Hey, welcome to another issue of The CRO Weekly. In case you’re new here, this is a newsletter where I send out 1 actionable tip for how to improve the conversion rate and increase the average order value of your Ecommerce store. If you’re not into it, you can unsubscribe at any time.
Alright, with that being said let’s get into today’s issue.
Quick disclaimer: In today’s issue I’m going to pick on a client of mine. They’re really smart people with an awesome product, team, and vision. I’m only picking on them here because I see this problem again and again across sites that I audit so I think it’ll be helpful for you.
Stop With The Witty Headlines
Your home page’s first section (the hero) is often the most viewed section on your website. It sets the stage for your customers’ experience with your brand.
This is why it’s called your core value proposition. It’s where you answer your customer’s question: what’s in it for me?
Here’s the value proposition on one of my client’s website:
You’re probably thinking, okay, not so bad. Part of the problem here is that a headline like this sounds great when you talk it over with your team.
It sounds aspirational. Wow, cookware with conscience, it encapsulates our mission, the quality of our products, and our story – all in only 3 words! This makes you think that you nailed it.
But, there’s a major problem:
Your customers don’t care!
The Reality Of Your Customers
Your customers have one question in mind when they land on your site: do these people have a solution to my problem?
Quick note: Yes, you may be one of many potential solutions which is why your brand’s values, etc are important but first we need to make sure they know you have a solution to their problem. Then you can sell them on why you’re better than the other options.
I think we can agree ‘cookware with conscience’ isn’t giving people any real information. This is a problem because with copy, the goal of each sentence is to get people to grab their interest and keep them reading.
If the core message of your site doesn’t resonate, people will leave and probably never come back.
What A Solid Value Proposition Looks Like
Before coming up with solutions for Proclamation Goods, let’s look at some examples of brands doing this well:
DrinkHydrant.com
Can you tell me what Hydrant offers? It’s right in the headline: “The fastest way to rehydrate.”
Short, simple, and speaking directly to the problem they’re solving. “Are you dehydrated? We’ve got the best solution for you.” They then have a short paragraph explaining exactly what their product does and how it can help you.
Marea
Here’s a much shorter example that’s still great. What is Marea? It’s “The PMS Elixer” - okay something to help with PMS. It’s a “drinkable multivitamin for menstruators.”
Cool, if you deal with PMS this definitely catches your attention. While they don’t tell you everything about their product like Hydrant, they tell you enough to get you interested. Which is all you need.
Bite Toothpaste
This headline gets close to being too witty. What saves them is a) the product imagery that shows this is clearly not your average toothpaste, and b) the text telling you exactly what the product offers.
Their core value proposition is: toothpaste without the plastic. If you care about the environment, you will definitely resonate with this message.
Note: See how they get you interested with the value proposition and save the mission-y stuff for down the page? Imagine replacing this section’s copy with: “Toothpaste with conscience” - it just misses the mark.
Genuine Collars
Doesn’t get simpler than this. If you’re looking for high quality leather, that’s what Genuine Collars has to offer.
Back to Proclamation Goods
Now that I’ve convinced you, let’s come up with something better.
I haven’t told you yet, but Proclamation Goods’ product - The Duo - has won an award for its innovative design and is endorsed by people celebrity chefs like Chef Jen Biesty of Shakewell, Chopped champion, and Top Chef Season 4 competitor.
Their products are not only built to last a lifetime but enable you to cook in a dozen different ways with only two pans! Then, when you’re done cooking, they stack on-top of each other for super-simple storage:
They won the design award in part because of their stackable-shape, but also because they’ve thought through every little detail:
The rims are specially designed so you don’t end up with a mess dripping down the sides of the pan. The handle is engineers to stay cool even while you cook at high heats.
Okay, are you interested now?
As you can tell, there’s a ton of great things about their products. Leading with any of these would be an improvement. How do we pick what the core value proposition is?
Here’s a hint: you don’t.
Letting Your Customers Tell You
Remember, our goal is for this value proposition to resonate with people that are in your target market. If that’s the case, the best person to tell you what they found in your product is someone who has bought your product!
There’s no better way to get this info than simply calling your customers. Ask them what they saw in your product. What problem were they hoping to solve? etc..
But for the sake of time, we’re going to go to the most easily accessible source of customer feedback: reviews.
Here are just a few I’ve pulled from their website:
“I was so tired of buying cookware that just didn’t last.”
Talk about a problem that PG is solving! There’s others in here too:
“We leave our beautifully designed PG cookware on the stovetop and ready to go”
“I’ve fried, boiled, sautéed, and seared in it.”
Of course now the hard part is deciding which of these relates most to your customers. Remember, we’re trying to determine the ‘core’ value proposition. All of these other ideas will definitely be good things to mention elsewhere on the site. But we’re looking for that one thread that' goes throughout most of your customers’ experience.
You can do more in-depth research by talking to your customers or you can just start testing different messaging. This issue is getting too long so we’re going to just pick.
The New Core Value Proposition
“I was so tired of buying cookware that just didn’t last”
How do we turn this into a solid value proposition? Here’s what I came up with in 2 minutes:
Now compare that with what we started with:
Alright, that’s it for issue number 2. Apologies if this was a bit long and ramble-y. Still working on becoming a better writer so bear with me!
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