What Is Conversion Rate Optimization? 6 Tips to Improve your Sales
Attracting visitors to your website is great. Attracting qualified visitors is even better. But achieving conversion is always the end game. If people who are theoretically interested in what you have to offer come to your site and leave without making a purchase, then you might want to look into improving your conversion rate optimization strategy. The good news is that there are many things you can do to help your visitors become customers. Here’s what you need to know.
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?
CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) refers to any action you take to increase the percentage of your website’s visitors that achieve conversion. Conversion describes whatever you consider to be a successful result, what you hope users will end up doing if all goes well. This could be a sale, but not necessarily. Your objective might be to have people click on a product page, sign up to your newsletter, add an item to their wish list, leave a comment or a review, etc.
All this to say that conversion matters, a lot, and that it pays to apply conversion rate optimization best practices if you want to improve your chances of seeing your visitors perform the actions you expect. Here are some of the most useful tips you can try to boost your conversion rate optimization.
1. Measure and Track your Conversion Rate
It is impossible to optimize a metric you cannot measure. So, the first step towards building a sound CRO (conversion rate optimization) strategy is to calculate your conversion rate using the following formula:
(Number of Conversions / Number of Visitors) x 100 = Conversion Rate
Being able to calculate this KPI at any time is important if you want to analyse the effectiveness of your actions. There are several tools available to help you track it, Google Analytics being one of them. You can even monitor the various stages of the buyers’ journey for a deeper understanding of their behaviour and of what leads to a successful purchase (or registration, click, etc.).
2. Streamline your Checkout Funnel
There is nothing more frustrating for a user than to consider buying a product only to realize that they must first go through a convoluted process. A good example of that is having them create an account, have to put whatever item they had selected into their basket a second time because the registration process erased it, decide whether they want to subscribe to your newsletter, review your policies and accept them, only to end up with an unclear form that doesn’t recognize their non-standards address and a complicated (or very limited number of) payment method…
Your goal should be to simplify their path to action by implementing a quick, registration-free checkout option, streamlining the registration process, and only asking if they wish to subscribe to your newsletter when actually creating their account, or once their purchase is complete, for instance.
3. Leverage CRO Video Strategies
The video format delivers solid results when it comes to conversion. That’s because it fosters engagement and allows you to communicate with your audience in a way that promotes trust and underlines your brand’s personality.
Live video shopping done right can provide a highly immersive interactive experience for your visitors. It’s the perfect format for demos or to explain your product, and it offers a phygital experience that bridges the gap between online shopping and physical stores. As it is especially conducive to impulse purchase, livestream video shopping increases your conversion rate.
Shoppable videos should also be part of your CRO video strategy. They let you turn any social media platform into a point of sale where viewers can shop as they watch. Which means that conversion can happen even without people actually visiting your website!
4. Add Chatbot and Personal Shopper Options
Even with the most well-designed website, some visitors need a little extra support, just as they might in a physical store. Chatbots can play a great role in your conversion rate optimization strategy as they guide shoppers through the checkout process, provide additional information about the availability of your products, help users track their orders, etc
Instead of relying on artificial intelligence, offering a personal video shopper option takes customer service to the next level through a personalized experience that can boost your conversion rate by as much as 50%! Just as they would in a physical location, a salesperson is there to interact with shoppers in real time, assist them with any issues or doubts they may have regarding products or the checkout process, and provide personalized advice and attention.
5. Enhance your Mobile Experience
Conversion rate optimization can benefit greatly from the improvement of your mobile experience. Most people use their phone to browse social media and are therefore more likely to discover your brand through a mobile device.
If you don’t have your own app (and even if you do!), you should make sure your website is not only responsive but designed in a way that aligns well with the “mobile-first philosophy”. From boosting your loading speed, to providing a secure mobile shopping experience, enabling Apple Pay (for example), and sending out a mobile-friendly newsletter… There are many ways to make your business more “mobile-ready”.
6. Place Clear and Intentional CTAs
CTA (Call to Action) buttons can do a lot for conversion rate optimization. These prompts are there to invite your visitors to perform a specific action: Get a Free Quote, Start a Demo, Sign Up, or even something as simple as Get Started Free… the options are endless.
What matters the most is where you place these CTAs, whether they stand out well enough on your site, and, of course, the wording! Be sure to include your main CTA somewhere in your header (traditionally on the right), as well as after any relevant block on your page.
The shape and colour do matter and should both match the design and colour scheme of your site, but not blend in!
Conversion is the end goal of any business and reaching a higher conversion rate is the best form of success! Applying these small yet powerful tips will help you achieve great and durable results.
