Have you invested heavily in driving traffic to your website or mobile app, only to see visitors arrive and then leave without taking meaningful actions like purchases, downloads or signups?
There lies a concealed opportunity with your current audience that most businesses fail to tap. Through tactical experimentation and data analysis, you can optimize your site to convert a much greater percentage of visitors into high-value customers.
This guide will demonstrate step-by-step how to implement conversion rate optimization (CRO) to maximize revenue from existing traffic.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization and Why Does it Matter?
In simple terms, conversion rate optimization aims to increase the percentage of visitors that take one or more desired actions on your site. These could include:
- Making purchases
- Downloading content
- Signing up for services
- Clicking ads and links
According to research by Invespcro, improving conversion rate by just 1% can increase revenue by 10% or more. Top-performing companies spend heavily on CRO.
Acquiring each new website visitor via advertising channels can cost anywhere from 50 cents to $5+. Optimizing your site to convert higher percentages of traffic is exponentially more profitable than having to continuously drive new visitors each month.
Let‘s say your website gets 10,000 visits per month currently, and sees about 100 sales per month. That‘s a conversion rate of 1%. If you successfully optimize user experience to improve conversion rate to even 2%, you would double your monthly sales to 200 without needing any additional traffic.
How to Track and Measure Conversion Rates
To determine optimization impact, accurately tracking conversion rates is critical before getting started. Use these best practice methods:
Unique Orders / Total Sessions
This works best for websites where visitors can take multiple different actions like downloads, subscriptions, purchases etc.
Formula:
Total Conversion Actions / Total Sessions x 100For example, if you made 15 sales out of 500 website sessions last month, your baseline conversion rate would be 15/500 = 3%
I‘ve created an Excel CRO calculator template to easily track these metrics.
Unique Orders / Unique Visitors
For high-value products or services that the average visitor only buys once ever, calculate using total unique visitors as the denominator instead of sessions to avoid inflation.
Formula:
Total Unique Conversions / Total Unique Visitors x 100 For example, if you sold 25 annual software subscriptions to 2000 unique website visitors last month, that‘s a more accurate conversion rate of 25/2000 = 1.25%
6 Core Web Page Elements That Influence Conversions
Optimizing the following elements on landing pages, product pages and checkout processes will directly uplift conversions:
1. High-Impact Headlines and Copy
Compelling, benefit-focused headlines and copywriting dramatically lifts conversions over cold generic descriptions.
For example, a SaaS productivity app optimized their headline from "Improve your output with TaskSmart" to "Get 300% more work done weekly with TaskSmart".
The new headline specifically quantified a tangible time-savings benefit users care about.
2. Targeted Content
Ensure your page content directly targets core customer questions and covers key details they want to evaluate your offering.
Back claims through concrete proof-points like customer stories, product screenshots and satisfaction stats.
3. Media – Images, Illustrations, Videos
Relevant visual media makes your content more engaging and drives up conversions.
Product demos, user tutorials and even related articles linked inline provide further credibility.
4. Prominent Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
Clear call-to-action buttons with strong verbs are one of the highest converting page elements. Prioritize CTAs prominently in page layouts using high-contrast colors.
Drive urgency with exclusivity claims like "Expires in 2 days!".
5. Simplified Forms
Minimize steps and reduce optional fields in your signup flows, contact forms and checkout processes.
Offer conveniences like Google/Facebook one-click logins to accelerate conversions.
6. Faster Page Load Times
Research by Google found 53% of mobile site visitors will leave a page that takes over 3 seconds to load.
Optimize page weight through compressed images, efficient code and fast hosting infrastructure to retain visitors.
When and How to Run Conversion Optimization Tests
Driving lift through conversions involves structured experimentation:
1. Set Conversion Goals
Set 1-2 key conversions you want to improve – e.g. free trial signups. Tools like Google Analytics let you track goals.
2. Analyze Traffic Sources
Assess which visitor acquisition channels – organic search, social media etc. – currently see better conversion rates and why.
3. Form Optimization Hypotheses
Brainstorm page change ideas based on behavior analysis that could lift conversions – e.g. adding trust logos.
4. Prioritize Quick Wins
List hypotheses by ease of implementation and potential impact. Start with quick tweaks first.
5. Run A/B or Multivariate Tests
Use tools like Google Optimize to run page variation tests on high-traffic landing pages and similar entry points.
6. Identify Winning Variations
Give tests at least 2 weeks to collect statistically valid data before finalizing winners. Assess both conversion rates and revenues.
7. Expand Rollouts Site-Wide
For winning variations, update site or app to reflect changes widely. Continuously keep identifying and testing new optimization opportunities – small gains accumulate!
Tailoring Optimization Tactics by Business Model
While core principles are consistent, optimization tactics vary by context:
Conversion Tactics for eCommerce Sites
Winning ecommerce tactics include:
- Highlight fast & free shipping
- Display limited-time discounts to incentivize purchases
- Show high star ratings and total reviews for social proof
- Offer flexible payment plans
Driving SaaS Free Trial Signups
Effective techniques for SaaS products:
- Minimize trial signup form fields
- Allow instant signup via Google/Facebook/Slack logins
- List all features available in the trial
- Offer free usage extensions for engaged trial users
Optimizing App Store Listings
Top tactics to improve app downloads & retention:
- Curate ratings to showcase your highest 5 stars
- Update visuals to showcase core app capabilities
- Summarize key differentiators clearly in description copy
- Highlight engaging preview screenshots
So while core CRO methodology is consistent, optimization tactics vary significantly based on products, industry verticals and business models.
Emerging Conversion Rate Optimization Trends
Conversion optimization leverages emerging technologies and evolves fast. Key trends to implement:
1. Conversational Experiences
Chatbots and interactive product tours guide users through key workflows using personalized directives – increasing engagement.
2. Individual-Level Personalization
Leverage big data and machine learning to tailor your site or app uniquely for every visitor based on their demographics, persona and past behaviors.
For example, highlight the specific product plan that best meets their needs based on usage patterns. While generalized recommendations help, hyper-customized suggestions perform exponentially better.
3. Automated Retargeting
Trigger post-visit emails and tailored ads automatically to re-engage visitors showing intent through actions like:
- Adding items to cart
- Viewing related products
- Clicking pricing links
4. Flexible Payment Options
Reduce friction by supporting diverse payment methods – financing installments via Affirm or Paypal Credit, cryptocurrency transactions etc.
5. Bundled Value Pricing
Sell discounted product suites instead of individual tools – for example, project collaboration platforms like email, docs and spreadsheets offered together as WorkSuite. This appeals to broad user needs covered in one fell swoop.
Continual Improvement Drives Big Wins
Like most aspects of running an online business, conversion rate optimization requires relentless focus and continuous experimentation using hard data.
Even minor tweaks collectively add up to staggering revenue growth over months – a lift of 5%, 10% or 15% is achievable in a quarter‘s timeframe.
Leveraging no-code tools like landing page builders, website editors and built-in analytics simplifies the CRO process drastically today compared to just a few years back.
Stop chasing vanity metrics around new visitor counts that dilute your marketing efforts. Instead, start optimizing your post-click user experience to convert the visitors you already have when they signal an intent to buy. Eliminate friction points in your checkout flows and landing pages to turn interested prospects into delighted customers.
Now, pick one of the top conversion optimization tools that meets your current business needs to get started!
