Michael Laps, Co-Founder & Strategy Director at Yoghurt Digital, was interviewed by host Adam Torres on the Mission Matters Marketing Podcast.
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Michael Laps shares how Yoghurt Digital is helping companies make informed marketing decisions with the help of marketing data.
What mission matters to you?
Laps says he’s passionate about the process of growth and development, whether personal, professional, or both. Yoghurt Digital allows him to help his team and clients grow and develop alongside his own growth as a business owner and leader.
How did you get started on the path of entrepreneurship?
Growing up, Laps notes that he wasn’t particularly entrepreneurial, but he watched his father run several businesses and picked up a few things along the way. While he was working with a digital marketing agency eight years ago, an opportunity presented itself for him to start something of his own; the field was crowded even then, he says, but he knew Yoghurt Digital would have a strong competitive edge.
How does data make a difference in digital marketing?
Most digital marketing agencies provide each client with the same marketing solution, regardless of the industry, Laps explains. They invest little to no time or attention to understanding the specific goals or challenges of each business, much less the pain points and motivations of the end user. That’s where a data-driven strategy makes a difference, he says, because it provides actual insights into the customer’s behavior. It allows tracking and accounting for every marketing dollar spent against the ROI. In short, he says, “Informed marketing decisions eliminate the guesswork and make marketing a science.”
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Conversion optimization and the user journey
Laps explains conversion optimization as the process of crafting a consumer journey where the consumer takes the desired action on your website, whether it’s buy a product, subscribe to a newsletter, or download a resource of some kind. Some businesses consider the simple act of bringing traffic to the website a win, but they forget they’ll still need to provide exceptional customer experience to convert that traffic into customers. When they fall into that trap, he notes, they focus on increasing website traffic without realizing it’s easier and more efficient to double your conversion rate instead.
“With conversion optimization,” Laps says, “we assess how a customer behaves after they land on your website, and optimize their experience by changing your website design.”
He recalls a client experience where a global brand’s website’s conversion rate and, by extension, revenue dropped overnight by 25% because they redesigned their website without any research. The client was distraught and planned to spend another hundred thousand dollars to get the entire website redesigned, but Yoghurt Digital saved them the trouble and expense.
“We intervened, did 6-8 weeks of research to find out that while the customers were happy with the website, they weren’t engaging enough with the product page,” he recalls. The brand had removed several product details and user-focused content to simplify the product page, which ultimately backfired. So, “we redesigned their product page, tested it against the existing page, and got an immediate 15-20% uplift in conversion rate,” he says.
The importance of A/B testing
“A/B testing is the iterative process of testing new design concepts until you land on one that a customer engages with,” Laps says. Yoghurt Digital’s software splits the website traffic 50/50 between the current site and the new design. Visitors aren’t aware of it, but half of the traffic goes through one user funnel while the second half goes through the other. The software collects relevant data and illustrates which design is more effective at generating revenue. And while accumulating data is the first half of the work, he notes, interpreting it accurately is what improves marketing performance in the end.
Tell us more about Yogurt Digital’s overall service offerings.
Yoghurt Digital provides three core services. The first is a pay-per-click model, which includes paid media and advertising across all major social platforms. The second is SEO or organic marketing, which helps clients increase search engine rankings. The third is website optimization, which includes UX design, UX research, conversion optimization, and A/B testing. Together, these three service categories represent every part of the conversion funnel, which helps clients grow holistically.
The agency works with global and local brands of all sizes. “We love to work with clients who are collaborative, hungry for growth, and willing to invest time to try new things,” Laps says.
To learn more about Yogurt Digital, visit www.yoghurtdigital.com.au.
