Time to read: 9 minutes
Owning a website and wondering why it’s not helping your business get leads can be frustrating. Oftentimes, it boils down to a lack of design for conversion, or what is also called conversion rate optimization.
So if you are wondering why you’d need a CRO agency or just want to know more about conversion rate optimization in general, we compiled some FAQs that can help.
Table of Contents
- Defining conversion rate optimization
- How to calculate website conversion rate
- How to identify if you need CRO strategies
- Why are conversion rates important
- Common things that hurt conversion rates
- How website content plays a role in CRO
- Statistics on conversion rate optimization
- Where and how to implement CRO strategies
- How SEO and CRO strategies intertwine
- Mobile design impact on conversion rates
- Suggested CRO tactics we utilize
- How we approach CRO services
What is conversion rate optimization anyway?
Conversion rate optimization (CRO), which we also call design for conversion, is a digital marketing strategy that involves various tactics aimed at enhancing a website or landing page, intending to increase the number of visitors who contact your business, such as filling out a form, making a purchase, or calling your company.
Aspects of design for conversion may include running A/B tests for layouts, analyzing data to make informed design changes, and crafting calls-to-action. Ultimately, the goal is to turn more users who come to your website into revenue for your business!
How do I calculate my conversion rate?
To calculate your conversion rate, divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors. Then, multiply this number by 100. You can also use different tools to help you see your conversion rate, like Google Analytics, which lets you see traffic patterns, traffic sources, and goal conversion rates, all in real time. The average conversion rate for a website is between 2% and 5%. Anything higher than 5% is considered above average or good.
Important Note: As of March 2024, GA4 has renamed “conversions” to “key events” in their platform, so if you are having trouble tracking this metric down, this may be why!
What else should I check to see if I need conversion optimization services?
Here are a few additional things to check to find out if your site needs some design tweaks to help conversions:
- Bounce Rate – Unlike various other things marketers analyze, you actually want your bounce rate to be low. Bounce rate measures when a user lands on a page on your site and takes no other action – such as clicking further into your site – and thus abandons your website. Given the lack of action, they are considered to have “bounced.”
- Exit Rate – Similar to bounce rate, exit rate measures when someone leaves your site after they have visited more than one page. This can help you further analyze what pages people are clicking further into, but then leaving.
- Speed/Load Time – Using a tool such as PageSpeed Insights, you can get a free evaluation on how your site grades from a user perspective. When you have a slow load time, it can lead to a high bounce rate as users will be turned off by a slow site. According to HubSpot, for every additional second it takes for your site to load, the conversion rate drops by an average of 4.42%.
Why do conversion rates matter?
No matter the size of your business, ensuring that when people find your website, they take action to contact you is paramount. You want them to learn more about your services or make a purchase, so conversion is key.
If you have been investing in SEO and seeing an increase in traffic, but no increase in leads, then you are missing out on a lot of potential customers. Many business owners don’t realize that there are various aspects aside from the copy you have on your pages that can influence people to convert. So working with a team that specializes in design for conversion can help you get the most out of the hard work you’ve put toward improving your website’s SEO.
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What are some common things to avoid that can hinder conversions?
There are several things to avoid when you are optimizing your website, including:
- Slow page load times – Slow loading websites will deter customers. Most people aren’t willing to wait, and knowing this information, Google ranks slower-loading websites lower. A great tool to see how your website is doing is Pingdom. You can pick your time zone, and it will show your website’s loading time, as well as suggestions for improvement. You can also test your competitors’ websites to see how you compare to them.
- Only optimizing for mobile or desktop – People will access your website through their phones, laptops, and tablets. Therefore, it is important to optimize for conversion on mobile and desktop, not leaving out one or the other.
- Long and complicated forms – Get the information you need from your audience and avoid anything you don’t. You can always ask for further information later on or supply them with further guidance when they reach out.
- Unclear or misleading calls to action – CTAs should be short and direct. If you want your customers to contact you, make sure your contact button reflects that. Make sure buttons are large and easy to click.
Does content play a role in website conversion optimization?
Absolutely! Content is what engages your visitors, builds trust, and ultimately inspires them to take action. Therefore, it is important to create compelling and informative content that addresses our audience’s needs and pain points while encouraging them to take action that leads to conversion.
Where should I implement CRO strategies?
If you are looking to prioritize pages, there are four areas of your website you should focus on:
- The homepage – Your homepage is a prime candidate for CRO because many of your visitors will land here first. Therefore, this is an opportunity for retaining those visitors and guiding them further into your site. Try emphasizing links to product information, including a form, and try using a chatbot that can answer questions from visitors during their browsing.
- Pricing page – If you are an ecommerce website, we suggest optimizing your pricing page. The pricing page can be a make-or-break point, and conversion rate optimization can help users make better decisions with purchases. Try adding a product description, a phone number for visitors to call for a quote, or even an RFQ form.
- Blog – Your blog is your opportunity to show your knowledge in your industry and produce thoughtful content, which provides a huge opportunity for converting readers into leads.
- Landing pages – Landing pages have the highest conversion rate of all signup forms, especially since they are designed specifically for people to take action. Prime examples of landing pages include location pages, product pages, or industry pages. Say you have an event coming up, include a video from the event last year to pique the interest of readers. Or if you have a home remodeling business, show lots of before and after photos so that readers can fall in love with your work.
How does CRO tie into SEO?
Ultimately, CRO and SEO are equally important. As mentioned, design for conversion refines, adjusts, and changes a website’s contents and design with the intention of increasing sales, leads, or some other KPI. SEO is the ongoing process of improving technical details both on and off the website with the intention of making it rank higher in search engines. So, SEO helps you access the right crowd of potential customers, and CRO helps them convert once they are in the right spot. (Have your cake and eat it too!)
If you put all of your efforts into ranking high but don’t have a website that is optimized for customer conversion, you might see an increase in visitors but the same amount of sales. If you only optimize for conversions, your conversion rate might be high, but your audience will have a harder time finding you, which means you probably won’t have any new visitors.
Therefore, it is important to strike a balance when you are optimizing your pages for conversions and search engines. Luckily, our conversion rate optimization agency also provides SEO services, which means we are here to help you find that balance.
How important is mobile when it comes to CRO and SEO?
Incredibly important! Some years back, Google instituted mobile-first indexing, which means that pages that are optimized for mobile searches and mobile use (and optimized well) benefit from ranking boosts when compared to sites that are lacking.
There were several reasons that this was done, but it primarily came down to users’ preference for mobile when conducting searches. After all, our phones are with us most hours of the day, while desktop or laptop computers often occupy limited spaces.
How do we make an impact? Prominent tactics include:
- Testing and improving mobile page speed, with PageSpeed Insights being a helpful starting tool
- Ensuring that your site features mobile responsiveness, allowing it to change shape to easily fit users’ devices and avoid any frustrations and quick exits
- Checking for mobile usability issues via Google Search Console
- Checking how your site appears on different types of mobile devices to ensure all visitors have equal access
- Placing forms prominently on mobile pages to enact quick conversions
Beyond those above, what are some other design for conversion tactics you use?
While opportunities can vary from site to site, and whether a company has a traditional online approach or one more geared toward ecommerce, there are some key tactics applicable across the board. These include:
- Incorporating forms on main pages for desktop as well as mobile versions, as immediacy is essential online, and you don’t want people who are ready to reach out to you to have any barriers in front of them
- Using eye-catching colors that draw users to specific buttons and graphics, which have been shown to increase conversions
- Adjusting the amount of whitespace found between sections, as too little can make information difficult to read, and too much can come off poorly and make a website appear unprofessional
