Understanding Conversion Rate Optimization

Do you have a website or a landing page where you want people to convert (such as purchasing a product or filling out a form)? If you want to get more from the marketing spend you’re doing to get visitors to the page, you need to improve your conversion rates and get a larger percentage of visitors to convert. That’s where Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) comes in. CRO is like a strategy to understand how to encourage the people who visit your website to do the thing you want them to do. It’s an important strategy for businesses because it helps them drive more revenue from their customers and improves the ROI from their digital marketing spend.

To get started with CRO, you need to understand how people use your website (to identify friction points in the customer journey) and conduct tests (A/B testing) to make targeted improvements (backed by real-world data). This helps you figure out what might be stopping people from working with your company and taking key actions to become your customers.

When your CRO strategy works, it improves conversions and the experience of your customers. People feel comfortable and enjoy being your customer. CRO also builds trust and reputation for your brand by introducing value propositions and social proof in ways that are memorable and impact the decision to become a customer.

CRO is also about using numbers and facts to make decisions. You keep testing different elements on your site such as headlines, content, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, or entire customer journey flows. You see what people understand and can use easiest and use those results to drive conversions.

Today’s blog post features effective, free marketing tools on the internet to help you get started with CRO. Whether you’re a pro or just starting, this guide will show you the best free tools to make your website convert at higher rates.

Ready for expert support to grow your online revenue? Consider signing up for our Conversion Audit today, so we can level up your conversion rates right away!

10 Free Online Marketing Tools to Boost Your Website

There are several free tools you can use to boost the design, user experience, and value of your website. These tools help you understand what your visitors are doing and how to help them become your customers.

Here’s a list of 10 great tools for making your website work better:

1. Google Analytics

   Google Analytics (GA) is a useful tool to help you learn about what people are doing on your website, find areas where there may be problems that stop them from moving forward, and understand how different groups of people are more or less successful in converting to your website.

   GA4 gives you a collection of information about your visitors: what device types they are using (mobile, desktop, tablet) including more specific browsers and specific devices, where they are located in the world, how they find your website, and what they do while on your website.

   This information helps you figure out where people get confused or bored and leave, or what paths are best for conversions. You should then focus your efforts on places where the most visitors go and have the lowest conversion rates to the next step in the funnel.

   
   

2. Hotjar

   Hotjar is a handy tool for click-tracking data collection and analysis. It helps you learn how visitors use your website and where they might need help or support. Hotjar uses click-tracking and scrolls heatmaps and videos to see where people click and how far they scroll on specific pages of your website. Observing how visitors use this enhances the website and conversion rates.

   Hotjar also asks visitors some questions to understand their pain points and preferences. This helps improve the website experience because it listens to what the visitors say.

   
   

3. CrazyEgg

   CrazyEgg helps businesses understand how people use their websites. It’s a marketing tool that shows where people click, scroll, and spend time on a webpage. Marketers use this information to make the right decisions and enhance the functionality of websites.

   CrazyEgg also has other features like scroll maps and confetti reports. Scroll maps show how far people scroll on a page before they leave. This helps find out if something important is being missed. Confetti reports show where people click the most.

   In short, CrazyEgg is highly important for businesses. It helps them see what people do on their websites, make optimized changes and ultimately enhance conversions.

   
   

4. VWO

   With VWO’s free A/B testing, you can try out different versions of your website to see which one gets the most clicks, sign-ups, or purchases. You can run several experiments to iteratively improve your website and drive more conversions.

   VWO isn’t just about testing–it’s also about understanding your visitors better. With features like heat maps and visitor recordings, you can see exactly how people use your website. You will know where they click, where they get stuck, and why they might leave.

   Armed with this info, you can make smart choices to make your website the best it can be.

   
   

5. SurveyMonkey

   SurveyMonkey is a valuable tool for businesses to survey their customers. The answers help businesses learn how to improve their websites and get more people to do what they want.

   With SurveyMonkey, you can collect valuable feedback from your website users. You can learn what people like and don’t like. You can find out what makes people happy or sad when they use a website.

   SurveyMonkey also helps businesses look at the answers in real time. This means you can see what lots of people are saying and adjust your website according to the feedback.

   In short, SurveyMonkey is a helpful tool for businesses. It helps them ask questions and use the answers to make well-informed decisions that resonate with your customers and increase conversion rates.

   
   

6. UsabilityHub

   UsabilityHub focuses on designs targeted to customers and feedback. It has different tests to see how people use a website. These tests can tell you what your customer preferences are. It’s like having a map to direct your websites to better experiences.

   One test shows where people click first on your website. This helps you see if your website is easy to use. Another test asks people what they like the most. This helps you make your website look good.

   There’s also a test that shows how people move around on your website. This helps you find and fix problems.

   You can try UsabilityHub for free to get started for a trial, but it can help you enhance your website. With UsabilityHub, you can make informed design decisions, streamline user pathways, and enhance calls to action.

   
   

7. Canva

   Canva is a graphic design tool to create pictures and designs easily. It is user-friendly and has lots of designs and templates to choose from. This helps your business show graphics that people will like and understand. It makes your website look nice and helps people know what to do.

   You can drag and drop things to create your designs. You can make banners, social media posts, and more. This makes your business look good online.

   You can also use Canva for free. It gives you many free features to use for your business, so you don’t need to be a designer. It saves time and makes your business look great.

   
   

8. Heap

   Heap helps you understand how people use your website. It watches every click, form submission, and path people take. This helps businesses pinpoint areas for improvement and refine the experience for higher conversion rates.

   One feature of Heap is that it can automatically track what people do on your website, so you don’t have to do it by hand. It also has tools to draw pictures and show reports about what people do on your website.

   This helps you to map out user journeys, identify drop-off points, and study your user engagement over time, which is important in uncovering bottlenecks and areas to optimize. Even though Heap has a free version that doesn’t cost money, it can still help businesses learn things from the data to make their websites better.

   
   

9. Hello Bar

   Hello Bar is a free dynamic and user-friendly marketing tool that helps businesses optimize their CRO efforts. It can put special bars and pop-up messages on the website to get people’s attention and make them do important things. These messages can tell people about deals, ask them to sign up, or show them where to find important items on the website.

   Hello Bar is easy to use because it doesn’t need fancy skills. You can quickly create notification bars and pop-ups without technical training. When you put these messages in the right places, it helps get people interested and do things that the business wants.

   Hello Bar has a free version that empowers your business to leverage engaging visuals and persuasive messaging to drive user actions and elevate conversion rates.

   
   

10. HubSpot

    HubSpot is a free online marketing tool that helps businesses optimize their conversion rates. It has easy-to-use tools and lots of features to help your business get more customers. You can use it to keep track of people who are interested in your business, send them special emails, and see how your website is doing. HubSpot helps you improve your website and conversions.

    One of the best things about HubSpot is its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) feature, which is also free. This tool helps you organize information about your customers so you can tailor interactions and personalize communication. This strategic optimization effort helps you remember what your customers like, so you can give them things they want.

    HubSpot also has tools to help you A/B test your website. It helps you send emails to people at the right time, and you can see how well your emails are doing. If you use all these features, your business can get more conversions and grow.

    In the end, using HubSpot and other tools can help you generate more revenue by getting more people to make purchases from you.

    
    

BONUS:

Experiment Zone’s Free Conversion Audit

Looking to boost your online store’s success? Check out the Experiment Zone Podcast. Hosted by our founder, AJ Davis, each episode features a live 15-minute session where you can get a free conversion audit tailored to your store. It’s a quick and personalized way to uncover insights that can help your store thrive.

As a guest on the podcast, you will get to showcase your direct-to-consumer (DTC) store with a live screen share. This gives listeners a real-time view of your strategies for ecommerce success. Plus, you will receive instant optimization strategies to enhance your store’s performance.

Ready to dive in? Just fill out the form with your details, and if you are a good fit, we will get in touch to schedule your podcast feature. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to take your online store to the next level and connect with a wider audience.

These free tools will get your online business off to a good start. You can use these tools to learn about customers, improve your website, and drive more conversions.

For faster growth, you can talk to the experts at Experiment Zone. Schedule a free, no-strings-attached call for us to learn more about your business and your conversion goals, and we’ll match you to the right services to achieve those goals.

Make sure to stay ahead of the competition with a high-converting website. If you work with experts, you’ll get even better and faster results. Ensure that you’re making the most of the tools at your disposal and implementing strategies that drive tangible results.