Conversion Rate Optimization , or CRO, is a very important concept in digital marketing.
It’s a method for increasing the percentage of users who perform a specific action on a website. This is what’s known as conversion.
These conversions can be represented in many ways. If you use your website to sell products, then the primary goal is for the user to make a purchase. That would be a macro conversion.
But before that, there may be other microconversions. These can include signing up for emails, registering for a service, and many more. There are endless possible options!
CRO in general involves understanding how users move through a site: what actions they take and what prevents them from completing their goals.
Want to learn more about CRO? Then don’t miss what we’re about to tell you…
What is CRO used for in marketing?
Once we’ve explained what CRO is, it’s natural that the following question arises: What is the purpose of the CRO process?
From a general perspective, many may think that CRO is limited to getting more visitors to your site. And while that’s one of its main functions, the truth is, it goes far beyond that.
It’s also about ensuring that these visits are of good quality and, therefore, more profitable, since increasing the number of conversions leads to greater profit. Whether in the form of subscriptions and sales or any other means, the goal is to increase these numbers.
In short: Get more traffic, but also better quality.
Importance of the CRO process
CRO is incredibly important in marketing because it allows you to monetize the visits to your website: Traffic translates into customers. And that means increased revenue for your business!
In other words, by improving your conversion rate, you can increase revenue per visitor and gain more customers. This will boost your company’s revenue.
For example: If a website has a 10% conversion rate and receives 3,000 visitors per month, it will generate 300 conversions per month. However, if that conversion rate increases to 15% through the application of SEO or similar strategies, it will increase to 450 conversions per month!
That’s why your goal should always be to sustainably increase your CRO. But how do you achieve this? The trick lies in constantly analyzing what’s happening around you.
Even the largest companies are aware of this, which is why they take a proactive approach to marketing. If you want a high CRO, you’d better not rest on your laurels.
Advantages of CRO
- It’s free: This means you’ll increase your income without spending a single euro. You just need to implement the right measures at the right time.
- You compete better: as long as your CRO is low, your competitors’ will be high… It’s like the connecting vessel theory. So when you strive to improve this indicator, you’ll automatically be taking the spotlight off your competitors.
- You get the most loyal customers: Keep in mind that not everyone who visits your site will become repeat customers. However, CRO focuses on those people who are most likely to empathize with your brand.
- You reduce risk: Along with increased profits, losses are reduced. Indeed, this is an important element of making a profit.
- You’ll make data-driven decisions: you’ll put aside hunches to make way for tangible evidence. When you change something on your website, you’ll do so based on the data you gather from your customers.
Disadvantages of CRO
Given what we’ve seen about CRO, it’s safe to say it has no disadvantages. Its implementation only brings operational benefits. However, it’s important to note that understanding it requires technical knowledge of web analytics.
But beyond that, CRO has nothing but benefits!
How to do a CRO?
To carry out a Conversion Rate Optimization project, you must consider each of the elements explained below:
1. CRO Analysis
For CRO analysis, you need tools like Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager. Both are resources that will provide you with reliable data that will allow you to properly process the data for your CRO.
You must keep in mind that all of your website’s measurement factors are interrelated. For example, a high bounce rate can affect your conversion rate. This means that your analysis must be comprehensive.
It’s pointless to focus solely on quantitative aspects and ignore what’s happening on a qualitative level. It’s a mixture of everything!
To reach a more realistic conclusion, you can use everything from heat maps to session recordings and scroll maps . There are many possibilities, but you should select only those that are useful to you… In the world of CRO, sometimes less is more.
2. CRO Objectives
Once you know what’s happening with your website, it’s a good time to determine what aspects need to be improved.
Only through these objectives will it be possible to outline the macro and micro conversions you intend to achieve. Defining these objectives is the most important step, as they determine the success or failure of the actions you take.
3. A/B Testing
A/B testing, also known as the A/B testing phase, is an important part of CRO, as it is the step prior to implementation.
A/B testing allows you to verify whether the changes made to your website are positive or negative. It also allows you to determine whether the KPIs you consider are being evaluated.
To implement it, two identical pages are created with different content . For example, different banners or different messages. They are then shown to a segment of the audience to measure which layouts best capture users.
4. CRO Development
In this final phase, you’ll simply need to implement the solution you developed to improve your website’s CRO. All that’s left is to see the results!
