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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 13:34 – The instructors are marketing their classes on their own, as well
14:18 – The live course inclusions
- 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
- 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
- 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

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EP 620: ConversionXL Doing $200k+/Mo With 3 Products, Live Masterclass, Agency, and Self-Serve with CEO Peep Leja