<<Previous<\/a> \u00a0| Table of Contents<\/a> | Download the CRO Guide<\/a> | Next<\/a> >><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Conversion rate optimization is the art of increasing the number of user actions, such as clicking a submit button on a website or landing page, and it can also be applied to email campaigns. The conversion is defined by a goal, which can vary from the user reaching a page in a conversion to a sale, download, registration or other action by the user. Conversion rate optimization uses a combination of disciplines from creative design and content, psychology, science and statistics to achieve the goal.<\/p>\n The typical process starts with figuring out where the user is getting blocked from achieving the goal. Then creative elements are tested to statistical confidence. Finally, the winning design is implemented and the process starts again.<\/p>\n The benefits can make or break a marketing campaign and for that matter a business. It is not unheard of to have conversion rate lifts of 1000% over time with continual testing. Individual tests can have lifts of a couple hundred percent, although 20% to 100% is more common.<\/p>\n Pay-per-click ad campaign bid rates often drop when the page is converting more efficiently. This in turn drops your acquisitions cost for leads and sales.<\/p>\n Conversion rate optimization can be used to increase conversion lift in:<\/p>\n There is also a lot of information and insights that can be gained in the process. These insights can help the business in the following ways:<\/p>\n One of the biggest benefits to conversion rate optimization testing<\/a> is that emotions are not a part of the final decision. We all have an idea of what words and what designs we think are going to work best. Often many of them are completely different from each other. If you asked people to explain the color red or the feeling of success, you would get many different answers. A\/B testing is an experiment with ideally one variable. In the end, the best design wins based on the statistics of a particular design winning the test. Conversion rate optimization allows all ideas, whether they are from the CEO or the new intern to have an equal chance to come up with the best converting page or site. I have seen ugly designs convert better than pretty ones. Here are some guidelines:<\/p>\n The bottom line is: Does the new design get more quality leads and\/or sales. Are your goals increasing in conversions? Be prepared to be surprised by your surveys, user metrics and test results. Laugh at yourself and learn when results do not work out the way you thought they would. They are just as important as when they do.<\/p>\n The first step in optimizing conversions is to understand your current baseline. Once this is established the goal is to improve it. There are many types of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (). Some contain only one data point, and others have multiple data points, which represent the overall health of the business system.\u00a0 Always keep in mind there can be multiple variables that affect a metric, such as the type of device users are on, how they came to the site and what their expectations are.<\/p>\n You can get information overload by gathering data to the point of analysis paralysis. So first think about what is the best way to measure your success. When the numbers do not make sense, then you can dig down into more data to find the problem.<\/p>\n Here are a few ideas to create baseline goals, but every business is slightly different. Some of these can be used in testing while others are tracked over time to measure the health of the business:<\/p>\n Conversion Rate<\/strong> \u2013 How many users completed the goal for the page or site. This can be looked at two ways: \u00a0the number of users on the page that converted and\/or the number of total site users that converted.<\/p>\n Conversion Rate by Device<\/strong> \u2013 Often the design for the desktop, even when made responsive, will have a different conversion rate on mobile. If the site has a significant percentage of mobile users, the data has to be optimized by device. Often one device will be positive while the other is negative, which skews the total result.<\/p>\n Bounce Rate<\/strong> \u2013 The percentage of users that leave the page without interacting with it. You can break this down to users that went to another page and users that left the site from this page.<\/p>\n Page Engagement<\/strong> – Time spent on a page and how many clicks per user on the page.<\/p>\n Registrations<\/strong> \u2013 Registrations can be an event or course.<\/p>\n Email Opt-In<\/strong> \u2013 Gathering of email and other contact information to be used in telesales or email nurturing campaigns.<\/p>\n Navigation<\/strong> \u2013 How useful is the navigation? Are all the buttons being clicked or only a few?<\/p>\n Page Views<\/strong> \u2013 How many visitors are getting beyond the home page and how deep are they going in the site?<\/p>\n Total Time on Site<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Number of Returned Visits to the Site<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Brand<\/strong> \u2013 Brand can be measured with pop-up surveys that ask one question. When done over time, the perception of the company, products or services, and\/or the website can be tracked. For example, you can measure how clear your message is, if visitors really understand your benefits, and if the visitor would recommend it.<\/p>\n Cost Per Conversion<\/strong> \u2013 How many ad dollars did it take to get a conversion?<\/p>\n Cost Per Sale<\/strong> \u2013 How many ad dollars did it take to complete the sale? This can also be looked at as how many trials or demos does it take to make a sale.<\/p>\n Lifetime value of a Customer<\/strong> \u2013 This is especially important for SaaS businesses. Measuring their value in revenue and how long they stayed a member are both important.<\/p>\n Average Order Value (AOV) or Purchase Value (APV)<\/strong> \u2013 This can be improved by suggesting other related products and showing what others have purchased.<\/p>\n Cart Abandonment<\/strong> \u2013 Putting items in the cart and never checking out. There is always cart abandonment. The goal is to get the visitor to buy the first time, and if not, to be reminded and come back to buy later.<\/p>\n Checkout Funnel<\/strong>– There are many areas of an ecommerce system to track such as added to cart, edit cart, coupon codes, shipping, checkout and confirmation.<\/p>\n Wish Lists<\/strong> \u2013 The number of items in a wish list and the number of items purchased over time from the wish list.<\/p>\n Testimonials and reviews<\/strong> \u2013 The numbers of testimonials or product reviews per product.<\/p>\n The conversion rate of your site or page has many variables, such as the quality of ad traffic coming to your site, the device they view the site on etc. That said, a 2% overall site conversion rate is normal. That is conversions\/total visitors. A specific page like a trial page or landing page has its own conversion rate, usually starting around 2% and can be as high as 50%. Most good landing pages are in the 5% to 15% range.<\/p>\n <<Previous<\/a> \u00a0| Table of Contents<\/a> | Download the CRO Guide<\/a> | Next<\/a> >><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Conversion Rate Optimization Guide Chapter 1 <<Previous \u00a0| Table of Contents | Download the CRO Guide | Next >> What is Conversion Rate Optimization? Conversion rate optimization is the art of increasing the number of user actions, such as clicking a submit button on a website or landing page, and it can also be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":" <<Previous<\/a> \u00a0| Table of Contents<\/a> | Download the CRO Guide<\/a> | Next<\/a> >><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n <<Previous<\/a> \u00a0| Table of Contents<\/a> | Download the CRO Guide<\/a> | Next<\/a> >><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,111522],"tags":[682423,28,111529],"class_list":["post-543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conversion-rate-optimization","category-cro-guide","tag-blog","tag-conversion-rate-optimization-2","tag-ebook"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWhat is Conversion Rate Optimization?<\/h2>\n
What are the benefits?<\/h3>\n
\n
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Leave your ego at the door<\/h3>\n
\n
Determining your baseline metrics and KPI\u2019s<\/h3>\n
What is a good conversion rate?<\/h3>\n
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\nThe 2021 Conversion Rate Optimization Guide<\/h1>\n
Chapter 1<\/h1>\n\n
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\n\nWhat is Conversion Rate Optimization?<\/h2>\nConversion rate optimization is the art of increasing the number of user actions, such as clicking a submit button on a website or landing page, and it can also be applied to email campaigns. The conversion is defined by a goal, which can vary from the user reaching a page in a conversion to a sale, download, registration or other action by the user. Conversion rate optimization uses a combination of disciplines from creative design and content, psychology, science and statistics to achieve the goal.\n\nThe typical process starts with figuring out where the user is getting blocked from achieving the goal. Then creative elements are tested to statistical confidence. Finally, the winning design is implemented and the process starts again.\n
What are the benefits?<\/h3>\nThe benefits can make or break a marketing campaign and for that matter a business. It is not unheard of to have conversion rate lifts of 1000% over time with continual testing. Individual tests can have lifts of a couple hundred percent, although 20% to 100% is more common.\n\nPay-per-click ad campaign bid rates often drop when the page is converting more efficiently. This in turn drops your acquisitions cost for leads and sales.\n\nConversion rate optimization can be used to increase conversion lift in:\n
\n \t
\n \t
Leave your ego at the door<\/h3>\nOne of the biggest benefits to conversion rate optimization testing is that emotions are not a part of the final decision. We all have an idea of what words and what designs we think are going to work best. Often many of them are completely different from each other. If you asked people to explain the color red or the feeling of success, you would get many different answers. A\/B testing is an experiment with ideally one variable. In the end, the best design wins based on the statistics of a particular design winning the test. Conversion rate optimization allows all ideas, whether they are from the CEO or the new intern to have an equal chance to come up with the best converting page or site. I have seen ugly designs convert better than pretty ones. Here are some guidelines:\n
\n \t
Determining your baseline metrics and KPI\u2019s<\/h3>\nThe first step in optimizing conversions is to understand your current baseline. Once this is established the goal is to improve it. There are many types of metrics and Key Performance Indicators (). Some contain only one data point, and others have multiple data points, which represent the overall health of the business system.\u00a0 Always keep in mind there can be multiple variables that affect a metric, such as the type of device users are on, how they came to the site and what their expectations are.\n\nYou can get information overload by gathering data to the point of analysis paralysis. So first think about what is the best way to measure your success. When the numbers do not make sense, then you can dig down into more data to find the problem.\n\nHere are a few ideas to create baseline goals, but every business is slightly different. Some of these can be used in testing while others are tracked over time to measure the health of the business:\n\nConversion Rate<\/strong> \u2013 How many users completed the goal for the page or site. This can be looked at two ways: \u00a0the number of users on the page that converted and\/or the number of total site users that converted.\n\nConversion Rate by Device<\/strong> \u2013 Often the design for the desktop, even when made responsive, will have a different conversion rate on mobile. If the site has a significant percentage of mobile users, the data has to be optimized by device. Often one device will be positive while the other is negative, which skews the total result.\n\nBounce Rate<\/strong> \u2013 The percentage of users that leave the page without interacting with it. You can break this down to users that went to another page and users that left the site from this page.\n\nPage Engagement<\/strong> - Time spent on a page and how many clicks per user on the page.\n\nRegistrations<\/strong> \u2013 Registrations can be an event or course.\n\nEmail Opt-In<\/strong> \u2013 Gathering of email and other contact information to be used in telesales or email nurturing campaigns.\n\nNavigation<\/strong> \u2013 How useful is the navigation? Are all the buttons being clicked or only a few?\n\nPage Views<\/strong> \u2013 How many visitors are getting beyond the home page and how deep are they going in the site?\n\nTotal Time on Site<\/strong>.\n\nNumber of Returned Visits to the Site<\/strong>.\n\nBrand<\/strong> \u2013 Brand can be measured with pop-up surveys that ask one question. When done over time, the perception of the company, products or services, and\/or the website can be tracked. For example, you can measure how clear your message is, if visitors really understand your benefits, and if the visitor would recommend it.\n\nCost Per Conversion<\/strong> \u2013 How many ad dollars did it take to get a conversion?\n\nCost Per Sale<\/strong> \u2013 How many ad dollars did it take to complete the sale? This can also be looked at as how many trials or demos does it take to make a sale.\n\nLifetime value of a Customer<\/strong> \u2013 This is especially important for SaaS businesses. Measuring their value in revenue and how long they stayed a member are both important.\n\nAverage Order Value (AOV) or Purchase Value (APV)<\/strong> \u2013 This can be improved by suggesting other related products and showing what others have purchased.\n\nCart Abandonment<\/strong> \u2013 Putting items in the cart and never checking out. There is always cart abandonment. The goal is to get the visitor to buy the first time, and if not, to be reminded and come back to buy later.\n\nCheckout Funnel<\/strong>- There are many areas of an ecommerce system to track such as added to cart, edit cart, coupon codes, shipping, checkout and confirmation.\n\nWish Lists<\/strong> \u2013 The number of items in a wish list and the number of items purchased over time from the wish list.\n\nTestimonials and reviews<\/strong> \u2013 The numbers of testimonials or product reviews per product.\n
What is a good conversion rate?<\/h3>\nThe conversion rate of your site or page has many variables, such as the quality of ad traffic coming to your site, the device they view the site on etc. That said, a 2% overall site conversion rate is normal. That is conversions\/total visitors. A specific page like a trial page or landing page has its own conversion rate, usually starting around 2% and can be as high as 50%. Most good landing pages are in the 5% to 15% range.\n\n
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