Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)

What is Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)?

There are so many technical terms flowing around the online world when it comes to ranking your website on the search engines (SEO), implementing online marketing and to successfully achieving sales online. It can be down right plain confusing to business owners who are just beginning the process of bringing their business into this online space.

What is CRO we hear you ask? Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is one of these often confusing technical terms that we will explain in the paragraphs below.

Imagine if there was a way that you could turn your existing website visitors into paying customers. By existing visitors we mean the traffic that is already flowing to your website. This is the goal of conversion rate optimisation. To turn existing traffic (browsers)that come to your website into customers. 

Consider a physical shop front store. Customers come and go throughout the course of the day. Not everyone buys, some visitors browse and then leave without making a purchase. Now consider your website. It is the same as a physical shop front but in the online space. Visitors come to your website and browse around. Some purchase and some don’t – just like in a physical shop front. 

Conversion rate optimisation (CRO), targets increasing the percentage of your current website visitors that actually purchase from you. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO,) on the other hand, focuses on getting your website to the top pages of Google’s search engines to increase visitors to your site. The difference between these two services are very slight, but very different. Ranking on the top pages of Google’s search engines boosts traffic to your website (SEO), assisitng in being found which in turn can generate sales. Its just as important though to implement strategies to turn your current website visitors into purchasing customers (CRO). 

Enquire now so you can get more leads and sales online

What is a Conversion?

A very simple way to explain a conversion is quite simply, making a sale. Whenever someone lands on your website and decides to purchase from you, this is known as a conversion. Now to be honest, conversions come in all different shapes and sizes, depending upon what your offering is.

If you run a restaurant, a conversion for you probably is a table booking.

If you run a consulting business, a conversion could look like someone picking up the phone and calling you. 

If you run a garden nursery, a conversion for you maybe an online sale of a pot or plant.

Another way of explaining what a conversion is, is when visitors come to your website and take the desired action that you want them to take. Some examples of the different sizes and shapes that conversions come in are: a sale from your website, a customer filling out an online form, a new convert subscribing to your mailing list, etc, etc. In most cases though, a conversion simply means sales.

The Basics of Conversion Rate Optimisation

What is a Conversion Rate?

Conversion rates inform you of the percentage of visitors to your website who actually purchase from you. To find out your websites conversion rate, a ratio is followed which is simply explained below. 

Calculating Conversion Rate

Your conversion rate shows you the percentage of current visitors to your website that actually convert, that purchase, that fill out your form, etc. Your conversion rate is simply a ratio.  The ratio of total transactions/total website visitors x 100.

Lets say your website had 100,000 visitors last month and 3,000 of those visitors bought from you (conversion). This calculation shows that you had a 3 percent conversion rate for that month.  Seeing where you stand in black and white like this can actually give business owners fuel to want to know where their website design can be improved, make the website design changes required from the hard evidence provided by CRO testing, and see their conversion percent soar. 

Conversion Rate Optimisation is the tool used to do this. CRO turns traffic into conversions using genuine, tested and proved data.

Website Benefits from Implementing Conversion Rate Optimization.

All websites can be improved to enhance and further convert the traffic that you are already receiving to your website. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is what BRINGS the traffic to your website, CRO is what CONVERTS that traffic.

Conversion Rate Optimization delivers a series of tests to calculate specifically where there could be problems with your current website design and changes that need to be made to improve your conversion rate. Surprisingly, often these changes that need to be made are quite small, and can seem insignificant. This is the power of CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization). Once testing has been done with fact based data showing where the problems are, the tweeks and changes required to a website design are often quite small. Seeing conversions escalate from your current traffic is very rewarding when your marketing funnel (your website) is strategically improved through Conversion Rate Optimization.

A much more pleasant user experience for your incoming traffic is one of the benefits from implementing conversion rate optimization. Your traffic will pause for longer, staying on your site longer, digesting your information, then moving closer and closer to stepping over the line to purchase or call. How your marketing message is displayed on your website is closely linked to conversions. 

Business Benefits from Conversion Rate Optimization.

Conversion Rate Optimization will Cause Your ROI (Return on Investment) to Soar 

Never stop thinking about your website being just like a physical shop front, with visitors coming and going regularly. No one wants to wave goodbye to a customer who hasn’t purchased. Conversion optimization changes this. Things that once may have been a stumbling block to a potential customer in your website design (eg, poor page design, hard to navigate, wrong colour choices, not showing a clear and easy way to purchase) resulting in a no sale, can clear the way when your website design is improved, or changed, due to results from Conversion Rate testing. Your online store should then start functioning as it was intended too – to sell. 

Conversion Rate Optimization and Service Based Businesses Go Hand In Hand

Imagine that you have a service based business. Just think what it would be like if your conversion rates to make your phone ring went up from 10 calls a day up to 30 calls a day after implementing CRO testing on your website and its design. With just a few tweaks here and a few changes there to your website design these conversion percentages become highly possible. Who would have ever thought that it may have been your website design all along that was affecting your conversion rate! Now thats something to seriously think about.

Qualified Leads

The ultimate goal here with conversion rate optimization is not to gain more traffic (SEO will do that for you), but to specifically turn the website traffic that you already have into sales. What if your landing pages had a questionnaire or a survey available to potential customers that turned them into qualified leads even before you spoke with them? What if the product pages linked to your online store were so effortlessly and fluently designed that this caused your conversion rates (sales) to escalate through the roof and give you an immediate pay rise? Conversion Optimization has the power and the potential to do this for you. 

Conversion Rate Optimisation Strategies.

Website conversion strategies are the main player here. Data is used to test and refine from the businesses current influx of traffic. CRO is not a numbers game. It is strategic testing and fine tuning of your current website design to turn more browers into customers, preventing them from leaving your website without purchasing. Conversion optimisation really is where the rubber hits the road. The strategies that we discuss below when implemented after testing, really will improve your conversion rate.

Discovering the Journey your Visitors Take Through Your Site 

Its important to know who your potential customers are – as well as what their online behaviour has previously been on your site, how they move through each page of your site, as well as any previous actions these visitors have taken. How your marketing message is displayed on each page of your site seriously affects each individual visitors behaviour and their actions as they visit and spend time in your online store. 

Once you have access to this concrete data, or proof, (not guesswork nor a hunch), then, and only then, will you have the knowledge and the power to make changes to your website design to change the behaviour of your website visitors. 

You might be scratching your head right here wondering how on earth will you be able to access such definite data from your website? Hang in there, below we will uncover the ‘how to’ of CRO testing. 

Analytics provide businesses with their key perfomance indicators (KPI’s) such as traffic, bounce rates and conversions all in one place. Google Analytics is one of the tools used to implement a comprehensive audit of your current website. Solid and concrete data is the foundation of every conversion optimization strategy. Google Analytics assists with the compiling of this invaluable, factual data. 

A websites homepage generally is the first page that people will “land” on after doing a Google search. Think of your homepage as a physical store front – the front window of your shop. Remember, its the implementation of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) that got your site ranked in Google’s search engines to enable these visitors to find your site. Now its CRO’s job to keep these visitors in the pages of your site (your shop) and to make a decision to purchase or engage services from you. 

Upon stepping inside your storefront (the homepage), it is here that your potential customers can be directed as to what you want them to do as they continue on inside your store. A cleverly planned and designed home page that has had a conversion rate optimization strategy implemented on it, is actually one of the most rewarding and powerful assets that a business owner can have.

The homepage is where your customers will be able to find and explore your other pages, such as product pages and your online store. The further into your store they go, the closer they become to finding your products or services available to purchase. 

Choosing a Testing Platform

Heat Maps

A heat map is a visual representation of what each visitor is doing on the web pages that are being tested. The heat map shows were your visitors try to move their mouse as well as where they try to click on your website. In simple terms, user behaviour is able to be studied through the use of heat lamps. This enables problem areas on your website to be identified quickly and fixed fast, improving your marketing message and allowing for easier and more conversions. 

User Surveys 

Sometimes, when a user is browsing a page, a simple user survey presents itself, asking a question such as “Is there anything we can help you to find to help save you some time?” Most users will ignore these surveys, but the few that do give feedback will assist you to spot patterns in the responses that people actually DO tell you. Another example is on the other side of a complete lead form, or even a completed sale. A pop up browser may ask questions like “We are always trying to improve our service to our valued customers. Was there anything today that made you nearly NOT contact us or purchase from us? Please be as open and if needed, brutal as possible in your feedback. We use this feedback to continually improve our service to our valued customers.”

These kinds of user surveys help the CRO process to continue to know what to tweak on the web pages on the website, by including more information that people have said they would like to know, or more images/or videos with that information. Once again, your marketing message is refined through this process, making a way to let your conversions soar. Without the critique of honest customer feedback, it is at times not possible to make these changes to your website design that can make all the difference to the user experience, as well as your conversion rate.

User Testing

This is largely done by looking at what the users are doing on the heat maps. Once we determine trends on the heat maps in the testing phase, we can then introduce changes and/or other versions of the landing pages being tested to see what works best. The aim here is to have the user take the desired outcomes that you want them to take without even being aware of it. That desired outcome we have previously established as a conversion = sales.

Review Results

The results provided by CRO testing are firm and solid. They are not guess work, nor a hunch. They are grounded facts that will, if used wisely, improve your marketing message on each page of your website design, resulting in more conversions.

Business owners should not be offended or be put off by the results that come in from CRO testing. Instead, be overjoyed that opportunites have been presented to assist you in making positive changes to your marketing message. By refining your message to the traffic coming to each page of your website, you are opening your shop door to more conversions. 

The results of tweaking and making small changes to your website after the results are in from CRO testing, can be so surprising. Even if you think these changes to your website design won’t work, implemeting them may be the best thing you’ve ever done. Successfully delivering your marketing message on the pages of your website (your shopfront) is so important. When done based on a firm foundation of Conversion Rate Optimization testing results, you really have nothing to lose, but everything to gain. 

Design Development

Test and Refine

Fine tuning your website design results in more visitors that arrive to your site turning from browsers into buyers. Your conversions (sales) will be improved so greatly that its really a no brainer just how well CRO works. Test and refine. Repeat. Test and refine. Repeat. Every change made to your website is deliberate – designed to get your customers to convert in whatever format this desired result is for what your business offers.

By implementing this seemingly  simple strategy, you will be turning your website into a fine oiled, well tuned machine. It can be amazing to watch just how little changes made to your website design after testing can make so much difference to your conversion rates. This is every business owners dream. More calls, more sales all due to a precisely planned and specifically designed web page.

Is CRO an Ongoing Process?

As with most things, continuos evaluation brings improved results. Conversation Rate Optimization is not just a one time implementation. To achieve the best results and make the most of the traffic continuely arriving at your website through SEO implementation, you need to test, refine, test, repeat. This process allows you to continue building upwards from the strong foundations from the concrete data that Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) has already provided you. CRO strategies allow you and your website to move with the times by being flexible as the marketplace as well as people’s online buying behaviour chops and changes. 

Lets Work Together 

Lets face it. Going it alone these days in the online digital space is tough. Actually, its virtually impossible. Reaching out for help after qualifying a favoured online company that you feel comfortable with will be a real lifesaver. Clicks Marketing love coming alongside businesses with Conversion Rate Optimization support. It is our joy to see your conversions soar.

How Clicks Marketing Can Help You With CRO.

Clicks Marketing leave no stone unturned when testing your current site to see where you might be losing potential customers. Based in Sydney, Clicks Marketing have a solid CRO offering to clients Australia wide. Our CRO mission is clear – we use highly targeted testing systems to produce concrete data to help convert your current website visitors into customers through the implemetation of conversion rate optimization. Once the hard evidence has been gathered through testing, Clicks Marketing  will provide, guide and assist you with the strategic changes of conversion recommendations to turn your under performing website and its pages into a highly profitable revenue growth machine. Your customers won’t want to leave your page or your store. 

If you are considering reaching out for help with your traffic conversions, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with us here at Clicks Marketing. We are more then happy to have a chat with you to discuss your concerns and the options available.

Clicks Marketing are your local SEO company.

We are here for you. Give us a call today to see how we can help you improve your online presence and increase your calls and revenue.