Happy Friday!
2021 is almost ending, and so is the fourth quarter.
If you’ve been following this series for a while, you will know that this quarter was my first at FigPii.
And if I can describe it in three words, this is what I’d say:
- Challenging,
- Informative,
- Hectic.
These three words can apply to anyone who is just getting started at a new job and learning new things.
Why do I feel this way?
Well,
- Challenging, because being a Content Lead has never been easy to do, no matter where you work.
- Informative, because I get to learn a lot in a short period of time. In fact, each week, I have been learning something new.
- Hectic, because you have to juggle different tasks at the same time.
Now that I know what’s expected of me at FigPii. I am preparing myself for the next quarter.
However, shall we rewind a bit to everything that happened this quarter and what I have learned from it?
My OKRs, Key Objectives & KPIs
For this quarter, I had two OKRs with four key objectives under them.
My OKRs were:
- Increase the email list subscribers.
- Increase the number of monthly visitors to the website.
As for the key objectives:
Under the first OKR:
- Send FigPii newsletter every Monday; 12 sends per quarter.
- Publish 12 self-journey blog posts.
- Post 12 case studies on LinkedIn.
And, under the second OKR:
- Publish one BoFu blog per week; four per month; 12 per quarter.
Also, I had one KPI:
- Build my personal brand on LinkedIn, and increase my number of followers.
Now, let’s delve into my tasks in detail and the lessons that I have learned from them:
FigPii Newsletter
The FigPii newsletter revolves around three main topics: CRO, Marketing, and e-Commerce websites.
I have learned a lot about email marketing in general and our email subscribers, specifically from sending the newsletter.
Here are three things I have learned that helped me increase our newsletter open rate by 7%:
- Know your audience
By doing AB testing and checking our reports, I realized that over 65% of our subscribers are males working in marketing and advertising.
Their ages range from 25 years old and up.
This information will give me more insight into who I am talking to, what to focus on more, and what to exclude.
2. Build your email based on your numbers
Based on our reports, I have figured out that:
- Our average open rate is 41%.
- Our average click rate is 3.2%.
That gave my ideas:
- I should work more on the subject line and preview text for the open rate. Start testing more with them till the rate increases.
- For the click rate, I should work on increasing the number of links within my email.
However, I should focus on inserting links that will benefit me. Links that will navigate our subscribers to areas on our website that I want to have more attention.
3. Know your peak hours
What I didn’t notice when I first started sending the newsletter is checking when people notice it the most.
Based on the reports, these hours lie between 9, and 11 am Eastern time.
So, maybe I will send the newsletter earlier than the usual time; 9 am instead of 10.
This way, it will get enough exposure, and people will have more time to notice it.
Case Studies
As most of you know, I have started working on transforming some of the successful AB tests that we have worked on for clients into case studies to publish on FigPii’s LinkedIn account and my personal account.
The case studies consisted of:
- A copy,
- And a design.
They contained:
- A bit of a background about the website we have worked on,
- What was the AB test about,
- Why did we launch it,
- The changes applied,
- And the lessons you can take away from them.
The case studies have been more than beneficial!
- I have learned a lot about AB testing, conversion rate optimization, and ecommerce websites.
- The lessons to take away from them are helpful for anyone who works in anything related to CRO, ecommerce, UX, etc.
What I have learned, personally, so far:
- Don’t assume that people will get in between the lines. Clever headlines might sound good, but go for clarity and focus on what is unique about your business.
- What works for mobile users doesn’t necessarily work for desktop ones.
- It is better to reduce the number of steps that take visitors to do a specific action.
- If the goal in an ecommerce website is to increase the average order value, then use design and copy to nudge visitors to the target AOV.
- When visitors are most likely to shop for more than one product, keeping them in the shopping experience makes sense. Using a mini-cart helps keep visitors in the purchase funnel’s shopping/looking around phase.
BoFu & Self-Journey Blogs
Creating content will always teach you something.
I have always considered it a work in progress, non-stop.
Bottom of funnel content teaches you how to highlight your products or services better.
You will learn how to:
- Enrich your blog,
- Increase your traffic,
- And, at the same time, promote your business.
As for the self-journey blogs, honestly, they have been my favorite.
Writing about your self-development, your work, the lessons you learn, etc.… will:
- Connect you to your audience.
- Create an identity for your organization and you as being part of it.
- Create brand awareness about your company, what it does, and how much the people inside work to excel.
Wrapping Things Up
My journey at FigPii so far has been rich and genuinely insightful.
I can rate my learning curve at 7/10.
And, next quarter promises to be even more exciting! My OKRs for 2022 Q1 are already set – it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get in the trenches again.
I can’t wait to take you with me onto the next quarter and new journey.
See you next year,
Sherine.
