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• Data Privacy in Business : A Risk Leading to Major Opportunities

  9 août 2022, par Erin — Privacy

  Data privacy in business is a contentious issue. 

  Claims that “big data is the new oil of the digital economy” and strong links between “data-driven personalisation and customer experience” encourage leaders to set up massive data collection programmes.

  However, many of these conversations downplay the magnitude of security, compliance and ethical risks companies face when betting too much on customer data collection. 

  In this post, we discuss the double-edged nature of privacy issues in business — the risk-ridden and the opportunity-driven. ​​

  3 Major Risks of Ignoring Data Privacy in Business

  As the old adage goes : Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right.

  Easy data accessibility and ubiquity of analytics tools make data consumer collection and processing sound like a “given”. But the decision to do so opens your business to a spectrum of risks. 

  1. Compliance and Legal Risks 

  Data collection and customer privacy are protected by a host of international laws including GDPR, CCPA, and regional regulations. Only 15% of countries (mostly developing ones) don’t have dedicated laws for protecting consumer privacy. 

  

  Global legislature includes provisions on : 

  • Collectible data types
  • Allowed uses of obtained data 
  • Consent to data collection and online tracking 
  • Rights to request data removal 

  Personally identifiable information (PII) processing is prohibited or strictly regulated in most jurisdictions. Yet businesses repeatedly circumnavigate existing rules and break them on occasion.

  In Australia, for example, only 2% of brands use logos, icons or messages to transparently call out online tracking, data sharing or other specific uses of data at the sign-up stage. In Europe, around half of small businesses are still not fully GDPR-compliant — and Big Tech companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook can’t get a grip on their data collection practices even when pressed with horrendous fines. 

  Although the media mostly reports on compliance fines for “big names”, smaller businesses are increasingly receiving more scrutiny. 

  As Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist and founder of noyb NGO, explained in a Matomo webinar :

  “In Austria, my home country, there are a lot of €5,000 fines going out there as well [to smaller businesses]. Most of the time, they are just not reported. They just happen below the surface. [GDPR fines] are already a reality.”​

  In April 2022, the EU Court of Justice ruled that consumer groups can autonomously sue businesses for breaches of data protection — and nonprofit organisations like noyb enable more people to do so. 

  Finally, new data privacy legislation is underway across the globe. In the US, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia and Utah have data protection acts at different stages of approval. South African authorities are working on the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) act and Brazil is working on a local General Data Protection Law (LGPD).

  Re-thinking your stance on user privacy and data protection now can significantly reduce the compliance burden in the future. 

  2. Security Risks 

  Data collection also mandates data protection for businesses. Yet, many organisations focus on the former and forget about the latter. 

  Lenient attitudes to consumer data protection resulted in a major spike in data breaches.

  Check Point research found that cyberattacks increased 50% year-over-year, with each organisation facing 925 cyberattacks per week globally.

  Many of these attacks end up being successful due to poor data security in place. As a result, billions of stolen consumer records become publicly available or get sold on dark web marketplaces.

  What’s even more troublesome is that stolen consumer records are often purchased by marketing firms or companies, specialising in spam campaigns. Buyers can also use stolen emails to distribute malware, stage phishing and other social engineering attacks – and harvest even more data for sale. 

  One business’s negligence creates a snowball effect of negative changes down the line with customers carrying the brunt of it all. 

  In 2020, hackers successfully targeted a Finnish psychotherapy practice. They managed to steal hundreds of patient records — and then demanded a ransom both from the firm and its patients for not exposing information about their mental health issues. Many patients refused to pay hackers and some 300 records ended up being posted online as Associated Press reported.

  Not only did the practice have to deal with the cyber-breach aftermath, but it also faced vocal regulatory and patient criticisms for failing to properly protect such sensitive information.

  Security negligence can carry both direct (heavy data breach fines) and indirect losses in the form of reputational damages. An overwhelming 90% of consumers say they wouldn’t buy from a business if it doesn’t adequately protect their data. This brings us to the last point. 

  3. Reputational Risks 

  Trust is the new currency. Data negligence and consumer privacy violations are the two fastest ways to lose it. 

  Globally, consumers are concerned about how businesses collect, use, and protect their data. 

  

  • According to Forrester, 47% of UK adults actively limit the amount of data they share with websites and apps. 49% of Italians express willingness to ask companies to delete their personal data. 36% of Germans use privacy and security tools to minimise online tracking of their activities. 
  • A GDMA survey also notes that globally, 82% of consumers want more control over their personal information, shared with companies. 77% also expect brands to be transparent about how their data is collected and used. 

  When businesses fail to hold their end of the bargain — collect just the right amount of data and use it with integrity — consumers are fast to cut ties. 

  Once the information about privacy violations becomes public, companies lose : 

  • Brand equity 
  • Market share 
  • Competitive positioning 

  An AON report estimates that post-data breach companies can lose as much as 25% of their initial value. In some cases, the losses can be even higher. 

  In 2015, British telecom TalkTalk suffered from a major data breach. Over 150,000 customer records were stolen by hackers. To contain the issue, TalkTalk had to throw between $60-$70 million into containment efforts. Still, they lost over 100,000 customers in a matter of months and one-third of their company value, equivalent to $1.4 billion, by the end of the year. 

  Fresher data from Infosys gives the following maximum cost estimates of brand damage, companies could experience after a data breach (accidental or malicious).

  

  3 Major Advantages of Privacy in Business 

  Despite all the industry mishaps, a reassuring 77% of CEOs now recognise that their companies must fundamentally change their approaches to customer engagement, in particular when it comes to ensuring data privacy. 

  Many organisations take proactive steps to cultivate a privacy-centred culture and implement transparent data collection policies. 

  Here’s why gaining the “privacy advantage” pays off.

  1. Market Competitiveness 

  There’s a reason why privacy-focused companies are booming. 

  Consumers’ mounting concerns and frustrations over the lack of online privacy, prompt many to look for alternative privacy-centred products and services. 

  The following B2C and B2B products are moving from the industry margins to the mainstream : 

  • Private search engines (Duckduckgo)
  • Password managers (1password, Dashlane)
  • Online identity networks (id.me)
  • Web analytics solutions (Matomo) 
  • And secure messaging apps (Signal) among others 

  Across the board, consumers express greater trust towards companies, protective of their privacy : 

  

  And as we well know : trust translates to higher engagement, loyalty, and – ultimately revenue. 

  By embedding privacy into the core of your product, you give users more reasons to select, stay and support your business. 

  2. Higher Operational Efficiency

  Customer data protection isn’t just a policy – it’s a culture of collecting “just enough” data, protecting it and using it responsibly. 

  Sadly, that’s the area where most organisations trail behind. At present, some 90% of businesses admit to having amassed massive data silos. 

  Siloed data is expensive to maintain and operationalise. Moreover, when left unattended, it can evolve into a pressing compliance issue. 

  A recently leaked document from Facebook says the company has no idea where all of its first-party, third-party and sensitive categories data goes or how it is processed. Because of this, Facebook struggles to achieve GDPR compliance and remains under regulatory pressure. 

  Similarly, Google Analytics is riddled with privacy issues. Other company products were found to be collecting and operationalising consumer data without users’ knowledge or consent. Again, this creates valid grounds for regulatory investigations. 

  Smaller companies have a better chance of making things right at the onset. 

  By curbing customer data collection, you can : 

  • Reduce data hosting and Cloud computation costs (aka trim your Cloud bill) 
  • Improve data security practices (since you would have fewer assets to protect) 
  • Make your staff more productive by consolidating essential data and making it easy and safe to access

  Privacy-mindful companies also have an easier time when it comes to compliance and can meet new data regulations faster. 

  3. Better Marketing Campaigns 

  The biggest counter-argument to reducing customer data collection is marketing. 

  How can we effectively sell our products if we know nothing about our customers ? – your team might be asking. 

  This might sound counterintuitive, but minimising data collection and usage can lead to better marketing outcomes. 

  Limiting the types of data that can be used encourages your people to become more creative and productive by focusing on fewer metrics that are more important.

  Think of it this way : Every other business uses the same targeting parameters on Facebook or Google for running paid ad campaigns on Facebook. As a result, we see ads everywhere — and people grow unresponsive to them or choose to limit exposure by using ad blocking software, private browsers and VPNs. Your ad budgets get wasted on chasing mirage metrics instead of actual prospects. 

  Case in point : In 2017 Marc Pritchard of Procter & Gamble decided to first cut the company’s digital advertising budget by 6% (or $200 million). Unilever made an even bolder move and reduced its ad budget by 30% in 2018. 

  Guess what happened ?

  P&G saw a 7.5% increase in organic sales and Unilever had a 3.8% gain as HBR reports. So how come both companies became more successful by spending less on advertising ? 

  They found that overexposure to online ads led to diminishing returns and annoyances among loyal customers. By minimising ad exposure and adopting alternative marketing strategies, the two companies managed to market better to new and existing customers. 

  The takeaway : There are more ways to engage consumers aside from pestering them with repetitive retargeting messages or creepy personalisation. 

  You can collect first-party data with consent to incrementally improve your product — and educate them on the benefits of your solution in transparent terms.

  Final Thoughts 

  The definitive advantage of privacy is consumers’ trust. 

  You can’t buy it, you can’t fake it, you can only cultivate it by aligning your external appearances with internal practices. 

  Because when you fail to address privacy internally, your mishaps will quickly become apparent either as social media call-outs or worse — as a security incident, a data breach or a legal investigation. 

  By choosing to treat consumer data with respect, you build an extra layer of protection around your business, plus draw in some banging benefits too. 

  Get one step closer to becoming a privacy-centred company by choosing Matomo as your web analytics solution. We offer robust privacy controls for ensuring ethical, compliant, privacy-friendly and secure website tracking. 

• What Is Incrementality & Why Is It Important in Marketing ?

  26 mars 2024, par Erin

  Imagine this : you just launched your latest campaign and it was a major success.

  You blew last month’s results out of the water.

  You combined a variety of tactics, channels and ad creatives to make it work.

  Now, it’s time to build the next campaign.

  The only issue ?

  You don’t know what made it successful or how much your recent efforts impacted the results.

  You’ve been building your brand for years. You’ve built up a variety of marketing pillars that are working for you. So, how do you know how much of your campaign is from years of effort or a new tactic you just implemented ?

  The key is incrementality.

  This is a way to properly attribute the right weight to your marketing tactics.

  In this article, we break down what incrementality is in marketing, how it differs from traditional attribution and how you can calculate and track it to grow your business.

  What is incrementality in marketing ?

  Incrementality in marketing is growth that can be directly credited to a marketing effort above and beyond the success of the branding.

  It looks at how much a specific tactic positively impacted a campaign on top of overall branding and marketing strategies.

  

  For example, this could be how much a specific tactic, campaign or channel helped increase conversions, email sign-ups or organic traffic.

  The primary purpose of incrementally in marketing is to more accurately determine the impact a single marketing variable had on the success of a project.

  It removes every other factor and isolates the specific method to help marketers double down on that strategy or move on to new tactics.

  With Matomo, you can track conversions simply. With our last non-direct channel attribution system, you’ll be able to quickly see what channels are converting (and which aren’t) so you can gain insights into incrementality. 

  See why over 1 million websites choose Matomo today.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

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  How incrementality differs from attribution

  In marketing and advertising, it’s crucial to understand what tactics and activities drive growth.

  Incrementality and attribution help marketers and business owners understand what efforts impact their results.

  But they’re not the same.

  Here’s how they differ :

  

  Incrementality explained

  Incrementality measures how much a specific marketing campaign or activity drives additional sales or growth.

  Simply put, it’s analysing the difference between having never implemented the campaign (or tactic or channel) in the first place versus the impact of the activity.

  In other words, how much revenue would you have generated this month without campaign A ?

  And how much additional revenue did you generate directly due to campaign A ?

  The reality is that dozens of factors impact revenue and growth.

  You aren’t just pouring your marketing into one specific channel or campaign at a time.

  Chances are, you’ve got your hands on several marketing initiatives like SEO, PPC, organic social media, paid search, email marketing and more.

  Beyond that, you’ve built a brand with a not-so-tangible impact on your recurring revenue.

  So, the question is, if you took away your new campaign, would you still be generating the same amount of revenue ?

  And, if you add in that campaign, how much additional revenue and growth did it directly create ?

  That is incrementality. It’s how much a campaign went above and beyond to add new revenue that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

  So, how does attribution play into all of this ?

  Attribution explained

  Attribution is simply the process of assigning credit for a conversion to a particular marketing touchpoint.

  While incrementality is about narrowing down the overall revenue impact from a particular campaign, attribution seeks to point to a specific channel to attribute a sale.

  For example, in any given marketing campaign, you have a few marketing tactics.

  Let’s say you’re launching a limited-time product.

  You might have :

  • Paid ads via Facebook and Instagram
  • A blog post sharing how the product works
  • Organic social media posts on Instagram and TikTok
  • Email waitlist campaign building excitement around the upcoming product
  • SMS campaigns to share a limited-time discount

  So, when the time comes for the sale launch, and you generate $30,000 in revenue, what channel gets the credit ?

  Do you give credit to the paid ads on Facebook ? What about Instagram ? They got people to follow you and got them on the email waitlist.

  Do you give credit to email for reminding people of the upcoming sale ? What about your social media posts that reminded people there ?

  Or do you credit your SMS campaign that shared a limited-time discount ?

  Which channel is responsible for the sale ?

  This is what attribution is all about.

  It’s about giving credit where credit is due.

  The reason you want to attribute credit ? So you know what’s working and can double down your efforts on the high-impact marketing activities and channels.

  Leveraging incrementality and attribution together

  Incrementality and attribution aren’t competing methods of analysing what’s working.

  They’re complementary to one another and go hand in hand.

  You can (and should) use attribution and incrementality in your marketing to help understand what activities, campaigns and channels are making the biggest incremental impact on your business growth.

  Why it’s important to measure incrementality

  Incrementality is crucial to measure if you want to pour your time, money and effort into the right marketing channels and tactics.

  Here are a few reasons why you need to measure incrementality if you want to be successful with your marketing and grow your business :

  1. Accurate data

  If you want to be an effective marketer, you need to be accurate.

  You can’t blindly start marketing campaigns in hopes that you will sell many products or services.

  That’s not how it works.

  Sure, you’ll probably make some sales here and there. But to truly be effective with your work, you must measure your activities and channels correctly.

  Incrementality helps you see how each channel, tactic or campaign made a difference in your marketing.

  Matomo gives you 100% accurate data on your website activities. Unlike Google Analytics, we don’t use data sampling which limits how much data is analysed.

  

  2. Helps you to best determine the right tactics for success

  How can you plan your marketing strategy if you don’t know what’s working ?

  Think about it.

  You’ll be blindly sailing the seas without a compass telling you where to go.

  Measuring incrementality in your marketing tactics and channels helps you understand the best tactics.

  It shows you what’s moving the needle (and what’s not).

  Once you can see the most impactful tactics and channels, you can forge future campaigns that you know will work.

  3. Allows you to get the most out of your marketing budget

  Since incrementality sheds light on what’s moving your business forward, you can confidently implement your efforts on the right tactics and channels.

  Guess what happens when you start doubling down on the most impactful activities ?

  You start increasing revenue, decreasing ad spend and getting a higher return on investment.

  The result is that you will get more out of your marketing budget.

  Not only will you boost revenue, but you’ll also be able to boost profit margins since you’re not wasting money on ineffective tactics.

  4. Increase traffic

  When you see what’s truly working in your business, you can figure out what channels and tactics you should be working.

  Incrementality helps you understand not only what your best revenue tactics are but also what channels and campaigns are bringing in the most traffic.

  When you can increase traffic, you can increase your overall marketing impact.

  5. Increase revenue

  Finally, with increased traffic, the inevitable result is more conversions.

  More conversions mean more revenue.

  Incrementality gives you a vision of the tactics and channels that are converting the best.

  If you can see that your SMS campaigns are driving the best ROI, then you know that you’ll grow your revenue by pouring more into acquiring SMS leads.

  By calculating incrementality regularly, you can rest assured that you’re only investing time and money into the most impactful activities in terms of revenue generation.

  How to calculate and test incrementality in marketing

  Now that you understand how incrementality works and why it’s important to calculate, the question is : 

  How do you calculate and conduct incrementality tests ?

  Given the ever-changing marketing landscape, it’s crucial to understand how to calculate and test incrementally in your business.

  If you’re not sure how incrementality testing works, then follow these simple steps :

  

  Your first step to get an incrementality measurement is to conduct what’s referred to as a “holdout test.”

  It’s not a robust test, but it’s an easy way to get the ball rolling with incrementality.

  Here’s how it works :

  1. Choose your target audience.

  With Matomo’s segmentation feature, you can get pretty specific with your target audience, such as :

  • • Visitors from the UK
    • Returning visitors
    • Mobile users
    • Visitors who clicked on a specific ad

  2. Split your audience into two groups :

  1. • Control group (60% of the segment)
     • Test group (40% of the segment)

  3. Target the control group with your marketing tactic (the simpler the tactic, the better).

  4. Target the test group with a different marketing tactic.

  5. Analyse the results. The difference between the control and test groups is the incremental lift in results. The new marketing tactic is either more effective or not.

  6. Repeat the test with a new control group (with an updated tactic) and a new test group (with a new tactic).

  Matomo can help you analyse the results of your campaigns in our Goals feature. Set up business objectives so you can easily track different goals like conversions.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

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  Here’s an example of how this incrementality testing could look in real life.

  Imagine a fitness retailer wants to start showing Facebook ads in their marketing mix.

  The marketing manager decided to conduct a holdout test. If we match our example below with the steps above, this is how the holdout test might look.

  1. They choose people who’ve purchased free weights in the past as their target audience (see how that segmentation works ?).
  2. They split this segment into a control group and a test group.
  3. For this test, they direct their regular marketing campaign to the control group (60% of the segment). The campaign includes promoting a 20% off sale on organic social media posts, email marketing, and SMS.
  4. They direct their regular marketing campaign plus Facebook ads to the test group (40% of the segment).
  5. They ran the campaign for three weeks with the goal for sale conversions and noticed :

  • • The control group had a 1.5% conversion rate.
    • The test group (with Facebook ads) had a 2.1% conversion rate.
    • In this scenario, they could see the group who saw the Facebook ads convert better.
    • They created the following formula to measure the incremental lift of the Facebook ads :

  

  • • Here’s how the calculation works out : (2.1% – 1.5%) / 1.5% = 40%

  The Facebook ads had a positive 40% incremental lift in conversions during the sale.

  Incrementality testing isn’t a one-and-done process, though.

  While this first test is a great sign for the marketing manager, it doesn’t mean they should immediately throw all their money into Facebook ads.

  They should continue conducting tests to verify the initial test.

  Use Matomo to track incrementality today

  Incrementality can give you insights into exactly what’s working in your marketing (and what’s not) so you can design proven strategies to grow your business.

  If you want more help tracking your marketing efforts, try Matomo today.

  Our web analytics and behaviour analytics platform gives you firsthand data on your website visitors you can use to craft effective marketing strategies.

  Matomo provides 100% accurate data. Unlike other major web analytics platforms, we don’t do data sampling. What you see is what’s really going on in your website. That way, you can make more informed decisions for better results.

  At Matomo, we take privacy very seriously and include several advanced privacy protections to ensure you are in full control.

  As a fully compliant web analytics solution, we’re fully compliant with some of the world’s strictest privacy regulations like GDPR. With Matomo, you get peace of mind knowing you can make data-driven decisions while also being compliant. 

  If you’re ready to launch a data-driven marketing strategy today and grow your business, get started with our 21-day free trial now. No credit card required.

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• 9 Form Optimisation Tips to Convert More Visitors

  15 février 2024, par Erin

  Forms might seem boring — that is, until you realise how powerful they are.

  No forms mean no leads.

  No leads mean no sales.

  No sales means you’ll run out of business.

  So, what do you do ?

  Optimise forms to land more leads.

  They’re a critical part of the sales funnel.

  Forms have many different purposes and can be used to :

  • Contact a company
  • Sign up for a newsletter
  • Request a demo
  • Start a free trial
  • And more

  If you want to get more leads (and ultimately more sales), then you need to optimise your forms.

  This guide will show you exactly how to do that (so you can start getting more conversions today). 

  What is form optimisation ?

  Before we dive into form optimisation, let’s back up a bit.

  Form conversion is our primary focus.

  Your form conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who submit a form divided by the total number of visitors who started the form times one hundred.

  For example, if 5,000 people started filling out your form this month and 350 submitted the form, the conversion rate would be : 

  350 / 5,000 x 100 = 7%

  So, what’s form optimisation ?

  

  It’s simply improving your forms to increase conversion rates.

  For most people, form conversion is all about increasing leads.

  Before you begin optimising your forms, it’s important you understand what’s good (and what’s not good) when it comes to form conversions.

  The average form conversion rate across all industries is 2.9%.

  This means you should expect about 3 out of every 100 visitors who start your form to submit it.

  If your form conversion is lower — or hovering around this number — then it’s important to start optimising now.

  With Matomo, you can track your form conversions with Matomo Form Analytics. Gain powerful insights into how your visitors interact with your forms with our intuitive dashboard.

  Why it’s important to optimise your forms

  Most people hear the word “forms” and think it’s boring.

  But forms are the doorway to leads.

  If you want to generate more sales, then you need to generate great forms.

  Here are five reasons you need to optimise your forms today :

  

  1. Improve conversions

  Form optimisation is really just conversion optimisation.

  But, instead of optimising and improving your site to directly improve sales conversions, you’re increasing lead conversions.

  Every smart website owner uses forms to draw people in further.

  The reality is that most of your website visitors will never return to your site.

  This means you need to do everything you can to grab their contact information so you can continue marketing to them day in and day out.

  Otherwise, you’ll lose them forever.

  When you know how to optimise your forms, you’ll be able to get a higher percentage of form viewers to fill it out.

  Higher conversions mean you get more leads, more customers, and ultimately more revenue.

  2. Capture more leads

  When you can increase your form conversion rate from 1% to 2%, it may seem insignificant.

  What’s a measly percentage point in conversions ?

  It’s a lot.

  When you’re dealing with traffic in the tens or hundreds of thousands each month, an increase in conversion rate by a whole percentile is massive.

  Let’s say you take your conversion rate from 2% to 3% on your form, and you have 70,000 visitors view the form each month.

  Well, if 1,400 people used to sign up to your email list each month at a 2% conversion rate, then at a 3% conversion rate, you’d get 2,100 new email signups every month.

  That’s a major difference.

  When you can improve your signup forms, you improve your lead generation (which is conversion rate optimisation). And the more leads you have, the more sales you’ll make in the long run.

  3. Get the most out of your traffic

  If your forms don’t perform well, then you’re wasting your time (and your traffic).

  By analysing your form data, you can quickly see what’s working and what’s not so you can optimise and improve the user experience (and your forms).

  For most people, this means getting more form viewers to fill out the form with their email and name.

  If 50,000 people visit your site each month, but only 1% of them fill out your form, you’re only getting 500 email signups per month.

  Rather than paying money to generate more traffic, why not just work on improving your website by implementing a better form ?

  If you can increase your form conversion rate to 2%, you will immediately go from 500 new subscribers per month to 1,000 per month.

  4. Spend less on acquisition

  If you’re able to get more form signups without having to generate more traffic, you just solved a pricey problem : acquisition costs.

  If you can now get 1,000 of your 50,000 visitors to sign up to your email list through a better form, then you doubled your signups.

  But that’s not all. You just cut your acquisition costs in half.

  If you spend $2,000 per month on acquisition but you’re able to get twice as many leads, then your acquisition costs are at 50% of what they used to be.

  This means you can pay the same amount but get twice as many leads.

  Or, you can pour even more money into acquisition since it’s now twice as effective so you can fuel growth even more.

  5. Grow revenue

  Forms generate revenue. It may not be direct (although, in some cases, it is). 

  But, forms will lead to sales.

  By placing optimised forms throughout your website at the right places, you will be able to capture a percentage of your visitors as leads, which means you’ll eventually make more sales.

  13 tips to optimise your forms for more conversions

  Now that you know what forms can do and why they’re important to grow your business, it’s time to dive into the best practices.

  Follow these 13 tips to ensure you’re getting the most out of your forms :

  

  1. Set form goals

  Your forms are hopeless without a goal.

  Before you set up a form on your website, ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish with this form ?”

  It could be :

  • Encouraging customers to reach out through a contact form
  • To get visitors to leave feedback on your product/service
  • Convert visitors into leads by giving you their email

  No matter what your goal is, make sure you’re clear on it ; otherwise, you won’t be as targeted and specific with your forms.

  Matomo Goals helps you set specific objectives for your marketing campaigns so you’re able to easily track conversions. Whether you’re looking to capture feedback or generate leads, you can leverage Matomo to see what’s working and what’s not in seconds.

  2. Remove or improve fields with high average time spent and high drop-off rates

  Delving into your Form Analytics provides invaluable insights into individual field performance. A crucial metric to focus on is the Average Time Spent. 

  If a field stands out with a significantly higher average time spent and experiences a high drop-off rate compared to others in the form, it’s a clear indicator that it’s causing frustration or confusion for your visitors.

  To address this, consider improving the field by converting it into a dropdown menu for easier completion or providing helpful text prompts. Alternatively, if the field isn’t essential, you might opt to remove it altogether.

  When you cut down on time spent and drop-offs, you’ll see your conversion rates go up.

  

  Here’s a standout example from Matomo’s Form Analytics feature : the “Overview of your needs” field is taking on average 1 minute and 37 seconds to complete. 

  To streamline this, we might want to consider a simple fix like converting it into a dropdown menu. This change would offer visitors a clearer and quicker way to select from options.

  

  Likewise, we observe that the “Overview of your needs” field experiences the highest drop-off rate, totaling 1,732 drop-offs. 

  With Form Analytics, it becomes clear what is needed to optimise forms and increase conversions.

  Try Matomo for Free

  Get the web insights you need, without compromising data accuracy.

  Start for free

  No credit card required

  3. Start with the CTA

  When crafting and optimising your forms, you need to start with the end in mind. That’s why you need to start with your business goals.

  What are you trying to do with this form ? If you want to capture more emails, then make sure that’s very clear with the call to action (CTA).

  Start building your form by beginning with the CTA.

  For example : “Sign Up Now.”

  Once you have the action you want your potential customers to take, place it on the form. Then, you can work towards crafting the rest of the form.

  4. Put it above the fold

  If your visitors can’t find your form, they won’t fill it out. It’s plain and simple.

  You need to make sure your form is visible above the fold. This is the part of the screen that’s visible to your visitors once they land on your site (without needing to scroll down).

  Always remember to test this out on both desktop and mobile to ensure anyone (using laptops or a mobile device) will see your form upon landing on your site or page.

  Don’t forget about your mobile users. More people view mobile forms than desktop forms. 

  5. Put a CTA in the headline

  Your form needs to be clear.

  You have 1-3 seconds to communicate with your site visitors what your form is all about.

  For example, if you’re trying to get email signups with a lead magnet, then tell them the benefit quickly and concisely with a CTA in the headline, like this one :

  “Subscribe to Save 10% On Your Next Order”

  This is a great example of a headline-CTA combo that tells the visitor what to do and what they get out of it.

  Matomo’s behaviour analytics features like Session Recordings let you see where visitors are clicking and spending time. For example, if people are reading the headline, but not scrolling down to read the form, it’s probably a sign you need to test a different headline.

  6. Ensure you have the right fields

  Your form fields matter.

  What information are you trying to capture from your audience ?

  One beginner mistake people make is requiring too much information and including many fields in a form.

  You want to get as much data on your audience as possible, right ? Wrong.

  If you ask for too much information, people won’t fill it out, and it will harm the user experience. You need to make it super easy.

  If you want more emails to grow your list, then stick with someone’s email (and possibly their name as well). One line for a name. One line for an email address. Keep it simple.

  If you’re after SMS as well, don’t include it on the form. Instead, create a two-step form that pops up an SMS form after someone fills out the email form.

  Multi-step forms enable you to capture those emails easily (and still get a percentage to fill out the second form) without making it seem like too much work for your audience.

  Another path is to include optional fields (that users don’t have to fill out to click submit).

  Just keep in mind that shorter forms perform better than longer ones.

  If you make them too long, it feels like work for the user and will lead to lower completion rates.

  7. Always capture email address

  If you’re unsure of what information to capture (i.e. name, number, email, occupation, age, etc.), always stick to email.

  Email is used by over 4 billion people every single day, and it’s not going away anytime soon.

  When determining which fields to include, start with email.

  

  8. Test different buttons and copy

  You need to track your form performance if you want to get the best conversions.

  One of the best form elements to start testing is your button copy.

  In most cases, form completion buttons will have the word “submit” on them.

  But you don’t have to stick with this word.

  You can (and should) experiment with different submit button copy.

  Here are a few examples of replacement words for your action button :

  • Complete
  • Sign Up
  • Join now
  • Get started

  Remember to experiment with your action button. Try a different copy. Just keep it short.

  You can also try A/B testing your form by experimenting with different colours, copy, and more.

  

  In the example above from Matomo’s A/B testing feature, we found that changing the wording of our call to action made a big difference. The new “Apply Now” button performed much better, with a 3.6% conversion rate compared to just 1.7% for the original one.

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  9. Test static vs. popup

  There are various types of online forms.

  The most common is the static form that just sits in one place and is always there.

  Another popular form type is the popup.

  This is where a form will appear based on a certain trigger like :

  • A certain amount of time on page
  • A certain distance scrolling down the page
  • If someone is a new or returning visitor

  Depending on the form software you use, you may be able to add conditional logic.

  Start tracking your form conversions

  Form optimisation is all about conversion rate optimisation.

  If you want to increase your conversions and generate more revenue, then you need to test out different forms and know how to optimise them.

  With Matomo, you can easily track, manage, and A/B test your forms so you can improve your conversions. 

  Try Matomo free for 21 days. No credit card required.

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