Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

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If you’ve ever run a blog or dabbled in digital marketing, you’ve probably heard of CRO—but do you know what CRO means or why it’s so important?

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the practice of getting more users to do what you want while they’re on your site. That includes:

·       signing up for your email list

·       filling out a form

·       clicking on an affiliate link

·       viewing a specific product

·       adding a product or service to their cart

·       making a purchase

No matter what industry you’re in, if you have a website (and you probably should), the chances are that you want people to do more than just see your site. You want them to complete an action that’s desirable for you or your business. To answer the question of what is conversion rate optimization, you’ll first need to understand what conversions are and how to calculate your conversion rates.

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Conversion: Micro- vs. Macro-Conversion

Any action you want a user to do is known as a conversion—you’re essentially converting them into a customer. And there are big and small conversions.

The primary goals are known as macro-conversions, while the smaller steps leading up to those goals are micro-conversions.

Macro-conversions are big picture goals such as getting buyers to:

·       book a service

·       sign up for a subscription package

·       upgrade their account to premium

·       purchase a product

·       request a quote

Micro-conversions are the baby steps, like:

·       creating a free account

·       signing up for emails

·       adding items to their cart or wish list

To visualize this, imagine the micro-conversions as the wide lip of a funnel, with the goal of arriving on your site at the very top. As they move through or convert, your customers are ultimately led towards the macro-conversions at the funnel’s base.

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Calculating Conversion Rates

You can easily calculate your conversion rate by dividing the number of completed goals by the amount of traffic on your site. Then, multiply it by 100 to end up with a percentage.

For example, if you receive 10,000 visits to your site and 100 purchases, your conversion rate is 1%. If you receive 1,000 visits and 100 purchases, your conversion rate is much better at 10%.

In the first scenario, if you want to improve your conversion rate, you’ll need to figure out what drives those 100 people to purchase and what causes the other 9,900 to click away. This idea is at the heart of conversion rate optimization—and CRO is vital because it means you’ll have more customers and a more successful business.

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The Basics of Conversion Rate Optimization

If you want to use conversion rate optimization as a tool for growing your business, you’ll need to learn some CRO basics first.

It should always be easy for your customers to do what you want them to do. If they have to jump through a lot of hoops, they might decide to leave instead of convert.

If your site doesn’t follow these general guidelines, bad CRO practices might be to blame for your low conversion rate:

·       use as few form fields as possible

·       include clear and direct calls to action

·       place calls to action above the fold, so people don’t need to scroll down

·       use engaging colors for call-to-action buttons

·       drive sales with urgency like limited-time sales

·       display glowing testimonials

In addition to these basic practices, you want to make sure that your website seems reliable. If it has typos, design issues, seems outdated, or has web problems like broken links, your customers may not feel comfortable engaging with your site or making purchases.

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Breaking Past the Basics and Following the Golden Rule of CRO

Although these general guidelines are good CRO practices, the number one rule you should always follow is to know your customers.

If you’re trying to convert the wrong audience, they won’t buy into whatever you’re selling. However, if you target the right audience in the right way, your conversion rates will improve.

The key to successful CRO is deeply knowing your audience. If you want to increase your conversion rates, here are some questions about your audience you’ll want to know the answers to:

·       Who are they?

·       What are they interested in?

·       What do they need?

·       What are their desires?

·       What do they hope to achieve?

·       What drives them?

·       What are they passionate about?

·       How do they behave?

·       What do they spend their time doing?

·       What appeals to them the most?

·       What don’t they like?

When you know your audience, you can design your site for them. Looking at the numbers and analyzing the statistics can be helpful, but nothing will improve your CRO more than knowing what your consumers want and how to give it to them.

So, if you want to practice good CRO, invest in getting to know your audience.

Until next time!

—Casey