Look out Austinites! There’s a new kid in town. Renown marketing consultant, Jeffrey Eisenberg, author of multiple books (listed below), web analytics specialist, professional speaker, and conversion king is relocating to Austin, Texas. I met Jeffrey last week at the local SEO Meetup after watching his presentation: 21 Secrets of Top Converting Websites. He’s a down to earth guy that really understands the personas of people who buy online; a great addition to the marketing community of Austin.

Eisenberg started the presentation talking about website conversions. Many people mistakenly think the term conversion, when used with regard to websites, always means buying something online. But a conversion can also be something as simple as clicking a video, entering an email address, or filling out a survey. In other words, it’s an action. Sometimes  it’s the first and most important action in building the relationship before the sale, a.k.a. Lead Generation. Below is the Eisenberg brothers’ definition of conversion rate:

“Conversion rate is a measure of your ability to persuade visitors to take the action you want them to take. It’s a reflection of your effectiveness and customer satisfaction. For you to achieve your goals, visitors must first achieve theirs.”

Here are the 21 secrets of top converting websites that Eisenberg discusses at length in his presentation.

1. They Communicate UVPs & UCPs
2. Their Offers Are Persuasive & Relevant
3. They Reinforce The Offer Sitewide
4. They Maintain A Scent
5. They Make A Strong First Impression
6. They Appeal To Multiple Personas & Segments
7. They Don’t Slice & Dice Optimization
8. They Leverage The Voice Of The Customer
9. They Use UGC As Navigation
10. They Promote Using UGC
11. They Build Credibility With UGC
12. They Use UGC Feedback In Research
13. They Use Persuasion Principles
14. They Even Make Forms More Engaging
15. They Provide Point Of Action Assurances
16. They Keep You In The Process
17. They Consider Email Preview
18. They Budget For Experience
19. They Have A System For Prioritization
20. They Make Decisions With Data
21. They Execute Rapidly

View the entire presentation, a playlist of nine videos, on www.socialmediatherapy.tv.

Jeffrey says, “when you build a site or redesign a site, you are about 30% done. The real work is in the optimization, not in the site. Everybody does that ass-backwards. EXCEPT for some people [Amazon] who now control 25% of the ecommerce market. [Companies that decided] we’re not ever going to stop redesigning, we’re not ever going to stop thinking about the experience.”

“We take those funds that might otherwise be used to shout about our service, and put those funds instead into improving the service. That’s the philosophy we’ve taken from the beginning. If you do build a great experience, customers will tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.” ~ Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com

Jeffrey and his brother Bryan have written many best selling books. Here are three that come to mind: Waiting For Your Cat To Bark:Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing, Call To Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results, and Persuasive Online Copywriting: How To Take Your Words To The Bank.

P.S. Austin is a cool town and it’s easy to see why Jeffrey would want to move here: high tech, music, tex mex, healthy economy, etc… But at the Meetup I discovered the real reason he moved to Austin; it was for love. Thanks Mia!