Structured CRO

A little A/B testing here; a little eye tracking there. Maybe you find that you’re not getting as many sales since you’ve changed the wording of your call to action; maybe you’re toying with the color of your fonts. Many websites and businesses take a scattered approach to conversion rate optimization, mixing and matching tips they’ve gathered. A structured approach to CRO, though, has a much bigger, sustainable impact.

Econsultancy conducted a survey and found that 70 percent of companies that instituted a “structured” approach to CRO saw improved sales. Nearly a quarter reported that they had a “large” increase in sales. Yet, despite the gains, only 27 percent of those surveyed said that they had a structured CRO process. Rather than view it as a one-off activity or a scattered bunch of unrelated and unmonitored changes, they go about CRO in a very systematic – and effective – way.

Here’s a startling finding from Forrester Research. For every US$100 (61.95£) companies spend to drive traffic, they spend just US$1 (0.6195£) in converting that traffic. It is rather unbelievable when you really consider that finding. What good is the traffic if it is not converting into either sales or completion of desired calls to action?

Another study (the last one, we promise!) found that those companies that had a structured approach to CRO typically used 26 percent more methods than their counterparts. These methods include:

• User surveys.
• User experience testing.
• Data analysis, such as through conversion funnels.
• A/B testing.
• Multivariate testing.
• Usability testing.
• Analytics.
• Performance benchmarking.
• Identifying objectives.
• Aligning keywords, calls to actions, and landing pages.

These sites are actively analysing data, acting on it, monitoring changes, and continuing this iterative process. Like SEO, CRO is never done. It must be an ongoing process. The upside is that it will also yield ongoing results for you.