Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of increasing the conversion rates for your website.
A conversion, in this sense, is a desired user action that you want visitors to take on your site — typically something like signing up for a mailing list or making a purchase.
The whole point of conversion rate optimization is to increase the percentage of users who complete your conversion goal.
Your conversion goal could be one specific conversion, such as product purchases, or it could be multiple conversions, such as signups plus email newsletter opt-ins.
How do you know if your CRO efforts are paying off?
You measure them! You can track conversion goals using Google Analytics , and there are several conversion rate optimization tools out there that you can integrate into your Google Analytics conversion goals.
If you're having a conversion problem, don't start optimizing conversion rates before finding out where the conversion problem lies — if it's not an issue with conversion rate optimization.
What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
Conversion rate optimization is one of the best ways to improve your website's conversion rates, and therefore its revenue. Conversion rate optimization isn't limited to ecommerce websites; it works on any type of site.
Difference Conversion goals Vs Conversion Actions
Be very clear about what conversion goal (or goals) you want to optimize for, and which user action(s) you will measure as conversion actions.
Your CRO strategy should be based on these specific conversion goals and conversion actions and not on broad or generic conversion rate optimization concepts.
You may have multiple conversion goals, or it might be more pertinent to break down conversion goals into conversion actions for better tracking.
For example, you might want to track a signup conversion goal with a series of conversion actions that are clearly defined in Google Analytics. These conversion actions would include:
- the specific page where the conversion took place — so you know how users found your website and can repeat it if desired
- events that happen immediately before the conversion — so you can identify what they did just before the conversion and replicate their behavior if desired (e.g., what pages they visited during their visit) - events that happen immediately after the conversion — so you can identify what they did just after the conversion and replicate it if desired (e.g., how much time they spent on your site)
Conversion rate optimization is useless without conversion goals conversion rate optimization (CRO) is all about increasing conversion rates, but without conversion goals to optimize for, CRO doesn't make sense.
You might have heard that "conversion rate optimization" increases conversion rates — which sounds like something you want to do — but that's not very actionable!
The whole point of conversion rate optimization is to increase a specific conversion goal; otherwise, it's called "content marketing." Remember: content marketing has nothing to do with conversion rates!
If you're a branding company or agency trying to attract new customers through a new website, conversion rate optimization might be relevant to you; if you're an ecommerce company selling products and services, conversion rate optimization is definitely relevant.
If your conversion goal is sales , then conversion rate optimization means identifying the conversion barriers that are preventing people from making purchases on your site — and then removing these conversion barriers or changing them into conversion drivers (i.e., things that compel users to complete their conversion goal).
If your conversion goal is email newsletter signups , then conversion rate optimization means figuring out which content works best for getting visitors to convert—and then using this information to create more of this content.
And also testing different calls-to-action (CTAs) with different types of visitors. For example, conversion rates for new visitors might be lower than conversion rates for returning visitors. You should test different CTAs on each type of visitor to optimize conversion rates based on conversion goals.