Some people think that acquisition is the most important part of the funnel, but the truth is that getting visitors on your website is just the first step – you need to focus on later stages of the funnel just as much as the first one.
Activation is the process of turning your visitors into users that stay on your website and perform an action – not just any action, but precisely the action you want: leaving their email address, buying or simply clicking a button.
Just like every other stage of the funnel, this should be measured at every stage and in every way you can think of. Why? Because the more you measure, the better you will understand your users – why they leave and why they stay – and this is the information you need in order to increase the number who stay.
Below are 21 user activation hacks that will help you understand your visitors and slash that annoying bounce rate.
1. A/B testing
This is probably a term that you’ve heard a million times when you heard of growth hacking. It makes sense, because it is a fantastic concept. At first, it seems easy – you create two variants of your website or application and measure which one works better. However before you start doing it, it’s worth giving it a deeper thought. Be aware that without a strong hypothesis and plan, you won’t get far with AB tests. Instead of guessing what to test, use visitor feedback obtained via survey forms, live chats, emails etc. to find out what needs to be fixed. Once you have these insights, you can plan your test. Then, use tools like Optimizely or Google Experiments to make visible changes and monitor the results. Headlines are one of the easiest things to AB test, you can show your users various benefits and see what produces the most conversions. Once you have identified the best message, try exaggerating it to see what happens. It works the same way with pictures, videos and e-mails.
