Your Definitive Guide to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

Wondering why your website is generating the traffic you hoped for but not the conversions? Curious as to how you can improve this? Take a look at the different CRO methods you can use to boost specific KPIs. 

In today's digital world, everybody has a website. That means it's important now more than ever to have a fully optimized website that performs better than your competitors'. Back in the day, this might have been as simple as just adding contrasting colors to make your call-to-action buttons more eye-catching. But that's no longer the case, you must go beyond that.

There are a multitude of additional variables and strategies that go into making sure your website is performing at its absolute best. A few examples of these include, but are not limited to:

• Utilizing exit offers to reduce bounce rates and convert visitors
• Building your email list with gated content promotions
• Choosing the right action verb on your CTA to convey the value of the offer clearly and quickly
• Offer instant mobile payment options for increased E-Commerce ease of use
• Leveraging principles of behavioral psychology to increase conversion rates

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. For additional tips and tactics on how you can boost your website conversion rates, check out our list of resources below.

It's common knowledge that generating leads is an essential part of business; however, not everybody knows how to go about converting these leads into actual sales. You can generate as many leads as you want, but if none of them convert to customers, you're going to have a hard time generating any revenue.

Solution? Develop a comprehensive lead nurturing strategy to help you progress those leads further down the buyer's journey until they are ready to give you their business. This can entail multiple stages and various methods. Depending on the situation, a few things you can do include:

• Establishing a system for ranking leads to avoid wasting time and effort on unqualified ones
• Utilizing sales automation tools to speed up your sales cycle and increase efficiency
• Using the Principle of Scarcity to boost your email marketing conversion rates
• Incorporating workflows to tie together the pieces of your campaign and progress your lead from one stage of their journey to the next

When implemented, an effective lead nurturing strategy can improve lead to customer conversion rates, lower the cost of customer acquisition, and speed up the sales cycle. In fact, research shows marketers see an average 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured vs non-nurtured leads, while companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales at a 33% lower cost. To fully understand how you can accomplish this and for additional tips and tactics, be sure to check out the resources below.

Abandoned shopping carts is one of the biggest issues plaguing the eCommerce world  In North America alone, the average abandonment rate is 74%, just under the global average of 74.2%. If that seems high, that's because it is. But fear not, treatment for this disease is out there and has been proven to drastically reduce the symptoms if applied correctly. It's called conversion rate optimization, or CRO for short, and it's just what the doctor prescribed.

In addition to having a fully optimized website, you can boost your overall conversion rate and lower the amount of people abandoning their carts through a variety of methods like:

• Making sure your checkout process is as streamlined and efficient as possible
• Being proactive with your promos and displaying them and their benefits as openly as possible rather than leading potential customers on a scavenger hunt
• Curbing your shipping costs or at least being upfront with them. Nobody likes being ambushed with unexpected additions to their total in the last step of the checkout process
• Incorporating a Re-engagement campaign to reach out to leads who were at some point interested in your company, but have now gone cold

Check out the resources below for more ways to improve your e-commerce conversion rates and find a treatment plan that works best for you.

Without the right tools to execute, strategy is all talk and no action. So, the next step is finding the tools you need to get to work. There are a multitude of tools available to help with your CRO strategy depending on your company's needs, priorities, or budget. Here are some of the top ones available on the market:

• Google Analytics: an affordable marketing analytics software packed with features like traffic tracking, user-activity monitoring, funnel visualization, audience reports, and more!
• Hotjar: behavior analytics software that allows you to track clicks and scrolling behavior on your website through recordings and heat-maps
• Optimizely: offers split, multivariate, and mobile testing at a low-starting price point.
• Pingdom Website Speed Test: a free testing tool to analyze your website speeds. Every element of every page can be tracked through your performance history, and did I mention that it's free!
• Chatbots: for automated, personal customer service

But with this wealth of options comes another dilemma—knowing how and when to use the right tool for the right scenario, and who the best provider of that tool is. We know it can sometimes be overwhelming trying to figure out what works best for you, so we're breaking down some of the best and most affordable conversion rate optimization tools here.

If you need help with conversion rate optimization but don't have the adequate time or resources to devote to it, seeking out external CRO services could be the right move for you. Hiring the right CRO firm or consultant can significantly impact your bottom line while allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business. An exceptional team of CRO specialists can dramatically boost the conversions on your website and get you the leads and customers that might have previously eluded you.

But how do you choose the right service provider for you? Well, it comes down to doing your research. Take the time to not only look deeply at the top firms you're considering hiring, but also yourself. You have to first understand what your goals and struggles are so you can communicate those to your potential hires when meeting with them. Once everyone understands what needs to be accomplished, you'll have a clearer picture of who is the best match for you.

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