In the current digital landscape, with the ever-increasing competition, website conversion rate optimization (CRO) has become a fundamental element driving business growth. A higher conversion rate translates into a better return on investment (ROI), increases the website’s revenue and provides a significant edge over competitors.
Conversion rate optimization processes your website to convert more visitors into customers. It can be applied at any customer journey stage, from awareness and research through purchase and post-purchase engagement.
Not only does conversion rate optimization improve user experience, but it also ensures that more visitors undertake desirable actions, be it signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or filling out a web form. These actions, after all, are what fuel business growth.
In this article, we’ll discuss conversion rate optimization and how you can use it to improve your website’s performance. We’ll also introduce some standard conversion optimization tools and techniques you can use to improve your conversion rates.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
Conversion is the visitor’s action on your website that you want them to take. It can be as simple as purchasing or signing up for a newsletter. The key is that it is an action you have determined to be valuable to your business.
The conversion rate is the percentage of your website’s visitors taking the desired action. So, if 100 people visit your site and two make a purchase, your conversion rate would be two per cent.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a systematic and user-centric approach aimed at increasing the percentage of website visitors who complete a site’s goal, referred to as conversions. However, CRO is not only about improving conversion rates.
CRO is about understanding the needs and behaviours of your users and aligning your strategies accordingly to help you get more out of your existing traffic. Even a slight increase in conversion rate can significantly impact your bottom line, so it’s well worth the effort.
Conversion optimization entails using analytics and user feedback to improve the performance of your website. It involves identifying barriers preventing users from converting and finding solutions to overcome them. It means creating a user experience on your website that caters to the target audience’s needs, increasing conversions and customer satisfaction.
To increase conversions, you need to understand what’s preventing people from converting to your site. Is the CTA not visible enough? Is it a problem with the design? Is it a confusing copy? Once you identify the issue, you can test different solutions to see what works best.
What is the Average Conversion Rate?
Average conversion rates can be a useful benchmark when evaluating the performance of your website. Among the 14 industries, the average conversion rate is 2.9%. However, these rates vary across industries and business models. Therefore, setting realistic goals based on your specific context is crucial rather than comparing your numbers with a generalized average.
For example, e-commerce websites have an average conversion rate of 3.65%, while insurance companies have a much lower average of 1 to 3%.
Examples of conversions
Conversions can be macro or micro. Macro-conversions are what visitors provide that can nurture sales. It includes:
- making a purchase
- subscribing to a service
- chatting with the website’s virtual assistant for further questions
- downloading an app
On the other hand, micro-conversions indirectly indicate the intent to make a purchase. It includes:
- creating an account
- filling out a web form
- adding items to the cart
- viewing multiple articles of the same product
- signing up for the newsletter
How to Calculate Conversion Rate
The conversion rate is a crucial metric for any business. It allows you to track the effectiveness of your digital marketing campaigns and overall website.
There are different ways to calculate conversion rate, but the most common formula is:
Conversion rate = (Number of conversions / Total number of visitors) x 100
Consider an e-commerce website. On a typical day, the website receives about 5,000 unique visits. Each visitor has the potential to perform several actions, such as viewing a product, adding an item to the shopping cart, signing up for a newsletter, or making an actual purchase.
Of these 5,000 visitors, 1,000 viewed a specific product, 200 added it to their cart, 50 signed up for the newsletter, and ten users completed a purchase. The conversion rate for each action would be calculated as follows:
- The conversion rate for product views: (1,000 / 5,000) * 100 = 20%
- The conversion rate for adding items to the cart: (200 / 5,000) * 100 = 4%
- The conversion rate for newsletter sign-ups: (50 / 5,000) * 100 = 1%
- The conversion rate for completed purchases: (10 / 5,000) * 100 = 0.2%
These figures offer ShopTrend insight into how well it converts visits into desired actions, highlighting areas needing improvement. For instance, the significant drop from adding items to the cart (4%) to actual purchases (0.2%) could indicate issues with the checkout process.
How to Get Started with Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
To get started with Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), you can follow these steps:
- Understand the Basics: Conversion optimization increases the percentage of users or website visitors who complete an action to increase the number of leads you generate. This action could be purchasing, signing up for a service, filling out a form, or any other desired action on your website.
- Identify Conversion Goals: Begin by identifying the conversion goals for your website or app. The conversion goal will depend on the type of business you’re in and what your objectives are.
- Gather Data: Conduct audience research to understand your visitors, users, and customers. Use tools like Hotjar to gather data on how users interact with your website.
- Implement CRO Strategies: There are several ways to improve your conversion rate, including creating text-based CTAs within blog posts, adding lead flows on your blog, running tests on your website, and optimizing your website’s design and functionality.
- Measure and Iterate: Once you’ve implemented CRO strategies, measure your conversion rate and continue to iterate and improve your website to create a better user experience and grow conversions.
Benefits of CRO in SEO
After knowing the definition of conversion rate optimization and calculating it, let’s see how it benefits your business.
1. Improved Customer Insights
CRO helps you better understand your key audience and find what language, design elements, layout, or copy works best for them. By testing different versions of a webpage, businesses can identify which design elements, layout, or copy works best for an intended audience.
2. Better ROI
A higher conversion rate makes more resources. Studying how to get the most out of your acquisition efforts helps you get more conversions without bringing in more potential customers.
3. Better Scalability
While the size of your audience may not grow at the same time as your business, CRO helps you grow without running out of resources and prospective customers.
4. Better User Experience
CRO takes what works on your website and expands on it; you’ll have a better user experience. Empowered users on your site will engage with it more.
5. Enhanced Customer Trust
For users to share their credit card, email, or personal information, they have to genuinely trust the site. CRO can help you build trust with your customers by improving the user experience and making it easier for them to find what they want.
CRO Strategies
Companies can use many different CRO strategies, but some of the most popular include A/B testing, personalization, and creating compelling calls to action.
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1. A/B testing
A/B testing compares two web page versions to see which performs better regarding conversion rate. Companies will often test different headlines, images, or calls to action to see the more practical way of getting visitors to act.
Forestview conducted A/B testing with a redesigned landing page with multi-level filtering and carousel design. They assume that reducing scrolling would allow users to easily find their preferred product, leading to improved conversion rates. For 14 days, the redesigned landing page showed an increase in conversion rate of 20.45% on mobile and 8.50% on desktop.
2. Personalization
Personalization in CRO strategies involves tailoring content, recommendations and user journey aspects to individual users’ behaviours and preferences. This approach can significantly enhance user experience and boost conversion rates.
For instance, an eCommerce site could personalize product recommendations based on a user’s past purchases and browsing behaviour. By presenting relevant and customized options, the site makes the shopping process more convenient and increases the likelihood of users making a purchase.
Similarly, content sites can personalize article or video suggestions to keep users engaged and on the site for longer. Optimization efforts on your website for user experience can lead to higher conversion.
3. Call-to-action
Creating a sense of urgency is a typical conversion rate optimization effort. You can do this by using limited-time offers and scarcity tactics to encourage users to take action now rather than later.
Creating compelling calls to action is also essential for increasing conversion rates. The call to action should be clear, concise, and persuasive. They are strategically located on the web page, near the top of the page or above the fold.
Here are the most effective call-to-actions you can use on your website or landing page:
“Buy Now”
“Add to Cart”
“Sign Up Now”
“Get a Free Quote”
“Download Now”
“Request a Demo”
“Watch the Video”
4. Use Intelligent Search
When users look for products on your website, they might not know where to find them, especially if the store has a lot of products.
Amazon is a prime example of a website that utilizes an intelligent search bar effectively. This e-commerce giant provides a streamlined and intuitive search experience tailored to users’ shopping habits and preferences.
When customers type into the search bar, Amazon suggests products based on the keywords they have entered and provides autocomplete suggestions derived from popular searches and the user’s browsing history. It helps users find what they’re looking for more quickly and easily, improving the overall user experience and increasing the likelihood of conversions.
Areas To Implement CRO Strategy
There are a few key areas or web pages in your website where it’s essential to implement conversion rate optimization strategies. Also, mobile experiences should be optimized to improve user satisfaction and boost search engine rankings.
Homepage
The homepage is the most significant page on your website regarding conversion rate optimization (CRO). The homepage is often the first point of contact between a business and its customers, so making a good impression is crucial. A well-designed homepage will include a clear call to action, engaging visuals, and easy navigation.
That means that you need to ensure that your homepage allows visitors to understand your site easily and navigate to the web pages they’re looking for.
Some of the critical elements that you should include on your homepage are:
- A clear and concise headline that explains what your site is about
- A powerful CTA that encourages visitors to take the next step
- A brief explanation of what your site offers
- An easy-to-use navigation menu
- Compelling visuals that help explain your message
- Social proof that demonstrates why visitors should trust you.
On Penta Hotels’ homepage, they promote a 5% discount with a promo code, which resulted in a 17% increase in conversion rate across six hotel websites.
Landing Page
Landing pages are essential aspects of a CRO strategy. Optimizing it can increase conversions and improve your overall online marketing results. A well-structured landing page is simple, efficient and has a clear, concise message that aligns with the campaign goals. Here are tips for how to optimize your landing pages:
- Make sure it is relevant to your ad or campaign. If someone clicks an ad for a product or service, you should take them to a landing page that is relevant to that product or service.
- Keep it simple and free of distractions. Too many elements or too much information on the page can overwhelm visitors and cause them to leave without taking action.
- Use strong calls to action as they tell visitors what you want them to do, and make it easy for them to take that action.
- Include social proof. If others have used and liked your product or service, let visitors know with testimonials, reviews, or other social proof.
- Use images or videos. People are more likely to remember information presented visually.
A/B testing is powerful in identifying the landing page’s most effective layout and elements. It involves creating two landing pages with varied elements, such as different headlines, images or calls to action, and testing them against each other to determine which performs better.
Product or Service Pages
Product and service pages are often the most visited on an eCommerce site, so it’s essential to optimize conversion. Here are a few things to keep in mind when optimizing your service and product pages:
- Make sure your products and services are clearly described and easy to find.
- Use high-quality images and videos to showcase your products and services.
- Use persuasive copy to convince visitors to buy your products or services on your eCommerce site.
- Include customer testimonials and reviews to build trust.
- Use strong calls to action to encourage visitors to take the next step.
Blog Pages
Regarding blog articles, you can implement your CRO strategy in a few key areas. Here are some of the most important:
- The headline and title of your blog post: This is what will first catch people’s attention, so make sure it’s effective in communicating what your article is about.
- Your opening paragraph: This is your chance to grab people’s attention and persuade them to keep reading. Make sure it’s clear, concise, and engaging.
- Your content: Obviously, the actual meat of your article is vital in terms of conversion. Ensure you provide valuable, relevant information to help your readers achieve their goals.
- Your calls to action: Throughout your article, you should include calls to action (CTAs) that encourage your readers to take the next step. These could include subscribing to your email list, downloading a free guide, or taking advantage of a special offer.
- Your design and layout: The design of your blog post can impact conversion. Ensure it’s easy to read and navigate and that your CTAs are prominently featured.
- Your SEO: Finally, don’t forget about SEO! Ensuring your blog post is properly optimized for search engines will help ensure that as many people see it as possible.
CRO tools
You can use various optimization tools to improve your website’s conversion rate. Some popular conversion rate optimization tools include:
- Crazy Egg
- Google Analytics
- Hotjar
- VWO
- Heap
- ServiceForm
Crazy Egg
Crazy Egg is a valuable tool for website owners who want to improve their website’s conversion rates. It is a CRO tool that lets you see how visitors interact with your website. You can see where they click, what they scroll through, and where they drop off. This information can help you optimize your website to better meet your visitors’ needs.
Crazy Egg also has a heatmap feature showing where people click the most. You can use this information to ensure visitors see your actual content.
Crazy Egg is easy to use and gives much information, but it is expensive and hard to understand.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the CRO tools that can help you track your website traffic and performance. By understanding website traffic patterns, you can make informed decisions about improving your site’s design and user experience.
Additionally, Google Analytics can help you track conversion rates and other essential metrics. By understanding your website’s performance, you can make informed decisions about improving your site’s conversion rate.
Google Analytics is a valuable tool as it is free and provides a wealth of data, but it can be challenging to interpret. There is a learning curve associated with using the tool.
Hotjar
Hotjar is a powerful CRO tool that lets you see how visitors interact with your website. You can use Hotjar to heatmap user clicks, track form submissions, and more. Hotjar is a great way to improve your website’s conversions by understanding your users’ needs.
However, Hotjar can also be expensive, requiring a lot of data to be collected before providing valuable insights. It is not always accurate, and it can sometimes produce misleading results.
Hotjar only works with high-traffic sites; if you don’t have more website traffic, you may not be able to get valuable insights from Hotjar.
VWO
VWO is a powerful CRO tool that can help you improve your website’s conversions. It offers many features, including A/B testing, heat maps, and user recordings. VWO is easy to use and has an excellent support team.
VWO is a very user-friendly tool that makes creating and tracking experiments easy. However, tracking complex experiments with multiple variables can be expensive and complex. Some users have reported issues with the tool’s customer support.
Heap
Heap is a CRO tool that helps you track and improve your website’s conversions. Heap allows you to answer any question about your users without writing code. Heap automatically captures every web, mobile, and cloud interaction and makes it available for analysis in real-time.
Heap’s features include:
- Automatic event tracking: Heap automatically captures all web, mobile, and cloud interactions, so you don’t have to write code.
- Real-time data: Heap gives you the power to answer any question about your users without waiting for data to come in.
- Heap SQL: Heap’s proprietary SQL-like language lets you query your data in ways that weren’t possible before.
- Integrations: Heap integrates with all major online marketing, analytics, and advertising tools.
While Heap is a powerful tool, it can be expensive to use. Heap on large sites with lots of traffic. It can also be challenging to set up and configure properly and doesn’t work well with certain data types, such as Flash or Java applets.
Serviceform
Serviceform is a conversion tool suite which includes 12 conversion tools. You can use Serviceform to communicate, convert and manage your customers and leads. Serviceform’s conversion suite comprises chatbots, popups, analytics tools, meeting scheduling software and much more.
Even though multiple conversion tools are included in the package, Serviceform’s biggest strength lies in generating leads. Their chatbots and other conversion tools are designed specifically to engage website visitors, and they’re equipped with AI to provide fast and accurate support.
Serviceform’s specialization lies in the real estate and automotive industries. But whichever industry you’re in, if your website has a decent amount of traffic and you’re looking to engage them, it could be worth checking Serviceform out.
The Key to Successful Optimization
Several key principles should be considered to optimize conversion rate optimization (CRO) successfully. These include using analytics methods and people methods and avoiding bad methods. Here are the key points for each:
- Analytics Methods:
- Use the PIE framework to prioritize efforts based on potential, importance, and ease.
- Track essential CRO metrics and KPIs to measure website conversions, such as macro-conversions, micro-conversions, and other key metrics.
- Implement a continuous improvement approach and document the CRO process to provide a standard for future optimization.
- People Methods:
- Set clear hypotheses for CRO experiments to effectively analyze the impact of changes.
- Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative insights to gain a fuller, user-centered picture of the product experience.
- Focus on the audience and combine qualitative and quantitative data in the CRO process.
- Bad Methods to Avoid:
- Avoid approaching CRO as a one-off process and instead see it as an ongoing, incremental process.
- Do not lose focus by tracking too many metrics without clear alignment with overall KPIs.
- Do not rely solely on industry figures for comparison, but focus on measuring the right metrics for your company.
Conclusion
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a powerful driver of business success. It would be best to consider using a CRO tool to improve your website’s conversion rate. Google Analytics, Crazy Egg, Hotjar, VWO, and Heap are all great options that can provide critical insights into how users interact with your website, enabling you to make informed decisions to enhance your site’s design and drive conversions.
Key to effective CRO is the integration of analytics, a deep understanding of your audience, and avoiding common pitfalls. It’s an ongoing process of improvement. Start implementing these strategies and witness their impact on your business growth.
