الخميس، 26 أكتوبر 2017

pura vida bracelets story

La Jolla, California, United States

Pura Vida Bracelets

Opened in 2010puravidabracelets.com

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My partner and I went on a 5 week surf trip to Costa Rica.

A few days before our journey back to San Diego, we stumbled upon 2 local Costa Rican artisans making bracelets on a little table and selling them to tourists just like ourself. Today, 3 years later, we now provide full-time jobs to over 30 artisans and support the lives of their family members. We also created bracelets for 175 different charity partners and in 2013 were able to donate $137,734 to them. To date we are distributed in over 2,500 retail stores around the world and have sold over 2,000,000 hand-made bracelets from Costa Rica!

What are the key factors that have helped your store be successful?

Our online store is very easy to use, navigate, and shop. Once on our site, our email marketing, social media marketing, and re-marketing efforts are constantly grabbing new + current customers to make a purchase. Our website also has email pop-ups once you enter, exit, and has post-purchase sharing incentives.

What are your top recommendations for new store owners?

For all new store owners I send them directly to Shopify. You guys have created the best e-commerce platform, hands down, and have the best support staff to go with it. I must give Emma Craig full credit for being so nice and helpful with anything I have asked of her since we've started. I would tell all store owners that they must design a website for mobile use first and desktop second. Big social sharing buttons on product pages, clean template design, and post purchase sharing are a must.

Any Closing Remarks?

To sum up, I think we have a great, simple story and a very high quality product. A post-college trip turned into a full-fledged business for my partner and I when we least expected it.

Pura Vida Bracelets

الأربعاء، 25 أكتوبر 2017

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11 easy content marketing ideas you can put into action today

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11 Easy Content Marketing Ideas You Can Put Into Action Today

by Dan WangContent Marketing9 minute read 

34 comments

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If you’re running your own online store, then you know that having a blog is critically important for generating traffic to your store. A blog significantly improves search rankings and gives you a chance to connect with more customers.

But what if you’re not an amazing writer? And what if you don’t know what to blog about?

Don’t worry. The first blog post is always the hardest. That’s why we collected examples of different kinds of posts for your inspiration.

Take a look, and consider writing to tell your story, announce a sale, or give a guide to your products today.

Make a List of Influencers to Follow

Here’s an easy way to create good content – and offers the potential to be widely-shared:

Make a list of the top 25 blogs, Twitter accounts, or even Tumblrs, for someone interested in your industry to follow. Compile that list, write a few sentences about why you included each blog or Twitter account, publish it, and send it to the people you feature. If you do it tastefully, there’s a good chance that they’ll share the post with their audiences. That will get you lots of traffic – in addition to improving your SEO.

Here’s an example of a post that compiles a list of blogs to follow, from Coffee Cup News. And here’s an excerpt:

Dear Coffee I Love You – Simple and clean coffee blog in which writer Brian Jones shares cool coffee stuff.

Pure Coffee Blog – Bill reviews coffee and tea shops as well as coffee and tea at home.

I Need Coffee – A wealth of coffee information started by Michael Allen Smith in 1999.

Answer Questions About Your Industry

Some of the most successful pieces of content marketing ever comes via Marcus Sheridan of River Pools and Spas.

River Pools and Spas installs fiberglass pools, the cost of which is not always transparent. Sheridan decided to write blog posts about every aspect of fiberglass pools.

Sheridan’s posts were so good that the New York Times profiled him with a headline: “A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy: Answer Customers’ Questions.”

His blog posts often rank on the first page of Google for their search terms. And that’s driven both traffic and sales.

Here’s an example of a very informative post in that ranks well and answers customer questions, from River Pools and Spas. Take a look at this excerpt:

As you can see, there are many options available, and when someone receives a quote from our company, we thoroughly examine each option as to educate the homeowner on the option's benefits as to identify its overall importance to the success of the project.

When an inquiry is made as to how much our pools cost, extent of installation is also a key factor. What I mean by this is that as a company, we have four different packages we offer our customers. Unlike most pool companies, we will do as much or as little as our customers would have us do. This flexibility leads to less stress and more savings for the customer. The packages are as follows, with their corresponding price ranges:

1. Self Install…

Profile Your Team

Your team is made up of interesting people. Why not feature their stories?

There’s a variety of things that you can do. You can write up a short bio of them that includes their interests and where they’ve been. This can also take the format of a Q&A, when you spend 15 minutes chatting with someone on your team and then write up the questions and their responses.

This is an especially easy way to generate some good content. Most importantly, it gives your customers a sense of who they’re dealing with. When they purchase a product from your store, they know that they’re buying from real people with real passions.

Here’s an example of a wonderful profile of a bookbinder at DODOcase. DODOcase is proud of being based in San Francisco, and notice that one of its questions is about why the employee loves the city.

WHAT MOST DO YOU LOVE ABOUT SF?

I moved here almost 20 years ago. I’ve seen a couple of tech booms, a couple of busts, and I raised my son here. What do I most love about San Francisco? I most love that I met my wife here.

WHAT’S SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU?

If you know me, you know I brew my own line of craft beers. If you haven’t tried them then you don’t know what you’re missing. My wife is an amazing chef. When we have people over, it’s never necessary for our guests to bring their own beer. Actually, it’s not really allowed.

Give a Sneak Peek of New Products (and Ask for Feedback)

There’s two ways that this tactic can be valuable:

First, it generates excitement from your customers for a new product. If they like what you do and are loyal towards your brand, they’ll feel especially good that they get to see a new thing first.

Second, it has the potential to increase engagement. If you manufacture your products, consider floating a prototype for people to see; they may offer valuable input on what can be improved. And if you don’t manufacture your own products, ask your readers which of the options you can stock most appeals to them. Let them anticipate something that they’ll buy from you.

Here’s an example of a company putting prototypes up on its blog while asking for feedback, via Catan Boards. There are two photos of the prototype, and the commenters are quite excited about it. And here’s an excerpt.

Catan Bag prototype in the works

(photo1)

(photo2)

What do you guys think? It's still pretty rough, but we're getting close to a finished pre-production prototype. Let us know your thoughts here…

Make a Tutorial for Your Products

Everybody wins when your customers know how to use your products.

Not every product needs an in-depth tutorial on how it's used. But for certain products this can be a big help.

Does your product have cool, non-obvious uses? Is it best enjoyed in a certain condition? Is there something that the customer should do to make the most of it? By all means point all of these things out. Potential customers may see one more way to use your product and existing customers may be pleased to discover a new way to use it.

Here's an example of a blog post that offers ideas for getting the most out of a hearing aid, from Audicus. Much of it is non-obvious and can improve the experience of customers. Here’s a brief excerpt.

Auditory Training

Auditory training can help you discern soft speech in noisy environments such as parties and restaurants. Listening And Communication Enhancement (LACE) Auditory Training programs can increase speech comprehension by as much as 40% and offer multiple listening exercises.

Audio Games

Recent studies have shown that audio games, when supplemented with specialized hearing aids such as Visually Guided Hearing Aids, can actually improve your ability to detect soft speech. Audiogames.net offers hundreds of free games, many of which rely on sound alone.

Announce a Sale

This one's pretty obvious. When you have a big sale coming up, announce it on your blog. It'll give people something to link to.

Use the space to talk about the products you have on sale, and if it's applicable, why these products are right for the occasion. (It may be, for example, the perfect present for Mother's Day.) And if you're able to design something, put together a graphic.

Here's an example of a blog post that announces a sale in the form of a great graphic, via the Cult Crew. Notice that the red, white, and blue theme goes perfectly with the Fourth of July.

Run a Contest

Running a contest is similar to announcing a sale. They're both effective and attractive ways to get more attention for your store. Just make sure that you’re not making the common mistakes with giveaways and contests.

You can have all sorts of giveaways, of your products, of gift cards, or even special experiences like a visit to your store. And entering the contest can take a variety of forms. The easiest way is to submit a comment at the end of the post. You can also ask people to tweet about your store or share it on another social media platform.

Set up Gleam to make the most out of your contest. Gleam offers one-click entry, built-in viral sharing, and multiple ways of picking new winners.

Here's an example of an effective contest run on the blog of Kigurumi, which sells animal onesies. It asks entrants to submit by posting a picture of themselves in their onesies on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or email, for a music festival pass the following year. Here’s how Kigurumi introduces it.

Headed to a music festival or concert this summer? Snap a photo in your kigurumi onesie and enter this contest (older photos OK too)! We're giving away music festival passes and kigurumi onesies this summer! Simply submit photos of you and your friends in our kigurumi onesies from Wednesday July 3rd until Saturday August 31st, 2013 and you’ll qualify to win a prize pack!

Write About an Event You Participated In

If you help put on an event then you should definitely write about it. But you can also write about something that you don’t own, like your thoughts on a conference.

Write up your impressions and thoughts about a conference or meetup you went to. It shows that you’re paying attention to where your industry is going and people will appreciate the insights. Make sure to snap a few pictures and post them up too.

Here’s an example of a blog post that shares actionable tips for how to succeed at a trade show, via Sycamore Street Press. There are lots of photos among the tips and the recollections of how the event went. Here’s how the piece starts:

This was Sycamore Street Press’s fifth time showing at the National Stationery Show, and the first time I was completely happy with the way our booth turned out. It was also our best show yet as far as sales and press coverage goes, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Here are my top 5 tips for creating a successful National Stationery Show booth, if you are interested…

Tell the History of Your Company

Being an entrepreneur means something special. Few people think of it, and even fewer people act on it.

So what’s your founding story?

Share the story of why you decided to become an entrepreneur. Was it driven by an event? Was it the result of a special trip? Were you struck by inspiration of some sort? Tell the story and connect better with your customers.

Here’s an example of a post that tells the founding story of Pura Vida Bracelets. The business was started when two friends visited Costa Rica, and is now successful enough to have been featured on Good Morning America and Sports Illustrated. Here’s how the post starts.

A five week college graduation trip to Costa Rica turned into a business venture for two Southern California friends Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman. Between the beautiful sunsets and the rolling breakers, it wasn't long before these two friends began to deeply appreciate and fall in love with the simple Pura Vida lifestyle and culture of the people they encountered. This is how it all began...

Make a Video: Product Tutorial

Okay, we don’t want to give the impression that content marketing is only blogging. It can be making videos, writing emails, and other kinds of content-generation too.

Sometimes you just can’t write about how to use a product. You have to show, not tell. Then it’s time to post a video on Youtube (or some other platform).

Besides, video marketing is effective. By one estimate, consumers are 64% more likely to purchase a product after watching a product video.

Shoot a product tutorial to introduce your product, its benefits, and how it can best be used.

Here’s an example of a video that very informatively discusses how to fit a road bike, via Performance Bicycle.

Make a Video: How Your Product Is Made

Our last suggestion for an easy piece of content: Make a video of how your product is made.

Do you have a very interesting manufacturing process? Does it require special tools and equipment? Is the process fun to look at? Shoot a video of its production.

Here’s an example of a very cool video via Doucette and Wolfe Furniture of a Windsor Chair leg being made.

Conclusion

You know your business well, and there are lots of opportunities to create good content by telling people about cool things in your industry. Write a blog post, shoot a video, or generate some other type of content today to tell your story and improve SEO.

About The Author

Dan Wang is a Shopify Content Specialist studying economics and philosophy at the University of Rochester. Talk to Dan on Twitter.

5 genius content marketing ideas you can steal _ today

Shopify Blogs

Ecommerce

5 Genius Content Marketing Ideas You Can Steal – Today

by Mark MacdonaldContent MarketingDec 18, 2013 

5 minute read18 comments

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This is a guest post bySherice Jacob fromiElectrify

Sometimes the best content marketing ideas are the ones that come from using everyday websites and platforms. And the good news is that these methods can be duplicated across nearly any topic or niche.

All you have to ask are two important questions: “Who am I targeting with this marketing?” and “How can I get them interested and engaged with this content?” Even large corporations from American Express to Adobe, have gone back to basics.

Here’s what they’re doing, and what you can learn from them:

American Express Connects with Small and Medium Business Owners through OPEN Forum

OPEN Forum is American Express’ initiative to connect business owners with collaborative tools and advice. Topics include social media, branding, marketing tips, office productivity and much more. Well known marketers, including author Guy Kawasaki and Ann Handley from MarketingProfs make regular appearances and offer guidance.

Notice there’s no mention of credit cards in the mix.

The Genius Strategy

American Express can sit quietly in the background, reaping all the benefits of goodwill associated with bringing people together with mentors and business tools. The forum has also expanded to include a Tumblr page with quotes and news that matters to business owners. It has also launched its own initiatives including Connectodex, which helps entrepreneurs create more professional profiles for lead generation and networking. This article explains how OPEN Forum has grown from 425,000 page views to over 15 million in a year.

The Take-Away

If there’s a lot of discussion, unanswered questions or people coming together on your topic, why not create a forum to act as a central hub for it? Along the same lines, you could start a community newsletter that brings together the top posters, threads and comments, and actively look for guides, resources and other tools that will make things easier for your participants.

Adobe Leverages Content Curation through CMO.com

Adobe’s CMO.com curates content from all around the web – things that have been especially selected to help Chief Marketing Officers navigate the changing advertising world. Adobe selects content from over 150 top news sites and organizations, as well as creating their own.

It also doesn’t pitch its software programs or web-based solutions to the audience.

In fact, the only ads you’ll find are invitations to take important surveys, whose results can appear in joint Adobe white papers, articles, or the Adobe Digital Index.

The Genius Strategy

Adobe benefits from content marketing through CMO.com in several ways:

It reaches crucial decision-makers with the news they need in a way that’s easy to navigate and read.It encourages content consumption without putting up roadblocks or forced registration.It promotes personalized news via registration (which can be done by connecting a LinkedIn account).It establishes itself as a media thought leader by providing tools and resources that make CMOs’ jobs easier. It’s a natural connection.

The Take-Away

Curating content can be time consuming, but for already-busy people, remember that you’re doing them a huge service by separating the wheat from the chaff and giving them exactly what they need to know to do their jobs better. Use resources including AllTop and Topsy to help you get a handle on trending content in your industry, and then use a curation tool like Paper.li or Trap.it to store your ideas.

In other words, become the go-to news and content source for your industry and niche. This will position you as an authority and help people discover your products.

Nightmares Fear Factory Uses Flickr to Terrify Its Viewers

Nightmares Fear Factory is a haunted house walkthrough in Niagara Falls, Canada. What separates it from the ordinary scare-fests is its mystery. Its Flickr page shows photos of guests being scared out of their wits – but by what?

Nobody knows unless they go in.

That, of course, is part of the fun. Even the FAQ on the official website is quiet about whether or not guests are grabbed, separated from their group or otherwise caused to jump out of their skin.

The Genius Strategy

Social Proof. Nightmares Fear Factory is showing pictures of people using their "product" and demonstrating that it works, and works well. 

The Take-Away

Not every business can do a suspenseful Flickr account, but you can find innovative ways to use both it and Pinterest to inspire and share ideas -- show customers using your product, finding unique “hacks” to make life easier with your product, or spotlight the people behind the offer and why they’re so passionate about it.

The Traveler IQ Challenge Game from TravelPod

So how smart is your travel IQ? Think you could pinpoint a capitol city on a map with just your mouse cursor? That’s the premise behind the Traveler IQ challenge, where you can choose a region to test your knowledge or do an Amazing-Race style speed test. With each answer, you earn points – with a specific number being needed to advance.

The Genius Strategy

This simple flash game can be addictive – and it reinforces TravelPod (which lets travellers create blogs) very well. The rules are simple enough for anyone to follow. You can also choose a badge to show off your Travel IQ or even embed the game in your own website.

In other words, TravelPod has created a piece of free 'attraction strategy' content that get people to their site and makes them want to share with their friends. 

The Take-Away

Flash games are relatively inexpensive to make -- and quiz-based games are always fun. Depending on your topic, you could test your readers with trivia, personality quizzes, or other fun content. The important thing is that their results can be shared via social networks and that they can also embed the game in their own sites - further enhancing and distributing your brand.

CoreStreet’s PIVMAN Comic Saves the Day

The PIVMAN is a handheld government ID verification system that works without the need for a network connection. That makes it incredibly valuable for first responders on the scene of disasters or other catastrophes who need to get people to safely – quickly.

Realizing this, the company created PIVMAN, a Spider-man-style super hero who uses his PIVMAN handheld to help save the day.

The Genius Strategy

According to its creator, the PIVMAN generated twice as many high-quality leads as other marketing methods. The first 500 copies of the comic were distributed within days, with 10,000 more printed to keep up with demand. Considering that the PIVMAN device retails for $24,500, it’s not an impulse buy. However, the comic explained how the device worked better than a stale, old sales presentation. As a result of this ingenuity, CoreStreet, the company that makes the product, was awarded part of a security contract with the city of Los Angeles.

Who knew a simple comic could do so much?

The Take-Away

Turn that boring, stale sales pitch into something more interesting! Everything from medicine to cereal has been sold in comic form - why not your product? Or, you could create an infographic or short video. The key is to shake up your content format and find interesting ways to show how your product works and how people can benefit from it.

What are some of the more innovative content marketing ideas you’ve seen on the web? Share them below in the comments!

About the Author:Sherice Jacob helps website owners improve conversion ratesthrough user-friendly design, copywriting and website optimization. To learn more, visitiElectrify.com and download your free website conversion checklist and web copy tune-up.

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how to get a date with george clooney (or write the perfect evommerce about page)

Shopify Blogs

Ecommerce

How to Get a Date With George Clooney (or Write the Perfect Ecommerce About Page)

by Humayun Khan 

CopywritingDec 19, 2013 6 minute read31 comments

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Let’s imagine for a second that you’re trying to get a date with George Clooney, I know it might be tough to do, but do it anyway and pretend you have a chance. The fact is, he's single and has plenty of options. Now, if you’re hoping to court Clooney and get him interested, what’s that “x-factor” that’s going to get him to bite? 

You’re probably wondering, how does this apply to crafting a compelling About page for your ecommerce store? Simple, online consumers are the George Clooneys and they have way more options when it comes to shopping than ever before. Now it’s your job to convince them to buy from you. 

A lot of store owners end up underestimating the conversion potential of their About page. Have a look at your own Google Analytics and you'll find your About page is either the second most visited page or in the top three.  

In fact, one study looking at an online store selling surf gear found that shoppers who visited their About page converted 30% higher than shoppers who didn’t. Another study found that visitors to an About page were five times more likely to purchase a product, while spending on average 22.5% more on their purchases. 

Now, there’s no one size fits all solution to creating the perfect About page. It should be as unique as your brand, your products, and your story. But, there are some key elements you can put in place to establish a connection with your customersbuild trust and ultimately boost conversions.

What's Your Story?

Your marketing story is the most critical component of your About page and it's why some of the most successful small businesses online have an “Our Story” page not an "About Us" page. In fact researchers have found that when people consumer stories, they’re not just doing so passively, they’re instead vicariously living the experiences they’re reading about. Talk about engagement. 

But maybe you’re sitting there and thinking “I’m not a writer, I don’t know what makes for a good story.” Lucky for you, there are tried and tested common "story elements" that humans have become accustomed to picking up on through the ages. Some of you in fact may be familiar with Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” those of you who aren’t can check out these neat video.

Stories that capture our attention will have the following elements:

A protagonist(s) - The founding team or person behind the companyAn end goal - The mission/vision/values that drive your companyAn obstacle(s) - Things you’ve overcome personally or as a company and how A moral - What’s the big takeaway of your story? 

The other thing you want to think about is what really makes you unique or sets you apart from everyone else.

This could include any or all of the following:

Your historyYour values/mission statement/manifestoThe way you source your productsThe way you manufacture your productsYour founder or teamYour work culture

Hopefully, you get the point, however to better illustrate what I mean, here are some solid examples from companies that know firsthand the benefits of telling their unique story. Hiut Denim Co. does an incredible job outlining the history behind why they started making jeans, while Black Milk Clothing founder James Lillis describes his “aha” moment that led to him starting his company. Both stories tug the heart strings and help make the companies more personal. 

Hiut Denim Co. 

Cardigan is a small town of 4,000 good people. 400 of them used to make jeans. They made 35,000 pairs a week. For three decades.

Then one day the factory closed. It left town. But all that skill and knowhow remained. Without any way of showing the world

what they could do.

That’s why we have started The Hiut Denim Company. To bring manufacturing back home. To use all that skill on our doorstep. And to breathe new life into our town.

As one of the Grand Masters said to me when I was interviewing: “This is what I know how to do. This is what I do best.” I just sat there thinking I have to make this work.

So yes, our town is going to make jeans again.

Here goes.

Black Milk Clothing

It was around this time I made my very first pair of leggings. I bought a tribal African print that I thought it would look great on legs. I drew up a pattern, cut it out and made a pair of leggings. I talked to a friend who had a friend who agreed to be a model for me to see if they fit. She put them on, and they were terrible. So I cut them again, and sewed them again. Slightly less terrible. I must have recut those things ten times…and finally, they fit. 

It was at that point that something remarkable happened. Something…unexpected. 

She asked if she could buy them. 

Yeah, really.

She took out her wallet, gave me some money and walked off with my leggings. I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. I was stunned - some girl was willing to actually pay money for clothes that I had made!

Complement Your Story with Images

Running or thinking about running an online store means you know the difference beautiful images can make in bringing a story come to life. You’ve heard it a million times but “a picture is worth a thousand words” is no where more relevant than helping visitors to your site connect with you and your online store. Based on the focal points of your story, you’ll want to select images that best reflect and in turn compliment what you’re trying to convey. Whether it’s a primary header or hero image or a gallery, this alone will go a long way in establishing an emotional connection. 

Two companies that do an effective job at this are Charlotte Lane and The Fudge House of Edinburgh. Charlotte Lane does this with fantastic photography of the founding couple, while the later provides mouth-watering images of how their fudge is made. 

Charlotte Lane

The Fudge House of Edinburgh

Complement Your Story with a Video

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video might as well be worth a million. The emotional power of a video to give visitors a window into your story or company is unparalleled. It’s as close as they can get to you other than sitting down with you for a cup of coffee and having you tell them the story yourself. This is one video you’ll want to spend a little money on to get the videography, music, and look on point with your brand. You also probably want to keep it to under two minutes, ideally somewhere between a minute to a minute and a half is your sweet point. 

Check out the following videos on the About pages of The Greats Brand and Langly

The Greats Brand

Langly

Put a Face(s) to Your Brand

This ties back into to your story, maybe it’s the people and how they came together to form your company that helps you stand apart. Even if it’s not the cornerstone, a lot of times, consumers want to know who’s behind a given brand, why did they decide to start this, or are they relatable. Which is why profiling your founder or your core team can be a great way to have your brand appear more approachable and personable. 

For example, BeardBrand does a great job of outlining how the initial team met over one startup weekend and provides great portraits of each founding member. Another is The Dry Bar, which lists and profiles every single person in their organization.

BeardBrand

The Dry Bar

 

Press Mentions and Testimonials

Another one of the most persuasive factors that can help drive purchasing decisions is the concept of “social proof”, which essentially states that if we know and see others like us are purchasing or using something, we’re more inclined to do the same.

So if you’ve got press mentions in publications that matter for your industry, make them apparent with the press logo, if you’ve got customer testimonials that will enhance your brand proposition, add them in as well. There’s nothing like following the herd that takes the risk away from consumers visiting your online store for the first time. Below is a great example from Camila Prada

The Almighty Footer

With your About page being one of the most effective weapons in your conversion arsenal, it’s important to put calls to action at the bottom so that when people are done connecting with who you are as a brand, they can jump on the bandwagon. This means an email subscription box for your newsletter and social buttons to all of the major networks you’re active on.  That’s how the love gets spread and news gets out. 

The folks at Langly have it bang on once again as you can tell here:

There you have it, all these different jigsaw pieces make up the anatomy of a highly effective About page that not only gets you more sales but helps you connect with your customers for better retention and increased brand loyalty. If you have any other useful tips, be sure to mention them by commenting below. 

A/B testing 101 a quick-start guide to conversion rate optimization

A/B testing 101: A quick-start guide to conversion rate optimization

—How to get lots more customers—free—using A/B testing software

—Includes a list of 108 ways to increase your website’s profits

Using A/B testing software is a powerful way to increase your website’s conversion rate (that is, its ability to turn visitors into customers). Many of the web’s most powerful companies, including Amazon and Google, use this technique. Here’s our essential guide to increasing your conversion rate using A/B testing software. It contains 108 simple techniques for growing your business.

First, what does A/B testing software do?

If you had two possible headlines for your webpage but couldn’t decide which one to use, you could run an A/B test in which

Half of your visitors would see Headline A, andThe other half would see Headline B.

You could then tally the orders for each headline and determine which headline brought you the most.

The A/B testing software lets you carry out tests like this, although such tests often take several weeks to finish.

Multivariate testing, however, allows you to carry out many such tests concurrently!

For example, while you are testing which headline to use, you can also test many other page elements (such as text, images, prices, offers, and buttons)—all at once. Each of your visitors will see a different combination of these elements, and then the multivariate-testing software will work out, on average, which of the elements performed the best. This information will help you put together a high-converting “super-page.”

For example, if we were to use multivariate-testing software on the following page, we could test the following:

And we would be testing these variables all at the same time! Not only that, but the multivariate-testing software would tell us which version of each page element, on average, brought in the most customers!

Powerful, isn’t it?

A little later, you’ll find a link that allows you to compare software platforms.

If you read this entire article…

…you’ll know more about conversion rate optimization (CRO) than 99% of web marketers!

And you’ll see several pictures of squirrels … for reasons that will never really become apparent!

Here’s a squirrel now.

When we say “conversion rate,” we mean the percentage of your visitors who end up reaching a given goal. Maybe this badly drawn picture will help:

Typical goals include making a purchase, submitting an inquiry form, and signing up for a free newsletter. (Speaking of newsletters, make sure to sign up for our newsletter. It’s as useful as this article.)

Why you need to increase your conversion rate

You need to make conversion rates your number-one priority for these three reasons:

There’s lots of room for improvement. Most websites are losing buckets of money every day because they do an atrocious job of selling products or services to their visitors.Paid search will keep getting more competitive. And increasing your bids is not the answer.A/B testing software is now highly affordable. A/B testing software allows you to test changes to your website—and tells you which changes brought in the most customers.

Unfortunately, though, A/B testing software doesn’t tell you what to test. That’s where our expertise comes into play. And this whole website gives you a taste of what we can do.

Some exciting benefits of increasing your conversion rate

If you double your website’s conversion rate, you will halve your “cost-per-acquisition” (CPA). This tool shows you how much extra you’ll earn. (By the way, CPA means how much it costs to get each new customer.)

When your conversion rate does increase, however, we recommend you don’t just sit back and enjoy the profits (tempting as it might be to do so). Instead, we recommend you take advantage of the fact you can now afford to pay twice as much per visitor. This means

You can pay about twice as much per click on AdWords, which can bring you a disproportionate number of additional visitors.You can start advertising in media that had previously been too expensive for you, such asFull-page magazine adsNewspaper adsDirect mailRadio adsTV infomercialsYour affiliates can earn twice as much as before, and this will cause the large affiliates to leave your competitors and join you.As the number of orders skyrockets, your company gets greater bargaining power with its suppliers, so its cost-per-unit-sold tends to fall—so the company becomes more efficient because of economies of scale. This means the boost to your net profit is deceptively high.

In summary, if you increase your conversion rate, your business will grow much more than you might expect!

Why many companies can double their conversion rate

What’s your current conversion rate? 5%? 10%? Don’t know? A 10% conversion rate means that of every 10 visitors to your site, nine walk away empty-handed. Do you really believe you couldn’t lower that number to eight out of 10?

Look at it another way: To double your conversion rate, you just need to increase the conversion rate of your

Ads by 19%Homepage by 19%Product page by 19%Shopping cart by 19%

(Note that the figure is 19%, not 25%, because each improvement compounds upon the previous one.)

These increases may sound daunting, but to increase your homepage’s conversion rate by 25%, for example, you would have to make just a 2.27% improvement to ten aspects of your website. For example:

Your company’s taglineYour headlineYour introductory textYour offerYour guaranteeYour pictureYour readabilityYour usabilityYour navigationYour productsYour pricingYour offersYour premium (covered in Tip 45)Your testimonialsYour call-to-actionYour site layoutYour return policyAnd the list goes on…

Does a 25% increase sound more achievable now?

In summary, once you’ve finished reading this article, you need to clear your desk and start working on increasing your site’s conversion rate—and hope your competitors aren’t reading this too.

Will these techniques work for YOUR website?

Yes!

We have applied these techniques to almost all kinds of websites, such as

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) websites.Websites in diverse industries, including finance, health, travel, technology, leisure, and food.Websites of all sizes, from start-up to enterprise level.Websites that sell physical goods, services, and information.Websites for merchants, affiliates, publishers, and e-commerce stores.

Here we go! These are some of the techniques we’d use if we were working on your site.

A word of warning: Don’t be daunted by this list! If you did everything on it, you’d probably be the best marketer in the world! In reality, doing just one of these 108 things could be enough to double your conversion rate. The most important thing is to do something—now!

So, let’s get started!

First, you’ll need to choose the kind of testing to do:

Time-split tests (also known as “before-and-after tests”). These stink. We put them in the list only so we could mention how bad they are. If your orders go up and down week by week (and whose don’t?), time-split tests tend to lead to wrong decisions.A/B tests—Many times, a simple A/B test is all that’s needed.Multivariate testing—Which multivariate software should you use? The following platforms tend to be popular with our clients: Visual Website OptimizerOptimizelyAdobe Test&TargetSitespect, and Google Analytics Content Experiments (which is free). If you’d like much more detail, see our comparison table of A/B testing software.

A/B testing software becomes much more powerful when you use it alongside other tools. Here are the other tools and techniques you’ll need in your marketing arsenal:

Google AdWords—AdWords is valuable as a targeted source of traffic, but it can also be used to run A/B tests by creating two identical ads with different destination URLs. However, for several reasons, it’s difficult to create an accurate scientific test using AdWords, so we don’t recommend using AdWords to carry out A/B tests.Live Chat—Few tools tell you anything about your “non-customers”—that is, the visitors who arrived at your site but then left for whatever reason. You rarely get feedback from these people. They are unlikely to call you, but you might just persuade them to use a Live Chat feature.Web analytics—At the most basic level, the “Site Overlay” feature tells you where visitors to your site click, where they don’t click, and where they are when they leave your site. We’ve heard web analysts say, “There are piles of gold waiting for you in your log files,” and they are right—in a vague, over-poetic kind of way. It turns out that you can learn a lot from your web analytics package.Usability testing—You can carry out this testing on pretty much anyone you can get your hands on. These tests are gold dust—literally.If we could have just one testing tool, it would be usability testing. Web analytics tell you what visitors are doing, but usability testing tells you why. No other tool provides so many head-slapping, “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that” moments.Here’s a clever one: In your “Refer-a-Friend” program, allow customers to send a personalized note to their friends. You will have access to these notes (privacy policy permitting), and they are a goldmine of information about why a particular customer actually ordered. In addition, you get to see the exact words customers use to sell your product to friends. It’s like having a team of free copywriters on tap.Eyetracking—This tool shows you which things visitors to your site see but don’t click on. And it tells you which things they don’t click on because they don’t see them. Got that? Most eyetracking is carried out using custom hardware, so you need to get a company to do it for you.“Poor-man’s eyetracking”—About five seconds into each usability test, ask testers what they have looked at so far. They usually find it easy to tell you.Clickmapping—A clickmap is an image of a page that’s annotated with information about where visitors clicked. Here are two good options:Crazy Egg is a service that allows you to see the parts of your page that your visitors click on, and how far they scroll down your pages.ClickTale is similar to Crazy Egg but allows you to view Flash movies of your visitors’ browsing sessions. You can see how far visitors scroll down your pages, view how they interact with your forms, and learn about many other aspects of their visit.Customer surveys—Your customers know why they ordered. And why they nearly didn’t. Ask them about it. Many survey services are available. SurveyMonkey is very widely used.Co-opetition—Short for “cooperative competition,” this is a technique by which you sell your competitors’ products from your website (usually via an affiliate program). Co-opetition can teach you a lot about your competitors’ conversion rates. And if your visitors prefer your competitors’ products, this is an easy way to find out!

Here are some tips for getting into the right mindset:

Stop having debates with your colleagues about who likes what. If in doubt, test. Your mantra should be “Let the customers decide.”Start to think of your business as a constantly shifting experiment. By continually carrying out tests, you will learn which factors increase your profits and which don’t.Learn your other new mantra. When your colleagues object to the changes you’re making, remind them that this is just an exploratory experiment to “learn what happens,” not a long-term decision. Let this become your mantra: “It’s just an experiment; it’s just an experiment.”Copy what works for others (within limits). In particular, copy companies that appear to be tracking and testing. You can spot them because they are using the techniques in this list.Copy the techniques that marketers, who have been testing for decades, have developed; that is, copy direct-response advertisers. The internet may be new, but your visitors aren’t. For about 100 years, direct-response advertisers have been running A/B tests to find out what works. It’s easy to spot their ads in magazines, newspapers, and direct mail—they have tracking codes and coupons in the bottom corner. And the ads often look a bit cluttered.Place bets with your colleagues about which test sample will win. You’ll be amazed at how often you are wrong. Only the top few percent of marketers appreciate that it’s impossible to always spot the winner. Race to become one of them.Make sure you have great people working on this project. This is the most important job in your company. You have three options:Do it in-house, with your best staff.Get experts in, and do it in-house.Outsource it to an expert who has a vested interest in making it a big success.Locate (or become) your company’s best salesperson. Your website is your electronic salesperson. It has the advantage of being able to sell to thousands of customers at the same time. However, only person-to-person selling will teach you the reactions of prospects to certain types of arguments and approaches. It is by far the quickest and most effective way of finding out what appeals to your prospects and what doesn’t. The words on your website need to have been tested on real people. No amount of online testing will give you this gut feel. So, you have a choice: Either become your company’s best salesperson, or seek out the best salesperson and listen to how that person sells the product.Don’t test the small stuff. Test big, bold changes. This has two advantages:You’ll get the results quicker (it’s a statistics thing).You’re more likely to achieve improvements.Test changes in two stages:Fix all the “broken” things (which you’ll discover during your usability testing). This is worth doing first, because it’s the easiest way to make quick improvements.Test new ideas that could significantly grow your business. Do this next.Don’t worry about temporarily lowering your conversion rate. If a test is a failure, you get one bad day of business. If a test is a success, you get a lifetime of success.Don’t end the test too soon! Make sure you have enough data! Some marketers say you need to test for two weeks. Some say you need to collect at least 30 orders. Some use gut feel. They are all wrong. The only correct answer is to use the right statistical tool:For A/B tests of AdWords ads, use this tool.For tests using multivariate testing software, use the software’s built-in statistical significance calculator.

The tools we just mentioned tell you whether your results are significant—or whether you don’t have enough data yet and your results are due just to chance.

The best place to start is to identify the weak links in your marketing funnel. Sketch out a brief overview of your marketing funnel, from advertising all the way through to closing the sale. This will include the following:Your advertisingYour sales forceYour homepageYour product pagesYour checkout pagesYour “Order Confirmation” pageYour call center staffHow the package is sent out

27. Test stuff that your usability testers told you to change. (You ARE going to do usability testing, aren’t you? Promise us!)

Getting your message straight before you start

What’s your company’s positioning? In other words, what makes you different from or better than all your competitors? Have you ever tested your positioning against possible alternatives? Draw up a short list to test—and then your visitors can let you know which positioning is most important to them!Rank the top five points you want to communicate to your visitors. You want to make sure that, whatever else your visitors learn from your site, they definitely learn these top five pieces of information.Consider all the different types of visitors who might view your site and then try to write for all of them. You might find it easier to use customer archetypes (sometimes called “personas” or “avatars”) for this. A “customer archetype” is a single person who is used to represent a certain segment of visitors. Some tips:You may choose to use real people as your archetypes (for example, a customer that you know well and that is characteristic of a certain segment of visitors).Or you may choose to create fictional characters who embody the characteristics of a certain segment of visitors. Warning: If you choose to use fictional characters, be sure to base them on an understanding of your real visitors. Don’t sit in an ivory tower dreaming up people who don’t exist.For each page, make sure you know what all the “visitor intentions” are. For example, some visitors might be looking to make a purchase, some might be looking for customer support, and others might be trying to apply for a job with you.Instead of just guessing their intentions, survey them to find out for sure. 4Q is an easy-to-implement tool for getting started. Some of our clients choose to create their own exit surveys.Test everything! Seriously. Test everything. That’s it. We’ve finished. We’re going home now.

What’s that? You want more details? OK, then…

Identify which products bring you the most overall profit, and then put them in a prime location on the page. We mean, above the fold (that is, on the upper part of the page so users don’t have to scroll down to see it), preferably on the left-hand side.Headlines are extremely important. If your visitors don’t like the headline, they won’t read any further. A simple yet effective approach is to express your main message in a headline thatIs worded in terms of benefit to the customer, not in terms of product features.Suggests that the customer will get the results with ease.Is believable (meaning, it contains some kind of proof).Is specific.What you say is more important than how you say it. You’ll achieve the biggest improvements by changing the core message of your headline, rather than just tweaking the wording.If you don’t know how to describe your product’s features in terms of benefits, carry out this exercise: Imagine customers are looking at your headline and asking, “Why should I care about that?” You would likely answer this question by describing a benefit.Struggling to come up with a good headline? Adapt headlines from publications such as CosmopolitanReader’s Digest, and MSN.com, which use formulaic headlines that have been proven to work consistently. An MSN headline might be “Seven ADHD truths you may not know.” Replacing “ADHD” with your product name would give an instantly compelling headline. Our newsletter offers you some great resources for writing winning headlines.

Headlines are vital: That’s why we used up four of our 108 tips on them (plus, writing 108 tips is starting to sound like a lot of hard work).

Visitors will view the tagline under your logo almost as much as the headline itself. Therefore, make sure it clearly expresses distinct “positioning”; that is, it should describe what you do and how you fit into the marketplace.Test high and low prices, because customers don’t always seek out the lowest prices. There’s such a thing as “reassuringly expensive.”Test odd pricing. “Odd pricing” means prices that end with a seven or a nine. Items with these prices tend to sell better than those with prices that end with a zero. Would you or I be fooled by odd pricing? No, of course not; we’re far too smart! But someone’s falling for it, because this phenomenon has been proven valid repeatedly.Test different offers, such asA one-month free trialBuy one, get one freePay in installmentsLonger commitmentShorter commitmentBuy now, pay laterFirst one freeAutomatic renewalWe’ll hold your check for 30 days

In general, do whatever you can to get the product into the customer’s hands. If you’re so confident in your product, prove it by taking some of the risk.

Divide your product or service into a standard version (for the prospects who are price sensitive) and a premium version (for the ones who aren’t). This also has the psychological advantage of turning the prospect’s decision into an either/or decision rather than a yes/no decision.Even more extreme than creating a standard version and a premium version is to try changing what you sell. For example, are you sellingThe product itself?A catalog of products?A free report about the product or about the problem?An invitation for a salesperson to call?

In general, the larger the purchase, the less effective it will be to attempt to sell it in one step.

Many of the visitors who leave without ordering exit the site because you don’t offer the product or service they are looking for. The answer is often to start selling what customers are looking for, or at least become an affiliate for it.Test different premiums—that is, the bonuses customers get if they order. These include free reports, gifts, and accessories.Add a guarantee, or test different ones. Start with the bravest guarantee you dare test, and if it works, test a braver one.Add testimonials from happy customers. In general, a video testimonial is better than a testimonial with an image, which is better than a testimonial with just a name, which is better than an anonymous testimonial.Add testimonials from the media. If you don’t have any currently, try giving media outlets free stuff in exchange for reviews and feedback.Develop a systematic way for collecting testimonials. Train your sales staff to request a testimonial whenever they receive a compliment. Email your customers asking for testimonials.Test different calls-to-action. The “call-to-action” is what you want customers to do next. It is often written on the “Proceed” button. Test direct calls-to-action such as “Buy Now and Get 10% Off” as well as indirect ones such as “Learn More.”Try making the “Call-to-Action” button nice and visible. Large, brightly colored buttons often convert better—they seem to draw the reader’s attention.Test different reasons why visitors should act promptly (e.g., “Offer ends Wednesday” or “Only 42 tickets left”). Please note, we’re definitely not suggesting you lie to your visitors—your conversion rate depends heavily on credibility and trust. However, if you look at your own business, you’ll probably find that you already have real reasons why prospects should reply promptly. If not, you can find ways of rewarding them for doing so.Make the right stuff pop. “Pop” just means “stand out.” You can do this in several ways, such asUse bold.Use italics.Highlight important words.Use hand-drawn annotation, which always commands attention. (This is higher risk and depends on the image you want to portray.)

Having a great layout

Make sure the things your visitors see first are the things you want them to see. A single-column layout in the style of a long single-column sales letter allows you to control the order in which visitors view your site.Where do website visitors look? Ensure that your most valuable content is placed where visitors actually look, which you can determine using eyetracking.Remove clutter. Imagine that every pixel on your page either increases the conversion rate or decreases it—or just takes up space. If you can get rid of page elements that aren’t working, you create more space for those that are.Ensure that the layout reflects the architecture of your information. Constantly look for ways to tidy up your information into ordered sections. Then ensure that each section uses the principle of progressive disclosure, so users see only the information they need at any given point. You can hide detailed information in many ways, such as in a less prominent font, in tooltips, in overlays, and in subpages.Decide what to feature on your homepage. Write a list of the products or services your visitors are looking for. Chances are, you can divide their intentions into categories and subcategories. Allocate space on the webpage according to the popularity (and value) of these categories.In the same vein, consider creating a list of your top-selling items. These lists are popular, because visitors find it reassuring to buy products that others have bought.Test different navigation structures. For example, reword the headings on your navigation bar so visitors can understand them. Or rearrange the navigation entirely so the sections are organized in a way that is more intuitive to users.If you’re confident your visitors are on the most relevant page for their needs, consider removing the navigation bar (or at least moving it somewhere less prominent). In such cases, navigation bars can be a distraction.If your website has a “cool,” unconventional layout, try a conventional layout. Conventions are conventions for a reason—they make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.Does your site contain any gratuitous links that you never really considered your visitors might actually click on? Remove any distracting links that lead to places you don’t want visitors to go!Use a nice, large font for your headline.Make the first letter of your body copy a drop cap—that is, a letter that’s much larger than the ones that follow. A drop cap can effectively bridge the gap between the headline and the body copy.Another way to bridge the gap is to have your introductory paragraph be in a slightly more prominent font size than succeeding paragraphs.Test different images. The following kinds tend to increase sales:Images of the product.Images of the product being used, maybe by someone visitors perceive as a role model.Images of the successful outcome of the product.Images of happy customers holding the product (that is, a testimonial and product shot all in one).

Attention-grabbing images are great, but only if they help to communicate your sales message (which they rarely do).

Test giving your visitors the option to zoom in to see a larger image of the product.Put captions under your images and test them. For some weird reason, people almost always read the captions under images.Call-outs (that is, text pointing to particular parts of the picture) can communicate a lot of information in a small space, and visitors tend to read them.Test violators, which are attention-getting shapes such as starbursts, ovals, and banners.If your page is long and requires scrolling, consider repeating your “Call-to-Action” button several times on the page. Which reminds us: Have you claimed your copy of our valuable newsletter yet?If your page requires scrolling, remove any “false bottoms”—that is, layout elements that imply customers have reached the bottom of the page when they haven’t.Many websites find they get higher conversion rates if their page is set out in the form of a sales letter with a personable one-on-one style of writing. Despite what your feelings might be about such websites, in some markets they often work.

Body copy

Marketers have been debating for a long time about how much copy to include. In general, write as much as it takes to communicate your entire sales message and to overcome all the likely objections. You are aiming to condense as many persuasive arguments and as much relevant information into as little text as possible. Conveying all of this information will usually require more words than most websites currently use.Use straightforward language. No reader is too sophisticated for short, simple sentences.Fill your body copy with benefits, not just product features.Include all the information that customers could possibly require in order to make a purchase. (Note that it doesn’t all need to be on the main product page.)Make sure to address all the common objections that your customers bring up. Compile a chart of objections and counter-objections, and then rank them in order of importance.Test different font sizes to make your text more readable.Test different font shades. For body copy, black on white is usually a safe bet.Near the end of the body copy, consider having a series of bullet points (or better still, check marks) that summarize the major benefits.Rewrite your article for visitors who skim as they read. Disperse subheads (such as our “Body copy,” above) throughout, and use bold to ensure the right things pop.Consider putting the start of your order form on the product page itself.Adding audio can be a very effective method of selling your products and services. Xiosoft Audio is an easy way to put audio onto your website.Video can be effective too. Perhaps the easiest approach is to embed YouTube videos.Services like LiveActor and MyWebPresenters offer on-site spokespeople. You submit a script and then choose one of their actors to read it aloud. They then send you some code to add to your website. This code displays the finished video, which hovers at the bottom of the browser.You’d be surprised how many potential customers abandon their shopping carts before they reach the checkout. In fact, your web analytics tool will show you exactly how many do.Repeat your offer and main benefits on the first page of your shopping cart or order form. Some customers click on the “Buy Now” button just to see what the price and shipping cost will be, so you don’t want to miss out on this chance to persuade them.Don’t ask for too much information, which can be tiresome and off-putting for customers. Do you really need their fax number before they place an order? Even if it loses you a small fraction of orders (which it will)?The moment that you request information is the right moment to provide timely reassurance as to why you need that info. For exampleUnder the email field, say something like, “We hate spam as much as you do.”Under an email newsletter opt-in box, have a link to your privacy policy.Under the “Order Now” button, remind customers of your guarantee and your return policy.Having thumbnail photos of the products in your cart can increase the likelihood of customers completing their orders (presumably because they feel they can’t abandon the GIFs at your checkout?!).Use Ajax or DHTML to hide the parts of forms that aren’t needed. Both of these technologies allow visitors to open or collapse sections of the page without needing the whole page to reload.Replace long dropdown lists with a text field that has an auto-suggest feature.Show additional ways to order (e.g., by phone or by fax). Some customers prefer to order in a certain way. Sometimes the presence of the phone number itself can increase reassurance, even if customers don’t actually call you.Do you have an “Enter Your Coupon” field on your shopping cart page? Test whether this is turning customers away. (Shoppers often resent ordering when they see that others are getting a better deal.)Try adding “reassurance logos” such as those of the credit cards you accept, of your payment provider, of any trade bodies of which you are a member, or of your SSL certificate provider.Test a different version of your “About Us” page. Show yourselves as real, likable individuals, not just members of a cold, faceless corporation.Make your message consistent. Do whatever you can to ensure your sales message remains the same all the way from ads through to order placement.Immediately after customers have ordered—or agreed to anything—they are in a particularly agreeable mood (seasoned salespeople refer to this phenomenon as the “yes set” or “yes ladder”). Take advantage of your customers’ positive frame of mind by offering them additional products or services.A good “Refer-a-Friend” program placed on the “Order Confirmation” page can be very effective at generating new, high-value customers. (Speaking of friends, would any of YOUR friends benefit from reading this article? Send them a link—they’ll love you for it!)The “Order Confirmation” page is a great place from which to sell other products (this is known as “cross-selling”).Be careful with entry pop-ups and exit pop-ups. These sometimes work well; sometimes, however, they just irritate users.

Usability

View your website using different browsers and screen resolutions to see how your customers see it. Handy tools for doing this are CrossBrowserTestingBrowsercam, and Browsershots.Minimize your website’s load timesHere’s a nice tool for checking your site).Get your “Site Search” feature working. Google Mini and Google Free Web Search both enable your visitors to search your site using Google. Then use your analytics package to discover what your visitors were searching for. Then, consider adding that content to your webpage—or making it more prominent.Consider making everything clickable. Visitors click on everything—pictures in particular. And if they are clicking on something, it’s because they expect something to happen.If you have advertising on your site, test that. With many advertising programs (such as Google’s AdSense and Chitika), you can split advertising into channels. You can then test the following and measure which variations bring in the most revenue:Different sizes of an adDifferent shapes of an adDifferent positions of an adAnother way of increasing the revenue per visitor is by increasing the average Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) of visitors who order.Sign up to receive your Conversion Rate Experts newsletter! It takes you by the hand through many of the 108 tips we’ve covered in this article—and lets you peek into our world of conversion rate testing. It’s free, and it will change your life (for the better).Or, if you prefer, simply subscribe to our RSS feed. Either way, let’s keep in touch!

Happy testing!

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