Conversion Rate Optimisation is the ongoing process of analysing and refining key pages on your website to increase the number of visitors who carry out something that is of value to you. The process uses both quantitative tools (e.g. web analytics) and qualitative methods (e.g. user testing) to gather data and develop insights that can be robustly tested.
What do you mean by conversion rate?
The rate at which visitors to your website do something that has value to you (i.e. the conversion). The conversion itself can vary significantly between businesses and are often split into macro and micro conversions.
- Macro conversions are generally seen as things such as sales, leads, phone calls or email sign ups
- Micro conversions could be activities like watching a video, downloading a PDF, visiting a specific page or the amount of time on site
If you want to know more about what a good conversion rate might look like for you, click here >>>
Why should I care about it?
In short, it makes all of your marketing activity work harder. You’ll uncover ways to increase the number of visitors that convert into paying customers, at reasonably low cost. CRO has a positive impact on the effectiveness of all your other digital marketing activity, so there is usually a very straightforward business case for investing in it.
What CRO isn't:
- It isn't building a completely new website
- It isn't SEO - although good SEO practitioners will consider CRO in their approach
- It isn't just running a few “guestimate” tests to see what might work
- It isn’t using a blue button instead of a green one
How do you actually do CRO?
Well, in addition to utilising the bags of experience we have and the processes we follow, there are a whole bunch of tools to help us, including:
In most cases you’ll already have the basics in place and the rest of the set-up is usually straightforward enough to allow us to start an effective CRO programme quickly. The main component at the start of any project is to learn as much as we can about your business and its goals, then invest time in understanding the behaviour and motivations of your audience.
So, does CRO include A/B testing?
Yes. A/B testing and Multivariate Testing are the best ways to test whether our recommendations for website improvements are correct. It allows you to be confident that the changes made have a positive impact rather than just setting changes live, hoping for the best and not having a true comparison. There is a lot more to CRO than A/B testing, but it is a key component of it.
Will my web developer need to do lots of CRO work too?
No. There is very little work needed from you or your web developer during a CRO project as we conduct much of the analysis and testing independently.For the testing phase, a third party tool that places a small piece of JavaScript on your website will be used to make changes to your website - similar to other tags you already have on your website. Adding these tags should be a very simple, quick task for your web developer.
Is CRO just for landing pages or for the whole website?
CRO should be conducted across your entire website – you can’t guarantee which pages users will arrive on or visit during their time on your website. However, we often start with PPC landing pages then broaden out to the wider site as the project evolves.
Shouldn’t I just build a new website instead?
That depends. If you have a website that is currently delivering some value, we’ll work with you to refine and improve what you already have. This process is worth investing in even if you plan to re-build your site as the outcome of tests can be fed into your new website.We’ll be up front with you if we think you need a new website and if you’d like help finding a reliable partner we can help with that too. Even with a new website, you should still aim for continual improvement through testing – user behaviour and your competitors are always changing!
So where should I start?
First of all, ask yourself if you think your website could be improved (the answer to this question should always be yes!). Then get in touch with us and we will do one of two things:
- Send you a copy of our landing page scorecard. This provides a framework for examining your website to try to identify where the main priorities are
- Ask you a few questions to help put a business case together. By knowing your current traffic volumes, conversion rates and taking a quick look at your website, we should be able to quickly determine how big an opportunity CRO is for you
