Instead of flipping between multiple browser windows, trying to dissect what is CRO and where you went wrong — let’s start with what conversion rate optimisation means and why it’s so valuable to your digital strategy. then, have a read through our 11 CRO mistakes that might be clouding your judgment when analysing your data.
What is Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)?
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is the scientific art of converting more visitors into customers when they visit a website by giving them all the right reasons to turn into buyers.
It involves testing various elements on your site to identify ways you can improve web experiences to get a higher percentage of visitors buying your product or service.
From changing the layout and design of your website, to experimenting with long-form vs short-form copy, there are many tests a business can do to increase their conversions.
Sometimes it can be as simple as changing a headline.
Conversions can range from someone signing up for a newsletter, following you on social media to buying a product or subscribing to your service. They can happen anywhere on your site — homepage, blogs and landing pages — or any page that you drive traffic to.
The best part is you’re in total control of where your prospects go and how you want your them to interact with your site.
For example, say you have a new product or service and you’re not completely sure whether long-form copy would be more effective or if short-form works better with your audiences.
You create two versions of a landing page and run side-by-side tests. The version which was more effective at getting visitors to purchase or sign up is the variation you want to implement.
The key to conversion rate optimisation is to test. Don’t stop testing.
It provides real-time data which can be used to determine what will be more effective, rather than relying on gut instincts, which can result in wasted ad spend.
You’ll know right away whether a change leads to an increase or decrease in conversions.
Why is CRO so important?
Say you’ve committed a decent amount of ad spend to drive a tonne of traffic to a new product page on your website. And it’s working, you’re getting hits.
Visually speaking, the page looks amazing and you know there’s a demand for your product, but for some reason the page isn’t converting as much of that traffic as you thought it would.
The purpose of conversion rate optimisation is to improve the effectiveness of your site in order to generate more sales from the same amount of traffic.
Rather than increasing your ad spend to drive more traffic, you test new messages, creative and functionality on your site to turn more visitors into leads, and eventually buyers. This allows you to spend more on advertising at a significantly higher return.
Testing gives you data. This data allows you to make game-changing decisions on a web page, which will ultimately increase conversions and generate more revenue.
Benefits of conversion rate optimisation
If making money wasn’t enough reason to spend more time and resources on CRO, here are several more reasons why:
- Helps build trust with your audiences
- Encourages repeat customers and customer retention
- Generate revenue more efficiently from missed opportunities
- Give every reason for your customers to buy from you and not your competitors
- Provides valuable, real-time insights on your customers wants and needs
- Promote your brand image
But before you dive in and start making drastic changes to your website, you need to keep in mind that there’s a science behind it all.
Acting simply on gut instincts because it ‘feels right’ with no empirical data is an easy way to make campaign crushing mistakes.
Now what?
With this in mind, here is how you can overcome 12 painful CRO mistakes with a winning (or systematic) process to create a winning CRO process.
