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What is the LIFT model?
The LIFT model is a scheme that includes 6 conversion factors that help you more easily evaluate the perspective of your visitors on the site.
Today, the amount of data on the Internet almost doubled, as did the number of sites and landing pages owned by people doing business online.
No matter what product or service you own, there is a high chance that:
- You already have well-established competitors in the market;
- It will be difficult for you to drive traffic to your pages;
- You have a lower conversion rate than you would expect.
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I think any online business owner has found themselves in at least two of these situations. We are all looking for new ways to increase our conversion rate on the site. But if we want to do this on our own, how do we get the validation that we are in the right direction?
That’s why I want to present to you today one of the most efficient models created on the market, used by most conversion rate optimization tools: the LIFT model.
I invite you to discover together a method that helps you get rid of frustrations when it comes to investing in your online sales channels.
When it comes to creating pages on your website, you must first put yourself in the minds of potential visitors to see the browsing experience through their eyes.
You need to know what convinces them to make decisions, to make sure that your site provides them with this information.
So far, nothing new under the sun. But now comes the interesting part.
This model was launched in 2009 by Chris Goward, founder of Wider Funnel, an expert in conversion rate optimization. Since then, the model has been used by hundreds of businesses around the world, which have even increased their conversion rate by 100%.
The LIFT model is based on a simple principle, as Chris says:
How does the LIFT model work?
Whether you want to optimize the conversion rate on an existing website or landing page, or you want to set up a sales funnel, this model can help you.
Although it is easier to apply this template to make some changes to your existing landing pages, I personally recommend you take this template more strategically. This means relying on it, once you have created the buyer persona profiles, to create the user’s path from the first contact with your product/service to the conversion.
It is much more efficient to create a strategy based on the LIFT model than to make only small optimizations to your landing pages.
The 6 conversion factors
As I said before, the LIFT model is based on 6 factors that allow you to put yourself more easily in the place of your target audience. Here are these:
#1 Value statement
One of the most important factors is the value statement of your business.
Do you have such a statement?
In essence, this statement refers to the added value that your business brings to your client’s life. This is the basis of the whole LIFT model, and the other factors that we will talk about next, start here.
If you have not already defined a value statement for your business and you have not established what added value you bring to the lives of your customers, then you should stop whatever you are doing now and start defining it.
The value statement is why people buy from you.
To establish this value statement, you need to find that important element for your target audience and realize how you bring it, through your products or services, into their lives.
Examples of value statement:
Uber: “The smartest way to get around. Tap on the screen and a car comes straight to you. Your driver knows exactly where he needs to go. Payment is made without cash. ”
Unbounce: “Build, publish and do A / B Testing on landing pages without knowledge of I.T.”.
CrazyEgg: “Do you want to make your site better? Find out instantly what users are doing on your site. The costs are unbeatable. ”
As you can see, these companies have found a simple and quick way to meet an essential need of their audience. Once you have managed to find such a way, it will be easier for you to apply the LIFT model for the following factors as well.
#2 Relevance
Is the information that your site transmits or the information you want to write on the landing page the same as the information that the visitor thought they were going to see?
Once you have brought people to the site, with the help of an advertisement or by any other method, think about what is in their mind before they click, respectively what they feel when they see for the first time where they have arrived.
It is very important that the information you provide explains clearly and directly what your value statement is. You must use in the text a language similar to that used by your visitors in speech and transmit from the first second everything that is relevant.
Otherwise, the visitor will feel confused and will leave the page immediately. Which means a possible lost conversion. Definitive.
You don’t want this. That’s why you need to be relevant in everything you transmit.
#3 Clarity
Is it clear what people who enter your page have to do? Did you formulate the text so that your visitors understood and resonated with each word?
Here is one of the most painful truths I, unfortunately, have to tell you now:
As much as possible, try to refrain from writing the text on your landing pages.
I’m sorry to say this, but think about it:
- How many times have you thought about your products/services so far?
- How much time did you spend studying your offer/market/competition?
- How many hours a day do you spend in your business?
The more involved you are in your business and the more time you spend on technical information, the more you tend to lose the external perspective on your business. You, as an employee or entrepreneur in a company, have an internal perspective. Only an outsider can see the business as your potential customers see it.
#4 Urgent
Have you ever seen an offer that never ends?
Make sure your sales pages use metrics that tell visitors to take action now, not later.
Through the call to action elements you use, try to convey the feeling of urgency towards your offers. Otherwise, you will have to invest more in remarketing campaigns, with the intention of bringing back to the site visitors who did not order, in order to complete the conversion.
The feeling of urgency that you can convey is based on:
- The internal state of the user when entering the page; this state can only be influenced by the visual / text of the promotional message you used to drive traffic to the site (for example, for a campaign around Christmas, you should use visuals that convey the excitement of the holidays) .
- The state induced to the user by external elements such as deadline, short-term discounts, tone of voice, verbs to imperative, call to action buttons, timer (timer with days left until the offer expires), etc.
Of course, you’re probably aware that it can be difficult to rely on the user’s internal state when they first enter your page. However, you can be sure that if your product or service is seasonal or if your offer is around a holiday, then your chances of increasing conversions will increase.
However, this rarely happens, especially when we sell services and not products. Therefore, we can rely on the LIFT model to increase our chances of success.
#5 Distraction
Are there elements on your pages that distract from what really matters (conversion)?
If so, then I suggest you remove them, even if this will give you the impression that you will have a more “poor” design.
The more visuals your page has, the more buttons with different links, the more empty spaces without content, or any elements that are unrelated to the purpose of the page, then they must be removed or the page must be rethought.
So, make sure that every page on your site has a clear purpose: to send the visitor to one place, and that place will bring them closer to conversion.
Here is a positive example:
Advertise Facebook -> landing page services -> offer request form.
Here is a negative example:
Advertise Facebook -> landing page services -> portfolio page -> page about us -> contact form.
Why is the second example negative? The reason is simple: too many clicks. Your goal is not to persuade the visitor to read as much content from the site as possible; the goal is to convince him to contact you as soon as possible.
In addition, you noticed one more thing: your contact form must be different from the offer request form.
Think that you have visitors who simply want to talk to you, but you also have visitors determined to order from you.
Therefore, create your offer request forms on each service page, do not remove visitors from those pages, to direct them to a form that does not ask them for information about the offer they want to request.
#6 Fear
This is one of the most important anti-conversion factors to consider. Everyone is afraid to give money for a product or service that they do not trust or that they have not tested before.
Think about whether there are such elements on your pages that would decrease your credibility. If there are, fight them.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Why wouldn’t potential customers buy from me? (Too long delivery time? Don’t trust products? Too high costs? Are there already other better products on the market?);
- Why wouldn’t potential customers trust me? (Don’t know me? Don’t know my experience? Don’t know my past? Don’t know my portfolio?);
With this information, think about what you can change on your pages.
E.g:
- Add a short description that certifies you as an author/trainer/service provider/trader.
- testimonials (photo and video, if you can).
- logos from satisfied customers or simply write down the number of satisfied customers (no exaggeration).
- a portfolio page with completed work, case studies.
- information about the team, experience, certifications, achievements.
- logos like Trusted, Certified, Protected, etc (of course, after you get permission to add them).
- pages to terms and conditions, privacy policy (these are mandatory since the GDPR came into force).
- a FAQ section – about the delivery process, ordering, products, services, or any other details you think might represent customer fears before purchasing.
Consider the tips that suit you. Remember: your role is to help improve your sales pages strategically.
Apply, test, repeat
When it comes to applying the LIFT model to increase conversions, I know that the process is not simple or fast. Therefore, consulting firms that apply this model to their clients charge large sums of money for their services and only accept long working hours.
To apply this model on your own, in everything you do, start with small steps:
- Analyze the most important landing page you have created for the first time;
- Analyze the information about your target audience that you already have;
- Complete this information with answers to the questions in this article;
- Make a list of all the items you will improve after reading this article;
- Start promoting this page again.
Once a period of time has passed since the promotion, draw a line to see what results you have achieved. If things have improved, but not as much as you would have liked, repeat the steps above.
Once you have exceeded your conversion expectations, it means that you have mastered this method. Now you are ready to apply it at the macro level. The LIFT model is now available to you
