Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

Getting traffic to your website is one half of the puzzle.

Turning traffic and leads into customers is the other half.

That’s where conversion rate optimisation (CRO) comes in.

In this article, we will learn:

• About CRO
• Why your business should improve conversion rates
• How to get started

Let’s dive right in.

Conversion rate optimisation

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is used to increase the leads your website generates.

This is done by:

• Improving content
• Split testing
• Enhanced workflow

Done right and the results include:

• Better leads
• More revenue
• Less acquisition costs

What is a conversion rate?

A conversion rate is calculated on the number of visitors who complete:

• Web forms
• Service sign ups
• Product purchases

If your conversion rate is high, your website:

• Is designed well
• Is organised effectively
• Appeals to your audience

If your conversion rate is low, your website’s performance or design is not good.

Reasons may include:

• Slow loading time
• Forms not working
• Your copy not conveying the offer’s value to your audience

A good conversion rate

A few examples of factors that determine a good conversion rate includes:

• Industry
• Niche
• Goals
• Traffic channel
• Demographics of audience

Meaning the average conversion rate for an industry could differ depending on a number of factors like:

• Year
• Country
• Niche

You know it’s time to optimise your conversion rates if it’s:

• Below industry average
• Lower compared to competitors
• Underperforming against your goals

A few examples of places on your website that conversions can occur include:

• Your homepage
• Pricing page
• Blog
• Landing pages

So in order to maximise converting your website visitors into customers, optimise all potential areas.

Calculating Conversion Rates

To calculate the Conversion rate:

• Divide conversions by visitors
• Multiply that by 100
• This gives a percentage

To find the overall conversion rate of your website, divide the total number of conversions by total website visitors.

Or to find conversion rates of certain offers, divide offer conversions by the number of visitors to the page where the offer is listed.

But for conversions like newsletter opt-ins on every page of your website.

Divide the total newsletter form submissions by total website visitors and multiply it by 100.

For example, for 500 submissions and 20,000 visitors, the conversion rate would be 2.5%.

Just repeat this for every conversion placement on your website.

Where to use CRO Strategies

Four places on your website that benefit from conversion rate optimisation includes:

Homepage

All Homepages should be CRO optimised.

Homepages are used:

• As a first impression to visitors
• To retain visitors
• To guide visitors into your website

This can be achieved by including the following at stages in visitors website browsing experience:

• Links to product information
• Free signup buttons
• Chatbots asking visitors questions

Pricing Page

Pricing pages can use CROs to convert visitors to customers.

This is done by:

• Using pricing intervals like price-per-year or price-per-month
• Product feature descriptions for each price
• Adding a phone number for visitors price quotes
• Using pop-up forms

Blog

A website’s blog is also a conversion opportunity.

A blog can be used to:

• Share helpful industry content
• Convert readers into leads using CRO

This is done by:

• Adding calls-to-action (CTA)
• Offering email opt-ins for an ebook or report

Landing Pages

Landing pages are designed for people to take action.

They have the highest average signup form conversion rates.

For example, a landing page offering a free resource can give a preview so visitors can download it.

Conversion Rate Optimisation Strategies

Use these conversion rate optimisation marketing strategies:

Text-based CTAs in blog posts

Sometimes CTAs in a blog post dont help visitors take the action you want.

Because people get used to banners and end up ignoring banner-like information on websites.

Also website visitors don’t read all the content on a blog post.

Instead use text-based CTAs, a lone line of text, formatted as a H3 or H4, linked to a landing page

Doing so will convert more traffic into leads compared to regular CTAs at the bottom of a web page.

Lead flows on your blog

Lead flows are pop-ups that attract attention and offer value to visitors.

Depending on the type of offer, you can use a:

• Slide-in box
• Drop-down banner
• Pop-up box

Doing so will help with higher clickthrough rates and more submissions compared to regular CTAs at the bottom of a blog post.

Test your landing pages

Landing pages convert website visitors into leads or existing leads engage more with your brand.

Doing A/B tests optimises your landing pages to find the best:

• Design
• Content

A/B testing helps what your audience and leads respond to in terms of:

• Your website copy
• Content offers
• Images
• Form questions
• Web pages

Doing so helps to increase your website’s lead conversion rate.

Turn leads into marketing-qualified leads

Sometimes visitors know what they want and want to speak to a sales rep right away.

To help these visitors become leads and take action, use:

• Web page designs
• Clear copy
• Smart CTAs

For example, visitors that sign up for product demos convert more than those signing up for free product trials.

So optimising your website for people that book demos would be beneficial.

But every product and sales process is different.

So test which converts then optimise.

Remember, your job is to make it easier for potential customers in your sales process.

Build workflows

Automate workflows using marketing automation software.

Using marketing automation software helps with:

• Emails getting sent automatically
• Leads booking meetings with reps faster
• Notifying reps when leads take certain actions like viewing pricing pages

For example, in the ecommerce, automatic email reminders can be sent to people who abandon their shopping cart.

This can lead to some potential visitors making purchases after initially not doing so.

Add messages to converting web pages

Using live chat software helps to:

• Interact with your website visitors in real-time
• Offer support and guidance to potential customers

Giving leads the information they want in real-time helps increase conversions on converting web pages like:

• Pricing pages
• Product pages — so leads get the information they want in real-time.

Also use messaging and chat bots to offer help or answer questions when someone is on a page for more than a minute.

Optimise high-performing blog posts

Some of your blog posts may have a lot of traffic but have low conversions.

Identify these pages then:

• Optimise
• Update

This will make sure the content is fresh and relevant whilst converting these visitors into leads.

Retarget website visitors

Most of your website visitors don’t take the actions you want.

Using retargeting on platforms like Facebook to help re-engage previous website visitors.

Retargeting tracks these visitors and shows them online ads when they visit other websites.

This works well with people who visited converting web pages.

But for it to work you will still need:

• Well-crafted copy
• Engaging visuals
• Compelling offer

CRO’s Frequently Asked Questions

Why conversion rate optimisation?

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) improves the chances of visitors taking certain actions on a webpage.

What is a CRO strategy?

A CRO strategy converts more visitors into customers.

CRO strategy general steps include:

• Finding key metrics
• Finding your target audience
• Get user feedback and data to decide what to test
• Run A/B tests to improve different pages and your website’s conversions

What are CRO tools?

CRO tools help automate conversion rate optimisation or make the process simple.

This includes helping with:

• Lead capture
• Research
• Analytics
• Mouse tracking
• Heat maps
• Feedback
• Experiments

What is a CRO test?

A CRO test is changing parts of your website for the most conversions.

A few examples of elements CRO tests focus on optimising include:

• Copy
• Design
• CTA placement
• Headline length

Conclusion

Basically for CRO you need to find:

• What makes your customers respond
• What gives your business results

Keep the following in mind when it comes to CRO:

• The CRO formula
• CRO strategies

Now it’s over to you.

Tell me your results from CRO?

And what CRO strategies do you use?

Let me know in the comment section below.