Analytics Content Conversion rate optimisation 101 Feb 2nd, 2016 Your website could be working harder and making even more profit. Even if you’re happy with your current conversion rate, why not find out how it could be even better? We’re fanatical about conversion rate optimisation (CRO) at Click Consult and, quite frankly, we don’t understand why more businesses aren’t doing it. CRO is a strategy for identifying changes to your website that will significantly improve the number of visitors who turn into customers or subscribers. Using a structured approach of testing and analysis, it allows you to evaluate your ideas for making improvements before you commit to making them permanent, rather than wasting time and resources simply relying on guesswork. The results give you valuable insights into what influences your customers’ online behaviour that will have long term benefits for your business. A/B testing (sometimes called split testing) is comparing two versions of a web page to see which one performs better. You compare two web pages by showing each to exactly 50% of your visitors at the same time, the conversion data will then show you which works best. Why is conversion rate so important? Your conversion rate is the proportion of your website’s visitors that ‘convert’ into customers or subscribers. Improving your conversion rate increases the ROI of your online marketing activity and reduces your cost per acquisition (CPA). Rather than focusing on increasing the number of visitors to your website, CRO helps you to maximise the value of the traffic you’re already getting. What are common aspects of a website to test? What you decide to test will be specific to your website and its objectives. However, common tests include changes to copy, layout and/or design. For example, you could try different headlines or calls to action, change how you display pricing, vary the size or position of buttons, or test different layouts and colours. What do I need to get started? Your website should be generating enough traffic to measure, and you need to have accurate tracking set up (for example, using Google Analytics). While some technical know-how is an advantage, it’s not a necessity as there are free and low-cost tools available that take the hard work out of setting up your tests and calculating the results. Time is really the only significant investment you’ll need to make, as the keys to CRO success lie in preparation and patience: to see real results and make informed decisions it’s vital to follow a controlled process of testing and analysis. Ready to find out more? Our eBook goes into more depth and explains our tried-and-tested methodology for getting the best results.