Kicking off any type of relationship can be overwhelming. A conversion rate optimization (CRO) relationship is no different. You have many different aspects to juggle when you’re beginning and maintaining these relationships, including:
- Verticals
- Industry types
- KPIs
- Client personalities
- Site structure
The list goes on and on.
We’re always striving to be more of an extension of our client’s marketing team. We want to be a partner as opposed to just a vendor. To start the relationship off on the right foot, there are a series of steps we complete to ensure we have as much information as we need. The following pieces of the relationship exist within the first 2 weeks of onboarding a new CRO client.
- Hanapin kickoff call
- Code implementation
- CRO kickoff call
- Product/Service demo (if applicable)
- Initial presentation
It may seem overwhelming to squeeze these initiatives into the first 2 weeks of the relationship. Today, we’ll walk through what each of these pieces entails and why it’s important to maintaining that client relationship.
Hanapin Kickoff Call
Welcome to team Hanapin! This initial call is designed to be a transition from your sales team to your official account team. We ensure our clients understand how our account teams work together and what the role of each member of the team is.
With that said, the CRO team will introduce themselves, give a brief synopsis of our CRO program and introduce the next steps so our client understands what to expect immediately following this kickoff call: an email from us regarding code implementation and scheduling our CRO kickoff call.
Code Implementation
Prior to or during the kickoff call, we’ll confirm the tools and platforms the client is already using on their site, if any. There are many different tools we utilize to gather the most data in a timely manner.
Immediately following the kickoff call, we’ll send an email that includes these codes for implementation or a request for access to their tools or platforms. This allows our team to immediately begin gathering data on their landing pages for future analysis. In this first email, clients will also receive a deck with our CRO timeline and an explanation of each of our tools. From here, we will schedule our CRO kickoff call.
CRO Kickoff Call
You may be wondering, “What is the difference between these two “kickoff” calls?” On our CRO kickoff call we’re going to deep-dive into what our program consists of, what clients can expect from this relationship, and use this time to get to know their business.
We’ll briefly walk through the previous deck we sent to their team that includes our timeline and our different analyses and platforms that are involved with our program, ensuring they didn’t have any questions surrounding the general scope. Next, we’ll deliver their personalized road map and status document. This living document is meant to act as their one-stop CRO resource that can answer the following questions:
- What can we expect in the months to come?
- What tests are running currently?
- What analyses are currently being performed?
- What does our testing queue look like or what will we be testing next?
- What analysis did Hanapin perform last month and can I access that document?
Every client has a road map and it’s flexible as the relationship moves forward and we identify what is more important. This road map will highlight what analyses we have coming up and if we’re concluding a test or launching a new test soon. This is meant to be a high-level view of the account.
The status document lists our current tests and statuses. Clients can also view our testing queue, all of their reports and analyses in one location, and their codes that should already be implemented in case they’re needed for future reference.
Lastly, we wrap up this kickoff call with a list of questions so our team can better understand their business and what they’re expecting from our CRO program. These questions help us feel a part of their team and ensure we’re all working towards the same goals. These questions include but are not limited to the following:
- How many conversion options are present on the site and what is their priority?
- What is the biggest seller or biggest resource – what is top priority?
- Are there specific metrics you’d like to see in reports?
- Are you more concerned with insights into user experience or are you more focused with straight up conversion rate lifts?
- Is there any aspect of the site that you know if a tough spot for your users?
- What does the customer journey look like?
Product/Service Demo
Speaking of the customer journey, our team always enjoys getting to experience a little bit of what the customers experience. This helps us understand what the customers should expect, how we can help align those expectations sooner, how we can better sell the product or service on the front-end, etc. What do I mean?
Do you offer a product demo for your service or is there a free trial that your customers can sign up for? Our CRO team will try and set up that product demo with your team so we can see exactly what your customers see and hear how the product is spoken about with your customers. It’s all about understanding the end game for your customers so we can better educate them on the front-end and improve that user experience.
Initial Presentation
After about two weeks, our goal is to deliver the first presentation to our clients. This presentation should be a basic heuristic analysis in addition to analytics in order to better understand the account as it sits. This is the time for us to confirm what we’re seeing and ensure with the client that we’re targeting the right users, utilizing the correct URLs, etc.
From this point forward, we’ll launch our first test and begin our testing and analysis cycle that is displayed on our road map.
Final Thoughts
Does this process still seem overwhelming for the first two weeks of a relationship? If so, I encourage you to follow a similar process when kicking off a new relationship and reap the benefits. Ensuring we’re on the same page as our clients and we’re laying out expectations as early as possible helps solidify a healthy relationship. Do you have current tactics or processes that you follow to kickoff and maintain your client relationships? Reach out at @samantha__kerr with any thoughts or questions you have on the topic!
