Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a methodical process that digital marketers use to increase the ratio of their website visitors taking a desired action. These kinds of actions could be anything from filling out an opt-in email form to making a purchase to signing up for a free trial, etc.

To improve conversion rate optimization, you need to understand the following:

• How shoppers and visitors work through your site. More specifically, which web page they land on first and where they go from there.
• Your primary sources of website traffic. Are visitors coming from a Facebook ad, an email, organic SEO, etc.?
• The actions that your website visitors taking on your site versus the actions that you want them to take
• The objections and hurdles preventing your visitors from completing your desired actions. At what step of the conversion funnel are they clicking off of your website?
• The kinds of devices and internet browsers they’re using
• Your visitors’ ages, demographics, and interests

To do this, you’ll need to gather data and allow the numbers to guide your conversion rate optimization process. By doing this (instead of relying on personal opinion), you’ll have the information you need to increase CRO quicker, and therefore enjoy a more significant return-on-investment (ROI) on your marketing campaigns, faster.

We suggest using a platform like Google Analytics to source the above data. Once you have these answers, you’ll know where to focus your efforts. You’ll likely want to concentrate on your web pages and existing content that your consumers find the most engaging, as this should lead to more fruitful results.

Once you’ve gathered your quantitive data, consider retrieving qualitative data from your ideal customers. This should give you a far better understanding of why they’re doing what they’re doing. With a sharper idea of the psychology behind the numbers, you can further optimize your web design and content for conversions.

Both customer and satisfaction surveys are excellent resources for acquiring the following kinds of qualitative data:

• Why they engage with a specific page—What appealed to them?
• What makes you different from your competitors
• How shoppers describe your products/services
• Whether what your selling provides a solution to a specific problem they have
• Whether they would recommend your merchandise to a friend and if so, why?

Numbers alone don’t provide this kind of insight—you can only infer and make educated guesses as to how to improve your user experience. Therefore, if you’re serious about conversion rate optimization, you’ll want to use a combination of analytical data and surveys to help formulate a strategy for conversions.