With businesses spending upwards of 11%, sometimes more, of their entire annual revenue on marketing strategies, it would only make sense to find the most cost-efficient and effective option. This is where CRO or Conversion Rate Optimization shines. It has one of the best returns on investment when implemented properly.
Continue to find out how to begin the process and see what it can do to raise your profits and lower your costs.
The Conversion Rate Optimization Process
Optimization is broken down into five steps, each building off another. By sticking to this framework like a checklist you will ensure an effective change to your conversion rate.
Research
One of the more lengthy, yet essential, pieces is the research and data gathering step. Here you present questions, later answered, such as: what is causing low traffic numbers, and why do people abandon their shopping efforts?
Hypothesis
Just as you learned in your science class it is the “IF-THEN BECAUSE” process. By using the data in your research you begin to
Prioritization
This step works using the PIE Framework, standing for Potential for Improvement, Importance, and Ease. By utilizing this structure you will be able to rank tasks in importance and effectiveness while testing.
Testing
Now begins the other lengthy process, testing the hypothesis and strategies. Luckily there is plenty of tools available to you to aid in the various types of testing.
Some of the more popular of these tools are:
- Google Optimize
- AB Tasty
- Unbounce
- Usability Hub
- Optimizely
Each has slight differences and their effectiveness will change depending on your goals and needs. There is no one beats all solution.
Learning
Essential to the process is measuring with proper metrics. This information is easily gathered through integration in campaign applications like MailChimp or interaction elements like Gravity Forms.
With proper measurement, you can also predict change and see where you could be or what you would need to get to numbers you wished to reach.
For example, you sit at 5000 visitors for monthly traffic and increase your conversion rate from 2% to 3% you jump from 100 leads generated to 150 leads generated. That is only a 1% difference too!
Cost Efficiency
A big part of the cost efficiency of CRO is that it leverages your current site traffic. There is no shutdown and with that no lost time or income with any of the changes.
There is only the first time and cost investment, what that means is that implementing the effective methods will increase the conversion rate continually but after investing the pay all goes to added profit.
The choice to change is just that, choice. This is not a continual payment and maintenance project.
CRO has shown to have some of the highest returns on investment when done properly, the numbers don’t lie.
Higher Revenue
Plain and simple, more visitors that because of this optimization turn into customers mean that much more revenue for the site. This added revenue can be invested in further marketing efforts and improvements.
Say you improve your conversion rate by 15%, from 10 to 25% and you have an average of 200 people visit your store purchasing 30 dollars, on a product that costs you 15 dollars.
Original rate: Final profit of $300 after considering the cost of the product
New rate: Final profit of $1200 after considering the cost of the product
These are strong numbers but it gives a very good idea of the power of CRO. A jump of $900 in profit occurs just by this optimization and nothing more.
Larger CLV
CLV or customers’ lifetime value, is essentially a prediction of the total profit that is held to be made from a customer for the entirety of the customer-provider relationship.
This is one number you want to keep track of very closely, seeing more people coming in and visits being fruitful is positive but even more important is finding out what the CLV is for new and existing customers.
Interact with customers, reach out on social media, start email campaigns. That last one needs to be a little more personalized, a form letter will be received like that, no better than a bill.
Remember, everyone loves to see “SALE”
Lead Generation
You want the best. While business is a game of numbers, it is better to have a 50% full bucket of all strong leads than a 100% full bucket of mediocre or even useless leads.
Not every person is going to be the best of the best but if you are performing CRO properly the tunneling of the visitors will become more and more focused so those numbers will adjust appropriately.
With proper optimization, you'll be further assured that a captured lead is very likely to become a captured customer.
Stronger Customer — Provider Relationship
A dual function of strengthening and growing your customer base is weakening your competition. As logic holds, any visitor that you fail to convert into a sale may choose to side with any of your competitors.
But the opposite goes for you!
During this growth process, you will gain a deeper understanding of your customer base and the relationship you have with your customers will be allowed to become stronger.
You need to do a great deal of testing to come up with the proper strategies for effective CRO and forming the connection your customers want is at the center of that testing.
Search Ranking
Directed ads only work if you have something to offer the visitors that get sent to your site or store. Google and other web services have done these types of ads for a while and the practice continues to grow.
But it does not present a good picture if a large percentage of those numbers are leaving your site without purchasing anything. If they do, however, and have reasons to come back it reflects strongly on your value.
With the repeat traffic to both google and your site alike, your SEO ranking is very likely to help from the traffic.
Conversion Rate Optimization
The customers are there, the money is ready to be made, your team just needs to show the market "the way", quite literally! You have the tools to do it and to ensure success.
With real-time tracking and marketing integration features, Evidence is here when you are ready to start the optimization process. Be sure to see how it can fit into your strategy and get in touch today.