Success Story: How I Increased Conversions on Ion by 431% in Just Two Months

[shammis606]

What would happen if you were given a brand new, top-of-the-line Ferrari?

I mean, whether you like cars or not, you definitely know the impact of owning a botim database machine of this brand and what kind of possibilities and experiences it can offer you.

I'll venture to say that a feeling of euphoria, empowerment and excitement, even a little bit of arrogance, would course through your veins at that moment!

And overcome by these feelings, you would get into the car, you would be gently invaded by the scent of leather, you would carefully admire the Italian design, the high-quality materials, you would stop and notice every line, every detail of the Italian design and, at the best moment... you would remember that you don't know how to drive.

Yes. That's right! Something that could bring you some of the most amazing experiences in life turned out to be inadequate. How would that make you feel? Frustrated? Angry? Stupid?

Because that's exactly what happened to me when I discovered Ion: Rock Content's software platform for designing and creating interactive content, also known as the Ferrari of Rock.

I don't work as a designer or a programmer, but that didn't stop me from seeing the endless possibilities that Ion could offer me.

I'm an Associate Marketing Analyst here at Rock Content, responsible for lead generation in North America. Generating leads is no easy task. In addition to establishing communication with the audience that is appropriate for our products and services, we have to be relevant!

And by relevance I mean the standard of a value powerful enough to make people's work more productive, efficient, noticeable and profitable.

So there I was with my Ferrari that I didn’t know how to drive. During my first few days exploring Ion, I came across some recurring feature names, like “interactive,” “tags,” “integration,” “no-code experience,” “data capture,” different templates for multiple types of experiences… it was a lot of information to process.

Over time, I reached a better level of knowledge about the platform, but I still had a feeling of dissatisfaction with all those jumbled pieces of that giant puzzle. So, my direct leader, Marina Cordeiro, challenged me to gather all the knowledge I had so far and optimize the experience of an old page made in Ion .

My heart may have skipped 3 or 4 beats when he told me that, but I knew it was the only way to get my Ferrari engines roaring. So I did it! And never in a million years would I have imagined that the results would be so impactful, defining new paths for my work as a lead generator here at Rock Content.

Not only to share my journey with you, but also to teach you the best practices, tricks, tips, and everything else I’ve learned, I wrote this case study called: “ How I Increased Conversions on Ion by 431% in Just Two Months ” or as I would like to call it, “ How I Learned to Drive My Ferrari and You Can Too! ”

But before I tell you everything, show you the numbers and teach you the magic, let me tell you a few things:

First I would like to review some important concepts related to Ion and the spectrum of interactivity for marketing and sales.
Then, I'll walk you through the success story, breaking down what I did, what processes I improved, and how you can do it too, tailoring each step to your own purposes.
Finally, from now on, your life will be divided into two eras: AI and DI: Before Ion and After Ion. Mark my words!
Shall we begin?

Ion 101 for dummies (like me)
But… What is interactive content?
Why is interactive content better than static content?
Success Story: How I Increased Conversions on Ion by 431% in Just Two Months
What was it like before optimization?
How does it look now after optimization?
Why did I choose this experience?
What wasn't working and how I improved it
Main results
Ion 101 for dummies (like me)
As I told you before, it is important to shed light on some elements that build the foundations of Ion. Throughout this text, there will be many complementary articles in links. In case you need more information on any aspect, do not hesitate to take a look at them.

In a nutshell, Ion is a Rock Content platform that allows you to break the boredom and limitations of static content through interactive formats . Once you bring them to life with Ion, you amplify their value and increase the chances of achieving more expressive results, with respect to your marketing goals.

Whether you want to promote, attract, convert, sell, or retain, you first need to offer something to build value and trust. Since you’re about to read more about it, let me summarize it for you: what Ion does is provide a series of powerful features capable of elevating the user experience to another level .

Another thing that makes Ion unique is its native integration with major CRM and social media services like HubSpot, SalesForce, and many other marketing tools. It also allows for API integration, meaning you’ll have seamless connectivity to organize and automate your business processes.


At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that I am not a designer or a programmer. But that's not a problem, as these attributes are not required to build an experience in Ion, since it works on a drag-and-drop basis. Isn't that amazing?

Additionally, Ion has pre-built templates for different formats of interactive experiences, such as calculators, quizzes, interactive landing pages, interactive ebooks, interactive infographics, and more.


But… What is interactive content?
I totally understand when people think interactive content is just a page with some motion graphics, animations, GIFs on the screen or even a video embedded in a post. If this idea ever crossed your mind, please dismiss it and remember this:

Interactive content is a format that places the user within the experience, as an active character, increasing engagement and providing personalized feedback based on their actions.

Instead of simply scrolling through pages when reading an eBook, users can interact with the content, explore information, and enter unique data to navigate a unique, personalized journey.

And on top of all that, this is first-party data that can be sent to your CRM via native integrations or APIs. To get up to speed with more details about interactive content, check out this complete guide.


Why is interactive content better than static content?
How about because it increases user engagement rates? Or because it supports higher click-through rates? Maybe because interactive content optimizes the collection of valuable data for your strategy ?

Think the list is over there? Think again, because I could spend all day listing and proving why interactive content is so much better than static content. Actually, let me share another reason: interactive content is so awesome that you can leverage it to repurpose static content .

I bet you want to know more about it, don't you? Then check out the link above!

The importance of User Experience
Reputation is one of the key factors that define success or failure. It doesn't matter if you offer a high-quality product or service: if the user experience is not of a high standard, consumers will not stick to it .

Interactive content allows your audience to be part of the process. It provides multiple possibilities to explore and generate value through what matters most to them. And that's a powerful way to increase interest in what you're offering.

Success Story: How I Increased Conversions on Ion by 431% in Just Two Months
So here we are where it matters most: how did I actually increase Ion Buyer Persona Builder conversions by 431% in two months? Here are my two tips before we move on:

If you're already an Ion user, take what resonates for you and apply it to your experiences on the platform.
But, if you are not yet an Ion user, I recommend that you stop wasting time and opportunities with only static content and look for more information.
What is the Buyer Personas Generator?
You should know that having a Buyer Persona works as a compass to achieve relevance and coherence in strategies and approaches, right? But the buyer persona can't just be a bunch of meaningless information. It has to make sense to those you're trying to communicate with.

So with that in mind, our marketing team created the Buyer Personas Generator in April 2020 – a beautifully designed interactive experience powered by Ion .

A select number of form fields were chosen to fill out, in a very flexible and versatile way, multiple market segments. There were even open spaces in case the user wanted to add more details.

At the end of the experience, the user had access to the complete buyer persona , with an illustration image and everything. We even offered the possibility to download it as a PDF file!

What was it like before optimization?
This is what the Buyer Persona Generator homepage looked like:


Not bad, huh? Well... we'll see about that.

How does it look now after optimization?

Mind-blowing, isn't it? Click here for the full experience !

Why did I choose this experience?
Even though we were living through a global crisis due to the pandemic, our engagement level was well above average. People were looking for high-quality digital content, and well... modesty aside, here at Rock Content we are very good at what we do.

However, to our surprise, when we launched the Buyer Persona Generator, the results did not reach the peaks we expected. The audience simply did not engage with the experience until the end. We could see the movement, but the conversion numbers left a bitter taste in our mouths.

And since there aren't enough memorable experiences available online for such an important topic, why not optimize our own and help our audience ? So, I dove into the universe of the Ion platform to understand from the inside how to turn the Buyer Persona Generator into memorable content.

What wasn't working and how I improved it
After some time analyzing data, user behavior, copywriting, and a few other criteria, I came up with an overview of what wasn’t working. Below I’ll show you how I improved it and a bunch of best practices in case you need to optimize and supercharge your own Ion experience.

Copywriting
As a professional copywriter, the first thing that caught my attention on the old Buyer Persona Generator page was the copy. Copywriting is the ability to translate the abstract into a literary figure. It is the power to awaken emotions and desires through words.

You can also lose your way and turn the whole thing into a tragedy, so... be careful with that.

When writing something hoping it will trigger a reaction, don't just introduce or describe what it's about. To deliver truly effective copywriting, you must:

understand why that person is looking for that solution;
embrace their needs;
unravel the problem;
share the benefits;
and become their problem solver.
This is how the copy turned out: