What Is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
Also referred to as CRO, conversion rate optimization provides your brand with one of the most efficient and fastest means of turning your existing web traffic into buying customers. CRO involves many strategies and tools directed towards achieving the same thing. The tools and strategies assist you in turning visitors into leads and lead into clients.
There are numerous illuminating and conflicting information about CRO out there. For example, a study shows that long-form landing pages increase conversions by 220%. But some companies argue that short-form landing pages function better for the audiences.
about 75% of companies reacted to another survey stating that they had challenges finding professionals to optimize their landing pages. about 84% of landing pages feature navigation bars, while research has shown that removing the navigation bars can increase conversions by up to 100%.
All these figures show us why we must focus on conversion rate optimization if we want our companies to succeed.
What is conversion rate optimization (CRO)?
CRO is the means through which you boost the number of guests that convert to your website.
For example, if your conversion rate is 25%, it means that 25% of the visitors who clicked on your site convert. It is very similar to operating a retail store. Many people might visit the store and end up buying nothing. They leave without spending a dime.
The focus of the CRO process is on two things:
- Boosting the value you offer
- Decreasing friction in the funnel
What is Conversion Rate and How is it Calculated?
This refers to a ratio. It informs you about the percentage of people that convert on your site.
The equation goes thus:
Total Transactions / Total Site Visits x 100
Suppose 100,000 visitors clicked on your site last month, and only 3,000 of them purchased a product. Your CRO will be 3% (3,000/100.000×100).
If 10,000 visitors are converted, the CRO will increase to 10%.
Depending on the site, you will any of the conversion actions below as the primary goal:
- Email subscriber
- Click on ad
- Completing a lead form
- Free or trial account signup
- Demo request
- Purchase
The above goals are also known as macro conversions. They are generally the major goal of the entire website.
The site may also feature micro conversions. They include the smaller steps taken by visitors towards a bigger conversion goal. These include watching videos, downloading PDFs, adding goods to a shopping cart, checking specific pages, social media likes and shares, and similar strategies.
The Biggest Benefit of Conversion Rate Optimization
To examine the benefit, let’s assume that we have a fictional business that sells only one product valued at $300.
In the first calculation we did, our conversion rate was 3%. 3,000 people purchased the product. In other words, the product had gross revenue of $900,000.
It’s incredible, right, but if we had boosted the CRO to the second equation, we would have gotten a conversion rate of 10%.
In this situation, the revenue becomes $3 million. This means that 10,000 site visitors bought the product valued at $300. Huge difference, right?
All the benefits of conversion rate optimization boil down to one big advantage: you’ll get more clients and customers from the same traffic percentage. This hugely affects most businesses.
Whether you use a monthly marketing budget or paid marketing to maintain the traffic volume, there’s no doubt that traffic costs money.
After it goes live, CRO gives you many more clients and customers with the same amount of money.
