If you run a Shopify or headless Shopify store and your GA4 reports fewer purchases than your back-end, or returning Safari customers keep showing up as new visitors, the cause is usually in your tracking setup.  We deal with tracking on Shopify...

Are you spending on ChatGPT Ads without knowing which leads or orders they produced? OpenAI's Ads Manager gives you two ways to send it conversions: a browser pixel and a Conversions API. Use only the pixel and you lose conversions to ad blockers, ...

How to Connect Claude to Google Tag Manager With a Self-Hosted MCP Server If you look after tagging for more than one or two clients, you already know how long a Google Tag Manager container review takes. Open a tag. Check the trigger. Check the...

How to connect Claude to Google AdsIf you spend time moving between Google Ads reports, account screens and spreadsheets just to answer a straightforward question, connecting Claude to Google Ads can give you a quicker way to investigate the...

How to Connect Claude AI to Google Analytics 4 Published 29/07/2026. Last updated 30/08/2026. Windows setup, about an hour start to finish. In short: Claude talks to Google Analytics 4 through an MCP server, a small program that runs on your...

Why Conversion Tracking is Broken? So, the number of conversions and revenue are a lot lower in GA4 and Google Ads than what your back-end data shows you. Well, conversion tracking should tell you which marketing campaigns generate leads and sales....

AI GA4 Attribution Audit GA4 attribution is often inaccurate because most websites misuse UTM parameters. Inconsistent UTM naming conventions, incorrect medium values, mixed casing, and poorly structured campaign tags all lead to broken attribution...

AI assistants and AI search engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, etc.) increasingly surface and share your content. This guide shows how to track AI referrals in GA4 using Google Tag Manager (GTM) and GA4 with a clean dataLayer push, so...

Audit Your SERP Snippets Using GTM When it comes to SEO, alignment between your title tags, meta descriptions, and on-page headings plays a huge role in click-through rates and content performance. Our Google Tag Manager SEO audit allows you to...

How To Add Value to a GA and GTM Audit Most GA4 and GTM audits focus on technical accuracy — checking tags, validating triggers, and fixing broken event tracking. While that’s important, it’s not enough. If your audit doesn’t inspire...

If you run GA4 and Google Ads through client-side GTM, you will be aware that ad blockers, browser extensions and Safari ITP stop some conversions reaching the platforms. Client-side tags typically lose 10% to 15% of conversions this way. At £1m a...

In this blog we are going to discuss one of the most common issues with web analytics: duplicate page view events. Duplicate page view events inflate these events in GA4 and result in ultra low bounce rates which don't reflect the true nature of...

This blog will teach you how to create a real-time dashboard using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) data. You can watch also watch the YouTube video below. Why Use BigQuery with GA4? The free version of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) may take up to 24...

How to Configure the New Google Tag and Variables in Google Tag Manager The Google Tag plays a crucial role in setting up Google Analytics 4 within Google Tag Manager (GTM). Understanding the fundamentals of how to correctly configure this Tag...

Today, we're diving into a nifty GA4 feature that helps you redact sensitive data like email addresses and query parameters. This is useful for both data protection issues and for data quality purposes. Why Redact Data? Redacting data is...

Introduction Are you looking to get the most out of your website forms but don't want to invest in expensive form analytics software? Good news: Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has got you covered! With GA4, you can track user interactions with your...

Introduction Tracking user behaviour across multiple websites is crucial for businesses, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a solution through its roll-up property feature. This blog post aims to guide you through the process of setting up a...

Introduction: I am going to introduce you to ChatGPT+ via the plugin - Avian. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1agZFgREpYU&t=80s Overview of Video Dialogue: Create an account with Avian. They do have a free trial on ChatGPT+ which...

Introduction: I am going to introduce you to a powerful tool for data exploration, which is Chat GPT's Code Interpreter with Google Analytics 4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmwPyKYy7ts Overview of Video Dialogue: I'm going to show...

Our Google Analytics 4 (GA4) audit checklist is the most comprehensive checklist you will find and is divided into 16 sections, each with a particular focus area. You can access our free Google Analytics 4 checklist...

Opting out of Automatic GA4 Migration To assist you in opting out of the automatic GA4 migration, we have produced a video tutorial that shows you how to do it. You can follow the steps outlined in this YouTube video by Conversion Uplift to...

What is a GA4 Path Exploration Report? A GA4 path exploration report allows you to analyse user paths and the sequences of interactions they take across your website, mobile app, and other digital properties. This report helps you identify the...

Creating Custom Channel Groups in GA4: Creating custom channel groups in GA4 can provide several benefits, including: 1. Better Understanding of Traffic Sources: By creating custom channel groups, you can group together...

Need help deciding which Session Replay tool is best for your business? Is Hotjar or Clarity sufficient or do you need a more advanced tool? This article will answer those questions and ensure you get value from your Session Replay tool. Whilst...

A Step-By-Step Guide to Becoming a Better Java Developer: Want to become a better Java Developer? Java is an object-oriented programming language that was launched way back in 1995, it is the second most popular programming language after C. It...

Connecting Google Analytics 4 to BigQuery – A Step-by-Step Guide Google Analytics 4 brings data science to the mass market by allowing you to export data for free to Google BigQuery, Google's powerful cloud based data warehouse platform....

A Step-By-Step Guide to Create an Exploration Report in Google Analytics 4 Google Analytics 4 offers users a powerful suit of insight tools in the form of the Analysis Hub. I have previously covered how to create a funnel report in Google...

Google Analytics 4 not only offers advanced web analytics, but its predictive audiences can be used to identify which users are most likely to convert or churn. This allows marketers to create more effective campaigns in Google Ads for both...

The funnel analysis report in Google Analytics 4 is an awesome report which anyone involved in conversion rate optimisation will find invaluable. The report can help you instantly identify areas with the greatest potential for optimisation. It...

Google Analytics 4, Google’s machine learning powered web analytics platform, is an event-based solution for the modern digital experience. Unlike Universal Analytics, users can create new events in Google Analytics 4 within the new interface....

Tracking events in Google Analytics 4 lies at the heart of Google’s AI powered web analytics platform. GA4 automatically measure some types of events, such as clicks on external links, but in many other respects it relies on the user to create...

Google Analytics 4 is the innovative next generation web analytics platform from Google. GA4 has been created using the power of machine learning to automatically alert you to new trends in user behaviour. In addition, the old interface of...

The new Google Tag Manager Preview mode offers a powerful platform for testing and debugging the implementation of GTM tags and Google Analytics on your website. It allows you to examine in real-time which tags are firing on a web page, which tags...

Google Chrome Dev Tools allow you to test and debug your analytics implementation to ensure the level of data integrity matches your expectations. As a web analytics consultant I frequently see the consequences of where there has been little or no...

Apps and the mobile marketing funnel: In today’s dynamic world, new mobile apps are launching at breakneck speed. The mobile app industry is evolving at a pace like never before, with a staggering 3.4 million apps in the Apple App Store...

Clicks on call-to-action buttons can be overrated if they don’t result in a conversion. A good click-through rate on a button is a strong indicator of how relevant and engaging your offer is to visitors. That’s why it’s important to record...

Want to learn how to create a split test in Google Optimize? Google Optimize is Google’s excellent free A/B testing and personalisation solution which allows you to create a split test in a matter of minutes. It is making online...

Google Tag Manager revolutionises the way many websites manage tags. But like any software solution it requires time and careful planning to optimise implementation. The Google Tag Manager audit checklist helps you identify areas for improvement,...

Migrating to Google Tag Manager for your analytics and tag management needs can be incredibly beneficial. This is because GTM enables agile working and data enrichment with limited, and often no developer assistance. However, as a web analytics...

Custom segments are one of my favourite features of Google Analytics. Unlike goals they work retrospectively, and they offer users a multitude of options, including creating audiences for remarketing purposes. This flexibility means custom segments...

Analysis of A/B Testing Tools Customer Reviews & Market Presence As a greater proportion of sales move online. The use of A/B testing tools is likely to increase as more organisations see the value in conversion rate optimisation (CRO)....

Migrating from Google Analytics base code to Google Tag Manager provides you with a huge opportunity to enrich your web analytics data. However, this does require some planning and developer resource to ensure your website is Google Tag Manager...

Conducting a Google Analytics 4 audit is one of the first tasks you should undertake when joining an organisation as a web analyst or consultant. We have conducted countless audits of GA4. You can see what this covers by downloading our GA4 and GTM...

Custom metrics are one of the most underutilised features of Google Analytics. Yet they can transform your analysis and reporting to give better insights from your Google Analytics data. They are also often a prerequisite for calculated metrics...

Google’s Pagespeed Insights and Data Studio are awesome free resources. Pagespeed Insights is a must have resource for conversion rate optimisation because we know there is a proven link between page load speed and conversion. The problem I had...

Google Tag Manager is a comprehensive and flexible platform that allows you to create and test new events and tags before you publish them, but what if you want to test new tags in Google Tag Manager on multiple websites? Perhaps you have multiple...

Calculated Metrics are an underused but powerful functionality of Google Analytics which will enrich your data to generate new insights. GA is an awesome free tool, but to get the most from it you need to invest some time and effort to set it up...

Tracking SMS marketing campaigns in Google Analytics gives you the ability to measure the effectiveness of your SMS activity. This enables you to experiment and learn from mistakes and successes to optimise your SMS marketing campaigns and increase...

A Guide for front-end developers on coding experiments. I’m a self-taught developer since the age of 15. I’ve also spent 10 years of my career working as a freelance web designer and developer. I fell into coding experiments for CRO and A/B...

Google Optimize is a free A/B testing and personalisation solution that is revolutionising how small to medium sized organisations optimise their websites. Unlike most A/B testing tools Optimize doesn’t require any financial commitment to conduct...

Subdomain tracking is an often-forgotten aspect of Google Analytics tracking because some users assume that it happens automatically, and others confuse it with cross-domain tracking. As many websites use subdomains to organise separate functions...

Some service providers use embedded applications to easily replicate a complex user journey across multiple websites. Often these user journeys are not tracked. As a result we are unable to optimise conversions for important steps in the user...

Google Tag Manager is a powerful free software platform. It enables you to automatically install code (called tags) for many digital marketing solutions on your website. This minimises the number of marketing tags you need to install on your...

Virtual page views allow Google Tag Manager to track important user journeys when new new content is served. Even though no page actually exists. They are an essential tool. It enables the analyst to create reports for conversion funnels and user...

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is a powerful and free tag management platform. It allows you to configure and enrich data sent to Google Analytics. However, unless you have a robust process for development and testing you will miss opportunities to...

How to be productive working from home: Are you working from home during the COVID-19 crises? No matter how much we might dislike it, our work habits are sometimes subject to change. This should often be for the better, like after reading...

When analysing visitor behaviour, it can be incredibly useful to know if a specific piece of content appeared on a user journey. That’s why the element visibility trigger is one of the most versatile tools available in Google Tag...

Many websites use a shared payment gateway because it’s the most sensitive and secure part of the user journey. That’s why it can be a challenge to get approval to get Google Tag Manager (GTM) integrated into the payment gateway. It's not...

Cross-domain tracking is often the last piece in the jigsaw to enable measurement of the complete user journey. It is essential for many websites because few sites can host every step of the user journeys such as the payment gateway or price...

Firstly, Enhanced Ecommerce reporting is one the most valuable ways of enriching the data collected by Google Analytics. It generates a series of reports by enabling additional metrics and dimensions to capture data on user interactions with your...

How will the Coronavirus crisis disrupt digital marketing and who will be the winners and losers? Coronavirus has already resulted in major changes in consumer and organisational behaviour. Many countries went into initial lockdowns and are now...

Creating online forms that look professional and work for both the user and your website is one of the most important aspects of conversion rate optimisation. There can be a tendency to focus on users who complete an online form, rather than those...

Attempting to automate a complex funnel visualisation in Data Studio can be difficult when you have multiple pages or events at certain steps in the user journey. Most experts suggest creating a goal in Google Analytics for each step in the...

It's essential to track clicks from emails in Google Analytics to be able to measure the performance of your email campaigns. However, email clicks are also an important step in most sign-up and password reset journeys. Many off-the shelf...

Google’s Data Studio is a fantastic free data visualisation tool but it doesn’t have a complex funnel visualisation chart for calculating your conversion rate. In addition it doesn't allow you to use the funnel steps from Google Analytics...

Data breaches are one of the biggest risks that businesses face in today’s world. Around 86% of business leaders see cyber security as their most concerning threat is data security. A benefit of hiring a market research service is its risk...

Like any data source web analytics can only be valuable if the data it generates is an accurate reflection of what it is supposed to be measuring. This is why I am regularly employed by companies to audit their web analytics and improve tag...

SaaS marketing companies live and die by metrics. To grow a SaaS company rapidly and in a sustainable way it's essential to quickly identify the effectiveness of different strategies. If necessary change tactics swiftly to survive. Metrics need...

How often do you hear the SaaS marketing funnel is all about rapidly growing subscriptions and reducing churn? These metrics are undoubtedly important to the success of your business. This one size fits all approach to the recurring subscription...

How To Use Marketing Automation in 2019 Does marketing automation represent a new phase in the role of marketing in business? Marketing is the lifeblood of every business, big or small. And it’s history goes a long way back, taking its modern...

It doesn’t matter how awesome the desktop version of your website is, if you haven’t primed your website for the mobile experience you’ll be missing out on lots of potential sales. Your website needs to be optimized for everything when it...

What is Remarketing? Have you ever noticed that one week you might google something about dog collars and within a few days, Facebook is displaying everything from dog treats to those collars you looked at… only cheaper? This is a clever...

How to Develop a Digital Marketing Plan: When it comes to selling products and services to a geographically dispersed market. Digital marketing can be the most effective and appropriate approach to do so. Whether you own a brick and mortar...

What is a conversion optimization plan? Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the practice of modifying websites in order to increase their effectiveness at turning visitors into customers. CRO is just one of the many available strategies for...

Why Consumer Behaviour? When you want to make a new product or create a marketing campaign, the most important thing is consumer behaviour. Their behaviour and habits as well as their decision making process is what defines your next...

AI and the Marketing Revolution Digital marketing is experiencing substantial changes in the last few years due to the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI). A report shows that over 60% of companies with an innovation strategy are using AI to...

12 Google Ads Tips for 2019: Whether you’re new to Google Ads (previously called Google AdWords) or you’re thinking about taking a dive into online advertising in 2019. It’s important to know what you’re getting into. Whilst it’s...

Why Facebook Ads? You may be well versed with the benefits of advertising on Facebook and the massive reach this platform can give your business. But have you wondered why you have not seen an increase in traffic or your conversion rate in spite...

Knowing buyers personas is a no-nonsense shortcut to revenue growth and solid brand presence. The buyer personas knowledge gives you the opportunity to focus all your resources in a way that will ensure maximum efficiency and is a powerful strategy...

Why Local SEO Marketing? As a local business owner, you are probably aware that reaching new customers is essential for growing your business. While traditional marketing such as newspaper ads and posters can target the older customers, if you...

Why Competitive Analysis Improves Marketing Performance: If you want to become a top player in your industry, you’ll have to understand the dynamics of today’s marketplace. Your marketing performance can be significantly improved if you...

Why Reputation Management? SEO for reputation management is one of the most talked about topics today. There are millions of consumers online looking at your various pages to make their purchasing decisions. This is a good thing, most of the...

How To Create Lead Generating Content : If gaining leads through your website is the Holy Grail then web content is the map that takes you there. In a world of thousands if not millions of websites jostling for attention. Quality content is what...

Why Do Psychological Tactics Work? Psychological tactics boost conversions because studies have shown that 90% of consumers’ buying decisions are influenced by emotions. In almost any case, a website will try to sell a product or a service....

How To LIFT Your Email Conversions: We all need a little lift every now and then — even your email marketing. In an increasingly digital world, emails are vital drivers of conversions. As a result, it’s crucial that your campaigns are...

Why Data-Driven Marketing Strategies? Data-driven marketing has become a popular phrase among entrepreneurs, especially with the development of big data. For users and business owners alike, there has never been an easier time to satisfy one’s...

Should You Aim To Rank Top of Google? One of the biggest issues for digital marketers is the lack of understanding from prospective clients of what it actually takes to rank at the top of Google and why. Often this lack of understanding isn't...

What Does it Mean for Marketing? If you’re into technology and online marketing, then you’ve definitely heard of the big data concept. It’s everywhere. Since it’s so prevalent in online marketing guides, you might assume that it’s...

Why visual design feedback? Insightful visual design feedback can prevent changes being made to your site that can damage the user experience and reduce your conversion rate. Your website should be like a highly-tuned racing car that provides a...

How to create an awesome whiteboard animation video: We have all seen a great teacher use a whiteboard to explain and inspire students. Well, a whiteboard animation videos can do exactly the same. Drawings and animation have always had a special...

Getting the right eCommerce Platform for your business: As crowds migrate from the mall to the mouse, it’s natural that you want to get in on the eCommerce action. It may not surprise you that, according to the US Department of Commerce, 53%...

Mobile First – New UX Strategies You Need Implementing mobile-focused UX (user-experience) is now more important than ever, as the mobile first index is progressively rolled out across all websites. The mobile version of your website is now...

With all the marketing tools and options available in today’s age it’s easy to overlook the value of email marketing. Electronic mail has always been one of the main staples of the internet as a whole and its role in marketing and advertising...

Why Bother With Voice Search Optimization?  Are you prepared for the paradigm shift in SEO with the shift towards voice search? According to market statistics, by 2020, half of all internet searches will be via voice. Currently, it isn't...

Why is it so difficult to get companies to build conversion rate optimisation (CRO) programmes and develop a culture of experimentation? When trying to get A/B tests approved and built it can seem like you are swimming through treacle. I’ve done...

Designing Websites That Convert: For a website to succeed it can’t solely rely on compelling design and thought-provoking content. Developers need to find a style that feeds into the user experience of the website and functionality while being...

Establishing an A/B testing plan can be one of the most effective ways of optimising your website or app. This is because it allows you to test your ideas with real visitors through a controlled experiment. However, don't forget to conduct an audit...

Personal injury claims can result in a payment of tens of thousands of pounds and so fees of several thousand pounds can be earned by the lawyer who gets the business. That’s why companies are prepared to bid an average of £75 per click in...

Good web design is usually simple and intuitive. That doesn’t mean web design is easy or that design mistakes don't occur. This is why it’s important to bring together specialists. Such as UX design, conversion optimisation and user research to...

Taglines were at one time all the rage. Now increasingly websites are ignoring one of the most valuable areas of real estate. The space next to the site ID. Are marketers right to drop the tagline or is this a missed opportunity to communicate...

One of the main frustrations I have with Google Analytics is how to keep my data clean of spam and bot traffic. Web analytics is critical to conversion rate optimisation. You need reliable data to measure the performance of your digital marketing...

Good Data Management Ensures Data Is Your Biggest Asset: No one denies the importance of data in today’s B2B Marketing world. Now, more than ever, marketers are being challenged to generate leads for sales, increase their marketing ROI,...

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) marketing is an important source of leads or sales for many digital businesses. It is estimated that if we combine the USA and the UK. Marketers currently spend over $80 billion on digital advertising, with a large share of this...

Conversion killers are often caused by designers and webmasters copying trends and ideas they see on other websites. Many of these ideas are then implemented without a proper evaluation of how they influence user behaviour and conversion...

The real estate and buy-to-let sector is highly competitive and derives most of its traffic from paid search advertising (i.e PPC and display advertising). For this reason it is especially important to optimise real estate landing page design when...

Steve Krug communicates almost everything you need to know about usability and more with his book - Don’t make me think! Everything on a web page should be self-evident, obvious and self-explanatory. A good design should be intuitive and almost...

Our imagination can be extremely vivid and is a powerful force in determining our behaviour. History shows that people are often not rational in the choices they make. Imagination is a more important driver of decision making. For example, the...

Have you read Inside the Nudge Unit – How Small Changes Make a Big Difference? A majority of people understand the basic principles of an experiment as they probably had to conduct one or two when they were at school. Unfortunately once people...

We all know that the timing of a request or intervention can have a huge influence on the response we get. This is why timely is an important element of EAST (EASY, ATTRACTIVE, SOCIAL, TIMELY) and other behavioural change frameworks. EAST was...

12 Surprisingly Effective Tips for Creating Conversion-Increasing Content Content is one of the leading powers of marketing, and it cannot be avoided. If you want your business to succeed, using content is a great step in the right direction....

In my first post on optimising gambling sites I covered the psychology behind using bonuses as an acquisition tool. In this post you will learn about the challenges of optimising account creation and registration forms. Regulation Forms and...

Why are Amazon so successful? Are there certain guiding principles that allow companies to be like Amazon to establish and sustain a dominant position in their market? How do these organisations make decisions to ensure their continued dominance?...

Why is it when most people make New Year resolutions they don't change their behaviour? According to the psychologist BJ Fogg, the reason most attempts at behavioural change fail is that we don't create new habits. However, marketing is all about...

Conversion Rate Optimisation Best Practices 2018 For New Website Copy: Conversion rate can be summarised as the average number of users who take a desired action while visiting your website, be that purchasing a product, signing up to an email...

Skeuomorphism is the design concept which uses ornamental design elements to create three dimensional effects to make items resemble their real-world counter-parts. Digital skeuomorphism is frequently used to provide a visual cue in the design of...

"Content is king" is one of those meaningless statements that some marketers use to justify content marketing for content marketing's sake. Content is not king because without a clear purpose and customers who want to read and respond to it with a...

Is blockchain technology a useful and valuable innovation or is it 99% hype? I've noticed lots of articles claiming that it will change digital marketing and advertising forever. But I've seen little evidence of live applications that solve any...

Below is 65 reasons why MPs should stop Brexit. The impact of Brexit indicates that it will will harm the UK economically. The impact of new trade deals with other countries will be marginal. In addition, Brexit is likely to reduce the UK's...

A private blog network (PBN) is a black-hat SEO technique for creating high quality backlinks to improve the domain authority and traffic for a site. PBNs hit the news in 2014 when Google tried to eliminate the benefits of sites using private...

New Coke, or Coke II, is the biggest marketing mistake ever. Why did New Coke fail when Coca Cola spent $4 million on development? The company conducted over 200,000 taste tests and commissioned numerous focus groups and surveys. Executives claimed...

Optimising Your Shopify Store Shopify is a popular platform for ecommerce businesses. Shopify has more than one million active users and over $46 billion worth of products sold to-date, it is a ready-made site for entrepreneurs and small...

A broken user experience can completely kill conversions, and yet many companies make changes without evidence and launch features no one wants. Why do companies put so little effort into fixing their user experience? Could it be that no one ever...

Many organisations are employing conversion rate optimisation specialists to set up CRO programmes. What are the benefits of hiring a conversion rate optimisation consultant or agency? Companies often find that their CRO programmes fail to deliver...

Whenever I attend a conference like Conversion Elite, I like to spend five minutes at the end of the event to write down the big take-outs. This helps me reflect on the key themes and it forces me to consider what I should change or add to my...

Are you struggling with a conversion rate of less than 6% with your landing page design? Are over 30% of your visitors bouncing and are your engagement metrics poor? Well, if that is the case there is a strong likelihood that your page is suffering...

This post will talk about 7 Neuromarketing hacks to skyrocket your success and how to apply this knowledge to your own blog. Would you believe me if I said that deep inside we are still those savages who lived in caves and walked around in leather...

In a report on A/B testing Martin Goodson at Qubit suggests that "most A/B winning test results are illusory". Andre Morys at Web Arts goes even further and argues that “90% of test results are a lie.” If their estimates are correct then a lot...

A heuristic evaluation is an expert based analysis that applies experience-based techniques to identify and discover solutions to problems with a user experience. It is a structured approach to assessing an existing user design and though it offers...

Many organisations offer their best customers exclusive rewards to acknowledge their value and to reduce churn amongst their most valuable customer segment. The entourage effect suggests this exclusivity can sometimes harm the effectiveness of a...

Have you noticed the obsession with originality and the desire to be first to market? Yet most of the innovations that have shaped our world today are ideas or technology that were nothing new at the time. For instance, Apple didn’t invent the...

Personalisation and marketing automation are now proven strategies in digital B2C marketing for increasing conversion rates and revenues. For example eConsultancy estimate that the suggest feature on Amazon.com generates an additional 10 to 30 per...

When you establish a digital start-up budgets are very tight and free digital tools can help save your business. It's essential to have visibility of how your business is performing. When I advise start-ups on how to optimise their website the...

I was recently asked to use my expertise in user behaviour and conversion optimisation to contribute to a Google 5 day design sprint run by New Haircut. It was a very intensive, but enjoyable five days working on a new digital concept. It’s a...

As a conversion rate optimisation consultant I find dark UX interesting because it essentially puts the needs of the company before that of the customer. It is the opposite of normal UX principles as dark UX employs design improve your conversion...

If you want to improve your website conversion rate it’s essential that you understand the behaviour and motivations of your visitors. If like me you run a start-up and have a very limited budget. You might think you can’t afford user...

Word clouds are a great creative tool that many of us love to play around with. They generate an image composed of words from content that has been submitted in the tool. The size of individual words in the word cloud indicates its frequency or...

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is on a roll but is a silo mentality undermining the effectiveness of CRO? Companies are falling over themselves to recruit CRO specialist. Yet few companies are getting the uplifts in conversion that they...

Explicit methods of research, such as focus groups and questionnaires are often very poor at predicting behaviour. Is it time to switch to implicit research techniques? When asked direct questions people are notorious for saying one thing, but...

Averages are everywhere in digital marketing. Mobile designers use average thumb size to determine button height and project teams often base decisions on the average user. Many metrics are also based on averages such as click-through rates, open...

When Theresa May called the general election in April the polls were showing a lead for the Conservative Party of up to 20 points. It looked certain that May would get a much improved majority in parliament. However, during the course of the...

Whether it’s a contact form, registration form or check-out process, web forms can be a significant barrier to conversion. Even a simple opt-in web form can create friction and anxiety about entering personal information online. Use these web...

Emails are cheap, easy to write, and help build long-term client and customer relationships. You can use emails for content marketing, lead generation, audience research, and so much more. Whatever you’re using email for, you need to always have...

How many times have you completed a task or arrived somewhere without thinking about how you achieved it? That's your subconscious mind in action, making fast and automatic decisions with little or no conscious awareness of the decisions we...

Behavioural change is not easy. Have you ever tried to change a long-standing habit or create a new habit? Perhaps you tried to give up smoking, eat fewer sugary foods, start taking regular exercise, or just spend less time on social media. It’s...

Google Optimize is a powerful free A/B testing and personalisation solution that is revolutionising online experimentation like Google Analytics did for web analytics. Optimize allows web masters to conduct A/B and multivariate tests without the...

Do you want to use Behavioural Science to boost conversions? In the book, The Growth Strategy That’s Being Ignored, Paul Rouke and other contributors argue that for conversion rate optimisation (CRO) to be a significant driver of...

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are constantly fighting a war against spam email. In December 2016, 61% of global email traffic was accounted for by spam messages. Unless your email campaigns are carefully designed and implemented there is a high...

Galls Law is a rule of thumb or heuristic which indicates that complex systems that work are normally found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. Trying to design a complex system from scratch is never successful and it cannot be made...

How did Pepsi’s marketing team think the Kendall Jenner ad was going to work and why? Ads have a job to do, but what was the job for Pepsi? "Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding.” – according to a...

In 1951 the British psychologist William Hick conducted experiments with a series of lights and Morse code keys to measure choice reaction times. Hick discovered that the relationship between the time it took to make a decision and the number of...

Survivorship Bias & Website Optimisation: During World War II, researchers at the US Centre for Naval Analyses were given a difficult problem to solve. They were asked to reinforce US bombers to reduce aircraft losses over enemy territory....

Sub-Conscious Motivations Are Hidden From Us: Neuroscience suggests that up to 95% of our decisions are made by our emotional sub-conscious brain. Yet most research targets the conscious mind. To understand implicit (psychological) goals it is...

What if most revenues are generated by a few VIP customers? Some websites get most of their revenues from a relatively small proportion of high value VIP customers. This begs the question should you optimise your site design around your most...

SEO Services & How To Spot SEO Scams! On an almost daily basis I receive emails about SEO services offering to “optimise” my site and improve my Google search ranking. These SEO services often claim to guarantee to get my site at...

The Power of Commitment & Consistency! Why is commitment and consistency one of the most powerful and persuasive techniques? Why would people ignore long held opinions and follow a course of action against their own best interests? What...

Do processes matter for conversion optimisation? Processes matter as they help structure our behaviour and reduce the risk that we might forget to do something important. They provide for a consistent framework and can ensure rigour in our...

Does CRO Say What It Does On The Tin? When people ask me what I do for a living and I mention website or conversion rate optimisation (CRO). I often find they think I'm talking about another area of digital marketing. Many people think CRO is...

What is Narrative Fallacy? and have you noticed social media’s obsession with the habits of successful people? How politicians suggest simple solutions to complex problems and the appeal of magical ‘silver bullet’ fixes? People like to...

Google Search Console is Free! When I advise start-ups on conversion rate optimisation the first thing I do is set them up with Google Search Console tool (previously Google Webmaster Tools). Unlike many free solutions Google Search Console...

Why is CRO failing to get traction in the boardroom? and why is it that Amazon Prime converts 74% of the time on Amazon.com? Yet the average Ecommerce retailer only converts 3.1% of the time? According to research by Millward Brown Digital, even...

LinkedIn & The First Rule of Social Media Marketing: I recently saw this post on LinkedIn and wondered why some users were surprised by the negative comments it received. The post reads; “Last weekend I had the pleasure of travelling to...

What is the Bandwagon Effect? The bandwagon effect is a psychological tendency where the adoption of ideas, products or behaviour increases with the uptake (or perceived uptake) by others. This means the propensity of people taking up the...

Artificial Intelligence & Rapid Optimisation: Digital marketing is a zero-sum game – it’s survival of the fittest. Brands have to respond to changing customer needs and new technology like artificial intelligence as otherwise they are...

Conversion rate optimisation strategy co-ordinates: I've previously written about conversion rate optimisation strategy mistakes where I outlined some fundamental errors that some organisations make with implementing digital optimisation...

Top Blog Posts - What Happened in 2016? Below are some of the top blog posts in 2016. This has been a great year for Conversion-Uplift as I now offer conversion rate consultancy services to a range of organisations. I also migrated from Tumblr...

Auto-play is bad for website accessibility! Do you find it annoying when someone is playing music or a video in a public place and doesn’t use headphones? Well, how do you think your visitors feel when they land on your site and are greeted by...

Why More Is Less & The Paradox of Choice! In his book The Paradox of Choice – Why more is less, Barry Schwartz challenges the myth that giving people more choice is positive and makes people feel in control. Rather, he suggests that the...

Why do facts not change opinions? There is a general misconception that by presenting facts and figures that contradict a person’s existing beliefs we can change their opinion. In reality the backfire effect suggests it can have the opposite...

Eye Tracking As previously covered, eye tracking is a tool that is becoming increasingly popular for a host of digital marketing issues. Including conversion rate optimisation. The original post covered specific eye tracking and facial...

What are multi-armed bandit tests? Multi-armed bandit tests (MAB) use an algorithm to proactively seek out the best performing experience. It aggressively optimises and increases the average conversion rate during a test. This means that you can...

Bonuses on Gambling Sites: Until I moved to Gibraltar, the self-proclaimed home of online gambling sites. I had not given much thought to the challenges of optimising gambling sites and how they use bonuses to attract new customers. I previously...

Why Did The Polls Get It Wrong Again? The opinion polls were wrong again! Just like in 2015 with the UK General Election the US polls wrongly predicted the outcome. Why are opinion polls wrong, wrong, wrong? The most obvious reason is that...

Blogs are dead. Is it true? Yes, big companies are abandoning their blogs, probably because the ROI is difficult to calculate and shareholders complain too much. No, blogging is no more extinct than the last time it was declared a dead...

Personas templates are often in user-centred design because they create better understanding of and empathy for prospects and customers alike. Buyer persona templates are used for a variety of purposes, including as a customer journey mapping tool,...

Buyer Personas and website optimisation: Why is it that there is so much talk about creating buyer personas and yet I often see little evidence that they are utilised effectively? Creating buyer personas make a lot of sense but rarely do they...

Does Load Speed Matter? A slow loading webpage creates a poor user experience, but does it really make a significant difference if you have an awesome proposition, product or website? Well, Google discovered that load speed does matter big time...

A successful conversion rate optimisation strategy has the potential to significantly improve revenues from your digital marketing and increase business growth. Companies such as Spotify, Netflix, Google, and Booking.com have mastered this process....

Quick Design Feedback Tools: How do you get quick design feedback so that you can minimise the risk of reducing conversion on your site or app? There is constant pressure to keep websites looking fresh and to add new functionality or content to...

How To Compare Website Traffic For Free! If you can track competitors' website traffic you can develop more effective strategies to deal with their threat to your business and improve your conversion rate. Competitor analysis can be a time...

Learn the psychological secrets of Pokemon Go’s success! In just two weeks Pokemon Go, the augmented reality smartphone game designed by Niantic, achieved over 21 million active users in the US, more than Candy Crush did at its peak. The...

In this post I will give you 7 marketing lessons from the Brexit campaigns. The UK’s EU referendum result surprised many people outside the UK. But a review of the strategies used by the campaigns gives some clear reasons for the outcome. It...

10 Top Conversion Rate Optimisation Strategy Mistakes: There is plenty of advice on Twitter and other social media about conversion rate optimisation strategy. ConversionXL, Widerfunnel, and Hubspot to name but a few. Despite this many...

Is the EU referendum the will of the people? The EU referendum result has huge implications for the UK and yet referendum have a very chequered history as a democratic device. Despite a slim majority (52%) being in favour of leaving the EU most...

Brexit - WTF happened? The Brexit UK European Referendum captured world-wide attention and generated intense and passionate debate in the UK. Despite the economic arguments being clearly in favour of Remain. No one could accurately predict the...

Eye-Tracking that Reads Emotions! Feelings drive much of our behaviour and so emotional engagement with digital content can be a strong indicator of its effectiveness at getting our attention. This is especially critical for mobile gaming apps as...

How Good Is Your Information Architecture? The information architecture of a site or app is crucial to creating a good user experience. A good test of the information architecture is to evaluate how easy it is for visitors to find what they are...

What do users want from your digital experience? We used the Hotjar user experience tool to place a poll on our homepage to find out what users want from the page. We then compared this with what was actually on the page. The Venn diagram...

Are we taking the benefits of European membership for granted? Are we taking the benefits of European membership for granted? Until a few weeks ago I was busy optimising the websites and apps for 4 brands at a large online gaming company. I had...

Why Are Web Analytics Tools Important? Web analytics tools allow you to track exactly where visitors go on your site, how long they spend on each page and how they interact with your site or app. This allows you to understand more about your...

What Is A One-Page Website? Is a one-page website a passing fad that participants will in time see as a ghastly mistake or do they have a place as a practical alternative to the traditional large website? Now, I’m not questioning the...

What Are The Benefits Of A Website Presenter?  If you visit the websites for Virgin Holidays, IoEE, Lettingref.com, Sheraton Hotels, Surefit Carpets, or many other sites you may come across a virtual website presenter or greeter....

Why is email marketing important? Email marketing has transformed how we do business and it has been recognised as the technology that has had the greatest impact on how we work over the past ten years. Email marketing also is vastly...

An email address checker is essential because email marketing can be one of the most effective ways of acquiring new customers and reactivating existing customers. However, research suggests that on the average contact list around 60%...

User Experience Tools For CRO: Minimising friction in the customer experience is crucial to conversion rate optimisation. User experience tools that show you where and how your visitors interact with your site can provide valuable insights into...

Address Lookup Solutions Speed Up Data Input: Address lookup solutions allow customers to quickly input and validate address details as they go through a sign-up or checkout process. They shorten form length and can significantly reduce the time...

Why Customer Onboarding Tools? Research by the Nielsen Norman Group indicates that most visitors will take just 10 to 12 seconds to decide whether to exit a webpage if it doesn’t sufficiently engage them. Customer...

Marketing is a Discipline! In a recent podcast, Rory Sutherland, of Ogilvy and Mather UK, said that the second client marketing departments are "reduced to 'MarComs' marketing is almost lost". So why do organisations think...

Why Should You Do Usability Testing? To create a pain free user experience and optimise conversion it is essential to carry out usability testing research. Sure, you can ask a few people around the office to check out your new site, but it is...

Does The Conversion Funnel Exist? The conversion or sales funnel is based upon linear models of decision making such as A.I.D.A (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action). This ignores the reality that people don't mindlessly go though each step in a...

What Are The Benefits of Live Chat? Live chat can help improve visitor engagement, reduce bounce rates and cut operational costs by offering real-time interaction with customers whilst they are on your website. Why wait until visitors have left...

Is The Market Research Budget Under Pressure? A few years ago I was working for a UK commercial bank and the Marketing department had been called to meet the new Head of Marketing. As our new colleague was introduced to each area of marketing...

Does Usability Research Measure Reality? Usability research is essential for checking whether a site or app is intuitive and easy to navigate to create a great customer experience. It helps inform our decisions about the choice architecture....

Do Images of Beautiful Women Influence Behaviour? Images of beautiful women are often used on websites to get attention and sell products. This is probably because sex is one of our strongest and most basic instincts. We sometimes make decisions...

14 Resources For Image Optimisation: Pictures are important for websites because studies indicate that a relevant image improves engagement and views of a page. Images grab our attention and can trigger emotions much more quickly than...

Why are social media marketing tools important? Social media marketing tools have become more valuable as the use of online social networks have exploded over the last decade. For many people social networks are one of their main sources of...

Conversion Optimisation Strategy: Poker is a game of strategy and just like conversion optimisation unless you have a clear strategy you are sure to lose. When I was optimising a major poker website and app I decided I needed to get under the...

So what did I take away from attending the London Conversion Conference on 29th October? Well, to keep it simple here are my top insights and key take-outs from the conference. Psychology is our guide: Behaviour drives preferences....

Low-contrast text is a concern because much of the information we glean from a website is in the form of letters, words, sentences and paragraphs. They communicate how the site can help visitors complete a task or achieve a goal. This is...

Trust is just as important online as it is offline. That’s why many people use website rating reputation tools to check out websites, links and files before they decide to interact with them. Website owners can also use these tools to check the...

This post explores the science of how culture influences website design and conversion rate optimisation. Marketing is about persuading visitors to take action. But what if your visitors come from a range of different countries and cultures? Will...

Do you want to use Voice of the Customer tools to get feedback from your visitors, but not sure how to go about it? I've outlined below a best practice guide on how to use online Voice of the Customer tools to gain insights and increase...

So you think you want an explainer video on your website? Well, there are plenty of good reasons why you should be seriously considering this option to improve your conversion rate on key pages. People are 174% more likely to buy after...

Labels are helpful right? Without labels we are unable to categorise products, services, websites, cars, even people and many other things. I keep coming across websites and apps that use icons without labels. Are they completely mad or do they...

When people talk about A/B tests they often refer to call to action button changes and landing page tests. They also sometimes talk about only changing one element on a page at a time to ensure you can tell exactly what generated the...

Here are twelve brilliant digital marketing books that will give you insights into conversion rate optimisation, marketing, design, usability and the psychology of visitor behaviour. These are excellent books for helping you define your strategy...

Names and the psychological associations they hold are so deeply rooted in our psyche that we are magnetically drawn towards the concepts they embody. These associations are so strong that they can result in behaviour that is automatic and totally...

Keyword research remains an essential part of SEO strategy for both organic and paid traffic optimisation. With the Hummingbird update long-tail keywords became more important to SEO. As a result keyword research needs to consider optimising a...

The biggest mistake people make with conversion rate optimisation is not having a well-defined process to ensure a systematic approach to improving success metrics such as revenues or sales. Without such a process you are almost certainly going...

Establishing good quality back-links to your website through an SEO audit and link building activity is crucial to improving the credibility of your site. It’s one of the few ways that search engine spiders can tell if other people value your...

Online card sorting is a usability tool that helps categorise your webpages by identifying how visitors would expect to find content or functionality. Online card sorting is a quick and simple way of evaluating your information architecture,...

There are a number of common conversion optimisation myths that must die. Conversion rate optimisation is a strategic process that involves measuring performance and learning as we go. If we restrict our ability to learn by listening to myths...

To encourage visitors to undertake a new behaviour on your website, such as making a first purchase or playing a game. You might want to offer something to reward that activity. But when should you provide a reward and how do you encourage...

Do you every wonder why your conversion rate is significantly lower on some browsers and devices? This is because web pages can look very different in each browser they are viewed in because a browser understands some code slightly different...

During the run up to the 2015 UK General Election the opinion polls were consistently wrong and led many people to believe there would be a hung parliament. The polls in 2015 underestimated support for the Conservative Party. Research companies...

The shock result of the the 2015 UK general election and the EU referendum called into question the market research industry’s ability to accurately predict future behaviour using opinion polls. Is this an example of an outdated and flawed...

Since 2014 mobile devices have been the most used device to browse the internet. But this is only a transient stage in the shift towards the dominance of mobile devices. The real change is the mobile only user, where visitors rely solely...

Costing Money: Shopping-cart abandonment is a problem for online retailers and if you can convert abandoning visitors you could massively increase revenues. On average, around 96% of people who visit a website will leave without generating a...

11 Psychological Instincts To Grab Visitor Attention: Instincts are triggered by our brain to alert us to threats. We are programmed to respond to some instincts, such as fear, without any conscious thought to protect us from harm. Fear and...

Importance of peer-to-peer influence: Word of mouth is an important element of peer-to-peer influence. Our herd instinct is a powerful force in spreading new ideas, culture, products or behaviour. Without visibility a new practice or technology...

Does Your Voice of Customer programme deliver value?  To get more value from your voice of customer programme don't follow the standard, but flawed approach. This means not just using conventional surveys, but instead employing more...

A Guide To Selecting A/B Testing Tools: A/B testing tools are an important component of conversion rate optimisation. It allows you to serve and measure the relative performance of different experiences by managing online controlled experiments....

Getting Maximum Return on Investment: Before you begin A/B testing it is critical to ensure you prioritise A/B tests so that you achieve maximum benefit for your organisation. This means you must be careful to prioritise the pages and journeys...

Do Brand Guidelines Suffocate Innovation? Your brand is one of the most powerful assets your organisation has but do brand guidelines help or hinder its development? Your brand serves as a short-cut to decision making as it should be instantly...

Why Are Voice of Customer surveys fundamentally flawed? Voice of Customer (VoC) surveys are a popular, but deeply flawed for organisations to monitor customer preferences and levels of satisfaction. They follow a standard process of using...

Marketing is a zero-sum game, you can’t win new customers unless you take them away from someone else. Dave Trott's Predatory Thinking is an inspiring book. It’s a highly readable and engaging book full of brilliant anecdotes and short...

What is Hotjar? Check out my most recent review of Hotjar as things have moved on since I wrote this post. I recently attended a conversion conference and was discussing the use of visual behaviour tools for gaining visitor insights. These...

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman: Every time I revisit Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow I discover new insights and learn more about human behaviour. I gleaned more from the introduction to this book than the entirety of many...

Does your website have lots of obvious faults and usability problems that you need to fix? Are you fully aware of what changes need to be made to improve the performance of your site? Do you lack some of the functionality that many of your...

Why do people use focus groups to evaluate new designs? "Focus groups are not usability tests" says the usability expert Steve Krug in his book Don't Make Me Think. But focus groups are also a very flawed method of research for evaluating any...

Behavioural Economics and Gut Instinct: Business people pride themselves in their decision making and many businesses embed market and competitor research into this process. However, business people often prefer their gut instinct as they are...

Testing Call To Action Buttons! Call to action (CTAs) buttons can be an important element of website optimisation. They determine where a customer should go next. However, sometimes testing the call to action appears to be the default strategy...

Are Emotional Benefits Important? Marketing people often talk about connecting emotionally with the target audience. Brands want to engage with us at an emotional level. They encourage us to like them on Facebook. Indeed, research often brings...

The Psychology of Cognitive Load: To improve the user experience it is essential to understand how visitor behaviour is influenced by cognitive load. User behaviour is largely intuitive and is heavily influenced by how easily a task or goal is...

Are People Consumers? Marketers and researchers often use the term ‘consumer’ to describe customers and prospects. We conduct consumer research, and measure consumer awareness of brands. We also have consumer confidence measures as if they...

There are many misconceptions from business people about how to conduct and use market research. This can be frustrating when you work in market research on the client-side. Some recent posts on Twitter suggest that research agencies are often at...

Can most of the things we buy really be the result of the behaviour and opinions of other people, whether openly or through covert imitation? This challenges conventional thinking about how people make decisions and common assumptions that...

To Blog Or Not To Blog - That Is The Question! It’s FREE and easy to set up and maintain. Using a blogging platform is very easy and it’s simple to choose from a range of free design templates. When you want to change the template you can...

Why Do People Cooperate in Social Networks? What underlies the evolutionary success of the human race and allows social networks to function? In the book I’ll have what she’s having by Bentley, Earls and O'Brien, the authors’ assert that...

Do People Act in Isolation? People do not act in isolation, they connect with many people though highly complex social networks, this influences our behaviour. In ‘I’ll have what she’s having’; Mark Earls and his co-authors explain how...

What Do Executives Care About? I’ve read a number of posts about the quality of market research. Some of these posts have criticised poor practices of research suppliers and others point to the frailties of client side-researchers. Some valid...

What Drives Consumer Behaviour? Consumer behaviour is a complex process which behavioural economics is now helping us to better understand. Most marketing theories on consumer behaviour is based on models that do not fit the purpose. As a...

“if online and social media have taught us nothing else it’s that clients sooner or later will buy cheap data over good data every time." Reg Baker I read with interest Edward Appleton’s blog (Can MR Clients Recognise Quality When They See...

Why do people suffer from loss aversion? As anyone who has bought stocks during a bull market will know, making a quick profit is great. But making a loss is difficult to stomach! Behavioural scientists call this loss aversion. People are...

Using Research To Protect Brand Reputation: Video mystery shopping is a contentious research methodology. However, rarely does a month go by without hearing about another mis-selling scandal in financial services or some other regulated sector....

There is a perception that decision making in financial services (FS) is far more rational than with fast moving consumer goods. FS products have more long-term consequences. Decision making is emotional and impulsive. This view is strongly held...

What Is The Law of Small Numbers? The psychologist Daniel Kahneman points out that many social scientists, psychologists and market researchers often fall foul of a common human bias - the law of small numbers! Is this bias to blame for...

How Does The Brain See A CAPTCHA? CAPTCHA's are a popular way of stopping bots or machines interact with certain elements on a website. But how does a person's brain react to a CAPTCHA? To understand this we need to consider how people make...

Action Planning & ROI: Client-side researchers sometimes feel that they are constantly justifying the value of research insights. A frequent challenge from management is how can we measure the benefits of insights and what specific decisions...

Conversion rate optimisation is about persuading visitors to convert. Persuasive content that utilises psychological triggers can help you significantly improve your conversion rate. Outlined below are 17 conversion optimisation tips and techniques...

Don't Make These Conversion Optimisation Mistakes: Conversion Optimisation has become an increasingly important method for improving the customer experience and ultimately conversion. Developing a program of conversion optimisation using split...

What is not invented here bias? Even in the digital age new ideas and innovations can take a long time to be adopted by organisations that could benefit from them. Why is this? Not invented here bias refers to where “If I (or we) didn’t...

Why are focus groups problematic? When I first set out as a client-side Customer Insight Manager focus groups were frequently suggested to me as a suitable exploratory method of research. Initially this wasn’t a problem. I was new to the...

Can Behavioural Economics Save Market Research? When I first started working in market research I realised that people frequently don’t say what they mean and don’t do what they say. Behavioural economics suggests that this is because our...