7 Things You Should Learn From The Customer Who Doesn’t Convert

Everyone hates shopping cart abandonment.

It’s the boogeyman of Internet marketing, the nemesis of conversion optimizers, and the headache of Internet sales. We fight it tooth and nail. We test incessantly. We optimize, reoptimize, and re-reoptimize, trying to defeat the rising tide of abandonments.

But for all our frenetic battles against shopping cart abandonment, could it be that we’re missing some very valuable information?

I think we are. Shopping cart abandonment is not the pure and unadulterated evil that we think it is. It is an opportunity to learn.

Here’s what we should learn from the customers who choose not to buy. This isn’t an article on techniques to obliterate abandonment. It’s not even about abandonment per se. It’s about all your website traffic and those pesky customers who don’t seem to convert.

Is there anything we can learn from them?

1. Learn about the buy cycle.

One reason why customers don’t convert is because they’re not at the right point in the buy cycle.

What’s the buy cycle you ask? It’s not a misspelling of a two-wheeled transportation device. The more clarifying term, “customer buying cycle,” describes the process that a customer takes when they are considering a purchase.

Here it is in all its visual glory.

There are five basic stages to the customer’s buying cycle. I made them all start with c- and sound the same:

1. Conception: The customer is aware that she needs or wants something.
2. Comparison: The customer considers the various places to obtain this product or service
3. Consideration: The customer evaluates the best and safest decision for her particular needs and situation.
4. Conversion: BUY! The customer makes the decision to act on this decision.
5. Continuation: The customer likes the experience, and decides to do it again sometime.

The reality of a customer buying cycle is that a customer can only be at one point on the cycle at a time. Accepting this fact is a basic realization of non-converting customers. Why didn’t they convert? Because they were in the conception, comparison, or consideration phase, that’s why.

That’s not bad. It just is.

Understanding the buy cycle is a key lesson, because you realize that the “lost” conversion may not be a lost conversion at all. It’s a future conversion from a customer who was in the conception phase of the buy cycle.

Obviously, not everyone is going to buy from your website the first time around. You wouldn’t want that anyway, because that would mean that you would have 1) far fewer return visitors, and 2) fewer future conversions.

The cycle, like most other life cycles, seems a little sad at first. But once you realize, hey, it’s a cycle, then you are able to deal with your grief and make more confident marketing decisions.

2. Learn that higher traffic does not equal higher sales.

Here is a saga that many SEOs and digital marketers have experienced.

The director of marketing says, “We need more traffic!” SEOs and writers start to hustle, working their magic and mixing their potions. Traffic starts to climb. KPIs are achieved. Goals are met.

And what happens? Sales plateau.

Why is this the case? Higher traffic does not equal higher sales. Normally, the more traffic you get, the more you tend to sell. In some situations, however, the increasing traffic is driving traffic that is not prepared to convert.

Look at the diagram below. There are three main types of searches, navigational, informational and transactional. If you increase traffic, you may be boosting navigational and informational searches.

Source

Informational queries and the resulting traffic is precisely the type of traffic that is often produced by greater content marketing efforts. Since the nature of the queries is informational, it is likely that it may not drive high-converting traffic.

It’s important to realize that content marketing for all its effectiveness is not a guaranteed route to higher sales. Content marketing agrees to meet customers on their own turf, in their own time, and on their own terms.

More traffic is great. But it just might not translate into immediate sales.

3. Learn that there is such a thing as search query intent.

In keeping with the point above, we need to realize the truth about search queries. Not all queries are created equal. Every query has intent, and that intent impacts whether or not the customer who lands on your website is going to buy or not.

All the search traffic that is rushing into your funnel can be categorized in one of three ways:

1. Transactional Queries – People who want to buy. They are looking to make a purchase right away or very soon. Many of these searchers will convert.
2. Navigational Queries – People who are trying to find your website. They may or may not be ready to buy. More often than not, they’re doing pre-purchase research.
3. Informational Queries – People who are looking for information. These searchers are the least likely to convert right away, but they comprise the largest percentage of website traffic.

Source

Brightedge estimates that a whopping 80% of searchers will land on your website with a desire to get information, not to buy. Only 10% are looking to buy, and therefore likely to convert.

Source

Every searcher starts with intent. This intent, one of the three above, will cause them to act in different ways when they encounter your website.

Source

The better you understand the different types of queries, the better you’ll be able to attract just the kind of search traffic that is most likely to convert.

4. Learn that conversion optimization is important.

All these points lead to an overarching lesson: Conversion optimization is really important.

Why? Because conversion optimization looks at the customer who doesn’t convert, and says, “How can we make you more likely to buy?”

Rather than rely on guesswork, conversion optimization begins a rigorous process of research, analysis, and optimization to turn that non-converting traffic into major conversion improvements.

Conversion optimization techniques “improve the effectiveness of your site to boost sales with the same amount of traffic you’re currently receiving.”

You don’t need more traffic to boost your sales. You just need to improve your website.

How does it work? By testing changes. Normally, conversion rate optimizers (CROs) test versions of a website, compare them, and use the one that converts higher.

It’s A/B testing, and it’s insanely effective.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, can produce shocking results. For example, a little headline change pictured below, Version B, boosted conversions by 38%.

Source

A new signup form increased this business’s leads by 368%.

Source

Conversion optimization is the path to higher sales.

Sure, the non-converting customer is no fun. But moving the needle on conversion rates though some patient testing is amazing.

5. Learn more about your customers.

When you discover that your “customers” aren’t really customers after all, you start to wonder, what are they doing? That’s a great question. But it begs a deeper question: Who are my customers anyway?

One of the most effective methods of gaining more sales is understanding who your customers are. How do you do this?

You read their minds.

Reading your customer’s minds isn’t as sinister as it sounds. You can do this effectively, safely, and with zero hypnosis experience. It’s called the persona.

A persona in commerce is defined as “the ideal visitor you want to have take a specific action on your site.” The most popular way for digital marketers to shape personas is by using demographic characteristics such as age, income, location, gender, etc.

Here are some example personas.

Look at how those personas define the ideal customer. They are focused. They’re not going after “men, aged 35-45.” They’re going after James, 37 who lives in San Francisco, and likes to watch Friends.

A persona needs to be specific because your product is specific. A persona needs to be specific, because you aren’t trying to sell to a mass of incoming search traffic. You’re trying to sell a product to the customer who needs and wants it.

Your persona can be as detailed and as visual as you want. This example persona uses a problem statement to define why the customer is visiting the site. The problem statement is “I’m just not sure what I need to know to get my first mortgage. How do I know I made the right choice?”

This persona problem statement is helpful, because it allows marketers to hone in directly on solving the customer’s problems.

Different analytics platforms including Google Analytics can help you understand your customer demographics in order to make better marketing decisions.

Did you know? Kissmetrics is a great tool to help you find out more about your customers. We collect customer and behavioral data that you can use to optimize all of your marketing campaigns. Try Kissmetrics today!

6. Learn more about your competitors.

If your customers don’t convert on your website, then whose site are they converting on?

It’s time to scope out the competition. Chances are, you probably know who your competitors are. But do you know why your potential customers might be defecting to them?

What I recommend is spying on your competition, legally of course. You can use the same tools that you use to analyze your own website. Most of them are free. These tools and techniques can furnish you with a huge amount of information that puts you in complete control of the competition landscape.

The more you know about your competition, the better you can respond.

7. Learn that testing is important.

This is one of the most obvious things to learn from the customers who don’t convert: Testing is important.

Split testing is easily one of the most powerful techniques ever to happen to digital marketing. Although I’ve already spent some time drooling over it in this article, I want to point out here that testing indicates exactly what’s wrong with your website and what fixes it.

The moment you run a test, identify a winning variable, and make a permanent change, things happen. You realize, “Wow! This is powerful stuff!”

Conclusion

If your customers aren’t converting, don’t panic. It’s typical. Instead of responding with frustration, dive in deeper. Discover the information that will make you a more informed and effective marketer.

Non-converting customers are one of the most valuable assets, because they can tell you what’s not working and how to fix it.

What have you learned from customers who don’t convert?

About the Author: Neil Patel is a lifelong evangelist of KISSmetrics and blogs at Quick Sprout.

7 Important PR Lessons Every Content Marketer Needs to Learn

I tried to explain public relations to my grandmother once ...

This was many years ago, back when PR pros cut press coverage from publications we could actually hold in our hands, and few marketers talked about SEO in everyday conversation.

“So, it’s advertising,” she’d say, and I’d try again to explain that, no, it’s not.

“Advertising is about paying for attention; PR is about earning it.”

I don’t think she ever got it, and she’s not alone. Most people still think PR is some kind of black magic flacks work on the press -- you sprinkle a little witch’s potion, and TA-DA! You’re in The Wall Street Journal. But PR is a more strategic, sustained practice than that, and it’s a field content marketers need to understand as owned, earned and even paid media continue to intersect.

Below are seven PR lessons for content marketers (and for my relatives who still don’t understand what I do).

7 PR Lessons Every Content Marketer Needs to Learn

What is PR?

If your impression of PR pros is influenced entirely by Publicist Samantha Jones from Sex and the City or Fixer Olivia Pope from Scandal, you probably think the whole industry is busy planning parties and solving national crises (while wearing really fabulous pantsuits). The reality is somewhat less exciting -- but it’s also much more relevant to content marketers.

PR is about getting a company in front of the right audiences at the right time, with messages that make its spokespeople sound like human beings, not marketing super bots.

Today, that effort has a lot to do with content creation and distribution. The press, analysts, bloggers, prospects, venture capitalists, and other influencers want compelling content. In real life, Samantha and Olivia would be spending much of their days drafting articles for contribution or creating premium content with a team of writers and graphic designers.

What do journalists want from external content creators?

Every publication that accepts contributed content has some kind of guidelines for what they’ll take, and most follow the same best practices content marketers do. Editors will ask you to draft articles that keep their audiences in mind, offer helpful guidance to readers, are compelling and easy to read, leave out the promotional stuff, and deliver something fresh that won’t be published anywhere else.

Sound familiar?

These are many of the same parameters content marketers follow everyday.

Are contributed articles the only content PR handles?

The short answer? Not by a long shot.

Strategic PR is about solving business problems, so if the business problem is, say, a lack of leads at the top of the funnel, content can be a big part of the response. Depending on the exact scenario and the resources, a full-service PR team might recommend publishing on various social media channels, launching a comprehensive blogging program, creating a push around premium content (such as an ebook or series of infographics), putting out an email newsletter, or even a combination of these tactics.

Whatever the recommendation, a PR team can explain the supporting assets and workflows that need to be in place, as well as measure the results to determine what’s working and what needs to shift.

Do PR and content marketing compete?

Content and inbound marketing evolved at a time when PR was evolving, too. Just as marketers started to embrace strategies for drawing target audiences to them instead of pushing messages out to the masses, PR was experiencing a shift driven in large part by the shrinking media landscape.

There are now fewer journalists typing away in newsrooms and reporting back from the field -- 20,000 fewer than in 2008, according to a count Gigaom put out last year before closing its own doors. But that doesn’t mean there’s less need for copy.

And while many web-based publications are eager to publish more material to attract readers (hello, inbound), editors are looking for expert content contributions. If an editor wants a 2,000 word article from your CEO on an industry issue, is that a PR request or a content marketing request? Or is that question completely dated in the integrated marketing era?

Is PR measurable?

Yes, and if anyone tells you differently, run in the opposite direction.

Just like content marketing, goal-based PR should provide tangible business results -- not just a list of press hits. The metrics marketers use to measure awareness, engagement, lead generation, investor interest, sales, and other goals are the same ones you can use to measure PR.

"Of course, your PR efforts are even more measurable when your website is well-equipped with lead generation forms, tracking tools, and automated follow-up systems that allow you to capture visitors and convert them into real prospects and customers," explains Rod Thomson, president of The Thomson Group, a Sarasota-based PR and messaging firm.

And while it can be challenging to sort through all of the information at hand, it helps to use questions to focus your analysis.

Are you getting mentioned in analyst reports? Are influencers talking about you on social media? Are readers clicking through to deeper content from your blog? Where are visitors going once they hit your landing pages? Are they converting? After a quarter, six months, or a year of PR efforts, how have you progressed toward your primary strategic business goal?

These are the kinds of questions PR pros should be able to answer about any campaign.

If PR and content marketing overlap so much, what’s the benefit to having both?

If you’re lucky enough (or smart enough) to have PR and content marketing experts on your team, you’re in great shape to influence targets everywhere -- from the media to analysts to website visitors to social media followers and beyond.

Your PR pros and content marketers can support each others’ activities, inspire each others’ creativity and keep messages coordinated to better support your overall strategic goals.

How can content marketing teams best align with PR?

Content marketing and PR teams need to communicate.

If you’re promoting a new ebook, for example, your PR counterpart might be able to repurpose that asset for contributed content, social media outreach, influencer engagement, media pitches, and more. On the flip side, a successful media campaign should spark ideas for you about which messages are resonating, what prospects want, and how to incorporate that into future content creation.

These days, it’s my kids who are asking me to describe what I do for work. I have been much more successful in explaining it to them than I ever was back when I first entered PR and relatives asked me to define the industry.

To my daughters, I say, “I help companies tell stories people want to hear.” I imagine content marketers tell their families something similar, and that is a good thing for practitioners in both fields.

Creating a Survey? 7 Tips for Getting More Respondents

For marketers, tracking meaningful data is key to understanding how to generate leads. Of this data, pointed feedback from prospects and customers is especially valuable.

The best way to collect it?

Surveys.

Done well, a single survey that follows best practices can yield eye-opening information -- the kind that forever changes the direction of an organization for the better. On the other hand, a poorly written survey will return useless data while creating a frustrating experience for the respondent.

So, why do these long, agonizing surveys persist?

Too often, marketers and researchers fall into the trap of focusing exclusively on their own need for answers, and not enough on the experience they create for the respondents. When that occurs, respondents sometimes take shortcuts through the survey (if they finish it at all), and neither party wins.

To right that wrong, we've laid out seven helpful tips to nudge your respondents through a whole survey in a way that creates a positive experience, without sacrificing the actionable information you’re seeking.

7 Tips for Creating Surveys People Want to Take

1) Explain why someone should participate.

When requesting input from someone, remember that you’re asking the person to take precious time and energy out of their day to help your organization. In cases when you’re not offering an incentive for participation, it's important to keep in mind that you’re essentially appealing to the good nature of your contacts. (The hope is that after all those metaphorical back scratches you’ve given, they'll be willing to scratch yours.)

So whether you’re soliciting feedback via a website page, an email, or some other means, you'll want to emphasize why it’s worthwhile for someone to weigh in. Specifically, what will your organization do with the information your respondents provide? Why should your respondents care about that? How will your respondents benefit from sharing their perspectives?

Here’s a little secret: In nearly every case, survey responses help your organization serve your customers and potential customers more effectively, right? Include that in your introduction. If you make it easy for people to see how completing your survey may improve their lives, they often feel more inclined to participate.

Here’s a great example of an enticing survey invitation from Contently:

As you can see, this approach is actionable, explanative, and incentive-driven. Well done, Contently.

2) Set expectations properly.

Have you ever taken a survey that felt like the Energizer bunny of surveys? You know, the kind that keeps going and going and going and ... you get the point.

By the end of it (assuming you even made it that far), you probably felt like you’d taken the Bar exam. (And any lawyer will tell you that's definitely not the experience you want to create for your respondents.)

Suffice it to say, much has been written about considerations for survey length. Whatever the final question count turns out to be, it’s in your best interest to help your respondents plan accordingly.

For starters, tell them approximately how long they should set aside to complete your survey. This will help to ensure that they don’t have to rush or abandon the survey because of a time constraint. In some instances it can also be beneficial to use a survey tool that indicates the respondent’s progress throughout the survey using a progress bar. According to Survey Monkey, “Progress bars can basically act like a coach, encouraging people to keep on trucking and reach that finish line.”

Survey Monkey gives you the option to specify what information the progress bar displays, where it's located, and even -- in a separate window -- what colors it is.


Whether or not that functionality is available in the survey tool you’re using, it doesn’t hurt to add written checkpoints into the survey like, “keep the helpful feedback coming -- you’re more than halfway done” and “only two more questions to go." These minor additions can mean the difference between your respondents quitting the survey or sticking it out for a couple more questions.

One more note on setting expectations: Sometimes, your survey asks more of the respondent than simply answering a few simple questions. For example, you may ask your respondent to upload a photo or complete a task offline and rate their experience afterwards. In cases like this, it’s worth giving your respondents a heads-up in your introduction that the survey they’re about to take requires extra effort. (It also wouldn't hurt to incentivize them for going above and beyond.)

3) Speak your persona's language.

When writing a survey, there’s often a temptation among marketers to make the phrasing of questions as dry and bland as possible. For many, this is probably rooted in the fear that inserting superfluous language may influence the results of the survey.

That’s a legitimate concern. After all, surveys aren’t supposed to entertain -- they’re supposed to elicit meaningful feedback. But surveys don’t have to be boring. In fact, surveys can and should engage the participants enough to inspire creative and constructive input that can be used to empower you to enact real change.

Though it sounds obvious, the best way to write a survey like this is to speak like a human being. As you would with your keyword research, use language that your respondents would use and will easily understand. That means minimizing your usage of acronyms, jargon, and phrasing that might confuse them.

Here are a handful of writing tips to consider when creating a survey that is engaging and free from bias:

• When you know you’re asking a particularly tough or demanding question, acknowledge it.
• Thank respondents in advance for providing thorough, candid answers.
• Offer words of encouragement if you’re requesting a detailed, open-ended response.
• Provide help text so that a respondent fully understands how to answer a question (so long as it doesn’t influence how he/she responds).

Including this kind of language demonstrates an appreciation for your respondents, and it will further propel them through the survey.


4) End on a high note.

Once your respondents have answered all your questions, you should give them the chance to have the last word. Rather than doing the survey equivalent of a “dine and dash," conclude instead with a question like this:

"Thanks again for taking the time to complete this survey. Your input means a lot to us, and it will help us improve our ability to serve customers like you more effectively in the future.

Before you go, do you have anything else you’d like to add?

• No, I’m all set
• Yes, I’d like to add: [open text field]"

Whether or not a respondent takes advantage of this opportunity to weigh in, it’s one that they'll see and appreciate because it’s an invitation to share (even more of) their own ideas and opinions.

However, if they do decide to chime in, their responses tend to be incredibly valuable. In fact, having written and reviewed hundreds of surveys, I've found that the real gems of insights almost always surface in this final question. Here are some examples of the feedback you could expect participants to touch on at this stage:

• Pointing out things you may have forgotten to ask.
• Circling back on topics that may have only occurred to them after the opportunity to share feedback on that given topic.
• Identifying questions or answer options that may have been unclear in the survey, and therefore are worthy of taking into account as you conduct your analysis.
• Sharing new product or service ideas.
• Providing helpful anecdotes that shed further light on who your respondents are, and context for why they responded as they did.
• Expressing their gratitude for the opportunity to contribute. (It's helpful to keep those folks in mind, should you need another round of input.)
• Offering other top-of-mind thoughts about your organization because they simply may not know where else to share it.

5) Take your own survey.

When you’ve put the finishing touches on the survey you're writing, take a step back, refill your coffee mug, and then take your own survey with a fresh set of eyes. Review your introduction and each question for clarity and empathy, and ask yourself:

• Have I built a compelling case for why someone should take this survey?
• Is this the kind of survey my respondents will realistically start and finish?
• Are all of the questions I’m asking absolutely critical to my learning objectives?
• Does the language in this survey take into consideration the language that my respondents use and understand?

If your answer to these questions is “yes”, and you’ve adhered to survey-writing best practices, then give yourself a high five. You’re ready to field your survey.


6) Close the loop.

What happens when a lead closes into a customer? Do you ignore them and move on to the next sale?

Of course not. Once closed, you continue to delight your customers so they become promoters of your organization.

And your survey respondants should be treated no differently.

After they've completed your analysis, the goal is to close the loop by explaining what you did with their input. By following up in this way, you're creating an opportunity to delight your respondents. Considering they've probably grown used to not hearing back from organizations in the past, this gesture will ensure that they feel as though their voices have genuinely been heard.

And after such a delightful experience, they’ll often be more likely to participate when you request their assistance in the future. They might even be willing to spread the news of their positive experience:

“HOLY SMOKES, I told XYZ Company what to do, and they actually listened!”

In the instance that your organization conducts its analysis and determines not to make any decisions or take any action, that’s not an excuse to leave your respondents hanging. You should still politely explain to them why your organization has decided not to make any moves. Often, the justification for no action is as intriguing as immediate action. Not to mention, that refreshing honesty will help to keep your organization in your respondents’ good graces.


7) Share the wealth.

Depending on the sensitivity and confidentiality of the information you're requesting from respondents, consider making the raw, anonymous results from the survey visible to respondents. This way, each person who completes the survey can see how their own responses compare to those of their peers. Again, it’s a surprising and delightful form of instant gratification. More than that, it’s a way to learn from -- and bond with -- others with whom they have something in common.

In Survey Monkey, the option is available under the Collect Responses tab when creating a survey. It looks like this:

One very important note: If any of your questions ask for personal identification information, do not display the results to respondents.

Before you start creating your next survey, bear these tips in mind, take a walk in your personas’ shoes, and make sure that you’re weighing your own learning objectives against the needs and agenda of those going out of their way to lend a hand.

What other methods do you use in order to elicit high-quality and complete survey responses?

14 Companies With Really Catchy Taglines & Slogans

You know what's really difficult?

Being succinct. Seriously ... it's ridiculously hard. If you don't believe me, just grab your favorite copywriter and ask.

It's especially difficult to express a complex emotional concept in just a couple of words -- which is exactly what a slogan does. That's why we have a lot of respect for the brands that have done it right. The ones that have figured out how to convey their value proposition to their buyer persona in just one, short sentence -- and a quippy one, at that! Not too shabby.

While the word "slogan" might make you think of huge brands that paid millions of dollars for an agency to come up with one, slogans are important for -- and accessible to -- businesses of any size and budget.

So if you're looking to get a little slogan inspiration of your own, take a look at some of our favorite company slogans from both past and present. (Note: We've updated this post to include some suggestions from the comment section.)

Get even more branding tips by downloading our free ebook.

Before we get into specific examples, let's quickly go over what a slogan is and what makes one stand out.

What is a Slogan?

In business, a slogan or tagline is "a catchphrase or small group of words that are combined in a special way to identify a product or company," according to Entrepreneur.com's small business encyclopedia.

In many ways, they're like mini mission statements.

Companies have slogans for the same reason they have logos: advertising. While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations of a brand. Both formats grab consumers' attention more readily than the name a company or product might. Plus, they're simpler to understand and remember.

The goal? To leave a key brand message in consumers' minds so that, if they remember nothing else from an advertisement, they'll remember the slogan.

What Makes a Great Slogan?

According to HowStuffWorks, a great slogan has most or all of the following characteristics:

It's memorable.

Is the slogan quickly recognizable? Will people only have to spend a second or two thinking about it? A brief, catchy few words can go a long way in advertisements, videos, posters, business cards, swag, and other places. (Take this quiz to see if you can guess the brands behind 16 memorable slogans.)

It includes a key benefit.

Ever heard the marketing advice, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak"? It means sell the benefits, not the features -- which applies perfectly to slogans. A great slogan makes a company or product's benefits clear to the audience.

It differentiates the brand.

Does your light beer have the fullest flavor? Or maybe the fewest calories? What is it about your product or brand that sets it apart from competitors?

It imparts positive feelings about the brand.

The best taglines use words that are positive and upbeat. For example, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups' slogan, "Two great tastes that taste great together," gives the audience good feelings about Reese's, whereas a slogan like Lea & Perrins', "Steak sauce only a cow could hate," uses negative words. The former leaves a better impression on the audience.

Now that we've covered what a slogan is and what makes one great, here are examples of the best brand slogans of all time. If we missed any of your favorites, share them with us in the comment section. (Note: We've updated this post with several ideas folks have shared with us in the comments.)

14 Companies With Really Catchy Taglines & Slogans

1) Nike: "Just Do It"

Source: brandchannel

It didn't take long for Nike's message to resonate. The brand became more than just athletic apparel -- it began to embody a state of mind. It encourages you to think that you don't have to be an athlete to be in shape or tackle an obstacle. If you want to do it, just do it. That's all it takes.

But it's unlikely Kennedy + Weiden, the agency behind this tagline, knew from the start that Nike would brand itself in this way. In fact, Nike's product used to cater almost exclusively to marathon runners, which are among the most hardcore athletes out there. The "Just Do It" campaign widened the funnel, and it's proof positive that some brands need to take their time coming up with a slogan that reflects their message and resonates with their target audience.

2) Apple: "Think Different"

Source: Blue Fin Group

This slogan was first released in the Apple's commercial, called "Here's to the Crazy Ones, Think Different" -- a tribute to all the time-honored visionaries who challenged the status quo and changed the world. The phrase itself is a bold nod to IBM's campaign "Think IBM," which was used at the time to advertise its ThinkPad.

Soon after, the slogan "Think Different" accompanied Apple advertisements all over the place, even though Apple hadn't released any significant new products at the time. All of a sudden, people began to realize that Apple wasn't just any old computer; it was so powerful and so simple to use that it made the average computer user feel innovative and tech-savvy.

According to Forbes, Apple's stock price tripled within a year of the commercial's release. Although the slogan has been retired since, many Apple users still feel a sense of entitlement for being among those who "think different."

3) McDonald's: "I'm Lovin' It"

Source: McDonald's

The "I'm Lovin' It" campaign was launched way back in 2003 and still stands strong today. This is a great example of a slogan that resonates with the brand's target audience. McDonald's food might be poor for your health, but being healthy isn't the benefit McDonald's is promising -- it's that you'll love the taste. They're appealing to people who like salty, flavorful food, and its slogan makes that clear from the get-go.

4) Verizon: "Can You Hear Me Now? Good."

Source: MS Lumia Blog

Here's another brand that took its time coming up with something that truly resonated with its audience. This tagline was created in 2002 under the umbrella of "We never stop working for you."

While Verizon was founded in 1983, they continued to battle against various phone companies like AT&T and T-Mobile, still two of its strongest competitors. But what makes Verizon stand out? No matter where you are, you have service. You may not have the greatest texting options, or the best cellphone options, but you will always have service.

5) L'Oréal: "Because You're Worth It"

Source: Farah Khan

Who doesn't want to feel like they're "worth it"? The folks at L'Oréal know that women wear makeup in order to make themselves appear "beautiful" so they feel desirable, wanted, and worth it. The tagline isn't about the product -- it's about the image the product can get you. This message allowed L'Oréal to push its brand further than just utility so as to give the entire concept of makeup a much more powerful message.

6) California Milk Processor Board: "Got Milk?"

Source: Broward Palm Beach News Times

While most people are familiar with the "Got Milk?" campaign, not everyone remembers that it was launched by the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB). What's interesting about this campaign is that it was initially launched to combat the rapid increase in fast food and soft beverages. The CMPB wanted people to revert to milk as their drink of choice in order to sustain a healthier life. The campaign was meant to bring some life to a "boring" product, ad executives told TIME Magazine.

The simple words "Got Milk?" scribbled above celebrities, animals, and children with milk mustaches, which ran from 2003 until 2014, became one of the longest-lasting campaigns ever. The CMPB wasn't determined to make its brand known with this one -- they were determined to infiltrate the idea of drinking milk across the nation. And these two simple words sure as heck did.

7) M&M: "Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands"

Source: Platform Magazine

Here's one brand that didn't need much time before realizing its core value proposition. At the end of the day, chocolate is chocolate. How can one piece of chocolate truly stand out from another? By bringing in the convenience factor, of course. This particular example highlights the importance of finding something that makes your brand different from the others -- in this case, the hard shell that keeps chocolate from melting all over you.

8) Lay's: "Betcha Can't Eat Just One"

Source: Amazon

Seriously, who here has ever had just one chip? While this tagline might stand true for other snack companies, Lay's was clever to pick up on it straight away. The company tapped into our truly human incapability to ignore crispy, salty goodness when it's staring us in the face. Carbs, what a tangled web you weave.

But seriously, notice how the emphasis isn't on the taste of the product. There are plenty of other delicious chips out there. But what Lay's was able to bring forth with its tagline is that totally human, uncontrollable nature of snacking until the cows come home.

9) Meow Mix: "Tastes So Good, Cats Ask for It by Name"

Source: Walgreens

Meow meow meow meow ... who remembers this catchy tune sung by cats, for cats, in Meow Mix's television commercials? The brand released a simple but telling tagline, "Tastes So Good, Cats Ask For It By Name," It plays off the fact that every time a cat meows, s/he is actually asking for Meow Mix. It was clever and successfully planted Meow Mix as a standout brand in a cluttered market.

10) The New York Times: "All the News That's Fit to Print"

Source: 4th St8 Blog

This one is my personal favorite. The tagline was created in the late 1890s as a movement of opposition against other news publications printing lurid journalism. The New York Times didn't stand for sensationalism, but rather, it focused on important facts and stories that would educate its audience. It literally deemed its content all the real "news fit to print." This helped the paper become more than just a news outlet, but a company that paved the way for creditable news. The company didn't force a tagline upon people when it first was founded, but rather, it created one in a time where it was needed most.

11) State Farm: "Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There

Source: ConsumerAffairs

The insurance company State Farm has a number of slogans, including "Get to a better State" and "No one serves you better than State Farm." But its most famous one is the jingle "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there," which you're likely familiar with if you live in the United States and watch television.

These words emphasize State Farm's "community-first" value proposition -- which sets them apart from the huge, bureaucratic feel of most insurance companies. It quickly establishes a close relationship with the consumer. Often, customers need insurance when they least expect it -- and in those situations, State Farm is responding in friendly, neighborly language. Its "about us" page reinforces this idea: "Being a good neighbor is not just a slogan; it's a promise."

12) MasterCard: "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard."

Source: MasterCard

MasterCard's two-sentence slogan was created in 1997 as a part of an award-winning advertising campaign that ran in 98 countries and in 46 languages. The very first iteration of the campaign was a TV commercial that aired in 1997: "A dad takes his son to a baseball game and pays for a hot dog and a drink, but the conversation between the two is priceless," writes Avi Dan for Forbes. "In a sense, 'Priceless' became a viral, social campaign years before there was a social media."

One key to this campaign's success? Each commercial elicits an emotional response from the audience. That first TV commercial might remind you of sports games you went to with your dad, for example. Each advertisement attempted to trigger a different memory or feeling. "You have to create a cultural phenomenon and then constantly nurture it to keep it fresh," MasterCard CMO Raja Rajamannar told Dan. Nostalgia marketing like that can be a powerful tool.

13) The U.S. Marine Corps: "The Few. The Proud. The Marines."

Source: SocialMediaToday

The U.S. Marine Corps has had a handful of top-notch recruiting slogans over the decades, from "First to fight" starting in World War I to "We're looking for a few good men" from the 1980s. However, we'd argue that "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." is among the best organization slogans out there.

This slogan "underscores the high caliber of those who join and serve their country as Marines," said Maj. Gen. Richard T. Tryon, former commanding general of Marine Corps Recruiting Command. In 2007, it even earned a spot in Madison Avenue's Advertising Walk of Fame.

14) Southwest Airlines: "Ding! You are now free to move about the country."

Source: MLB Reports

Along with the U.S. Marine Corps, Southwest Airlines was inducted into the Madison Avenue's Advertising Walk of Fame in 2007 thanks to this catchy one-liner. The slogan features the DING! sound passengers hear when the seatbelt sign turns on or off, followed by a play on the popular in-flight announcement, "You are now free to move about the cabin." GS&D Idea City came up with it in 1997.

Not only is this campaign memorable and clever, it's also a great example of integrated marketing communication. According to William Pride's book Marketing 2014, Southwest customers browsing the airline's website will be notified of a low fare with the same, familiar DING! sound featured in the commercials.

Do you have your own tagline? What other brands' taglines do you love?

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in August 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

How Did Codecademy Get 25 Million People Coding? Inside the Growth of a Movement [Podcast]

"Everyone should learn how to code."

This has been the narrative in the technology industry over the last few years, and for good reason. Code is behind nearly everything we touch today. Even those who don't have a desire to become a developer are learning to code in order to gain a fundamental understanding of how technology operates.

At the forefront of this movement is Codeacademy. This online interactive platform offers free coding classes, and is quickly becoming a pillar in the New York City startup community.

And it all started back in 2011, when co-founder Zach Sims dropped out of Columbia to start the company with Ryan Bubinski. Since then, they've helped nearly 25 million people learn how to code.

Zach joins Mike on this episode of The Growth Show to talk about:

• How Codecademy was a viral phenomenon
• The decision to drop out of an Ivy league school with only one year left until graduation
• The choice to make Codecademy free for everyone
• The future of learning and how they're re-thinking education from the bottom up

Click the play button below to listen to this episode, or subscribe directly on iTunes and you'll never miss a new episode: And if you'd like to see more recaps of the latest episodes of The Growth Show, click here.

The Key to Driving Consistent Growth: Understanding Costs

I have a confession to make. I’m a revenue (sales) guy. I can think about, conceive and vision growth opportunities without even trying. On the other hand, thinking about (and understanding) costs doesn’t come so easily to me.

I’ve learned that understanding your costs is crucial to creating profitable revenue consistently, sustainably and scalably. Unfortunately, very few small and mid-sized companies understand their sales cost structure well enough.

This creates two potential problems (one obvious and one not-so-obvious):

1. If your costs are too high, you’ll struggle to grow profitably and your very sustainability will be threatened.
2. If your costs are too low, you may very well struggle to gain the momentum and velocity you need to break through the noise, separate yourself from your competition and achieve your sales growth goals.

An important metric to understand is customer acquisition cost (CAC). While this metric is very common with SaaS companies, my experience is that it doesn’t get the attention it deserves in other industries. It’s important that you understand your CAC, the contributors to CAC and the model you’re implementing to manage it.

With a clear understanding, you can ensure that you are investing wisely in growth. A lack of understanding makes it impossible to determine the effectiveness of your sales and marketing efforts. In this post, I outline the process we recommend for building out your sales cost model and how to monitor its effectiveness alongside your sales and marketing investments.

Calculating CAC

Determining your customer acquisition cost is a relatively simple calculation. You calculate it by dividing the total costs associated with generating new customers by the number of new customers you gained in a specific period of time.

When determining your costs, only include the costs associated with getting new customers. Do not include the costs of retaining or servicing them. If you’ve got salespeople who have responsibilities for both, you must prorate those expenses according to how they spend their time. The same is true for any technology or other sales and marketing overhead.

Here’s a sample calculation based on one year (note: you can run this calculation for any period of time, but for this post every example is based upon one year):

In this case, it cost this company just under $20,000 to acquire each of their 17 new customers. But, here’s the unanswered question: is that good or bad? Did this company spend too much to get their customers, or could they have benefitted from investing more?

Determining Where Your Costs Should Be

To answer that question, you need to determine what your target CAC% is. Calculating target CAC% is done by dividing your CAC by the average lifetime value of a customer. Average lifetime value simply measures how much money a customer contributes to your business over the lifetime that they are with you.

To determine lifetime value, we recommend using a variation of gross profit in the calculation. The variation is determined by taking the value of the sale and reducing it to only the non-sales, direct costs of what is being sold.

Let’s go back to our example. In this case, our sample manufacturing/distribution company earns an average gross profit of $24,000 per customer per year, and their average customer lifetime is 3.5 years. So the lifetime value of the typical customer is $84,000 and the CAC% is 23.5% (calculated by dividing their CAC (19,702.94) by their average lifetime value ($84,000)).

The next step in the process varies depending on several factors, such as the type of business you’re in, your revenue model and how aggressively you’re growing. Most sales and marketing benchmarks recommend that CAC be targeted between 20% and 35% for growth businesses.

As a general rule, here are some key contributors to determine where on the range yours should be:

As a side note, if you’re a very young business you should often go above these norms.

Given the nature of their business, our sample company is in a reasonable range. However, one could make the argument that if they invested more in customer acquisition, they’d be able to grow faster and more profitably.

The next step in this process will determine whether that argument can be won.

Establishing Your Optimum Lead Generation Model

One of the most common mistakes I see companies making that aren’t growing at the sustained rate they desire is they’re not allocating enough resources towards the top and middle of the funnel (the lead generation and lead management functions).

To be able to clearly answer the question about the effectiveness and sustainability of your effort, you must dig deeper into the CAC numbers and determine which parts of the process are your costs being allocated. A simple model to use is:

• Lead Acquisition Costs Percentage – what percentage of your customer acquisition costs are allocated to create sales qualified leads (SQL).
• Sales Acquisition Costs Percentage – what percentage of your customer acquisition costs are allocated to support the new-sales process.

Let’s go back to our sample manufacturing/distribution company and see how it stands up. By using the same numbers as we did to determine the overall CAC but changing the % allocated column to reflect the percentage of costs that go towards creating an SQL, we can determine the cost per SQL.

Now we’re quickly able to see that less than 10% of their acquisition costs are geared to support lead generation, and more than 90% go to supporting the actual sales process. This is a formula for stagnation.

Knowing the company that this data is based upon, they’re challenged because they feel that their sales team is at capacity and they’re still not getting the growth results they want. They would be far better off allocating more money toward the top and middle of the funnel to create more sales qualified leads and/or to improve the quality and readiness of those leads when they get into the hands of the sales team.

Here again determining how much money you should invest in the lead generation efforts is highly influenced by the business you’re in and the model you’re using. We recommend that anywhere between 25% and 60% of your CAC be allocated to the creation of SQLs. The following items will help determine how to split your acquisition costs between lead generation and sales:

• How complex is your sale?

The more complex the sale, the more you’ll want to allocate towards the sales process, and therefore be on the lower end of the scale. Don’t make the mistake, however, of under-allocating resources towards lead generation, nurturing and conversion.

• What’s the value of the sale?

A higher value sale will often allocate more towards the sales process and a smaller percent towards lead management.

• Do you have a defined sales development team?

If you don’t, you should consider one. This would put you towards the middle or even upper band of the lead cost percentage continuum.

• How much of the sale do you want done before it gets in the hands of a salesperson?

A growing trend in the world is empowering the customer to do more of the sale on their own so that when they get to your new-sales team, they’re better educated and ready. This would mean you’d allocate more of your CAC towards lead management.

The Benefits of Allocating More Resources to Lead Generation

When more money is allocated towards lead generation and management, your sales process becomes much more efficient and effective. You’re able to increase the volume and velocity of your lead generation, thus enabling you to increase the average sale value and your closing ratio. Research shows that companies that manage leads well enjoy 50% more sales ready leads (Forrester Research) that make 48% larger purchases (The Annuitas Group).

Up to this point I’ve been highlighting how to calculate and use this data when looking at the results of your efforts. This data is equally important when planning for the future. Determining what you can and should invest in each part of the revenue generation process is valuable when determining the tactics you will use, how you will implement them and how you’ll track your progress.

We call these numbers your target costs. To determine this we created The SQL Target Cost Calculator. Now let’s go back to our manufacturing/distribution company and figure out how much they should be allocating towards creating SQLs (for where they are now and what they should do to drive better results).

Over time, as you improve and enhance your process you’ll see that your sales costs, and even acquisition costs, will decrease. While this is a strong indication of an effective process, don’t make the mistake of under-allocating resources as you may kill the very momentum you worked so hard to create.