10 Conversion Rate Optimization Tips You Should Know to Boost Your Conversions

‍Image Source: FreeImages‍

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is all about testing and analyzing.

There is no perfect formula that works across all websites because every business has unique needs and visitor personas. 

To optimize your conversion rate and drive more leads or sales, you need to test different versions of your website and analyze the results. 

It’s not very easy, but it’s worth your time and effort. 

After all, a 1% increase in conversion rate can result in a 20% increase in revenue.

Start with the basics

The first step in any CRO campaign is to understand your traffic and your customers. 

You need to know how many people visit your website, what they’re interested in, where they come from, how long they stay on your site, and if they are converting into leads or customers. 

You need to know how people are finding your website – what keywords they are searching for, what referral sites are sending traffic to you, and what social media channels are driving traffic to you. 

You also need to know what your customers are doing once they reach your site. 

Are they scrolling through the page? Are they clicking on any of the CTAs? If so, what are they clicking on? 

Are they browsing multiple pages, or are they leaving the site right away? 

Understanding these key metrics will help you identify areas of improvement and what changes you need to make to increase your conversion rate.

Don’t rely on your analytics alone

While analytics are an essential part of CRO, they don’t have all the answers. 

In fact, they are only a small part of the equation. 

Data alone doesn’t give you a full picture of your website’s performance. 

You can’t know if the data in your analytics is accurate. 

You also can’t be sure if the data is relevant to your situation or industry. 

In other words, you need to supplement your analytics data with user research and usability testing to get a truly accurate picture of how your website is performing. 

Your analytics data is only as accurate as your tracking. 

If you aren’t tracking everything, you’re missing out on valuable insights. 

You also need to be sure you’re tracking the right data. 

This means you need to understand your business and the metrics that are important. 

It’s also important to track the right data for your CRO campaign. 

You don’t want to track data that are irrelevant to your CRO efforts.

Test your value proposition

Your value proposition is the promise you make to your customers about what you’ll do for them. 

It’s also the promise you make to yourself about why you’re in business. 

A strong value proposition is essential for building trust with your audience and getting them to take action. 

It’s also the foundation for your entire marketing strategy. 

Before you start testing other elements of your website, it’s important to test your value proposition to see if it’s strong enough. 

Your value proposition could be the difference between visitors taking action on your website or bouncing away. 

If you are not sure what your value proposition is, you can use this value proposition template to draft a few variations. 

Test the variations by placing them on your homepage, lead generation pages, and in your sales and marketing emails.

Test your copy and language

This is one of the easiest elements to test on your website. 

You can test your primary sales and value proposition copy, your lead magnet title, as well as your primary call-to-action (CTA) copy. 

You can also test the tone and language of your website. 

You can do this by changing the tone of your sales copy or the language you use in your primary sales messages. 

You can also change the language you use on your website. 

For example, you might want to use terms like “customer service” instead of “customer support” or “sales solution” instead of “sales support.” 

Whenever you make a change to your primary sales and value proposition copy, lead magnet title, or primary CTAs, make sure you change it on every page of your website. 

If you only change it on one page, you won’t know which variation is working better. 

You also don’t want to confuse your customers, which is more likely to happen if you have inconsistent messaging.

Test your homepage layout

The layout of your homepage can greatly affect your conversion rate. 

There are three main types of layouts that are commonly used in eCommerce websites – product-oriented, category-oriented, and hybrid/mixed layout. 

A product-oriented layout is usually used by companies that sell products with a high price point, such as electronics and luxury goods. 

With this layout, only one product is featured on the homepage with a few lines of text and a CTA. 

A category-oriented layout is used by companies that sell a wide variety of products, such as clothing retailers and eCommerce stores. 

With this layout, a few products are featured on the homepage with a large headline that encourages visitors to browse a category, a few lines of text, and a CTA. 

A hybrid layout is a combination of the two layouts above, and it’s the most common layout used by eCommerce websites. 

With this layout, a few products are featured, but there is also a featured category or a featured offer.

Test colours and fonts

When you are creating a homepage, you want to make sure that the reader is drawn in and engaged from the start. 

By choosing a design that is eye-catching but also easy to read, you can help your readers to stay engaged. 

You can also use colour and font choices to reinforce the message of your landing page. 

For example, 

if you want to encourage readers to sign up to your email list, you can use red and orange to signify urgency. 

Similarly, you can use blue and purple to encourage readers to click through to another landing page, such as your homepage.

Test your hero image(s)

The hero image is the first thing your visitors see when they land on your homepage, 

so it’s essential that it conveys your value proposition, resonates with your audience, and encourages them to click on the CTA. 

Many websites use the same hero image on every page, but this isn’t always the best strategy. 

Your hero image should be personalized to each page and segment of your audience. 

Your homepage hero image may be different from your product category pages and your product pages. 

There are a few elements you should consider testing in your hero image. 

First, you should test the size of the image. 

You may be tempted to use the biggest image possible, but this isn’t always the best strategy. 

You should also test a variety of images. 

Your hero image doesn’t have to be a picture; it can also be an infographic or a video. 

Just make sure that the image is relevant to your target audience.

Test your call-to-action button(s)

All of your pages should include one or more CTAs. 

Your primary CTA should be on your home page, but you should also include secondary CTAs on your product category pages, product pages, and sales pages. 

You can test different variations of these CTAs to see which ones give you the best results. 

You can test the text on your buttons. 

You can also test the colour of your buttons. 

You can even test the shape and placement of your buttons. 

You can also test variations of these CTAs by using different words, such as “buy now,” “shop now” or “sign up now.”

Test your website’s usability

There are a few ways you can test the usability of your website. 

You can test your website’s layout to see if it’s easy to follow and visually appealing. 

You can also test the location of your CTAs and the placement of your navigational elements. 

It’s important that your CTAs are easy to find, and that your navigational elements are easy for your visitors to find. 

You can use a website usability testing tool to get feedback from real customers. 

You can also hire a usability expert to do an in-person usability study and give you feedback on your website. 

If you don’t have the budget to hire a usability expert, you can also hire an online researcher to do an on-site survey. 

This won’t be as in-depth as an in-person usability study, but it will give you useful feedback to improve your website’s design and usability.

Test video ad formats and content for homepage conversions

A dynamic homepage provides real-time content, allowing you to test different types of messaging and content formats. 

For example, you might test a video or text on your homepage to find out which type of format receives more conversions. 

Or you might test different types of content on your homepage, such as a blog post versus a product image, to find out which works better for your audience.

conclusion

We have now come to the end of our top tips for CRO to improve your site’s performance.

Using your analytics to improve your website’s performance is critical. 

You need to understand the factors that are driving traffic to your website and how you can work with these factors to improve the conversion rate of your visitors. 

In our next article, we will be looking at, “Building a Site Performance Plan.”