Spending resources on a website design is only half of the battle when it comes to the growing your business online.
The real ROI from your site comes down to two things:
- Traffic: number of visitors on your site
- Actions: what people are doing once they get to your site
Your business may have a great looking site. However, if you don’t have traffic or can’t convert visitors, it isn’t contributing to your bottom line. Website traffic and conversions really go hand in hand. The better you are at converting visitors, whether it’s making a purchase, requesting a quote, or signing up for a mailing list, the more traffic you can afford, and the more customers you can get.
Traffic is a matter of search engine optimization (SEO). No one will end up on your site if they can’t find you. Search engines are essentially the gatekeeper when it comes to how easily someone can find your site. Investing in SEO is a surefire way to drive new traffic and keep your existing traffic.
The actions on your site really require you to look internally. It looks at how you can change the way you do things to reach higher engagement. The better you are at motivating a visitor to take action, the better the ROI.
For example, if you can motivate a visitor to fill out a form to request a quote, you are that much closer to converting that prospect into a buyer. By giving visitors the opportunity to take action, you are giving yourself the opportunity to capitalize on leads.
When it comes to conversions (visitors taking action), don’t overlook the small stuff. For example, when you change the verbiage of your call to action button to “I Want a Quote” from “Request Pricing,” will you get more clicks?
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
Conversion Rate Optimization, or CRO, is when you "optimize" elements of your site to motivate visitors to action.
You can use conversion rate optimization to examine your sales funnel and test ways to get more people to take the next step with your service or product. Even small changes to website copy or design can influence the number of people who request more information, who give you their email addresses, and who ultimately purchase your product or service.
Why Is Conversion Rate Optimization Important?
CRO is important because it directly impacts your sales revenue.
If 100 people visit your site every day and you gain 1 percent engagement or leads from that traffic, you are effectively making one sale per day. If you optimize your site and now get 3 percent engagement from your site's visitors, you earn three times as many transactions and make three times as much money.
Try it for yourself with our conversion rate calculator.
Conversion Rate Optimization Should Be Data Driven
Don’t leave your business decisions up to fate.
You want to grow your bottom line - but the question is how. It can be tempting to go through and revamp your website, tweaking your brand image, color choices, site layout and content.
If you try to change everything all at once, you'll never know what was working for you and what wasn't. Instead, we think you need to take a data driven approach to Conversion Rate Optimization, where you test each element separately.
How to Test Conversion Rate Optimization
Although there are many resources out there that claim they have the best practices for conversion rates, nothing compares to gathering your own data. To test conversions internally, use A/B testing or split testing.
A/B testing allows you to gain insight on which elements of your site drive conversions. You can run an A/B test on just about any element of your website - its content, your color choices, the fonts, the images you used, the placement of text, the layout of the page, the media elements you include and your CTA.
Not sure what element to test?
Start with a simple question. For example, would more visitors click on my CTA button if it was green or blue? Make the change, then record whether there was any change in your conversion rate.
Once you know which element is the winner, you can move on to the next test.
Using Data to Improve Conversion
The best websites are always evolving and working to improve conversion. For this reason, CRO is not a one-time-and-done type of thing. You need to approach Conversion Rate Optimization as a continuous process; just remember that it is a time-consuming one.
In a time where technology drives the marketplace, your site is often the most important asset to communicate the value of your brand. Conversion rates essentially measure your ability to communicate this value. Ignoring to optimize your site for conversions means missed opportunities to continue building the relationship with your prospects.
At Foremost, we help streamline the process with software that does the heavy lifting for you. Contact us to learn more about our CRO software and what it can do for you.