CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION

What is CRO? And Why Does it Matter for Your Business?

Alex Lloro - CRO Expert

ALEX LLORO

Managing Director

You've heard of conversion rate optimization (CRO), but what is it, exactly, and what does it mean for your business? Learn about CRO meaning here.

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the backbone of modern digital marketing.

It refers to the process of increasing a share of website visitors you convert.

The conversion itself is a key action you want people to take, such as subscription, quote request, form submission, or purchase. It’s also a metric that organizations across industry sectors keep close eyes on.

And for good reasons too! 

CRO is all about means of prompting visitors to choose a specific route in a complex digital environment. Websites designed with it in mind and outperform those that aren’t.

The takeaway is you cannot afford CRO to be an afterthought. It’s an integral part of the modern marketing playbook and business arsenal.  So, let’s unveil what CRO meaning is and observe how it aids your business case.

CRO Meaning and Beyond

Conversions are the lifeblood of online-facing businesses.

They represent the percentage of visitors that perform a desired activity. You calculate it by dividing the number of times users convert by the total site traffic (visits).

The idea behind optimizing this figure is simple.

You drive traffic to your site and pinpoint people who can be converted into leads. Then, you see what works and what doesn’t when it comes to fostering trust, satisfaction, and loyalty. Finally, you let your sales teams (or shopping cart software) close the sale.

Now, you certainly cannot realistically expect every session to result in a conversion. Only a fraction of all visitors complete the journey and the vast majority drops off at varying points. Some people just poke around to see what the site is about and others merely compare prices.

That being said, each and every session is an opportunity to convert— hence the need for CRO. You can gain much more avail from existing traffic and digital marketing strategies you employ.

The Big Picture

The first step is to gain a comprehensive overview of what visitors are doing.

You have to understand the journey they undertake throughout your site, how they move from one section to another. The main focus is on actions that mark the end destination of the journey.

This goal is also known as a macro-conversion. It can include service subscriptions, product purchases, quote requests, etc.

On the other hand, micro-conversions are smaller goals that precede the primary one. Some common examples involve adding a product to a cart, filling out a form,  and subscribing for an email list.

In this early phase, it’s also a good idea to identify visitors that are particularly receptive to your strategy. Catering to everyone is a hit-and-miss approach at best.

Thus, you should avoid optimizing for all users and focus on ideal customers instead. Learn to engage and delight them and you’ll uncover amazing opportunities for growth and expansion.

The Art of Execution

Once you figure out where you’re at, you can take measures to improve performance.

Notice they are all supposed to kick in after a visitor comes to your site. They shouldn’t be confused with tactics meant to boost organic traffic (SEO), although there are some similarities.  

Most CRO methods revolve around good user experience (UX). It allows people to find what they want nice and easy, be it handy advice, answer to FAQs, or the latest product description. 

The more time they spend in session, the more chances there are for conversions. What is more, they are more likely to come to trust your brand and hand over information too.

The good news is there’s no shortage of CRO avenues to explore here. To narrow the options down, prioritize pages that attract the most traffic, to begin with. These are usually landing, home, product, about us, and contact us pages.

Data is the King

Again, you have to rely on consumer and online data to come up with optimal solutions.

It informs your decisions in terms of what to optimize and for whom. Never act based on gut feeling alone. More often than not, it makes you waste money and time.

You’re better off adopting a data-driven mindset and taking advantage of various analytics tools at your disposal. Some of them are even free (like Google Analytics) and add great value to your organization with quantitative data analysis.

To gather the necessary data for this process, you can conduct on-site and satisfaction surveys. Another way to go about it is via user testing. Some essential areas of interest are consumer demographics, devices used, geographical locations, etc.

A crucial component of this data-powered approach is closely tracking your conversions. Namely, observe where people first land and what they decide to do from there. See how much time they spend on individual web features (such as calls-to-action) and pages.

Benefits Linked to CRO

There are many benefits associated with active and smart CRO.

First off, you gather a lot of valuable data and audience insights. For example, research tells you what kind of language your leads prefer and what their online habits are. The more you know the better it is for your acquisition and retention rates.

While at it, you become aware of what kind of customers are the right fit for what you’re offering. This spadework spurs better allocation of resources and a higher return on investment (ROI).

Furthermore, CRO tends to promote business scalability. In other words, you grow your audience without overextending yourself financially. 

You design a more effective conversion/sales funnel and address pain points on a customer journey.

Hence, all your CRO efforts are probably a drop in the bucket to all the spoils you can reap. It’s time to overcome the limitations of a finite demand and keep your customers coming back for more.

Supercharge Your Business with CRO

As you can see, the CRO meaning and value are no mystery to us.

It’s well-documented that conversions have a direct impact on your revenue streams and ROI. They enable you to make the most of traffic coming your way. So, there should be no excuses.

Start by developing a deeper understanding of how visitors behave on your site. Examine how they convert and why some don’t. These key data points will lay the foundations for a winsome CRO strategy.

The next task is to leverage analytics to grasp the “why” behind online trends. This step lets you better engage visitors and guide them toward desired outcomes— conversions.

Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions you may still have. We can help you take your online presence to the next level and enhance your bottom line.