Picture this...
You stack your online store to the brim with amazing products. Everything looks neat and fresh. You sent out an inviting letter to your email list. Posted a cute GIF on social media about your new, poppin' brand.
At first, your online store is doing okay. But after some time, you realize that your profits are not increasing.
So you rearrange your online store a little bit... Added more products... And even hired a web designer to execute your ideas. So you wait...
And wait.
And wait a little more.
And nothing!
Your conversion rates have hit a plateau.
To avoid situations like the one above, you need to focus on conversion rate optimization.
In this blog post, I will show you effective conversion rate optimization strategies and tools to boost conversions.
To begin, let's start with...
What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
Before we get into conversion rate optimization strategies and tools, we need to clearly define what conversion rate is.
The conversion rate is the number of people who took action on your website. Taking action includes them subscribing to your newsletter. It can also mean making a purchase.
You can calculate your conversion rate with this formula:
The higher the conversion rate is, the better. But keep in mind that there's no perfect conversion rate. Even a 50% conversion rate is downright impossible.
Your conversion rate depends on what industry you are in. As well as the type of conversion you are keeping an eye on.
So, you can aim for a conversion rate of around 2-5%. This number is generally a good conversion rate for eCommerce websites.
Too much math for you?
Well, keep reading to find reasons why conversion rate optimization is worth looking into...
Why Should You Invest In Conversion Rate Optimization?
Improves User Experience
No one wants a slow, unresponsive eCommerce site. That alone leads to a bad user experience.
Conversion rate optimization will help you avoid that. When optimizing, you would have to review the entirety of your user experience. Doing so will lead to a faster website... And a smoother experience.
Conversion rate optimization can also help you with...
Customer Retention
Retaining your repeat customers can help your sales a whole lot. Even a 5% customer retention can increase your profits by 25-95%!
And conversion rate optimization can boost your customer retention.
CRO strategies can address issues that prevent you from keeping your customers. Problems like poor customer service and weak onboarding can be solved with a great conversion rate optimization strategy.
Conversion rate optimization can also give you...
More Website Traffic
How do you increase your existing traffic? By ranking on search engine results pages.
There are a lot of features that affect your ranking. A fast load speed, a creative landing page, and a slight bounce rate are some things that can increase your chances.
With conversion rate optimization, you can boost the things mentioned. It will give you more website visitors. Thus, more traffic.
And most importantly, conversion rate optimization will...
Increase Your Return Of Investment (ROI)
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out... The better your conversion rate, the higher your ROI will be.
Plus, the conversion rate tools you have to use won't cost you an arm and a leg. In general, conversion rate optimization won't cost you a lot. But the benefits you gain are priceless. Keep reading because I'll show you CRO tools that are super accessible.
Are you ready to increase conversions now? Great!
Let's talk about...
Effective Strategies For Conversion Rate Optimization
1. Conduct Research And Analysis
First off, you need to ask yourself: Who is part of my target market? Am I providing them with what they want?
It's crucial to see your customer's perspective, too. So try to be them!
Go through your entire site like paying customers would. Purchase a product or service of yours. When you're going through the process, take screenshots of each landing page.
You'll be surprised about the things you'll notice on your landing pages. The more you learn about your customer funnel, the more you understand it. You can see what works and what doesn't.
Once you discover what your target audience goes through, you can set your goals.
Set Your Goals And Conversion Rate Optimization Tools
In order for you to set your goals, you need to do two things. Choose a conversion action, and set up your conversion funnel in Google Analytics.
There are primary goals you can focus your conversion rate optimization on. Here is a list of conversion goals to guide you:
After you have your focus, you can use Google Analytics to check your progress. Your conversion funnel will answer questions such as: Where are you losing web traffic? Where can you find the best opportunities?
Luckily, there conversion rate optimization tools you can use. Keep reading to find out the list of conversion optimization tools I curated for you!
When it comes to your optimization, don't forget to include your customers. You can do user testing. But the best way to get data on user behavior is through asking them.
Survey Your Customers
You can ask your customers through any communication channel you choose. It can be through email, phone calls, or even on your website.
On your surveys, use open-ended questions. Do not give them choices. That way, they can answer with their own words.
The results of your survey can match the data you have already gathered. It will confirm the issues you found. As well as reveal any stumbling block on your customer journey.
You now have the data. It's time to examine the issues and come up with solutions to your CRO strategy.
Come Up With Solutions
Create a spreadsheet with two columns.
In the first column, list all of the issues you collected. You can order them from most important to least important. Base it on what you think impacts your conversion rate the most.
Besides it, write down the solutions you come up with for every issue. Do not hesitate to be creative and think outside of the box.
For example, you notice that your visitors leave when signing up for a trial. It happens on the "Add a credit card" part. A solution would be entirely removing this part when it comes to free trials.
Not sure where to start when converting visitors? Consider which one can be done quickly and easily. Or you can begin with the most important one.
Up next on your conversion optimization ongoing process is...
2. Run An A/B Testing
Do you know what can overwhelm you? Doing too many tests at once.
You won't get any usable results when you have too many things going on. It will be hard to identify which part is increasing conversions. Or what's sabotaging your conversion rates.
Doing A/B testing can save you the headache of going through test pages. It can show you what elements are working and aren't on the same page.
You see, A/B testing lets you focus on experimenting with two variants and not multiple ones. You only change one element, like your CTA button. You will easily identify which parts are affecting your conversions.
Make sure that you have a record of every test you conduct. Take screenshots and screen recordings. Properly label them to avoid confusion in the future.
The next step to a successful conversion rate optimization strategy is...
3. Examine Your Results
Don't let your optimization efforts go to waste. Remember to include the screenshots when you log in to your results. You can separate what is working and what isn't in two folders.
Keep track of what's succeeding and what parts you need to work more on. If you are not certain which part of your landing pages works, check out your heatmaps. Go through your spreadsheet as you do.
On the landing pages that work, think of ways you can develop them to improve conversions.
For instance, you added a review section on one of your landing pages. Maybe you can add more positive reviews and a star rating to your sales page for maximum conversions.
Also, consider other landing pages where you can apply the same principle. Remember that your goal is to increase conversions on the web page.
Now that you have gone through the process of conversion optimization, you can...
4. Rerun The Conversion Rate Optimization Steps
Improving your conversion rates is an ongoing cycle. Use the insights you gained as you go through the CRO strategies again.
Smoothen any issues your visitors might have. Keep on doing the conversion optimization cycle until you improve conversions.
I have mentioned key metrics and CRO tools you will need as a part of your CRO strategy.
Don't go anywhere as we will discuss...
Conversion Rate Optimization Tools You Need For An Effective CRO Strategy
Without conversion rate optimization tools, you won't get too far on your optimization strategy. I have lined up some of the must-have analytics tools and more for you to use.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an essential conversion rate optimization tool. You can track your traffic. As well as the goals you set for your conversion rates.
Google Analytics is free to use. If you have more than 10 million hits per month, you can upgrade to Google Analytics 360.
One of the most popular conversion rate optimization tools is...
Crazy Egg
(source)
Crazy Egg can create a heatmap of your online store. It's also a great tool for testing visual data. It can reveal which parts your visitors are clicking on, and what they are ignoring.
Crazy Egg will also record sessions of your convert prospects, even on mobile devices. It can also conduct A/B tests.
This CRO tool will also allow you to see paying customers' interaction with your online store in real-time. Plus, Crazy Egg tracks what's behind pop-up forms.
When talking about conversion rate optimization tools, you can't leave out...
Google Optimize
(source)
Google Optimize gives you the ability to do multivariate testing. This means you can see how multiple pages perform towards your goals.
You can integrate it with Google Analytics. With it, Google Optimize can experiment with a certain group from your Audiences in Analytics.
Another tool for your optimization strategy is...
Adobe Analytics
(source)
Adobe Analytics can track data in real-time from different channels from different sources. It means you can track your web page, marketing platforms, apps, etc.
It also gives you a look at your users' flow, KPIs, and your own website's conversion rates.
With these tools on your arsenal for your CRO strategy, you can easily keep track of your website conversion rates. Thus, you can also measure your business growth.
So, take charge and...
Grow Your eCommerce Business With Conversion Rate Optimization!
Through these CRO strategies, you'll know more about the exact journey visitors go through. Your optimization efforts will get you more leads.
And more leads = more sales!
As I have mentioned, CRO is an ongoing process. It will take some time to see the progress of the changes you made on a landing page. So be patient!
To effectively apply all the CRO strategies you just learned, you will need a theme that can keep up.
And you can do your best optimization with Debutify Theme!
Debutify is not an ordinary Shopify theme.
With over 50 Add-Ons, it's the best Profit Optimization Partner you can ask for. Debutify can make your online store visually appealing... as well as boost conversions, AOV, and profits!
Increase Conversion Rates With Debutify — No Charge!
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Trisha Ballesteros
Ricky Hayes
