CRO INTRO

** CRO = Conversion Rate Optimization * *

A simple way to conceptualize Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is that, unlike SEO (which focuses on optimizing machine behavior such as keywords), it focuses on human behavior.  Here, we will define what it is as well as how a business can utilize it improve their business.

WHAT IS CRO?

Conversion Rate Optimization is the process through which a business makes the most of its traffic, site visits, impressions, phone calls, and potential customers. It can apply to anything a business does with the intent of converting customers. A potential customer may be enticed by a piece of marketing you put out, but if they land on your website or connect with someone at your business and aren’t impressed with what happens then, they won’t ultimately convert into a paying customer of yours. Throughout the sales process, you want to avoid any point in which a potential customer decides “no”, whether that be process- or price-driven. The purpose of CRO for a business (or the consulting firm hired to help) is to ensure it has laid out the most effective (tested!) path to convert customers. One term often mentioned that can go hand-in-hand with CRO is A/B testing. A/B testing essentially means testing two different versions or processes of something and comparing the results to determine which is more effective.

There are a myriad of ways to set up A/B tests, but to illustrate just a couple, let’s refer back to the example we used in our PPC explanation (PPC INTRO, also listed on our site). Here, we described a hypothetical case of a business selling dog toys.

Ex. 1

Perhaps this business decides to run an internet advertising campaign on search. We may perform an A/B test by creating two entirely different landing pages on their website (different pictures, videos, descriptions, etc.) and drive customers to each of those 2 competing pages to determine which page performs better. This might mean which page gets a higher amount of customers scheduling sales calls, signing up for an email subscription, booking appointments with a technician, paying for the product the business sells online, or whatever other metric the business seeks to measure. Playing with altering landing pages in an experiment like this helps a business understand how to achieve the best conversion from it’s customers.

Ex. 2

Another example of an A/B test might be to direct all traffic to one landing page, but to do so with two different audiences, i.e., East and West Coast customers.  The business will ultimately find that one audience will outperform the other. Perhaps the West Coast customers bought more product than the East Coasters when landing on the page, so if the company has limited ad budget, they may focus predominantly on the West Coast knowing they can squeeze more juice out of that orange.

Whether it be clicks, likes, phone calls, purchases, subscriptions, and often times a combination of it all, CRO is something you constantly want to check and improve within your business. It does a business no good to properly market a product to the world who ultimately never buys it. CRO helps increase the efficacy of your business and its efforts to convert customers.

Want to learn more? Call or text us at the number below for an in-depth consultation on what CRO can do for your business. Just by describing your company and goals therein, we can map out a strategy to improve it by increasing sales and marketing efforts for customers who see you. Also, feel free to check out our CRO Analysis download for case studies and specific use cases in how effective CRO can be when tested and implemented properly!