June 9th, 2011 | 1 MIN READ

7 Takeaways From Optimization Summit 2011

Written by Amanda Dhalla

As head of consumer research with Elastic Path’s Research and Strategy division, Amanda Dhalla helps global enterprises like Google better understand consumer behavior in order to optimize their digital offerings. Amanda’s research has been cited by CNN, Econsultancy, Smart Money, and Internet Retailer. A seasoned ecommerce professional with more than 14 years in the field, Amanda has hands-on experience marketing, merchandising and managing multimillion dollar online stores. Her areas of specialization range from market research, conversion optimization and analytics to traffic generation tactics such as social media, search engine optimization, and content marketing.

Freshly back from the Marketing Sherpa / Marketing Experiments Optimization Summit 2011 on conversion testingin steamy Atlanta, I felt compelled to share the juiciest takeaways with you readers. Many of these look like common sense – or stuff we learned long ago in school. But sometimes a list helps us focus on the essentials for creating compelling, and converting, website content.

Know your value proposition

Your unique value proposition is what persuades prospects, not copy. The impact of a value proposition can be measured by 3 elements:

Appeal – How much is the offer desired?
Exclusivity – Is this offer, or a better one, available elsewhere?
Credibility – How believable are my claims?

A true value proposition states clearly and succinctly why your ideal prospect should buy from your company rather than a competitor. Every page element and step in the buying process should either state or support the value proposition. Testing your value proposition is essential to find what resonates best with target customers. Mint.com personal financial services do a nice job of articulating why you would want to sign up with them, and then proceed to validate their claims: Mint, your financial life all in one place