People ask me a lot about how to improve their success with their websites and today I’ve decided to share the MTMC model I’ve shared before, but in more detail so that you can go about creating better results from your work online.
This model is quite elegant because it can be applied at a micro level all the way to the macro level, and it can apply to both online and offline businesses. Simply put, this is a way of thinking that could radically change the way you look at elements of your business.
MTMC stands for Mission – Traffic – Model – Conversions. There are 2 main loops in this model, the Traffic and Conversions form the Viability loop, and the Mission – Model form the Profitability loop. The sweet spot is getting the balance perfectly right on all 4 elements to land in the Landing Zone. Take a look at the diagram for a brief summary of the model constructs.
Let’s talk about each zone:
Mission
This is the goals and objectives of the exercise for which you want to apply the model to. This could be as high level as “I want to increase revenue” or as low level as “I want to increase click thru’s on my website”. This must be defined so that we can get the right data and information to make the best decisions for success. As well as defining these objectives, one must also define the success criteria, otherwise you could end up in a circle of constant motion where you are never satisfied with the results. Every objective will have a degree of success and it’s up to you to determine how much you need in order to move onto another task.
Model
This is part of the Mission loop because it pertains to an idea that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel in order to succeed. Many people when they start out online think that you need to be innovative or super duper out there in design, process or thinking. However, there are plenty of people who take what is already being done, but do it better approach, and make a massive success of it. Google is the best example of this when they started up, they simply did better what Yahoo was doing. So the model section means looking at examples of successful implementations of the goals (Mission) you have set for this task. In the above example about increasing revenue, just look at the industry and find out how other people in the same industry create stronger better streams of revenue and then copy them, or at least take what they are doing and improve on it. Also the same with micro goals such as increasing click thru’s on a button or getting more sign ups to an email database. There are many sites out there who do this well and all you have to do is “model” them and improve or tweak to your own implementation. It’s not rocket science, copy what’s out there and improve on it and that’s how you succeed, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel!
Traffic
This is ultimately what it comes down to and the definition of traffic can mean eyeballs or clicks to a website. Traffic is just human interaction, i.e. some form of engagement with your potential customer. In the case of increasing click thru’s, traffic is web traffic from search engines or any other source online. In the case of increasing revenues, this could mean more phone calls from potential clients, or more leaflets being sent out. Ultimately the job of this loop is to work out how to increase traffic. How do you get more web traffic, more social media engagement, more calls from prospects, etc.
Conversions
The other side of the Traffic loop is all about conversions. Without traffic you can’t concentrate on conversions since it would be futile, however without working on conversions after you have some traffic, would also yield less than satisfactory results. Conversions is about making things happen. It’s about making a click button more engaging or eye catching if you want to elicit a click from an end user online. In the past I’ve tested buttons and fonts and colours on a single conversion point and have witnessed shifts of over 900% change in conversion. Conversions can also mean more sales in the case of increasing revenue. How do you convert an eyeball on a leaflet into a potential customer? These are all conversion questions.
Conclusion
In the end, you need to define all 4 of these loops in order to make a success of the objective you are applying the model to.
Example 1:
Mission: To increase following on Twitter
Model: find other engaging Twitter users in your same industry and topic and discover how they are increasing their following.
Traffic: Find ways to increase following through other Twitter activity or redirecting people to follow you via other web assets like a website, Facebook page, Instagram account etc.
Conversions: How to actually convince people who view your Twitter profile, to follow you.
Example 2:
Mission: To get more phone calls for your service
Model: Find out how other similar businesses in your sector promote themselves and market their services. If they do brochures or leaflets, find out how they look and whether they convert.
Traffic: Figure out where the eyeballs to the phone number are coming from, whether online sources or offline. Are leaflets effective or perhaps online classifieds are better.
Conversions: Once the mode of getting traffic is identified, how can one make the advertisement better to elicit more calls. Does it need a better design, or clearer fonts?
