Customer Rate Optimization. You are probably familiar with SEO (search engine optimization) and the need for your website to load with blinding speed. Your site may contain brilliant graphics and interesting content that reflects your company’s brand, but none of that matters if you don’t get the conversions you need. Maybe you think this is too much technical information about your website. Still, it is vital you understand because it affects your bottom line, which is even more important if your company e-commerce only. Studies have shown that if a customer makes a purchase on a website are likely to become repeat customers. Furthermore, they will recommend the site they use to others. Some inbound marketers consider CRO (Customer Rate Optimization) just as crucial as SEO or PPC campaigns. Let’s take a closer look at CRO and how to improve it.
Explaining CRO
CRO, quite simply, is nudging a user to perform an action when they visit your company’s website. The action might be the visitor signing up for a weekly newsletter through their email, or it could be making a sale in your online store. Regardless, your goal should be for better CRO.
How to Improve CRO
The first step is to find out your site’s conversion rate before tackling CRO improvement. The formula is simple to calculate, Total Conversions ÷ Total Number of Site Visitors = Conversion Rate, that’s it. If your conversion rate is at or above 40%, your website is on the right path. On the other hand, if your site’s conversion rate is at or below 3% adjustments will have to be made.
Unclutter Your Site
Barriers that make it harder to take action; it is less likely that conversion will happen. If you want to have potential customers become actual ones, don’t burden them with too many fields that must be filled out. While a customer is attempting to make a purchase is not the time or place to mine for customer data. If a customer has to fill out 25 various fields before they make a transaction will cause the understandable customer frustration if a customer is aggravated, you can count on them going elsewhere to purchase a product. If your goal is to have a visitor to your site sign up for a newsletter, be sure it is conspicuous on your homepage.
Another thing to keep in mind is the overuse of images and animations, don’t include so many on your website; it causes visitor confusion. Too many images can create drag and impact how fast your site loads, which in turn will affect your CRO. When it comes to guiding a potential customer to a conversion, remember, less is more.
Encourage the Visitor to Become a Customer
You probably know about calls to action, but their significance cannot be understated, particularly where CRO is concerned. Be sure that you have a noticeably visible call to action buttons with phrases such as “Don’t Hesitate,” “Subscribe Now” or “Buy Now” to nudge site visitors to become customers.
Trust is Everything
If your company belongs to an organization like the Better Business Bureau or another professional organization, be sure to show any badges that prove membership. This idea works for any other way that your company can show they are honest such as displaying a badge that your website is secure.
Word of Mouth
Customer testimonials are always useful, be sure to include them on your company’s website from happy customers. Include a brief video of the customer if possible. Don’t use a lengthy video for a customer testimonial; it will slow your load times. Testimonials that are from real customers and that do not seem scripted can have a real payoff when it comes to your bottom line.
CRO needs to be part of your overall marketing strategy, and when done right, it will result in more visitors to your site converting.
For more information on how Incend Media can help you contact us today.