By themselves both companies are great tools but they really shine when integrated. Through the use of a post back URL Mongoose allows us to send phone call data to Liveball, where we can see the number of phone calls and form conversions that our landing page A/B tests produce.

Since a significant percentage of paid media leads are generated via phone, the integration of phone tracking with conversion rate optimization has been huge for Paychex. It allows us to make changes to pages and see the full scope of the impact on lead generation campaigns.

There’s a case study with the full details on the ION website with a couple quotes from yours truly. Check it out. And if you have a business that relies on phone calls in addition to form conversions you might want to check those vendors out for your conversion optimization program.

Google & Bing Performance Tests

According to the test results, speed directly effects the bottom line. The two search engine companies concluded that even a 1/2 second delay will reduce the number of searches performed by a visitor each day. Even more surprising, the average number of searches performed by the visitor stayed suppressed even after the delay was removed.

Speed Performance Tests On Other Websites

A separate study by Strangeloop Networks proves that site load time is also important for every website, not just search engines. Websites optimized for speed showed improvements in qualitative engagement metrics such as lower bounce rates, increased page views, and longer time on site. For sites focused on advertising revenue this equates to more impressions, and the ability to earn more per visitor.

Meanwhile transaction based websites experienced improved KPI’s when optimized for speed. In this specific test, the optimized sites experienced a 16.07% increase in conversion rates, and a 5.50% increase in average order value.

Attention is a scare commodity on the web. Do everything you can to keep and convert hard won clicks. This includes optimizing web page load times. Your bottom line depends on it.

The foot dragging is understandable. It’s shockingly hard to accept that your gut instinct, honed by years of experience, is about as accurate at predicting outcomes as the shake of a magic eight ball. Particularly when pride, and your job is on the line it may be tempting to deny and pass on blame. Hopefully though, you’ll recognize the transparency of results from online marketing is an opportunity to legitimize marketing’s role in many companies. Instead of being known for producing flashy brochures, and gobbley gook copy writing, optimized online efforts can turn marketing into a department recognized for creating top line revenue and profits.

If you think your gut is trustworthy, check out Anne Holland’s Which Test Won? Each week she’ll run a new conversion optimization test for opt in forms, landing pages and other on page variables. It’s a great learning opportunity, and provides a valuable lesson that winning results do not always match up with established best practices. Here’s to continually testing your assumptions!

Photo credit helgasms