Case Study – Conversions increase 5X for Assay Depot

This article is short case study about our successful project with AssayDepot.com which engaged Red Funnel to help diagnose and improve their website last spring. Working with their team has been a extremely enjoyable experience for Mark and I, we wish them continued success.

Case Study

Service: Full website and Analytics analysis using Red Funnel’s science SEO service.

Results: 5-fold increase in quote and info requests for Assay Depot’s clients.

Background: Assay Depot.com provides direct access to expert advice about scientific assays and contract research services (CROs) via their open web marketplace to scientists in Big Pharma, Biotech, and Academic research. The site is focused on 5 target assay and service areas- Biology, Chemistry, DMPK, Toxicology, and Pharmacology with several thousand webpages covering individual services. The business depends on scientists requesting information and quotes for research services through Assay Depot’s referral engine and expert scientific staff.

Assay Depot engaged Red Funnel improve the conversion rate of the quote request process.

The Engagement: Red Funnel identified the key causes of page abandonment based on traffic movement to the most popular assays and services using Google Analytics, science-based SEO, and User Interface (UI) testing.

We worked with the team at Assay Depot to improve these areas by adding Scientist-targeted SEO content and improving the UI to lead visitors to the assays they were seeking. Over the course of the improvments, we saw:

• Decreased Bounce Rate (10%)
• Increased Time on site (> 1min)
• Increased traffic to relevant assay pages
• 5-fold increase in conversions

The bottom line: Assay Depot is now capturing more traffic and converting more visitors; resulting in more quotes for their customers in the CRO and Life Science Service business from scientists in Pharma and Academia.

In Praise of Pilots – Deal with Change by Testing

By Mark Walker

Is the the speed of change different in the life science business world?

When you combine the trends impacting the rest of the business world such as new communication channels and devices with the rush of new discoveries and technologies into this marketplace, you have a potent mixture. If it’s not the market with the fastest pace, then it has to be in the in the top tier.

For marketers, new products from these discoveries (yours and the competitors) and new communication channels are just two of the trends making your lives “exciting.”

Picture a basketball court completely covered with set mouse-traps (the old spring-loaded ones). Someone tosses a single ping-pong ball onto the floor. Sprung traps flip and set off their neighbors. Now imagine that the traps reset themselves, the floor gets larger and the chaos grows. Ok, I admit I think it would be fun to be initial “tosser” and watch the activity from a safe place. I don’t know of a safe place in the life science business world. You are in the middle of the basketball court.

Use the Tools to Test Initiatives

Take advantage of the very tools contributing to this speed to test marketing initiatives and get feedback on results. It’s easier and faster to share information, right? Iterate quickly and constantly to test what works–and what doesn’t. Want to see how a new lead process works?  Pilot it with a region of your sales force. Test it with a couple of your inside sales reps. Want to test a new web page to get better conversion rates? Google has great free tools that you can implement.

When I worked with organizations interested in subscribing to our information service (a database for mining information about researchers and their grant awards), many were concerned about launching it to the entire sales force without testing. I would often recommend a pilot program. The idea was pretty simple.

• Set up the objectives and goals.
• Select a small, representative group of sales representatives (generalists, specialists, regional manager) .
• Train the pilot team on the service and set expectations for usage and feedback.
• Evaluate the results.

The value was evident for the organization. The overall investment and risk was minimal but the insights gained could be applied when rolling the new program out to the entire organization. The potential ROI could be extrapolated to the entire sales force and it was easier for managers to make the right decision and create buy-in for the sales force. Another element for success was in place as a result of the pilot. In the organization, there was already a group of peers that could not only help troubleshoot but specify best practices.

Testing Your Website? Of Course You Are.

For websites, there are free or inexpensive testing tools (Google’s Website Optimizer is an example) that can help you test different versions of a web page so you can see the changes that impact your activity. Amazon tests every pixel of their pages to find out what works (and doesn’t) and continues to iterate their home page and product pages. Not all companies have those resources but you can certainly test critical pages such as landing pages and sign-up pages as well as key elements such as Calls to Action, trying different copy, buttons and images.

Imagine you are having guests over to your house. You generally want to make that an enjoyable experience, right?  Why are you not treating your customers that visit your website in the same way? Tidy up, move chairs around to create some conversation areas, and decide where you are going to put the refreshments so your guests can get them conveniently.

Which Initiatives?

Google famously enables their staff to use 20% of their time on interesting projects not necessarily related to their job description.  Whether it’s a day a week or a couple hours each morning, the point is to include time to review new ideas (from customers, field reps, social media, internet, etc.) and think about how they could help your business.  Then figure out how you can test a couple of the ideas, quickly.

There are going to be blind alleys that we all go down when trying some new things. The advantage of the pilot is it reduces your risk by having a time point when it will end, requires a minimal investment in time and funding, and you come away with results based a set of measurable criteria. Test it and track it, then implement it, change it or shut it down.

What is your experience with pilot projects and what are the keys to success?  I’d enjoy hearing your story in the comments.

Your Website as Field Sales Tool – Sightings at the AACR Meeting

by Rusty Bishop

One great tactic I saw while walking the Exhibit Booths of AACR this week was the display of company’s websites in the booth.  Mark has written about training your sales staff to use the website as selling tool and I’ve written about your web site being your public face. So I was excited to see these two concepts in action.

Website on chocolate = love!

For example, in Sigma’s booth the marketing, literature, in booth mini-talks and conference swag all prominently featured their new “Where Bio Begins” web portal. That’s branding and traffic pushing in one fell swoop!

And the kind ladies in the Affymetrix booth walked me through their new Gene Atlas desk top array on their website and used it to invite me to an awesome party!  In order to get the invite, I had to sign up on their website, so they captured my information and qualified me as a lead (albeit a poor one).

Here’s two ideas to that may help you decide if your website display in the booth is a good idea

In Person Feedback

One of the most difficult things about web design is getting a real read on your customer’s reactions. Let’s face it most feedback online is banal and friendly, because scientists are non-combative and shy and people don’t really have time to give you feedback.  However, making your website available in your booth with a mouse and keyboard is the perfect chance to watch them interact with it and great time to ask them questions about it.

For example,

• Are they easily finding products?
• Do they fret about the long lead registration form?
• Are you lacking key images that drive conversions?
• Did your Call to Action button get their attention or was it ignored?

Staff training in the Real World

Your website really is your face, but it can also be powerful sales tool in the field. Its not often that Sales Staff, Product Managers, Technical Support and Marketers get the chance to work together in front of customers.Why not use the meeting to perfect your sales pitch with the use of your website.

Try this at the next meeting,

• Train staff on the website features in a non-threatening environment
• Watch, listen, and give feedback on how your team uses the site tools and features in front of customers
• Try different entry points such as the search engine or catalog browsing to test effectiveness in sales

Sales tips for selling to scientists can be hard to find. Find more by following us on Twitter here. Also, become a fan of Red Funnel Consulting on Facebook today!

ABCO – Always Be Closing Online

ABCO: Always Be Closing Online.

Its the age old advice you hear in sales your whole career. The same applies to your website design as well.
Your website is your store front. The individual product pages are your sales staff. I’m not suggesting you place a big ol’ BUY NOW button on every product page, but it should be really damn obvious how to buy the product when a scientist is ready to buy. Nothing is more frustrating than having to search for the button.

Notice how Bio-Rad places the ordering call to action buttons directly next the two product sizes and how the green ‘Add to Cart‘  and Search buttons stands out.

I encourage you to take a look at your website today no matter your position in the company and think about how the product pages are closing sales for you. Tiny increases in online sales produce large increases in revenue due to the realized costs of sales staff both in person and call centers.

Your website is your face

“Your website is terrible, I mean I spent 30 min trying to find a product I know you sell, but couldn’t. I ended up buying it from Sigma instead. You guys need to do something about that, seriously!”
 

This is an exact quote that I overheard at vendor show at the University of California-San Diego last week (I immediately wrote it down.) The lady was visibly upset, but genuinely trying to help. The rep was apologetic and sympathetic and back peddling. He too thought their website sucked and even said he had complained about it repeatedly. Clearly it wasn’t the first time he had heard this complaint.
 

Never forget – Your website is your face! People are more concerned about their face than any part of their body. Its the first thing you see of someone else. You can tell their mood, their hygienic habits, whether they are lying or not. We spend billions on products to make our faces better.
 

Your website is your company’s face. Its the first thing scientists see.
 

The culprit in the above transction – Roche. I spent a few minutes navigating their site this weekend, and she is right, its a nightmare. Its hard for me to believe that a company as large as Roche can’t figure out how to produce a decent website.
 

In all seriousness, $50-100K likely buys them the best website money can buy.
 

$25k and its functional.
 

Google Site Search is free (plus a $100 for a programmer to install it on their website).
 

Yes that was FREE! Never try to out google Google, why bother you have more important things to do like sell kits and antibodies and $500,000 Mass Spectrometers.
 

Sales staff - Its time to take action. Complaining will not get you heard in a company as large as Roche, but action will. If your company’s website is getting complaints, take action yourself today. Remember money will always get the attention of the bean counters. If you aren’t making your numbers point out that online sales and your crappy website are the cause.
 

Do one of these today:
 

1. Find a great programmer, find an AB tester, find a user interface expert, find an SEO expert. Solicit their ideas and send a memo to your superiors (with four bullet points). Email me or comment if you need some direction on this. Rehearse these bullet points and have them ready for the chance encounter with someone in your company that can make the change.
 

2. Solicit letters from your best customers (not PIs, they dont buy your product remember). Send them to your boss or post them by the water cooler late at night if you are scared to be seen. If your company won’t read them, send them to me and I will post them here anonymously for you. The internet gets the word out faster than you can imagine.
 

Take action and become indispensable! Your job depends on it.
 

(yes, I know I took indispensable from Seth Godin)