Welcome to the next episode of Userpeek's Hall of Fame – People You Should Follow.
As we are keen on preparing top-notch lists of experienced veterans that inspire us at work, this week we come with an extensive list of 32 CRO Influencers That Rule Optimization.
If you wish to become a better Conversion Rate Optimizer, you’d better follow these CRO influencers on Twitter – one article or link from them might be a complete epiphany for all of us!
I’m the face of ConversionXL. My unusual name (to most people) is actually pronounced ‘Pep Laya’. I am from Estonia, but live mainly in the US these days. I spend my summers in Europe, winters in Austin, TX and travel when I can.
I’m an entrepreneur and a conversion optimization champion. I started ConversionXL – and we
teach others to do the same through our conversion optimization blog full of truly the best content in the industry,
online CRO course and coaching program (graduates who pass a test will become ConversionXL Certified Optimizers)
our flagship conference ConversionXL Live where we provide unparalleled experience.
I am devoted to growing the size and quality of the whole conversion optimization community. You can always rely on me for help, and to call your bullshit."
"I became a marketer the day we started Unbounce. As early pioneers in the realm of content marketing, my goal was to position Unbounce as the global leader in everything related to landing pages and how to deliver high-converting and delightful marketing experiences.
Does this mean I considered legally changing my name to Landing Page, to get extra SEO love from my guest post byline? Yes it does.
Wild ideas create exceptional experiences, and that's what I (and we at Unbounce) try to do in everything we create.
Today my focus is on speaking around the world at marketing conferences to help shape the next generation of marketing into something a bit more special than the last."
"CEO at Portent, Inc., an internet marketing agency he started in 1995.
40,000+ hours experience in internet marketing: Digital strategy, analytics, organic search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising, social media (whatever that means), online copywriting
Trying to show folks and businesses they can improve their lives if they're better communicators.
And trying to help small and big businesses avoid marketing ripoff artists.
Speaker and author, too.
He's recorded training for Lynda.com, writes regularly for the Portent Blog and has been published on AllThingsD, Forbes.com and TechCrunch. Ian speaks at conferences around the world, including SearchLove, MozCon, SIC and ad:Tech. He also just published a book about strategy for services businesses: One Trick Ponies Get Shot."
"When companies like Google, Electronic Arts, ebay, Magento, and 1-800 Flowers want great marketing optimization results, they call Chris Goward.
Chris founded WiderFunnel with the belief that marketing agencies should prove their value. He wrote the book, “You Should Test That!,” which redefined conversion optimization and outlines how to create dramatic business improvements.
He is the brain behind the LIFT Model™ and WiderFunnel System™ – conversion optimization strategies that consistently LIFT results for leading companies."
"It passes before it's noticed; a slight rising of the eyebrows, a widening of the eyes. It may be accompanied by an almost imperceptible inhalation. The heart adds a beat, like a quiet exclamation point on the experience.
Within a 10th of a second the reaction has passed, but not without leaving its mark.
Someone found what they're looking for.
Does your Web site generate impulses to act? It can.
I'm the founder of Conversion Sciences. We find those impulses to act that are hidden in your site.
Through a steady diet of measurement and testing, we let your visitors tell us how they want your site to serve them and what will generate more leads, more subscribers and more sales for your business.
"Neil Patel is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. He helps companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, HP and Viacom grow their revenue.
The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world.
He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. Neil has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives."
"Tim Ash is the author of the bestselling book Landing Page Optimization, and CEO of SiteTuners. A computer scientist and cognitive scientist by education (his PhD studies were in Neural Networks and Artificial Intelligence), Tim has developed an expertise in user-centered design, persuasion and understanding online behavior, and landing page testing.
Over the past 15 years, Tim has helped a number of major US and international brands to develop successful web-based initiatives. Companies like Google, Expedia, Kodak, eHarmony, Facebook, American Express, Canon, Nestle, Symantec, Intuit, AutoDesk and many others have benefitted from Tim's deep understanding and innovative perspective.
Today, in addition to providing strategic consulting services, Tim is a highly-regarded keynote speaker and presenter at industry conferences including Internet Retailer, Search Engine Strategies, PubCon and countless others. He is the founder and chairperson of Conversion Conference and a frequent contributor to print and online publications such as ClickZ, Website Magazine, Visibility and others."
"Hi, my name's Joseph Putnam. I studied marketing at the University of Texas at Austin and currently run a small digital agency called 5 North Marketing. Our speciality is in copywriting, content marketing, and conversion focused design. I love all things digital marketing including SEO, PPC, conversion rate optimization, and social media marketing.
Joe Putnam is the Director of Marketing at iSpionage, a competitive intelligence tool that allows advertisers to uncover their competitors’ entire PPC and SEO strategy. He studied marketing at UT Austin and has written two in-depth guides on copywriting and conversion rate optimization. He’s also helped businesses increase their conversion rates between 75%-250%+. "
Bryan is a professional marketing keynote speaker who has been the keynote speaker for corporate events and conferences such as Gultaggen, Shop.org, Direct Marketing Association, DreamForce, E-consultancy, Emerce, and the Canadian Marketing Association. He is also the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Web Analytics Association (now the Digital Analytics Association).
Bryan serves as an advisory board member of Search Engine Strategies, the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit and several venture capital backed startup companies (e.g., Bazaarvoice, UserTesting.com, Monetate, Nomi, Sightly, BoostMedia, AllClearID, ChatID, OneSpot etc.).
"Jeffrey Eisenberg, is the CEO of BuyerLegends.com, a company that teaches business people how to create customer-centered, data-driven customer experience design that is supported by narrative.
Jeffrey is the co-author of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, USA Today and New York Times bestselling books “Call to Action” & “Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?”. He has written for the popular marketing optimization blog GrokDotCom, eMarketing & Commerce Magazine & Forbes.com. Jeffrey has been a speaker and delivered the keynote speech at conferences like Search Engine Strategies, WSI Excellence & Innovation, Shop.org, Direct Marketing Association, MarketingSherpa, AD:Tech Miami, Search Engine Strategies Latino, NAB, Canadian Marketing Association and at corporate events like Intel’s retail customer appreciation summit."
I've started two SaaS companies, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. One is self-funded & the other is venture backed. I also send a weekly email newsletter called SaaS Weekly where I share relevant, curated links for anyone interested in SaaS businesses.
I love starting and growing businesses. I'm also eager to help others start and grow their businesses."
"Founder and CEO of GrowthHackers.com, the world's largest network of growth experts (PMs of growth, growth engineers, performance marketers, growth analysts…).
Previously early growth leadership at Dropbox, Lookout, Eventbrite, LogMeIn (launch to IPO), Uproar (launch to IPO)
Coined the phrase "growth hacking" which AdAge recently called "the next big thing in marketing" (9/2015).
Quoted in or written for WSJ, Forbes, Fast Company, Wired, and TechCrunch. Worldwide speaking requests on growth and marketing (Japan, Malaysia, Australia, UK, Switzerland, Israel, Brazil)
"If it has to do with digital marketing and measurement, I'm interested. I've spent my entire marketing career advocating data driven decisions, and am looking for the best and brightest to do something game changing.
My focus is conversion rate optimization, web data analysis, personalization, and split testing. After seeing thousands of split tests and training some major companies, the time has come to take these learnings to the public. Let's find a way to collaborate!
Justin is a digital marketing and optimization trainer with hands-on experience in both the B2B & B2C space. After evaluating over 2,500 A/B & MVT split tests he's seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. He's made it his goal to inspire and educate more marketers to optimize their marketing campaigns via proper testing. "
"Intrepreneur Magazine says, “Perry Marshall is the #1 author and world’s most-quoted consultant on Google Advertising. He has helped over 100,000 advertisers save literally billions of dollars in AdWords stupidity tax.”
His Chicago company, Perry S. Marshall & Associates, consults both online and brick-and-mortar companies on generating sales leads, web traffic, and maximizing advertising results. At $2,000 per hour he’s one of the world’s most expensive and sought-after marketing consultants. His top coaching groups have waiting lists, and many clients have engaged his services continuously for 10 years and more.
Like direct marketing pioneer Claude Hopkins, Perry has both an engineering degree and a love for persuasive copywriting. He’s taught hundreds of thousands of people how to apply the scientific method to advertising.
He’s published thousands of articles on sales, marketing and technology, and his works include The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords (Entrepreneur Press, 3nd Edition 2012), the world’s most popular book on Google advertising, 80/20 Sales and Marketing (Entrepreneur Press, 2013) and The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising (Entrepreneur Press, 2011). He is also author of Industrial Ethernet (ISA, 2nd Edition).
His work is referenced in dozens of influential marketing books by authors like Jay Conrad Levinson, Mark Joyner, Joel Comm, Howard Jacobson, Richard Stokes and John Jantsch.
He’s been featured at conferences in the U.S., Canada, UK, Israel and Australia. He’s shared the stage with Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Jay Abraham, Mari Smith, Harvey Mackay and Les Brown. He’s consulted in over 300 industries, from computer hardware and software to high-end consulting, from health & fitness to corporate finance."
He spent 25 years at Fortune, and founded and hosted its Brainstorm and Brainstorm Tech conferences. In addition to writing for Techonomy, he contributes to Forbes and Vanity Fair. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations."
"I'm the co-founder & CEO of Optimizely. The original inspiration for Optimizely came from my experience as the director of analytics on the Obama 2008 campaign. Optimizely is the product I wish we had back then to make it easy for anyone to do A/B testing. Four years later, not only did Obama 2012 and Mitt Romney use our product extensively in the last election cycle but so have over 7,000 other customers including Starbucks, CNN, and Crate&Barrel.
A/B testing, our first product, is now the #1 most-adopted website optimization platform in the world. But A/B testing is just the beginning. Our vision is to enable the world to turn data into action. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us and we’re just getting started.
In my role I do a lot of public speaking evangelizing the benefits of A/B testing. I've guest lectured at Stanford and Berkeley business schools and keynoted at SXSW, SES, Conversion Conference, TheNextWeb, and dozens of others. If you are interested in having me speak at your event please contact andrea@optimizely.com
I have also been lucky enough to appear on Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Wired to talk about the awesomeness of A/B testing and the future of website optimization. Apparently I was born at the right place and the right time since Forbes decided to recognize me just months before I turned 30 as one of the Top 30 under 30 in Technology."
"12+ years of technology startups and marketing leadership where I have focused on revenue growth, marketing strategy and managed high performing teams.
Tech mentor (Techstars, NEXT, UpGlobal, Startup Weekend) and educator (UW professor, Advanced Digital Marketing). Board advisor at Attendly & SparkTrend. Blogger at Entrepreneur.com, MarketingLand.com and JoannaLord.com. Winner of Seattle's 40 Under 40.
Digital evangelist and keynote. I’ve spoken around the globe at shows like: Web Summit Dublin, SMX Advanced/East, SXSW 13/14/15, Rainmaker Conference, Traction Conference, The Conference Sweden, CTA Conference, SIC, SearchExchange, EdSocialMedia, Sydney eRetailer, Dreamforce, DomainFest, PubCon Vegas/South, SEMpdx 11/12/13/14, Affiliate Summit, and many more.
Dedicated to building brilliant brands that leave an impact, connect us in beautiful ways, and do great things."
"Janet Driscoll Miller brings over ten years of search engine marketing experience to Marketing Mojo and is considered a leading expert in her field.
Janet has spoken at search engine and marketing conferences including SMX Advanced, Search Engine Strategies, MarketingProfs B2B and Pubcon, has published articles in B2B Magazine, Visibility Magazine and others, and contributes to several blogs, including Marketing Mojo's blog and Search Engine Land.
Janet is also a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities including the University of Virginia and James Madison University.
Prior to founding Marketing Mojo (then Search Mojo) in 2005, Janet was the Director of Internet Marketing at WebSurveyor Corporation, an online survey company. Prior to WebSurveyor, Janet was the founder of empower marketing, inc., an interactive marketing firm based in Denver, Colo.
Before starting her own interactive marketing firm, Janet served as the Sr. Marketing Communications Manager at Software AG, where she coordinated advertising, interactive marketing, events and branding efforts. She has over ten years of technology marketing experience and additionally has held marketing positions at Call Technologies and Telos Corporation. Janet graduated from James Madison University with a degree in Communications and Graphic Arts.
Janet is a certified Google AdWords Professional and a Yahoo! Ambassador."
"Adam is the owner of Words That Click, an online marketing company named one of the “Best Marketing Firms” by St Louis Small Business Monthly. He’s an online marketing strategist for small and mid sized businesses who focuses not just on driving traffic to websites but, more importantly, on converting that traffic to leads and sales.
Adam got his start in online marketing while running a drug testing company. It was there he discovered the power of Google AdWords as a way to drive targeted web traffic and as a potent market research tool. It didn’t take him long to realize it’s much more fun helping business owners grow their businesses online than trying to track down drug users.
Adam is also the co-founder of the Main Street Marketing Community (an organization dedicated to educating small, local business owners about online marketing), is a member of Expert4Entrepreneurs, has been featured on NBC and ABC TV as an online marketing expert, and was named to a list of “20 Smokin’ Hot Pieces of Brain Candy” along with Seth Godin, Jeffrey Gitomer and Alan Weiss.”
"I bleed orange (specifically ion orange, #ff5d00)!
As one of ion's co-founders, I am passionate about building our culture, our team and our customer success. I lead our sales & client service teams, focused on the growth of ion's customer base and seamless delivery of our professional services & software. I'm grateful to love what I do.
I think this quote says it all…
The master of the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he is always doing both. —Lao Tzu
When I am not at ion you can find me shuttling my two kids around from here to there, knocking back some wine with my hubby, spinning in some dark room at Flywheel indoor cycling, or enjoying the amazing Florida outdoors."
"Angie is an inbound marketing thought leader skilled at creating magnetic content optimized for search, social, conversion and mobile.
She has more than 13 years' multichannel B2B and B2C experience in both agency and corporation settings leading marketing, IT, and cross-functional projects to successful fruition.
She recently defined the new Online Marketing university curriculum for The Art Institutes, currently leads conversion optimization efforts at Unbounce.com, and has spoken internationally at SES, SMX, and OMS conferences.
Angie is best known for her expertise in mobile and emerging technologies across the convergence of search and social marketing and is a strong, vocal advocate for white hat SEO. Watch for her articles on leading blogs like Unbounce, Search Engine Watch, and ClickZ."
"Honing his skills in the early '90s during the dot-com boom, Mike Belasco worked for online industry giants Sun Microsystems and Level 3 Communications. He jumped ship from corporate America and decided to captain his own boat, establishing relationships with Web designers and other online marketing professionals.
Belasco found a niche assisting Web designers and other marketing professionals expand their offerings to include SEO services without having to specialize in the ever-changing space. This strategy was successful enough to turn seOverflow (now Inflow) into one of Denver’s 2010 -2013 Fastest Growing Companies according to the Denver Business Journal.
Expanding on the success of seOverflow, Belasco founded ConversionIQ in 2009 with business partner Keith Hagen. ConversionIQ offers website conversion optimization services to companies directly and via their Web agencies. Belasco's vision for the future of Internet marketing is based on moving away from interruption marketing and to Inbound Marketing for a more holistic answer for all Internet marketing needs.
Belasco regularly speaks at national and international industry events and conferences, such as Search Marketing Expo (SMX), Online Marketing Summit (OMS), Search Engine Strategies Expo (SES), Business Marketing Association Events (BMA) and many others. Belasco is also an instructor covering Local Search for the Online Marketing Institute (OMI). Belasco and his team launched LocalSearchToolKit.com to assist SEO professionals in analyzing Google Places Results."
"I have been analyzing, testing and optimizing websites for over 10 years, varying from the some of the biggest Fortune 500 websites, to small e-commerce and startup websites.
Previously I’ve worked for Adobe as a Conversion Specialist helping their clients improve their testing and optimization strategies (including Vodafone, Skype, Tesco and Nationwide), and also worked inhouse for Disney Online as a Web Analytics and Optimization Manager.
I specialize in using best practices in conversion rate optimization (CRO), web analytics and web usability to gain increases in online revenue for clients.
I’m a certified Google Analytics individual, and highly experienced with other tools like Adobe Site Catalyst, Test & Target, Visual Website Optimizer and Optimizely.
"I'm a Freelance CMO. I help owner-led businesses build their brand less ordinary.
What's that entail? Building structure and process to digital marketing through a combination of search, content, email and conversion strategy. There are 3 capacities within which I work – Advisory / Management / Leadership
I also podcast, blog for various publications and speak at conferences (UK, Europe and further afield) to spread the word sharing case studies and talking about growth marketing and purposeful brand differentiation.
As a digital marketer I do things online that will just blow your mind…
Not really. I advise on new ideas, structure and process to fuel growth for your digital business. The end result being greater confidence and purpose in the 'doing' element of digital marketing… and profitable growth.
I partner with ambitious entrepreneurs, founders and business owners.
A digital marketer doing my bit to inspire business founders & marketers to avoid conventional marketing tactics and start building their brand less ordinary."
Likes to get things done so usually deeply involved in execution as well, not just the strategy and consultancy. Therefore mainly working on longer-term contracting basis.
Experience in publishing and events but mainly an utterly customer-focused and performance-oriented bridge builder and 360° consultant. Specialization in ICT markets, B2B and verticals with complex go-to-market approaches (channel).
Working where technology, media, ICT, marketing, change, optimization, management, people and sales meet since 1992."
"Linda Bustos is the director of ecommerce research at Elastic Path and author of the Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog. Linda's articles have appeared in Mobile Marketer, CMO Magazine, E-Marketing + Commerce, and Search Marketing Standard, and she has provided expert opinion to Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur, Time, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Forbes.
She is also a co-author of the Advanced Commerce Maturity Scale, a self-assessment tool you can use to measure the ability of your company to deliver omnichannel, experience-driven transactions across touchpoints."
"I'm one of the founders of ion, and as the company's chief technology officer, I oversee product development and technical operations. I also do a lot of evangelism — a fancy way of saying that I write articles, present at conferences, and teach classes to help marketers implement innovative post-click marketing.
Outside of ion, I also write a blog on the intersection of marketing and technology called Chief Marketing Technologist, and I'm the program chair of the MarTech marketing technology conference. I have a BS in computer science from Columbia University, an SM in computer science from Harvard, and an MBA from MIT Sloan."
"I fell into copywriting. Just totally tumbled in, head over feet. I didn’t like the word “copywriter” when I first started – so I went by “creative writer”. Big mistake. That must’ve set me back a good 3 years. Now I know that COPY is awesome, and copywriters are the best-kept secret in the sales and marketing world.
Has worked at: Intuit, Conversion Rate Experts, agencies
Has been doing this since: 2004
Feels the world needs more: Good news stories to normalize good behavior. And varieties of pie – it feels like we’ve capped out early on that one.
Has a warped sense of: Everything. But, in particular, I always assume things are going to be wicked-expensive. And I’m totally bad at forecasting how long something will take.
Would have been: A dermatologist. Or an architect. But the lure of a life of words was just too strong.
Favorite copywriters: Gene Schwartz and John Caples – and all the great unknowns doing kick-a$$ stuff.
Loves to optimize: Catalogue pages! Sooo much opportunity on the average catalogue page."
"I grew up believing I would optimize websites. Thank God the Internet was invented or I’d still be selling mattresses. When I’m not helping clients make sense of CRO and web experiments, I’m toying with a new startup idea or helping my 2 boys try to make sense of this world and their place in it. Or eating candy.
I'm a seasoned product marketing leader who consistently helps businesses and teams exceed their goals. With REAL expert-level knowledge and experience in SaaS, product marketing, content marketing, copywriting, customer success, conversion rate optimization, and user research, I'm uniquely positioned to teach and execute in almost every area of the software business. I absolutely LOVE working with smart, passionate teams on products that solve challenging problems for businesses."
"Alex Harris is an award winning web designer, best selling author and founder of AlexDesigns.com. Alex is the host of the top ranked podcast, Marketing Optimization. In 2014, he was named the "#4 Top Influential Conversion Rate Optimization Expert”, and his latest book, Boost Ecommerce Sales & Make More Money, became an Amazon #1 Best Seller.
Over 14 years of experience in doing conversion rate optimization (CRO), ecommerce and landing page design for clients from different industries.
In 2000, I started implementing A/B multivariate testing for landing pages, as well as online creative work for ecommerce and subscription-based websites. I also focus on proven search engine optimization (SEO) tactics and affiliate marketing in order to help clients achieve the best possible ROI within a reasonable timeframe.
I am also the Creative Director at Alexdesigns.com. I focus on customer acquisition and in improving conversion rates. I also serve as the website’s landing page designer, ecommerce website designer, and marketing consultant. I also create subscription websites with a strong focus on CRO and lead generation. I focus on NetSuite and Hubspot inbound marketing as well.
I specialize in landing page design, conversion rate optimization, web marketing, search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, direct response web design,Netsuite, Volusion, ecommerce design, CRM, small business, landing page design, SEM, conversion rate improvement, lead generation, A/B testing, multivariate testing, conversion marketing, WordPress, Woocommerce, Amazon, Bigcommerce, Shopify and Magento."
"Highly motivated, performance-driven, entrepreneurial online marketing professional with 10+ years of continuous advancement and expertise in international online sales and marketing.
Wesley has been directly responsible for countless top Google positions in some of the most competitive markets online, authored several SEO related digital books and courses, and generated over £1/4 million profits in direct online sales and affiliate revenue through his own online publishing company."
"I'm a User Experience champion with a wealth of experience gained working with high street retailers and leading brands. My skills base includes UX, Usability testing, User Centred Design, online marketing, customer insight, web analytics and multi-variate testing.
I am proud of the consumer facing improvements delivered during my career and how I fostered an appreciation of the importance of the user experience within others. I have become recognised as a technology champion for UX techniques and web analytics, contributing to respected publications, industry events and expert panels. I write regularly for Econsultancy on user experience and mobile strategy.
At Belron, I've increased Worldwide online conversion rates by over 40% in less than two years. Using agile techniques, optimisation and usability research blended with a brilliant team of people, we delivered measurable benefits to both consumer *and* the business bottom line. In a big way.
Rather than bore you with more random stats, just ask me questions!"
Torsten is CEO and founder of Userpeek. He is an old stager in the online business with 20 years of experience as an online marketer, conversion rate optimizer and UX strategist.
