What is CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation)?

A lot of people view a website as a virtual shop, a place to showcase products and services, and somewhere to welcome online customers. Though this is true to some extent, a website is actually much more than a shopfront. It’s a key part of business growth, and a lot of business success online relies on attracting visitors. This doesn’t come easy and, even once you have a steady stream of traffic, you need to convert them into paying customers or subscribers in order to maximise your business’s online success. This is where conversion rate optimisation comes in (CRO). In this blog, we have answered the question “What is CRO?” and why it’s a key part of improving the performance of your website.

What is CRO?

CRO is a digital strategy that is driven by data and its aim is to increase the number of website visitors that convert into leads or sales. This is done by improving the website’s performance, ensuring that everything is designed with encouraging visitors to take action in mind. This desired action could be anything from making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or downloading an eBook. CRO is centred on analytics and user feedback, and the data is used to identify and eliminate any barriers that are preventing people from completing these actions.

The Importance of CRO

CRO is often overlooked by businesses, even though it’s a key part of online success. A lot of businesses focus on the digital marketing side of things, with the hope of driving more visitors to the website. There is no denying that this is important, but what those visitors do on the website is key. Here are some of the main benefits of CRO:

Boosts ROI – Instead of investing more in digital marketing in the hope of increasing traffic, CRO helps you make the most of your existing traffic. This increases your return on investment and ensures that you are getting the most out of your digital marketing
Enhances User Experience – By optimising your website for conversions, you are also enhancing the overall user experience. This can lead to higher customer satisfaction and repeat business, which helps to bring in a steady stream of revenue.
Competitive Advantage – In a competitive online landscape, CRO can be your unique selling point. A website that’s optimised for conversions will stand out, make a statement and attract more customers, compared to competitor websites that aren’t optimised.
Data Driven Decision Making – CRO relies on data and analytics to identify what works and what doesn’t, enabling you to make decisions based on this information. This information is invaluable for making informed decisions about your website’s design and content, and it’s information you might not otherwise have access to.
Cost Effective Strategy – CRO is a cost effective strategy, as it focuses on improving the efficiency of your existing resources, rather than investing in new ones. This helps you to make the most of your budget.

Key Ways to Improve CRO

If you haven’t focused on improving CRO before, you might be wondering how to approach the task. Luckily, there are a range of ways to improve CRO, and the Profici experts can help you along the way.

A/B Testing – A/B testing involves creating two versions of a web page – the original and a different version – to determine which one performs better. By testing elements such as titles, images, CTA and content, you can identify what works best for your audience.
Clear Call to Action (CTA) – You need to make sure that your CTAs are clear, compelling and prominently placed. Visitors should easily understand what action you want them to take and why it’s beneficial for them to do so.
Optimise Page Load Speed – Slow loading pages can frustrate visitors and lead to high bounce rates, which is when someone arrives on a page and immediately heads elsewhere. You need to make sure that your website loads quickly to provide a smooth user experience.
Mobile Responsiveness – With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s important that your website is responsive. It needs to provide a seamless experience across different screen sizes, including smartphones and tablets.
User Friendly Navigation – No one wants to arrive on a website and immediately feel lost, so simplify your website’s navigation to help users quickly find what they are looking for. Make sure that your menus are clear, obvious and easy to understand.
Write Compelling Content – Ensure that your content is engaging, relevant and persuasive. You need to write high quality content that can hold visitors’ attention for as long as possible, and guide them towards your conversion goals.
Social Proof – Social proof plays a huge part in CRO, as people like to know that others have been happy with a business’ products or services. Display testimonials, reviews and case studies to build trust with potential customers. This can help to ease concerns and boost conversions.
Continuous Testing and Improvement – CRO is an ongoing process, not something that you do once and forget about. Regularly analyse data, conduct new tests and make improvements to your website to keep up with changing user preferences and behaviours.

CRO is a key part of unlocking your website’s full potential, and it’s something that we can help you with. At Profici, we know what makes a good website, and we know how to create a strong online presence. We will work tirelessly to ensure that your website is converting as many visitors as possible. If it’s not, we will make the necessary changes. Speak to the Profici team to find out more.