Conversion Rate Optimization - A Quick and Easy Guide
The world of online marketing is not an easy one. This is something you have to make peace with right away if you want any chance of success. Even if you use professionals to help you, positive results are not going to come around by themselves. Without the necessary effort and input from your side, the possibility of reaching bigger and better places might not be available to you.
A good place to start would be to learn more about the different channels of online marketing. In this case, the focus falls on conversion rate optimization. And if you are not familiar with this area of digital marketing, this article can prove to be very useful.
Understanding The Difference Between Leads And Conversions
Many newbies assume that the hardest part is creating leads. In other words, getting people to react in some way or another and follow a link or page. And the reason why newbies consider this the toughest part is based on the challenge.
Keep in mind that online users have to face ads everywhere they go. This has led to the creation of software like an ad and pop-up blockers. And when this software is activated, users won't see any type of ad. Now, this only proves how difficult it can be to get users to click on a link they do not trust yet.
Unfortunately, generating leads become the easy part once you master the right approach. And if you thought that getting people to click on a link was tough, you should try getting money from them. Following a link costs nothing but time. But once a user is asked to provide personal details, that's when a lead can abandon the sale.
This brings up the matter of conversion rate optimization. Basically, you want to get the most out of every lead you get, which means paying attention to what you do once a user clicks on the link.
Ways to manage CRO
Do It Yourself
The first option everyone usually considers first is doing everything themselves. After coming across a few articles about how easy money can be made online, the stigma was created that generating online money should be easy. Whether you become an affiliate or start your own company, success is just waiting around the corner. But it isn't. And if you want to attempt everything about marketing by yourself, you have to know what you are doing. That means learning all you can in the quickest amount of time.
Hire Professionals
For entrepreneurs who want to focus on developing their products or service, instead of worrying about conversion rate optimization, you can always think about hiring professionals. There are agencies and consultants that sell their special skills when it comes to converting leads.
Outsource Specific Responsibilities
In some cases, you don't want to take on all the responsibilities. For example, maybe you are up for the challenge of posting content, but you don't want to do split testing. Your option then is to outsource the testing part to a professional or agency.
Regardless of what you choose, there are some elements you have to be up to date with. These include the tactics and strategies experts use to get more conversions. Remember, confidence in what you do is very important if you are going to increase conversion rates. And you can't have confidence if you don't have the right knowledge.
Effective Tactics For Conversion Rate Optimization
There are many channels you can use. In fact, you should never limit yourself when it comes to motivating a lead to turn into a conversion. The following areas are the tried and true and have been shown to be effective time and time again.
Learn About Your Target Audience
Due to the time and effort required to learn more about your target audience, many skip this step altogether. What these marketers don't realize is that they are making things more difficult for themselves. For example, you can't sell a car to a vehicle enthusiast if you don't know anything about cars or the people that buy them.
Get to know the people you are catering your product or service to. Try to understand what they are looking for and how to give it to them. Because just spending a lot of money on blind marketing might get you some clicks, but it won't lead to conversions.
At the same time, you should be highly-informed about whatever it is you are selling. In other words, can you answer important and detailed questions on the spot? If not, take the time to really learn about your product too.
Write Specific Content
Content marketing is all about posting articles and copy people will find interesting. And as a result, they follow the link at the bottom of the article or even sometimes in the middle, depending on where the advertiser wants to put it. But for the most part, marketers only regard content useful up to a certain point. And this point is where the content generates a lead.
The truth is that content plays a much bigger part than just getting users to click. The content will also influence the odds of users going through with the sale. Why? Because if the content shows authority and confidence, users are going to be more willing to spend money.
So, when you create or post content for your site or blog, don't just see it as a means to generate a lead. See it as the place where the conversion already starts.
Have A Good Sales Funnel In Place
You'll find that marketers are very methodical about the sales funnels they use. It's not just about overpowering the user with special deals and pushing for the quick sale. Depending on what you are selling, the user needs to take somewhat of a journey. Whatever way you want to look at it, some kind of sales funnel should be in place to capture and convert the lead.
What makes a good sales funnel? Well, you need to take everything into account. From the color choice to the font and text, all these variables have to work together. Plus, it helps if you know your target audience as mentioned earlier. You can use this information about your target audience to come up with a very impressive sales funnel.
The consequences of not investing in a funnel, or at the very least a landing page, is that many of your leads will go to waste. And this is the last thing you want.
Do Split Testing
Sticking to sales funnels for a moment, given that they are so crucial, it is recommended to perform regular split testing. And this is when you compare funnel performance to see which is more effective. There are many online tools you can use to help you with the split testing process, or you can consult with an expert.
But you should definitely prioritize split testing seeing as it provides a lot of helpful information. From this, you can keep tweaking the funnel until it is near perfect. But consumer habits and preferences will always change, hence the reason for constant testing and tweaking. You can never stop comparing funnels, even when you think you have a perfect one.
Build Consumer Trust
No matter how you look at it, users are not going to spend money if they don't trust the source or the product. You can have the best website or product in the world, but everything comes down to how much users trust you. But trust is not something you gain overnight, especially when you are competing against established brands.
The good news is there are several ways you can go about getting more users to trust you. For example, the content you post should be original, unique, and informative. Because once they see you as an authority figure, that's when they start building trust. But you can also head over to social media platforms and start networking for some trust. Let people get familiar with your business and the personality behind it before you expect to make killer sales.
Just don't rely too much on social media for conversions, compared to the conversion rates you get through search engines. That's because users that actively search for something through a search engine is much more likely to buy it. As supposed to the social media user in search of entertainment.
Monitor User Habits
It only counts in your own best interest to stay on top of what users are doing on your site. For instance, you want to pay attention to how long the average user sticks around and where they click. And maybe they are clicking somewhere in specific, but then abandon the sale once they reach the funnel.
By keeping tabs on what users are doing, you are better able to assess the problem areas of the site. More importantly, you can better establish why users are not following through with the sale. Because if you are generating leads without conversions, it is pretty clear where your biggest problem resides.
Once again, there are many different tools and software you can utilize to stay in tune with what users are getting up to on your site. And if you want to invest in conversion rate optimization, it is recommended to use them.
Make Everything Incredibly Easy
It sounds bad when you say it out loud, but users are incredibly lazy. That means they want everything about the funnel, landing or sales page to be quick and straightforward. And the moment they have to struggle with something is the moment you risk losing the conversion.
That's also why you should constantly be testing the sales funnel. And you should do it from different devices as well. Keep in mind that your online experience is going to be significantly different compared to going online through a laptop or desktop. The same goes for your users and what they experience.
Always ensure the funnel or landing page is easy to navigate and understand. Plus, make sure everything goes smoothly the moment the user gets to the funnel area. There shouldn't be any glitches or issues from this point on if you want to get more conversions. You definitely want to focus on add to cart optimization.
Provide An Incentive
Startup companies don't really like to hear the word "incentive", because it means you have to spend money without getting any back. But there is no denying how effective an incentive can be regarding conversion optimization. The fact is people love to get stuff for free. Additionally, giving away an incentive when someone makes a purchase doesn't necessarily have to break the bank.
If you get creative, you'll realize there are many types of incentives you can offer to increase conversion rates. And yes, even the most basic incentive can go a very long way.
Don't Lose Focus
Even though it is incredibly important to stay up to date with conversion rates, you shouldn't lose sight of all the other things involved. This includes lead generation, keyword research, search engine optimization, and quite a few other things you'll most likely learn along the way. You need to find the edge in as many areas as possible and the conversion rate is just a small part.
How Long Does It Take To See Results?
Unfortunately, nobody can tell you exactly how long your journey is going to take. Everything depends on the choices you make and the effort you put into it. Of course, your product or service needs to be in demand as well, which is yet another variable to consider. Just don't lose hope when the conversions don't stream in like you want them to. Success is a process you have to follow.