Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Strategies That Work

If your business sells products or services online, a conversion rate optimization strategy is a no-brainer. Find out what conversion rate optimization is and why you need it, how to calculate it, four proven strategies to take your business to the next level, and more.

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?

A conversion optimization strategy or CRO identifies your drawbacks and determines how to optimize your online presence for maximizing sales, increasing visibility, and building trust and loyalty with your customers. It is a series of steps to increase the percentage of website visitors that “convert” after visiting a specific page on your website or mobile app. To convert means to have the customer complete a pre-determined activity. 

Businesses typically want customers to complete any or all of the following activities that fall under the umbrella of conversion:

• Sign up for an email list or subscribe to important updates.
• Sign up for a free or trial account. 
• Add a product or service to the account’s cart.
• Buy a product or service.
• Share the email address in exchange for an ebook.
• Sign up for a demo.
• Fill out a lead form for the sales team to get in touch, either for a quote or more information.
• Click an ad.

How Do You Calculate Your Conversion Rate? 

Calculating your conversion rate is pretty straightforward. Follow the formula below to get the numbers but make sure you know how many people visit your website and how many people have converted. You can use marketing software that runs in the background, calculates this, and presents it to you in the form of reports and analytics.

Conversion Rate Formula/Calculator

Divide the number of conversions by the number of website/mobile app visitors and multiply by 100.

Number of conversions/number of visitors x 100 = Conversion rate.

What Is Considered a Good Conversion Rate?

A good conversion rate can vary across industries. Also, remember that conversion rates can vary depending on how well the page is optimized at the start. A more well-known brand can also achieve higher conversion rates, but 2-5% is considered average across the board. 

Regardless, a well-planned and executed conversion optimization strategy based on your specific needs can provide great returns. Set realistic expectations after discussing with your conversion rate optimization agency or partner.

Conversion Rate Optimization Strategy Examples

Here are a few tried-and-tested conversion rate optimization strategy examples that, implemented correctly, can give you great results:

Uncovering Possible Barriers to Conversion

Part of the conversion rate optimization process is figuring what barriers are getting in the way. Maybe your landing page copy sucks, and the design and placement of your ads need work. Perhaps your shopping experience is so complicated that users get lost and don’t know what to do next. 

Once you identify what’s wrong, you can proactively problem-solve to optimize your conversion rates.

Multivariate Testing on Your Landing Pages

All passionate marketers love tests because it helps them find the right formula for optimal results. In multivariate tests, different combinations of various elements, like images or main headlines, or even the color of the button, are tested to see which one converts the best for the client. Rinse, repeat, and scale.

Creating Engaging Calls to Action Within Blog Posts

A call-to-action is a distinct section that “calls” the visitor to perform the desired action, whether downloading an ebook or signing up for more valuable tips and insights. “Sign up for our weekly newsletter” is an example of a common call-to-action.

You want to include calls-to-action (CTAs) in your blog post to compel site visitors to take action but avoid looking overly promotional or spammy. They should be woven naturally into the narrative so that their placement and frequency don’t jar the reader. Finally, play around with words and visuals to make them attractive, so your visitors want to click that button.  

Decreasing Website Load Time

One of the key factors influencing whether your website or app visitors complete the desired action is website load time. Website load time is how long it takes for all the elements (audio, visual, and text) on a web page to become visible for the end-user. 

Website load time is critical for ensuring your site visitors don’t lose interest and go to competitor sites. On average, your website should load in no more than three seconds. If you have an eCommerce website, the maximum optimization window is less than two seconds. 

Website load time (also known as page load speed) is one of the factors Google takes into account when determining website relevance for ranking. A slow load time can cost you rankings and visibility in search engines.

Focus on User Experience

Another failsafe conversion optimization strategy is optimizing the user experience. The user experience refers to the user’s overall comfort level while navigating your website or mobile app.

For example, does your blog post contain short and easily readable sentences? Is the content organized in short paragraphs, the text broken up with visuals, and so on? Website visitors usually don’t find one large chunky block of text compelling enough to stick around.

Conversion Rate Optimization Tools and Their Benefits

Specialist tools for conversion rate optimization can take much of the guesswork out of insights and strategy. Tools can help you make smarter decisions to impact your bottom line positively. 

Some of the benefits of tools include:

• Identifying the source of your traffic and which segments most actively engage with your brand.
• Finding new markets.
• Understanding why customers do or don’t take specific actions. For instance, you can analyze why a potential customer added your product to the cart but didn’t buy. 

When Should You Hire a CRO Agency?

A CRO Agency can be helpful at any stage of your business. You’ll want to start strong by correctly optimizing your pages for maximum conversions when you’re starting out. You’ll also need to regularly monitor, refine, and deploy best practices if and when you decide you’re ready to scale. 

Conversion rate optimization is crucial if you have an online presence and want to maximize your chances of obtaining a loyal consumer base that generates sales. While this skill is learnable, and many small entrepreneurs choose to do it alone, there is a long learning curve.  

You may have to test and try many different strategies before arriving at something that works for you. Expect to devote considerable time, a good chunk of your budget for tools and testing, and resources without proven expertise at the helm.

If you’re looking for a CRO agency that knows what they’re doing, you won’t want to look further than GrowthHit. We’ve successfully provided conversion rate optimization services and mentorship to over 125 companies and generated over $247 million in revenue from tracked experiments. Book a free strategy call with our experts here.