We often hear from businesses that are frustrated by the lackluster results of their current conversion rate optimization (CRO) program. Experiments are inconclusive and don’t point their teams in a specific direction. They don’t see results to generate a high enough ROI to justify their investment in testing tools and teams. They just don’t know the best process and approach to identify the best ways to optimize their user experiences.
Our team at Experiment Zone has done the heavy lifting to find the best process for Conversion Testing and Strategy programs. We’ve developed a robust, data-driven approach to optimizing the sitewide user experience (UX) - relying on the right qualitative and quantitative user research methods combined with the hard data from analytics and A/B testing. Our approach surfaces the most significant problems standing in the way of your business goals and the best design solutions to solve these issues for your digital customer.
The right CRO process allows you to identify, test, and implement optimization decisions based on an analysis of data that will have the most positive impact on your business. Let’s get familiar with CRO, what a Conversion Strategy & Testing program is, and learn about Experiment Zone’s expert approach to a CRO Program process.
Conversion Rate Optimization
What is CRO?
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is a data-driven process of improving the customer experience and journeys so that visitors are more likely to complete the desired action (“convert”).
What is a conversion?
A conversion is a generic term when a visitor successfully completes a goal on your website.
Depending on your conversion goal, the visitor could sign up for newsletters, download a white paper, or make a purchase.
What is the conversion rate and how to calculate it?
The conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who completed a desired goal (a conversion) out of the total number of visitors. Here are the average conversion rates standards for some industries:
- 2.23% for business-to-business (B2B) companies.
- 1.78% for business-to-consumer (B2C) such as ecommerce businesses.
Conversion Rate = (Total Number of Conversions / Total Number of Unique Visitors) x 100
The average conversion rate for your website is typically influenced by the size and composition of your industry and how competitive it is.
What is a Conversion Strategy & Testing Program?
A Conversion Strategy & Testing program is a digital marketing strategy developed for optimizing the conversion rate of your website or app.
CRO programs are all about analyzing your website to find any obstacles in the way of conversion, then tackling and optimizing what needs doing in order to get your visitors turning into customers.
This is achieved through user research, expert site reviews, data analytics, customer journey mapping, A/B testing, and more.
Our CRO Process: How to do a CRO program the right way
Site Experience Audit
Conducting a site experience audit is a way to uncover the friction points in your digital products i.e. which parts of your website or app are challenging for users and hindering conversions.
You can fast-track your conversion improvements with an expert review of your end-to-end customer journey. We’ll provide a thorough and detailed analysis of the experience and prioritized recommendations for improving the user experience and driving conversion.
Site experience audits are one of the most common types of stand-alone research projects performed by our team of researchers (lead and supporting). Traditionally we use two main methods/ strategies:
- Cognitive Walkthrough
- Heuristic Analysis
Generate & Prioritize Hypotheses Using GPS (Goals, Problems, and Solutions)
We develop high-impact tests based on learnings from research (competitor site reviews, site audits, usability studies, surveys, etc) and data analytics.
Key insights from these studies, as well as the overarching business goals of our clients, help us generate hypotheses for A/B tests. These hypotheses are then evaluated, scored, and prioritized through a thorough process that involves our strategy, design, analytics, and development teams. What results is a high-impact/low-effort prioritized testing roadmap that is presented to our clients for discussion and approval.
Iterative + Lean A/B Testing
At this phase, we validate that the solutions have the intended impact (and learn more about how many visitors respond). We run the highest impact tests, targeting the most significant financial gains and user experience improvements.
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Hypothesis: A hypothesis is a prediction created prior to running an experiment. It states what is being changed, what we believe the outcome will be, and why we think that’s the case. Running the experiment will either prove or disprove the hypothesis.
Our team of CRO experts will propose high-impact test hypotheses. If approved, the test will move to the planning phase.
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Test Plan: This is the next phase after proposing the test hypotheses. A detailed test plan is documented by our CRO team and sent for feedback and approval.
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Design & Copy: Our team will create a mockup of the copy and visual change in the test. The mockup will be shared with the client for feedback & approval.
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Dev: The team will develop preview links to show how the changes will appear on the site.
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Launch: The test will launch after the preview links are developed. The team sends a calendar invite for every launch. The team sends a calendar invite for every test launch, giving our clients visibility into when the test experience will begin running on the site.
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Monitor: While the test experience is live, our team closely monitors the site analytics and provides any recommendations for adjustments as necessary. When the minimum sample required for full analysis has been reached, we’ll recommend turning off the test and moving to the next phase. We will share recommendations and turn off or push the test to 100% with approvals only.
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Analysis: Our team will conduct the full analysis and deliver a final report with key learnings and recommendations. If the test hypothesis was a “winner,” we typically recommend implementing the changes on the site.
Data Results & Actionable Insights
Analyze test results to determine visitor friction points and improve customer experience.
Implement Winning Tests
Permanently implement the winning test, increasing annual revenue and site experience.
Conclusion
There are plenty of so-called “quick fixes” that can help with your conversion rates or marketing campaigns, but they are only the surface-level, starting place for conversion rate optimization. You need to go layers deeper in order to drive significant growth through CRO.
Our team of CRO experts will do the heavy lifting by helping you understand your customers specifically and how they interact with the site, assess the current site experience, and recommend high-impact tests. Schedule a free discovery call now with our CEO, AJ Davis.