5 Steps to Improve Your Conversion Rate Optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is one of the most overlooked growth tactics available to businesses.

Effective conversion rate optimization results in more leads, more revenue, and makes every marketing dollar work harder. It’s all about making the most of your existing website traffic by fine-tuning your website and other conversion points to turn visitors into customers.

An effective CRO strategy is built around straightforward tactics like testing different options, improving workflows and optimizing user experience—all with the purpose of consistently guiding your audience toward taking action. The end result is a marketing investment that goes further and accomplishes more through lower acquisition costs.

In this article, we’ll go through a simple five step process that improves conversion rates to make the most of your marketing investment. 

The Simple Conversion Rate Optimization Strategy That Gets Results

When it comes to CRO, it’s easy to assume that only minor tweaks to your website are needed to see improvements. That assumption is exactly why we see huge customer acquisition costs and website traffic slipping through a broken conversion funnel.

In reality, effective conversion rate optimization strategies take holistic, data-driven approaches that focus on every touchpoint within your marketing funnel to boost conversions. At each of these points, you’re presented with a valuable opportunity to convert visitors into leads and customers, maximizing the impact of your current traffic without necessarily needing more of it.

Step #1: Identify Key Conversion Points

The first step is outlining exactly what a conversion point is.

Yes, it's website buttons and forms, but there are other spots where conversions can happen that your business might be missing out on. 

CRO can enhance any touchpoint where you’re looking to convert. Whether it’s an email, ad, or landing page, each of these points represents an opportunity to turn interest into action.

Here are some of the conversion points to consider:

• Demo forms on ad campaigns
• Landing page CTAs
• Pricing page CTAs
• Homepage CTAs
• Email CTAs
• Event landing page CTAs
• In-text blog CTAs
• Newsletter subscriptions
• Direct call conversions

By honing in on these specific conversion points, you can start seeing results quickly without spreading your resources too thin. Each tweak, from form layout to CTA language, has the potential to improve your conversion rates.

Step #2: Set Clear Conversion Goals

Defining clear, measurable goals for each conversion point is an important part of any effective CRO strategy.

Without specific targets, it’s difficult to know whether your efforts are moving the needle. Think of these conversion rate goals as the benchmarks that will guide your experiments, keep your team aligned, and make it easy to evaluate the success of any changes.

• Boost revenue
• Decrease bounce rates by a set percentage
• Increase average time spent on a page
• Reduce cart abandonment
• Improve loading speed for better user experience
• Increase click-through rates on critical links

Setting these types of goals gives your conversion rate optimization efforts direction and makes tracking progress easier.

Step #3: Calculate Your Conversion Rates

Before you begin running any CRO experiments, you should determine the conversion rate of the specific conversion point (or points) that you wish to enhance.

Here's how to calculate a conversion rate:

When it comes to conversion rate optimization, important numbers and metrics like these should be tracked to measure progress.

Industry Benchmarks for Conversion Rates

Once you know what conversion rate the specific conversion point has, you can compare it against channel and industry benchmarks. These benchmarks represent the average conversion rate to better judge how your performance is.

• Facebook Ads = 9.21%
• Google Ads (Search) = 4.40%
• Google Ads (Display) = 0.57%
• eCommerce Sites = 2.23%
• B2B Sites = 2.17%

You should also compare your conversion rates relative to the industry that you operate in (ex. B2B e-commerce conversion rates are significantly lower than B2C e-commerce rates).

Step #4: Run A/B Tests

A/B testing, or split testing, is the key to a strong CRO strategy. 

It allows you to test two variations of a page element, like a call-to-action (CTA) or ad copy, to see which version performs better. By systematically experimenting with small changes, you can gather data to make informed decisions about what resonates with your target audience.

Here’s a breakdown of A/B tests you can run and how to manage them effectively:

Testing Paid Ad CTAs

Ad platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google make it easy to test multiple ad variations within a single ad set. 

Aim to include at least four different ad variants per set, so you can explore a range of copy, imagery, and CTAs. For best results, always run at least two different CTAs within each ad set.

This approach helps identify which ad elements drive the most clicks, giving you insights to refine your overall ad strategy.

Testing Website CTAs

Testing CTAs on key website pages, such as your homepage, pricing page, product pages, and landing pages, can significantly improve your lead generation. 

Start by choosing a CTA you’d like to optimize (e.g., "Book a Demo"). Then create a variation (e.g., "Get Started!") to test against the original.

Here’s a quick guide to A/B testing CTAs on your website:

1. Use a Testing Tool: Platforms like Crazy Egg make it easy to set up and monitor A/B tests across your site.
2. Create “A” and “B” Variants: Set your existing CTA as the “A” variant and the new, experimental CTA as the “B” variant.
3. Run the Test for a Sufficient Period: Allow your test to run for at least two weeks, or until you have data from at least 1,000 visitors. This time frame ensures that your results are statistically significant.
4. Analyze the Results: After the test period, compare the performance of each CTA. If the “B” variant performs better, consider implementing it permanently.

A/B testing is an ongoing process. Once you find a winning CTA or ad variant, don’t stop there. 

Continue testing new ideas and refinements to better understand your audience on various channels, including your website visitors. This iterative approach is key to continuously improving your CRO and getting better results over time.

Step #5: Adjust For Conversion Optimization

After conducting A/B tests and analyzing your data, the next step is to make adjustments based on your findings.

Conversion optimization isn’t just about implementing changes. It’s about fine-tuning each element of your funnel to maximize impact and ensure your optimizations align with user behaviour. This stage is the most impactful as even small adjustments can yield significant gains in conversion rate performance when based on actual data insights.

Here’s how to approach adjustments for effective conversion rate optimization:

Prioritize High-Impact Changes

Not every change will have the same effect, so prioritize adjustments based on potential impact. 

Focus on high-traffic pages and high-intent actions, like the CTA on a pricing page or the checkout flow in an eCommerce store. These areas typically have the greatest influence on conversions and are worth refining first.

Optimize Website User Experience (UX)

User experience is central to CRO, as smooth, intuitive interactions often lead to higher conversions. 

If your website visitors are experiencing long page load times, unresponsive sites, and unclear navigation they are more likely to leave the site without converting. Here are few UX tweaks to consider to quickly improve your website's conversion rate:

• Speed Up Loading Times: Reduce your First Contentful Paint (FCP) to keep visitors engaged.
• Improve Mobile Responsiveness: Adjust layouts, buttons, and forms to work smoothly on all devices. Your website should provide your website visitors a high-quality experience on desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
• Streamline Navigation: Make it easy for users to find what they need, reducing the friction that can lead to bounce.

Google Analytics provides many of these metrics. 

Revisit Your CTA Placement and Messaging

Your call-to-action placement and messaging can have a huge impact on the site's conversion rate.

Test different positions on the web page (e.g., above-the-fold vs. below-the-fold) to see where they get the most engagement. 

Additionally, experiment with CTA language that speaks directly to your audience’s needs and motivations. Simple changes, like switching from “Learn More” to “Get Started,” can significantly impact user decisions.

Monitor and Track the Impact of Changes

After implementing adjustments, keep a close eye on your metrics. 

Use tracking tools to monitor changes in conversion rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and other KPIs relevant to your goals. Comparing pre- and post-implementation data will help you assess the effectiveness of each change and determine if further adjustments are needed.

Commit to Continuous Optimization

Conversion optimization is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. 

As you continue to adjust elements on your site, keep testing new ideas and strategies. Consumer preferences and behaviours evolve, so regularly revisiting and refining your CRO efforts ensures that your funnel remains effective over time.

Adjusting for conversion optimization means taking a data-driven approach to refining your funnel, always striving to create a more seamless, user-friendly experience that naturally encourages conversions.

By systematically prioritizing, testing, and tracking your adjustments, you’ll be well on your way to achieving sustained CRO success.

Fitting CRO into Your Long Term Digital Marketing Strategy

You might be happy with the results of your tests and choose to freeze your new CTAs for the time being. That’s entirely dependent on your team’s priorities and resources.

With that said, CRO isn’t a “set it and forget it” tactic. 

Like search engine optimization or social media marketing, it requires ongoing attention. By committing to continuous optimization, you’re not just fine-tuning your marketing funnel; you’re building a sustainable strategy that will keep delivering results for the long haul.

So start implementing these steps today, monitor your progress, and keep experimenting, because the path to better conversions is an ongoing journey of improvement.