CRO stands for “Conversion Rate Optimization.” This strategy is based on the constant improvement of website elements to attract and convert more users.
Conversion is an essential part of Digital Marketing, and even if you use multiple digital channels, it’s very likely that the transition from lead to customer happens on your website.
With that in mind, it’s very important to create a strategy focused on optimizing website conversions over time to always achieve good results.
The name of this strategy is CRO. No matter the size of your business or your market niche, CRO can help you significantly increase your marketing ROI.
Why is CRO important?
It’s important to understand that traffic to your website, even organic, has a cost. Therefore, knowing what to do with it is crucial to achieving your marketing and sales goals.
CRO is there to help you ensure that as much of that traffic as possible translates into sales and that you don’t lose valuable opportunities due to an error in the conversion process.
Here are three valuable reasons to appreciate what CRO can do for your company:
Saves time and money
It’s easy to see the impact CRO has on a company in terms of time and money invested to achieve results.
After all, the higher your conversion rate, the less time it takes to reach your set revenue goals.
Better results without increasing workload
Consider this situation: you have a SaaS product that costs MXN $200 per month, with a 5% conversion rate and a monthly average of 1,000 visits.
This means that for every 1,000 visitors to the product’s landing page, 50 become customers, generating monthly revenue of MXN $10,000.
After running an A/B test, you can increase your conversion rate to 8% simply by changing the page’s background image. What does this mean financially?
For every 1,000 visitors, instead of 50, you’ll have 80 new customers, right? That means MXN $16,000 in monthly revenue, or MXN $6,000 more.
Increase in average ticket
It’s easier to sell to someone who’s already buying a product (the famous cross-selling), and you’ll see another opportunity to increase profits through CRO.
Instead of just thanking the customer for their purchase, some tests and improvements in the checkout page flow can help share useful recommendations with customers.
In this case, a purchase can even double in value with just a few changes in how products are presented.
How to optimize your conversion rate: 6 practical ways
The theory is very clear. Now, you’re probably wondering what are some practical ways to optimize your website’s conversion rate.
The following list contains 6 simple but very effective tips that can dramatically increase your results if applied correctly:
1. Test versions of your landing pages simultaneously
Testing different versions of your landing page at the same time is definitely the best approach, as it allows you to test variations under the same circumstances.
If the test is done with one version after another for the entire audience, at least two problems arise:
- The results may be influenced by an external factor and point to a conversion rate that doesn’t reflect reality;
- The audience may perceive the change as inconsistency, especially if tests are regularly performed on the page.
2. Create a lead qualification process
Lead qualification is crucial to increasing the conversion rate. The conversion process doesn’t happen overnight, especially if the goal is sales.
But in some cases, all a visitor wants is to talk directly to someone who can show them how the product works without having to go through the entire nurturing process.
Offer this option by adding links and CTAs to talk to a sales representative or to try a version of the product if your company is self-service.
3. Optimize your posts with the most traffic
Do you recognize those posts that are most successful with your audience and attract the most traffic to your blog? How are you using them to better convert your visitors?
If these posts are such good attraction tools, why not use them to offer something more to your visitors?
Perhaps creating a CTA that’s appropriate for the post’s topic but aligned with your main strategy goal makes sense to ensure an increase in the conversion rate.
4. Use chatbots to improve customer service
Chatbots are among the biggest trends in digital transformation. Therefore, companies willing to invest in this form of interaction can expect great results.
In addition to automating an important part of every company’s work—providing help to interested parties—chatbots do this 24/7!
Having “someone” helping and answering questions during the conversion process on a page is undoubtedly one of the best ways to navigate, and it makes a difference in the final decision of the visitor/potential customer.
5. Automate your workflows
Creating automated interaction flows with visitors and leads through marketing automation tools is another important way to ensure your conversion rate keeps increasing.
This type of interaction, such as sending an email after someone takes a certain action on a page, helps guide them through the customer journey.
Engagement will be much higher if potential customers are logically led to discover that your product really is the best option for them.
6. Use remarketing to help keep interest alive
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is an amazing tool that allows a website to reconnect with a visitor even when they’re on another page.
For example, suppose someone visited your landing page but for some reason didn’t accept the offer at that moment.
Through retargeting, they’ll be reminded of the offer when accessing their favorite social network or any website on the web, which reactivates the possibility of returning to your site and finally converting.
All these actions are practical and can be easily applied to your website or blog pages. All you need is good CRO planning and patience to successfully test your hypotheses.
