Conversion rate optimisation (also referred to as CRO) is the ongoing process of testing and implementing website modifications to improve and excel user experience and conversion rate. Having a clear CRO strategy is key to turning traffic into paying customers and ultimately getting the most out of your webpage. This form of optimisation is executed through content enhancements, split testing, and workflow progress to improve features such as highly-qualified leads, revenue, and lower acquisition costs.
What is a conversion rate?
A conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete the desired activity. These actions might be completing an online form, signing up for a service, or purchasing a final product. A high conversion rate means your website is well-designed, well-formatted, and appealing to your target audience. A low conversion rate could be the result of poor performance or website design.
How to calculate a conversion rate
The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions by the number of visitors and multiplying the result by 100. Alternatively, you can calculate your website’s conversion rate by dividing the total number of conversions for every conversion possibility on your site by the total number of visitors.
How to create a successful conversion rate optimisation strategy
The CRO of a website will be a huge goal in any business’s digital strategy, so having a clear strategy and plan is key to turning eligible traffic into paying customers. Here are some steps to take to create a successful CRO for your business.
Website analysis
While there are many different techniques for planning a CRO project, initial research and analysis is always the best place to start. This research will uncover details such as identifying user experience, determining top pages, better prioritisation of features and identifying KPIs. Some ways to carry out this research is through google analytics or on-site analysis.
When using google analytics for the website analysis stage, ask yourself these common questions to get the right results.
- Who is coming to and converting on your site?
- How are customers getting to your site?
- What are the top landing pages?
- What pages are they viewing after the landing page?
- What pages are they leaving your site from?
- What are their actions and behaviours?
Conducting an on-site CRO analysis involves taking a look at the pages on your website that are core to the user journey and experience. This technique will come with questions such as:
- Are there any major UX issues?
- What content or features stand out?
- Is the content easy to follow and read?
At the end of the research stage, you should have a good idea of where you need to start your CRO strategy and which actions to take going forward.
User insights
The next stage of a successful CRO strategy is to get insights into how users find your website experience and how they’re using your site. As the main goal is to make the website easy for your users to navigate and convert, getting personal user insights is key. User testing and insights can go a long way when it comes to creating a more seamless user experience and ensuring you’re tailoring your site and features to meet customer needs.
During this stage, ensure that you are getting insights directly from your target audience. When analyzing your initial user tests, look for things that your target audience agrees with and explores. This will also give you an opportunity to identify common challenges amongst users to prioritise in the future strategy.
Perform a competitor user experience (UX)
Once you have identified possibilities to improve user experience on your website, it’s always a good idea to analyse your main competitor’s websites. Although you will have different customers and targets, it is important to know how your competitors are engaging with their audience and highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
Prioritising CRO ideas
Once you have a range of techniques and ideas from your CRO website analysis, your competitor’s UX analysis, and your target market, prioritising specific measures will help to keep your strategy organised and effective. This is essentially the planning stage of the process and can also highlight aspects such as cost and time management.
Have a constant flow of ideas
A CRO strategy isn’t something that will be a one-time-only process. Successful CRO requires constant brainstorming and creative thinking, with new ideas and techniques always being considered. Whether these ideas are coming from colleagues or customer feedback, having a reliable and accurate method in place will help you stay organised and stay on track in terms of trends, the customer wants and needs and website development. Ongoing CRO brainstorming can help to make your strategy more impactful for driving conversions and changing business priorities.