Peep Laja. He’s the founder of CXL. He was voted as the most influential, conversion rate optimization expert in the world. He helps fast-growing companies grow faster through his services, coaching and CXL Institute’s certification programs along with his world-favorite optimization blog.
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? – Used to be Ready, Fire, Aim
- What CEO do you follow? – No
- Favorite online tool? — Google Analytics and Intercom
- Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Peep wished that he had thought bigger when he was younger
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:33 – Nathan introduces Peep to the show
- 02:18 – CXL is an optimization company
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- 02:30 – CXL does conversion optimization
- 02:40 – CXL also teaches about conversion optimization and everything a company needs to grow fast
- 03:13 – CXL has been an agency model for the longest time
- 03:31 – Conversion XL Institute was launched in 2016
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- 03:41 – It also has a monthly subscription
- 03:52 – MRR as an agency
- 04:11 – In running an agency, it doesn’t make sense to work with small businesses
- 04:59 – CXL has a minimum engagement of 3 months
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- 05:06 – The size of the client determines their length of stay with CXL
- 05:17 – CXL agency currently has an average of 15 clients
- 05:26 – Team size is 10
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- 05:32 – Agency people are mostly based in Estonia
- 05:38 – Peep is based in Austin and is mostly working on the institute side
- 05:54 – Peep only steps into the agency, if needed
- 06:08 – CXL has a blog where most lead generation happens
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- 06:19 – CXL has 2 full-time writers for the blog
- 06:35 – Average MRR
- 07:10 – Peep is working on the scaling aspect of the institute
- 07:32 – “Self-paced is not a good model for learning”
- 07:40 – Coursera, Udacity and other e-learning platforms struggle with churn
- 08:16 – CXL Institute added live courses which are happening in real time
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- 08:30 – The participation rate is way higher than the self-pace courses
- 08:38 – The reasons why the participation rate is higher
- 09:01 – Self-pace is priced at $99 a month
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- 09:04 – Live courses have a one-time fee per course and there are 2 courses per month which are priced from $299 to $499
- 10:08 – Average number of students per course
- 10:41 – CXL Institute has their predominant list
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- 10:47 – CXL Institute also uses retargeting
- 10:56 – CXL Institute is now starting to explore affiliate marketing
- 11:09 – List size
- 11:24 – The blog was launched at the end of 2011
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- 11:43 – The pop-up is the most effective CTA that drives more opt-ins
- 12:18 – Peep shares how to make a pop-up for a blog
- 12:33 – CXL Institute is using Bounce Exchange
- 12:50 – “We try not to annoy the users”
- 13:04 – Bounce Exchange CEO was in Episode 253 of the Top
- 13:27 – CXL Institute does a revenue-share model with the instructors
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- 13:34 – The instructors are marketing their classes on their own, as well
- 14:18 – The live course inclusions
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- 15:02 – It is like a one day workshop
- 15:30 – The big companies are the ones who buy the self-paced courses
- 15:52 – CXL Institute currently has 1 certification program
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- 16:04 – CXL Institute is adding 2-3 certifications quarterly
- 16:30 – Peep initially thought the self-paced would be for small businesses
- 17:30 – Annual signup is 20-25%
- 18:10 – CXL Institute is having a conference called CXL Live
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- 18:16 – A whole resort is booked for the conference
- 18:30 – The conference will be at Hyatt Regency Hill Country ,in San Antonio
- 18:38 – A ticket includes a 2-night stay and meals
- 18:50 – The conference will be on April 5-7
- 18:55 – Visit live.conversionxl.com for more details
- 21:15 – The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
- As an agency, the amount of time spent working with small and big companies is the same, so it’s better to stick with the big ones.
- Self-paced learning faces more churn than live courses.
- Think big and don’t just settle on what you think you can do—aim higher.
Resources Mentioned:
- The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
- Organifi – The juice was Nathan’s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
- Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
- Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
- Freshbooks – Nathan doesn’t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
- Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives