What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?

Whether your company is large or small, brick and mortar or eCommerce, or sells B2B or B2C, Conversion Rate Optimization can make a defining difference in your brand loyalty and sales numbers. With so much focus on driving traffic to your website, often the question of “What is that traffic doing once they get there?” is ignored. Enter Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). CRO is an integral part of your SEO strategy, helping to ensure the maximum amount of people going to your website take the actions you want them to—whether that’s joining your email list, making purchases, scheduling consultations, or any actions that boost sales or lift up your brand.

With a general understanding of what CRO is in business, let’s go over some conversion rate optimization tips.

Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies

Conversion rate is a balancing act between attracting traffic and motivating them to take action. Sometimes higher rates actually indicate a failing strategy. After all, a 100 percent conversion rate sounds amazing… but if it’s out of the two people who came to your site, it’s an indication that your problem starts with driving traffic to your site. On the other hand, if your conversion rate is extremely low, that could be a sign you’re not attracting the right people or not motivating them to take action once they’re there. And conversion rates tend to differ based on industry. Effective CRO strategies start with engaging and well-written calls-to-actions (CTAs) that stand out from the rest of your page (and are easy to find location). Now you’re getting people to click! But if the action doesn’t load quickly and isn’t easy to take, you’ll lose customers right there.

Should you hire an expert? A professional CRO expert has deep understanding of conversion rate optimization best practices. They also understand that effective CRO takes time and attention to detail. Hiring experts who excel at consistent monitoring of analytics and competitors, keyword research, A/B testing, and all the other minute CRO details can boost your sales and your reputation. Therefore, hiring an expert might be exactly what you need.

Still have questions? Check out some frequently asked questions and get in touch! We’d love to discuss your CRO strategy with you, and give you the advice needed to help your business take off!

FAQs

Is CRO important for eCommerce websites?

eCommerce websites rely on online purchases. That makes CRO absolutely imperative to your company. While sales conversions are essential, so is getting your current customers to leave reviews and respond to deals. And don’t forget potential customers. Maybe they didn’t purchase something on their first visit, but if they sign up for a coupon or join your email list, there’s a higher chance they’ll be back—and reviews and comments satisfied customers left on your site and products will increase that likelihood even more.

Is CRO part of SEO?

Technically, SEO is primarily concerned with driving traffic to your site and CRO is more concerned with what users do once they get there. However, it doesn’t make sense not to include CRO in your SEO strategy. Why spend money to perfect driving potential customers to your site if you’re not going to follow through by ensuring they do something once they find you? At Globe Runner, we believe CRO, along with content optimization, is key to your overall SEO strategy.

How do you implement conversion rate optimization?

CRO starts with a complete audit of your site. What are your CTAs? Where are they? What’s the current conversion rate for different CTAs on your site? Once thoroughly audited and analyzed, you pinpoint where you could improve and what may be stopping potential conversions. Is it page speed? Are CTAs hard to read or understand? Is your site drawing in the right amount and type of traffic. Professional CRO firms will optimize your page to ensure CTAs all function properly and are easy to do and find, as well as experiment, with A/B testing of language and styles to see what’s drawing customers in and driving them away. As with all of these types of services, CRO is never “set-it-and-forget-it” and requires ongoing maintenance, testing, and analyzing to keep you on top of your conversion game!

How do you calculate conversion rate?

Your conversion rate is really just a simple math equation: The number of users who take the offered call to action on a specific page divided by the total number of people who landed on that page. If 100 people land on a page and 5 of them take the action, that’s a conversion rate of five percent.