When you run a business, your main goal is not to get the maximum number of people to come to your shop as visitors, but rather for them to become your ideal customers. No matter the amount of on-lookers, if there are no people who are actually bringing you business, there is no point to the crowd that gathers in your shop everyday.

CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization) works on the same idea but on the digital landscape. What you want is to have as many people as possible to take desired actions while visiting your website (your virtual shop). May it be filling out a form to share their information, purchasing a product or service to become a customer, or anything else. 

So to maximize your website’s CRO potential it is important to understand the journey of any person that visits your website, what path do they follow, what points do they stop at, and what factors are inhibiting them from becoming your ideal customer. CRO is the art of transforming your website traffic to a loyal customer-base for your business. 

Not A One Size Fits All Formula

One of the most important things to remember about CRO is its subjectivity. The working of your sales funnel is different from that of other businesses, so copy pasting the same efforts to convert your website traffic into leads and ultimately customers, will not translate well. What you need to do is to understand what works best for your website, and create a unique pattern that appeals to the kind of traffic that your business attracts.

Yes, there are tried and tested strategies when it comes to CRO but following a pattern to the T will not bring ideal results, as every audience demands a different sort of performance to stay focused and will not usually enjoy a copy paste replica made for another group of people.

Some things to consider on top of your head

To truly master meeting the expectations of those who visit your website, you’d have to think like them, curating your website experience keeping their likes and dislikes in your mind. This includes asking;

• Is your web presence optimized for any device that a person visiting your website might be using?
• Is your font legible to the reader?
• Are the pictures on your website related to your niche?
• Is it easy for people to contact you, or are your contact details tucked away somewhere?
• Are your CTAs clear enough? Have you taken them off another website or are they original enough to be acted upon?
• Is there enough information on your landing pages for a potential customer to become interested in your services?
• Have you placed your customer first and your priorities later? Will they feel heard and seen once they land on your website?
• Are your forms asking for enough information?

These questions are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to CRO, and many factors need to be considered in order for your website to be ideally optimized for any traffic. CRO is an ongoing process that requires continuous efforts to maintain its success through the test of time and trends.

Some tools to get you started right off the bat

While CRO is a simmering process, best served at a continuously burning low flame, there are subtle tricks and ways to know if you are doing it the right way or not. Some of these are;

• A/B Testing

Also known as Split Testing, it allows you to test two or more (Multivariate Testing) versions of your web-page or app screen to determine which one performs better in terms of specific metrics. CRO is an ongoing process and so is A/B Testing, to understand what works best for your business it is important to continuously test the strength of your working regime. 

Try to focus on one variable at a time, making sure that you have enough data to come to a significant decision and keep testing regularly to achieve the best results.

• Heatmaps

These provide real user data and visual insights into how those who visit your website interact with it. Heatmaps display data in the form of color-coded visualizations, making it easy to identify patterns, trends, and areas of interest on a webpage. You can see which areas of the page are getting the most attention, where users are clicking, and how far they scroll, getting an in-depth understanding of user behavior on your site.

• Outsourcing

CRO agencies or professionals typically have extensive experience in running tests and optimizing websites. They have access to the latest tools and methodologies, which can lead to more effective testing and better results. Outsourcing can be a viable option for businesses that lack in-house expertise, resources, or time to conduct testing effectively.

In conclusion

CRO is truly a manifestation of your priorities as a business owner. It is the representation of what you consider to be a successful website, if you think it is one that has the most number of clicks, or if it is one with the most number of sales, or maybe it is the one where the maximum number of people sign up. Whatever it is, CRO demands continuous effort and timely decisions, only then can you achieve your desired outcome and then strive to maintain it.