What is Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)?
Conversion rate optimisation focuses on improving a website’s conversion rate using techniques to maintain visitors in a website and actively pushing them towards the specific goals identified.
All websites have a specific goal and secondary goals. These could be to complete a purchase, or sign up to newsletters, or even visit specific webpages. Whatever the goal, the more visitors who complete these actions the more chances a website has to be successful. These completed actions are called conversions, so the higher the conversion rate is, the better. That’s where conversion rate optimisation comes into the equation.
Conversion rate optimisation utilises many different techniques, from testing (AB, ABn, Multivariate, Split, Server-side etc.) to personalisation and tools such as social proof and product recommendations.
What does Conversion Rate Optimisation not do?
What conversion rate optimisation doesn’t do is ‘increase traffic’. Whereas activities such as SEO and PPC are utilised to drive additional traffic (visitors) to a website, conversion rate optimisation targets the existing traffic of a website to get more of those visitors to complete the target goals within the site. Thereby increasing the conversion rate and (if the website goials are monetised) the revenue generated.
What are the benefits of Conversion Rate Optimisation?
Better decisions based on proven data
With a strategic conversion rate optimisation plan in place, it removes most of the guessing work and helps you take more calculated risks while you better understand your business and customers.
Get ahead of your competition
With conversion rate optimisation utilised on your website, you can put yourself in a better position than your competitors. By taking a more personalised approach, sometimes, that’s all it takes to convert a visitor to a buyer.
Transforms Site Visitors to Customers
By creating a better user experience for your visitors, the more customers the business is likely to acquire from the same amount of traffic it is already receiving.
Lowers customer acquisition costs
When a website is strategically optimised, all traffic coming from other campaigns such as Email campaign, PPC or social media are more likely convert more effectively. Because you are aiming to increase the conversion rate of your site without paying for additional traffic the theory is that you then get a much larger increase in revenue for a little extra investment.
Improves brand perception and loyalty
Having a website that is consistent with its legitimacy and user experience is crucial for conversion rate optimisation to be effective. Customers keep on returning to those websites that they trust.
Increases your customers lifetime value
Conversion rate optimisation allows you to get the bigger picture of your customers’ lifetime value by using personalisation and tracking their interaction with your website.
Common Conversion Rate Optimisation Strategies & Approaches
There are many areas of your site and CRO techniques which can be applied to improve your conversions, some can be smaller and quite subtle and yet still make a huge influence to your conversion rate. Others can be big and bold. A few examples:
Landing pages
One of the most common targets for conversion rate optimisation strategy are website landing pages. These could be:
- Changing your CTA to different colour, size, font, text, location
- Changing your forms to become smaller, have less required filled fields, or change its location
- Changing the landing page’s layout, by moving elements or sections to prime locations
Sales Funnels
In a sales funnel these are some techniques that are regularly employed to help customers to return to their abandoned basket:
- Emailing the customer with their items pending and inviting them back to the checkout
- Pop-up message boxes to nudge the customer to proceed towards proceeding to the checkout page
- Exit intent pop-ups to keep the customer on the website and complete the purchase
Other common techniques
These are some additional, commonly used methods to draw the visitor’s attention to a specific location or the CTA of your webpage:
- Hello bars & Welcome messages
- Flashing browser tabs
- Scrolling banner
- Animated buttons
- Alert box
Webtrends Optimize & Conversion Rate Optimisation
Conversion rate optimisation is becoming more and more common and ever more focused on personalisation as well as testing. As users become more UX savvy they expect their behaviour to be recognised and expect to receive a more personalised experience.
Conversion rate optimisation is all about tailoring the right strategy to grab the right customer, at the right moment, and Webtrends Optimize allows you to access all the tools you need to be able to do this. In addition our team of CRO experts are always on hand to help you plan and strategise to ensure you are maximise your website ROI.
