If you’re reading this article, chances are pretty good that you already know what conversion rate optimization, or CRO is. You probably already know the basic principles—that CRO involves A/B testing two versions of a website against each other to find which performs better—but may not have performed any tests of your own yet. At this stage, you’re probably wondering what the benefits of conversion rate optimization really are.
On this page, we’ll aim to answer any questions you may have about the benefits of CRO, and why you should use conversion rate optimization on your website. We’ll also offer you some valuable resources you may want to consult before you start your first round of CRO testing.
Let’s start by briefly reviewing what conversion rate optimization is, and how it’s meant to work on websites. If you want to learn more, keep reading, and give us a call at 888-601-5359.
What is CRO?
CRO, as mentioned above, is the practice of A/B testing two versions of a website against one another. The ultimate goal is to find the version that converts better—that is, the version that sends the most leads, contact forms, phone calls, purchases, and so on. The more conversions, and the higher your conversion rate, the better.
CRO involves testing a multitude of factors on a website to see if and how they impact conversions. It may involve testing large elements, like an entire checkout process, or small ones, like the color of a button.
What are the biggest conversion rate optimization benefits?
The biggest benefits of CRO— and conversion rate marketing, at least the ones that everyone talks about—have to do with money and leads. But the key benefits of testing your website actually go beyond that.
Here are seven of the key benefits of using CRO on your site, all of which are important factors to consider when thinking about starting a conversion rate optimization program.
Benefit #1: You’ll Make Decisions Based on Data
Before CRO, if you were considering making a change to your website, you probably did so based on gut feelings. You may have once heard something like “we should change this page because I think it will do better if…”
CRO eliminates “I think” and changes it to “I know.” Instead of changing something, you can initiate non-permanent tests based on those gut feelings, and evaluate the results. That way, if your customers or visitors prefer something completely different, you can quickly switch it back.
CRO allows you to make decisions based on data and facts rather than your gut. By utilizing A/B tests and evaluating the results, you’ll be able to make smarter decisions in the future, because you’ll have all the data you need to back yourself up.
Benefit #2: You’ll Get Better Results
Similarly, when you utilize the data obtained from CRO testing to make decisions about changes on your site, you’ll find that you obtain better results from these changes. If you change the color of a button because testing has proved 5% more visitors click it, you’ll get at least that 5%—versus an unknown amount of conversions from changes made without testing.
Benefit #3: You’ll Make More Money Over Time
Most articles about conversion rate optimization benefits talk about the additional money CRO can make you. While this is true, you shouldn’t expect your CRO testing to result in thousands of dollars in additional revenue in the first week or two. Instead, expect incremental revenue that you’ll notice over time.
Most of the time, CRO can help you identify small areas of opportunity that will result in increased conversions—and thus increased revenue—over the course of a few months. For example, changing the location of a form on a page may earn you an extra two leads per month. This may not seem like much, but that’s an extra 26 leads a year, and if your close rate on leads is 10%, and new customers spend an average of $15,000, that can definitely add up!
While some A/B tests can identify immediate opportunities to earn large amounts of revenue, expect CRO to help you find long-term strategies to improve your website and conversion rates.
Expert insights from
JackieWebFX Conversion and UX Specialist
“While strategies like SEO, PPC, social, and email are driving traffic to your site, CRO is working to maximize the return from that traffic from initial touch all the way to a closed sale. CRO isn’t just a valuable investment, it’s a necessary investment for businesses serious about growing their business via digital marketing.
CRO can also help to provide new insights about your audience’s wants, needs, fears, and doubts.
It can unlock new opportunities to connect with your audience and attract more qualified leads by evolving your messaging and unique selling points for your unique target market.”
Benefit #4: You Can Outrank Your Competition
Can conversion rate optimization help with your SEO? Strangely enough, yes. Depending on what you test on your website, you may identify elements that improve the amount of time visitors spend on your page. By doing this, you can reduce your bounce rates, which Google considers as part of a ranking factor. If your bounce rates drop, you may have a better chance at outranking your competition.
Additionally, if your conversion rates increase, you may find that your website traffic, social media activity, and overall popularity online all increase as well. These increases are known to correlate with search engine ranking increases. So the more you test, and the more changes you make, the better you could perform in search.
Benefit #5: CRO Lets You Test Everything Securely
Before CRO became a practice, if you wanted to test something on your website, you had to implement it, check for the results, and then change it back. However, a wide variety of A/B testing tools now allow you to test securely, without permanently implementing anything, and to display different versions to visitors on the fly.
Benefit #6: You’ll Take More Risks
Online marketing is sometimes about taking risks. CRO can encourage you to take risks, experiment, and try new things. Since A/B testing is now so safe and easily controlled, there’s no damage or long-lasting impact to your website, meaning you can test as much as you want without harming your visitors or your revenue.
Because you can take these risks, you may end up finding some things you never expected, or dramatically increasing the happiness of your website visitors. You might even find yourself getting hooked on A/B testing!
Benefit #7: You’ll Learn More About Your Visitors
Finally, when you start using CRO on your website, you’ll find that you learn a lot about your visitors—more than you probably ever have before. No group of customers is the same, so that’s why it’s important to do your own testing and experiments to find out what your specific group prefers.
As a result of conversion rate optimization, you may find that the people who come to your website prefer to have the option to contact you right away… or they may not want to see the form until much later. You may find out that they really like yellow buttons… or that they hate them.
By learning these crucial facts, you’ll be able to better guide any future development, design, or marketing work on your website, because you’ll already know what they prefer and what will boost conversions the most.
WebFX is a Partner in Driving Results
Hear from HydroWorx, who saw a 131% increase in organic forms by partnering with WebFX
There are other benefits to using conversion rate optimization, of course. One of the biggest advantages of CRO is that it allows you to be agile in the event of a new trend or marketing idea—that is, you can test it out on your site immediately against what you know is already working, and see if it really benefits you. If it does, you can then implement it right away.
CRO benefits everyone in different ways. It’s best to try it for yourself and see how it helps you. Whether it allows you to make smarter decisions, boosts your revenue, or both, we think you’ll agree that CRO is a great way to improve your website and get more conversions!
Ready to Start Your Own Conversion Rate Optimization Program?
Interested in learning more about conversion rate optimization? Want to start CRO testing on your own site? For about $1,800 per quarter, WebFX can work with you to develop a completely customized CRO program, identifying opportunities to boost your leads, purchases, or phone calls.
Take a look at our Conversion Rate Optimization plans to learn more about the different CRO packages we offer, and to find out what makes us the leaders in Internet marketing and CRO testing. If you have any further questions about CRO or its benefits, feel free to contact us at any time. We can’t wait to hear from you!
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