| Important Elements in Good CRO | Descriptions |
|---|---|
| Social Proof | Use testimonials and reviews to build trust and relevancy with consumers. |
| CTA and copy | Keep all copy and CTA simple, direct and clear to avoid the user becoming confused or overwhelmed with choices. |
| A/B Testing and Multivariate Testing | Even the smallest tweaks can make a big impact on your page. Use testing methods to find out what elements work best. |
| Usability | Eliminating unnecessary elements is the key to a better user experience |
| Analytics and Heatmaps | These tools can provide key metrics that will help you identify what can be improved upon. |
What is a Conversion?
Have you ever signed up for a new account on a company’s website? Maybe you’ve provided your email to receive updates on product promotions, or simply watched an explainer video for a product or service? All these are examples of conversion.
In basic terms, a conversion is when a customer or visitor to your site responds to your desired call-to-action (CTA). A clear case of conversion is sales, but it can also take many forms that don’t involve financial transactions. It all depends on the action you’d like your customer to take, whether it’s submitting a form with their details or downloading your product brochure.
How is Conversion Rate Calculated?
Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors on your website who “convert”, or complete the desired CTA for that page.
The basic formula is the number of conversions divided by the total number of visitors, multiplied by 100. This gives you a percentage value for one conversion goal.
For example, you can calculate the conversion rate of an ebook download offer on your website with this formula. Simply divide the number of ebook downloads with the total number of visitors into the specific pages that feature the ebook offer.
What is Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)?
CRO is the process of enhancing your conversion rate by taking steps to improve your website or specific web pages. Optimising your site for higher conversion can boost leads, increase revenue and contribute to the overall growth of your business.
Conversion optimisation steps can be taken across multiple web pages and even platforms, including landing pages, home pages and social media accounts.
It’s difficult to define a universal standard for a good conversion rate, because each conversion goal is unique. Moreover, it depends on the industry, target audience and even the year.
However, there are essential elements that can lead to improved conversion rates regardless of your market niche or conversion goal. Let’s explore a few of the components you should consider prioritising in your CRO strategy.
Elements that Contribute to Good Conversion Rate Optimisation
1. Social Proofing
Nobody wants to take the risk of being the first person to buy a product or sign up for a service. That’s why it’s important to include social proof to build trust and security with visitors to your page.
In fact, up to 79% of consumers consider social proof like reviews and testimonials to be as trustworthy as recommendations from their own family and friends. The type of social proof you include will depend on what your conversion goal is. But its function remains the same—helping eliminate uncertainty and indecision in the conversion process.
Aside from reviews and testimonials, you can employ logos from past and current clients, case studies, statistics, social media links or media coverage of your business. Compile credible third party sources that reflect positively on your product or service and place them on critical pages on your site.
2. Usability
Ensuring a user-friendly experience on your site is vital in encouraging conversion. Having a cluttered and busy site can quickly shut down any intention users have to follow through on your CTA.
The best way to improve user experience is to eliminate friction across your site. Friction refers to any frustrating feature on a page that delays or discourages users from completing a conversion goal. These can include forms with too many fields, images that take too long to load, over-complicated copy, broken links and limited external payment options.
Start by making sure that your site’s layout and copy are simple, engaging and functional. The user should be able to follow the flow of a page with no confusion about the next steps they should take.
Once your site is live, carry out regular maintenance to check that all links are working and that the site is loading and functioning perfectly.
3. Copy and CTAs
In addition to your site’s design and layout, the copy is essential in guiding and prompting the user towards the conversion goal. You don’t want to be too vague or pull the reader in multiple directions at once.
Use clear and simple language and be certain to highlight the benefits of actually acquiring your product. Remember that someone who is visiting your conversion page may not actually know everything about your business. It’s best to be informative without overloading the reader with details.
Additionally, you can use copy to create a sense of urgency that motivates people into completing your desired CTA. This can be achieved by creating the impression of scarcity. For example, you may be offering limited subscription slots or a discount code that expires in 24 hours. Your potential conversions should feel that they’ll miss out on something valuable if they don’t act immediately.
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4. A/B Testing and Multivariate Testing
In simple terms, such testing involves comparing two or more versions of a web page or app to see which performs better with users. Tech giants like Netflix and Facebook rely heavily on testing to find the optimal version of their services.
In an A/B test, a specific objective is decided before different variations of a page or element are created. Web traffic is then split randomly between these variations and data is collected to determine which elements bring the best results.
On the other hand, multivariate testing allows you to assess different versions of elements on a single page. This test is most suitable for high-traffic websites and situations where you’d like to see the impact of very specific changes to page elements.
The results of both tests can give you great insight into what you’re doing right and what parts of your conversion process may need improving.
5. Heatmaps and Analytics Tools
Marketing tools can help you determine user behaviour patterns and identify both strong and weak points in your conversion strategy.
Heatmap tools offer a colour-coded visual representation of your site elements and highlight areas that users most heavily interact with. You can track sections of a web page that don’t draw much interest and remove them, or add vital features like a CTA or product video in areas with high activity.
In comparison, analytics tools give you a wider and more general picture of activity on your site or app. Some of the metrics you can learn about are the number of unique users—including new and returning visitors, average time spent on specific pages and bounce rates. An analytic tool can also tell you about the traffic that reaches your site, whether it be organic, paid or driven by social media and email marketing.
Discover New Potential in Your Conversion Strategy with JIN Design
Have you been struggling with a website that doesn’t seem to deliver the results you want? Talk to our team at JIN to find out how we can help you craft the best conversion strategy for your needs.
