are doing business with, or interested in receiving information. Affiliate marketers have been confirming permission for years, because they were trying to avoid those previously mentioned complaints.

If you are a marketer who doesn’t want to do COI right now, that’s fine. But I would encourage you to ask yourself (and your team), what are you really afraid of? We’ve established that consumers understand the process now. That wasn’t the case 3 or 4 years ago, but it’s basically mainstream these days. I would propose that the real issue isn’t the actual COI, but a fear that you are going to lose subscribers.

If that is really the case, it is not because of the COI itself, but some other probably more important issues. What does it say if you think 75% of your subscribers won’t click a link in an email whose only purpose is to protect your security?

Maybe they don’t know they were “signing up” for your program. Is the user afraid they are going to be bombarded with email they don’t want? Is it the fact that you aren’t converting 100% of address to your list? Just because you have an email address doesn’t mean it wasn’t faked, made-up, mistyped, or is a valid address at an account they will just never check.

Would you want an ATM card that didn’t have a PIN number, or a credit card where you didn’t have to verify a signature? There’s a reason why you have to activate a credit card you receive in the mail. You activate it so in case it falls in the wrong hands, there’s a step required before that shopping spree. Clicking a link is so much easier.

If you fall in the category of “scared of confirmed opt-in” I would suggest you look a few levels above a simple email. Why would your customers not trust clicking a simple link that protects them and you as a sender from many dangerous elements?

The answer is most likely not the confirmation email, but something else that is probably already costing you money. You can wait until something like CASL comes along and freak out about the “changes” you must make at the last minute, or just fix the leaks today.

Another thing you could do is download Email Deliverability: Guide for Modern Marketers to find out how to achieve email deliverability that really delivers. 



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The Efficient Approach to Marketing Your Business with Content

efficient-content-creation

A note: My first book comes out later this month! Here’s an excerpt from one of the chapters. To get early access to the whole book, look for the link to The Book Factory at the end of this post.

If you could see me as I type this, you’d see that I’m gleefully rubbing my hands in anticipation. Because I’m going to talk about how to build out the content on your website, and I’m about to share the system you can use to make this work efficient, effective, and — dare I say it? — fun.

Content marketing works when you create useful, interesting, and engaging information consistently over time. It’s all about showing up reliably and being helpful every single time.

Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? Are you wondering what in the world you’ve signed up for?

Well, don’t worry. From here on out, everything I’ve written will teach you an efficient approach to your ongoing content creation process. Because if you’re going to use content to market your business, you’re going to need to be in it for the long haul. We’re going to make your journey as pleasant and productive as possible.

How to set yourself up for efficient content creation

It’s just us here, so let’s be perfectly honest. Efficient content creation is appealing to you, isn’t it? So let’s explore how you can become the most efficient content creator out there.

It all starts with setting up an environment where content creation can flourish.

Creating content on a regular basis is less painful when you don’t have to force yourself to do it. Think about everything you do on a daily and weekly basis to make your life function efficiently:

  • You bathe
  • You eat meals
  • You brush your teeth
  • You shop for food
  • You wash your clothing

Now that you’re an adult, you don’t have to plan any of these things or figure out how to do them. You probably do them the same way every time. They’re a natural part of your day or your week.

You don’t resist them or procrastinate about doing them for the most part. (I’ll confess that I procrastinate about grocery shopping until I’ve run out of things to make for dinner. That’s when I know it’s time to restock the shelves.)

Why do you do them so effortlessly?

Because whether you recognize it or not, you’ve already got systems in place for getting them done. When it’s time to brush your teeth, your toothbrush and toothpaste are in the same spot they’ve always been. All you have to do is grab them and begin.

There’s no resistance to the task because it’s frictionless: simple, easy, and efficient.

How to make content creation frictionless (and fun)

It may be difficult to believe, but content creation can be just as frictionless as all of the tasks above.

This article will help you identify how to set up a physical and mental environment that will make the process easy and natural for you. Content creation is both a physical and mental task, so it’s important to plan for both aspects.

Once your physical environment is prepped and ready, you’ll be able to create content the same way you brush your teeth: you’ll have what you need right at hand so you can grab it and get started.

And once we’ve worked on your mindset, you’ll find your mental environment will be prepped and ready for you to dive into your content creation process, too.

Your ideal physical writing environment

It’s funny to me that I’ve never heard anyone address the physical aspect of content creation. Let’s face it: we can’t just think our content into existence, can we?

We have to sit or stand and place our fingers on a keyboard or pen to paper and begin physically writing the words that will make up our content. This happens in a space and in a moment in time. Let’s talk about both.

Your ideal physical writing environment:

Is a place where you’re physically comfortable. Your chair supports you, and you can easily reach your keyboard or your notepad without scrunching up your shoulders or craning your neck. If you stand, you have a supportive surface below your feet and good shoes, so your legs and back don’t suffer.

Is a spot with the best light for you. You recreate the lighting that works for you. Some people focus best in a dark “cave,” with shades drawn and a single light illuminating their work surface. Others feel more productive with bright natural light. Identify what lighting setup helps you do your best work. When it’s time to create your content, make lighting part of the setup.

Is convenient and nearby. You’ll resist your content creation tasks less if you don’t have to travel to get to the place where you’ll create content. Find a spot that’s already close by, and designate it as your content creation station.

Has everything you need within arm’s reach. My content creation station is a red reclining chair in the corner of my office with a small blanket I can throw over me if I get chilly. On the small table next to this chair, I have a place to set my coffee cup, a pencil and pad for notes, a tissue box, and some lip balm. I write on a computer and have a thesaurus and dictionary just a few clicks away. Your setup will look different than mine. Content creation is a job like any other job; put your tools together, so they’re within easy reach.

Features sound — or the sound of silence. Some people prefer a little background noise (or music), and others need complete silence. What works best for you? Pay attention, and make what you hear part of your setup.

Is distraction-free. When it’s time to create content, you’ll get more done if you shut down distracting websites and social media sites, and silence your phone.

Your ideal time of day for creating content

Content creation also happens at a moment in time. For most of us, our mental energy runs in a predictable daily cycle. We’re most efficient around the same times every day.

Sometimes we have no choice — it’s a matter of working around our other responsibilities. If you have young children, for example, your efficiency may increase dramatically the moment they lie down to go to sleep at night!

If you haven’t identified your peak creative times of day yet, I’d like you to pay attention to this over the next few weeks. At what time of day does creative work seem to come easily to you? And when does your brain consistently feel like mush — like you couldn’t get an original thought out of it even if you squeezed it?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. I want you to find your time, not anyone else’s. Once you pinpoint your peak creative time, plan to use at least part of it for content creation. When you do this, you’ll find putting together your content will be easier, faster, and more efficient.

Does everything have to be “perfect” to create your content?

Do you have to be in that ideal physical environment and in the middle of your peak creative time in order to create content?

Absolutely not.

I’ve done enough writing at hotel desks and in plane seats to attest to the fact that great content can come out of a variety of environments and times of day.

What we’re talking about here is how to set up a frictionless environment and timeframe for most of your daily or weekly content creation work. You’ll find that once you’ve set yourself up in a supportive environment and found a time slot that works for you, content creation will become more of a habit than a to-do item.

Habits done in one place can easily be transferred elsewhere.

If you’re staying in a hotel, you can still brush your teeth, right? And it’s still automatic because you’ve trained your body to grab what you need and get the job done.

Do the same for your content creation process, and you’ll find it’s easier to make it happen no matter where you are.

Why does creating content become more fun over time?

Content marketing offers those of us who don’t feel as if we’ve been blessed with the mythical writing gene an opportunity to improve our skills one piece of content at a time.

Think about it: if you want to learn to cook, you start with the basics. How to boil water. How to make toast.

As you master these basic skills, you enjoy the fruits of your labors: you eat the broth you boiled or chew the toast you made.

It’s the same thing with content. Even your earliest attempts at published content will work for your business. As long as it’s carefully crafted, search engines will begin to find it and lend authority to your site. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece to benefit your business.

But as you write more, something will occur naturally.

Just like practicing cooking over time will allow you to make more complex and delicious dishes you can then eat and enjoy, consistently creating content will help you build your mastery. You’ll find you can go from idea to finished product faster and more smoothly. You’ll know you can count on your content creation skills to create ever more sophisticated content marketing for your business.

It may come as no surprise, then, that content creation tends to become more fun over time. That’s the effect mastery has! When you’ve built your skills and they’ve become a resource you can easily draw on, you enjoy the process — you even look forward to it.

That’s why I’d like you to look at your content as if it’s a body of work you’re going to create.

Don’t think too much. Just write.

The best ideas come from a place in your mind that’s not standing in judgment or full of worry. It’s not distracted or stressed. It’s relaxed and looking forward to just doing the work, in happy anticipation of the process more than the final product.

When you get yourself to this place — and I promise if you put in a few weeks of consistent practice you’ll get there — you’ll look forward to this creative time.

Creating content will be a joyful job you’ll want to do often.

Want the whole chapter? How about the whole book? Click and register to become a free member of The Book Factory.

Wise owl art by the amazing Sparky Firepants.

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