As any Web Development agency will tell you, conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is a practice concerned with converting a higher percentage of visitors to your website / webpage. The term ‘convert’ covers any action that you wish your visitor to take, so this could be to get them to make a purchase, it could be to nudge them into sending you a message, or it could be to get them to download some software. Whatever action you want your ideal customer to take is where your focus needs to be targeted.
So, if we take it as a given that you want to increase your conversion rate, and you’ve established exactly what action you want your visitors to take, the next step is to get some data so that you can accurately measure progress and find out what works for you and your business. Right off the bat there are 3 key data points you need to establish and these are:
- Your Bounce Rate
- Your Conversion Rate
- The Average Time Spent on a page
Once you know what your conversion rate is you can begin to set some new targets. A 3% conversion rate equates to 3 conversions out of every 100 customers, and you’d be doing pretty well if you’re hitting this rate. There are a range of techniques out there for testing your conversion rate performance, and here we’ll list the most popular practices currently employed by Web Design companies in the UK:
Multi-Variate Testing (MVT)
This is a very popular technique that simultaneously tests multiple elements to establish which combinations of variables works the best. For example, you might decide to test which of three images performs better, alongside three different CTA buttons. In total there are 9 possible variables here (3×3), so if you ran separate tests for each combination you can see how testing can quickly become very inefficient.
With MVT you can quickly establish the answers you’re looking for, but there are drawbacks. Chief among them being that you need lots of test subjects to process your batches of iterations. If you have a niche product / service and you don’t currently experience high levels of site traffic, then MVT may not be the best method to choose.
Split Testing (A/B Testing)
Split testing is a very common practice that’s useful for testing elements such as headlines and CTAs. Split Testing can be thought of as the baby brother of multi-variate testing. Rather than test multiple variants in multiple configurations, with a split test you just present your subjects with two alternatives; A and B.
The limited scope of split testing can actually work to its advantage if employed in the correct way. For example, you could test two completely different versions of the same web page to see which is preferred. This is a very effective method for narrowing options down, and its particularly useful if you have a small group of test subjects.
Customer Journey / Behaviour Analysis
What do we mean by the term ‘customer journey’? We mean the whole experience of a user, from the moment they land on your site / page, to the moment they leave. If you can ascertain exactly how your users rate their interactions with you, you can target specific areas of weaknesses.
Do users travel through your site in the way you want them to? Did they get confused, or misled by certain information? Were they presented by too many options to the point where analysis paralysis set in?
Here you can leverage good relationships with some of your best clients and reach out to them for feedback on the experience you currently offer. Ask them if you’re missing a trick, or if there’s something that your competitors are doing that’s better.
Improving The Recipe
You’ve got the data back, so you now know what you’re currently doing well and also where you need to improve. Here is where it can be extremely valuable to speak to an experienced Web Design team in the UK for expert advice and guidance. They’ll be able to accurately cost up any web upgrades you need to do, and point out any issues that you might have missed.
So what are some of the more specific measures you can try before the next round of testing? – Here’s a list of some of the most tried and tested methods of improving conversion rates:
Content
Your content is extremely valuable, it’s working for you at all times to drive customers to your site. Most of your visitors arrive from a search engine link, and the prominence of that link will be determined by a number of key factors, not least of these will be how high quality and relevant your content is to a given search term.
We’re talking content that features meta descriptions, title tags and keywords. The search engines are constantly reviewing your content for relevancy, and the better it is, the higher up the page you go!
Call to Actions (CTAs)
CTAs are vital for driving your visitors to take an action, but they can often be deployed haphazardly. It’s a good idea to keep them above the fold so users aren’t scrabbling around for them. It’s also good practice to label your CTAs with answers to questions, think about why they are there and what they are looking for. So instead of; ‘contact for further information’, switch to; ‘speak to your advisor now’.
With clear call to answers that answer questions and engage the target audience without them needing to search your site high and low for the answer, you’ll be well on your way to boosting your conversion rate.
Page Speed
Speed matters and one surefire way to annoy your visitors is to have a slow site. This is really an own goal if you neglect speed, and don’t forget that loading speed on mobile devices is even more critical. Google Analytics can help you measure your page speed and find out where you’re underperforming.
Your developer will be able to help increase your speed, though be aware it might require migrating to a different platform which can be costly and disruptive. Web specialists Web Choice UK are experts at boosting page speed, and they got to where they are today by working on their own performance to the point where they experienced real gains in conversion that could be solely attributed to loading speeds.
So there we are, some top tips and advice for optimising your conversion rates. Many of these measures can be implemented almost immediately, so don’t delay, get on it now and watch your conversion rate climb!