What does it take to be a “Conversion Scientist”? - Andrew Litchford - S2 Episode #1

What does it take to be a “Conversion Scientist”? - Andrew Litchford - S2 Episode #1

In this episode of Agency That Build, we chat with Andrew Litchford, the Partner/Director of Business Development at Starling. He is an expert in transforming organizations through marketing and strategy. He is considered an all -rounder and is also recognized as a conversion scientist by his team members due to his broad competence in areas like Web development, UX marketing, and business growth.

Discussion Points -

• What sort of bogus strategy misconception, What do you want to clear the air about? 1:50
• Why do you think copy is important? And why do people focus more on design and not copy? 3:16
• When we talk about conversion, just the mention of you being a conversion scientist, how do you define that? What exactly do you look for when you play that? Or when you put that scientist hat on? What are you digging into? What are you looking for, in that study? 11:11 
• What's your standard practice when you're working with clients? 15:34
• How did your partner and you get into this business? 19:16
• What in your opinion is the biggest mistake you might have made? And what did it cost you? Either personally, or long as a business? 26:04
• Tell us a little bit about your contracting experience. 30:11
• What is the biggest challenge you are facing right now? 36:24
• What's exciting you for the future? 39:24

Takeaways

• Conversion copy matters, even if just a little more than design, when converting website visitors into leads. People in our industry put a lot of emphasis on visual structure, and not enough emphasis on copy.
• Start with copy and work your way from there. Voice customer research, read all the conversions, copy out and do the content architecture and then move from that into the design.
• A lot of people got into web design and development because there's a great intersection between being nerdy and solving problems logically with development. And then, there's this creative side to it with the visual identity.
• How do you stand out and differentiate your business in a sea of other businesses doing the same things that look just as good?  It comes down to communication, at the end of the day, your users are people, and what you say to them matters. 
• The primary point of conversion is getting people to fill up their contact form, to reach out to them for whatever service it might be.
• First, define that conversion goal, and then dig into current users to understand how they're getting to the site, and how they're using it.
• Technology and humans are constantly changing, and we need to work to keep up with that. 
• It's easy for clients to see through a facade, someone hiding behind a public entity or organization that's really just like a single person that doesn't have a broad skill set.
• Our biggest challenge right now is educating prospects and even existing clients on the value of strategy and copy. 
• We have a really clear definition of what our end goal is in terms of team structure and size and business revenue. Not only so that we can get to that goal, but so that we don't go past that goal. 
• I see a lot of agencies that grow too far too fast, and it ends up being to their detriment.

Myth Busted - Design should be prioritized over the copy.

Links - 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlitchford/
Company’s Website: https://starlingdigital.com/
Company’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/starlingdigital/

Show Credits - 
Host - Varun Bihani & Jessie Coan
Produced by Bobby Soni 
Edited by Priyanka Sharma 
Content by Aakash Damani, Yashika Neekhra and Juhie Bhardwaj