If you’ve spent any time online or in the presence of other marketing professionals, you’ve probably heard the term “conversion rate optimization” or CRO for short. Sounds fancy, no? But, what exactly is this concept, and more importantly, how can you leverage it for your own business? Let’s take a look, shall we?
To begin, we must first understand what conversion rate itself is. Let’s say you’ve worked hard to set up a killer website. You’ve also invested a bunch of dough into pay-per-click advertising and a number of other online marketing methods. You’re also active on social media channels, sharing content and engaging with your customers and prospects.
The goal of all of this is to not just bring people to your website, but to turn them into paying customers. When you accomplish this goal, you’ve successfully achieved a conversion. So, conversion rate refers to the percentage of traffic you receive that actually completes the process.
Conversion rate optimization is essentially getting the most out of all of your marketing efforts. Getting more bang for your buck. Getting more bounce for the ounce. Getting….well, you get the idea. The goal is to raise your conversion rate as much as possible because more conversions equal more paying customers which means ongoing growth and increased profits.
Now that you have an idea of what conversion optimization is, let’s take a quick gander at some simple things you can start doing today to help improve your results.
- Make sure PPC ads are well-written, contain the right keywords and a clear call to action
- Ensure relevance and consistency between ads and landing pages (ads should link to the right pages and landing pages should deliver on the promises contained in your ads)
- Maintain a high quality, user-friendly website (a one second delay in loading time can reduce conversions by 7%)
- Produce content that is compelling and highly targeted
- Use effective color and design combinations (93% of consumers are influenced by visual appearance alone)
- Incorporate video on your landing pages (a study by Eyeview Digital showed that doing so could increase conversion rate by up to 80%)
- Align your goals with those of your target audience
Successful CRO also involves testing regularly to identify barriers that may be standing in the way of getting your web visitors to convert. For instance, while testing you may discover that the form you’re asking people to fill out is unnecessarily complicated or that moving around your website is difficult. By simplifying that form and improving site navigation, you will subsequently improve the overall user experience which can translate to a boost in conversion rate.
So, there you have it. Conversion rate optimization demystified. Now, get to work. You’ve got some optimizing to do!
