Conversion Rate Optimization – 4 Red Flags That Say You Need it

You don’t and should never settle for red flags.

Is it time to hire a conversion rate optimization (CRO) consultant?

You’ve watched hours of tutorials on YouTube teaching CRO best practices. You’ve also read tons of articles, even taken down notes, on tips to boost your website sales. But why are you still not getting enough sales from your website and digital marketing efforts?

Thanks to the Internet, information on businesses, products and services are freely available to your customers. They can search for the nearest shops in their area, the cheapest products in the market and the services that received the most 5-star reviews from other customers. 

While this gives small businesses the chance to be “seen”, this easy access to info tightens the already cutthroat competition for people’s  attention. This narrowing attention span is also a concern for business owners and managers. 

It’s a constant challenge for your business  to stand out, and grab and hold the attention of your target audience until you convince them to convert to paying customers.

You can’t convert unless you convince, and you can’t convince if you don’t have your audience’s attention.

It sounds simple but this requires a solid and well-executed CRO game plan. 

Photo Courtesy of Artem Podrez via Pexels

What is conversion rate optimization and why do I need it?

CRO is the process of increasing the number of website visitors who complete the desired action. An action may be a purchase, a sign-up or a request for an appointment. Here are compelling reasons why you should have a CRO game plan:

• CRO can help  streamline your online marketing efforts. – With CRO, you’re able to clearly set out your goals. Are you aiming to hit x number of sold products in a month? Do you want to add x number of new newsletter subscribers in the next quarter? 

With definite goals, you can better focus your digital marketing efforts on campaigns that will bring you your desired results. 

• CRO can help you understand consumer behavior better. – CRO is concerned about convincing your website visitors to take action on your website. So, it necessarily involves understanding your customers and their buying behaviors on a deeper level. 

What types of content will pique their interest and what are those that they skip? Do they stay longer on specific pages and merely browse through others? Why do they abandon their carts? CRO can help you unravel the answers to these important questions. 

• CRO can boost your online sales. A/B testing is an important component of a CRO game plan. Propelrr defines this as “a method wherein the brand creates two pages, each with different elements and approach to see which one gains more traffic and conversions”. Through A/B testing, you will know which version of a certain works better in converting visitors into customers. 

A/B testing is only one of the many CRO techniques you can implement to boost sales on your ecommerce website. 

Signs you need help with your conversion rate optimization

Despite your many efforts to improve your website conversion rates, it’s possible that you are not getting the results you want. It may be time to seek assistance from professionals. 

When should you hire a CRO specialist? Here are top signs you should watch out for:

1. You’re not retaining your customers. 

Studies suggest that getting new customers (acquiring new business) is more expensive than retaining existing ones. This makes sense because it is easier for you to reach out and convince a person already familiar with your business than someone who hasn’t heard about you before. 

There are many reasons why you’re not keeping your customers. There might be an issue with the quality of your products or services, or the delivery of after sales service. It’s also possible that changes on your ecommerce website don’t sit well with your customers.

A CRO agency can help you identify the root cause of the problem. If the issue relates to digital marketing, specialists can devise strategies to remedy the problem – be it improving the UX design of your website or overhauling your ecommerce checkout page.

2. Your website visitors are switching to your competitors. 

Are your customers abandoning your website for your competitors? Your landing page might be loading too slow or the content on the page may not be related to the ad copy. It’s also possible that your website is not mobile-friendly, making it troublesome to browse through mobile devices. 

A CRO agency has the tools to detect the culprit behind the high bounce rates on your pages and other reasons why your visitors are switching to your competitors. The specialists can also devise a plan on how to improve your landing pages and your visitors’ browsing experience.

3. You’re not getting fresh leads. 

If, despite your efforts, you’re still not getting leads, it may be time to commission the services of a CRO agency. 

Remember that conversion optimization is not a one-time job. People’s browsing behavior changes as well as the algorithm of search engines, hence the need to continuously review the conversion analytics report and revise your CRO game plan accordingly. A CRO agency has the tools and people to do these for you.

4. Your web traffic is just traffic. It’s not translating into sales. 

The purpose of conversion optimization is to convert your visitors into customers – customers who will make a desired action on your website. 

If the traffic is not translating into money, you’re spending without getting anything in return. This may be acceptable at first (think of it as a brand awareness cost), but you’ll need to earn eventually. A CRO agency can help in assessing your website and optimizing it to convert traffic into sales. 

Key takeaways

Getting traffic to your website is a good indication that your digital marketing efforts are working. However, this traffic should eventually improve your bottom line. Conversion rate optimization is one way of converting traffic into sales. You may do it on your own, but if you’re not getting results despite your efforts, it may be time to commission a CRO agency.

• A CRO agency has the resources – people and technology – to assess the problem and provide actionable solutions to improve your numbers.
• CRO specialists have access to up-to-date trends on digital marketing and conversion optimization, allowing them to adjust CRO game plans accordingly.
• A CRO agency can handle your digital marketing campaigns, including CRO campaigns, so you could focus on other aspects of your business such as product development.

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