Let’s start by answering a simpler question, What Is A Conversion ?
A conversion is an action that occurs when a visitor to your website completes a desired goal, that is beneficial to your business, transforming them into customers. The action can be anything from signing up for a news letter, completing a form or making a purchase. The total percentage of visitors to your website that convert ( take a desired action) is your Conversion Rate.
There's a formula for calculating the Conversion Rate = (No of Conversions/No of Visitors in Specific Time Period) x 100
Now that you have a simple idea of what a conversion and, conversion rate is also, how it transforms visitors into customers, we can move on to explaining the more complex concepts surrounding this topic.
Conversion Rate Optimization( C. R. O): is the iterative process of applying the best possible tactic in increasing the conversion rate of a landing page or ad while at the the same time reducing the cost of doing so.
This on paper sounds so simple but it is a more complex process than it seems. The first thing you should understand when it comes to conversion optimization, is that it is about growth and there is no “one formula” to achieving it. C. R. O is a process that is unique to each website or digital asset it is used on. The Iterative process involved in Conversion Optimization can be explained using the Lean StartUp Methodology, a concept borrowed from Product Management principles. In essence, it explains that from a hypothesis, you can build a product, measure data from the product and use this data to learn how to improve this product, then you repeat this process.
These steps can be explained further.
Ideate— This is where intensive research and effective planning takes place as it forms the backbone of the Conversion Optimization process.
Build — This is where the intensive research and effective planning comes to life as it is implemented.
Product — Here we have a minimum viable product (another borrowed term from Product Management) ready to be launched.
Measure — Can you do marketing without data ? No. Hence we underline the metrics that are important to the business and set it up to be measured.
Data — The data being collected are the necessary metrics that best help understand how well the plan is performing and will allow for conclusions to be made.
Learn — Data is meaningless unless it can be interpreted. Now that you have collected all that data, it needs to be analyzed so conclusions can be drawn from it.
Repeat The Process.
It should be noted that increasing the Conversion Rate should not be the end goal of this process. Optimizing for the conversion rate alone can make you think you are doing the right thing but, you really are losing out in the end.
For most companies, having their online profit margin rise incrementally over a period of time, seems to be the most pressing business goal. Companies employ all sort sorts of tactics to make this possible but, more often than not, we find that the billions of advertising and web development dollars spent every year, by these companies, give negative returns. The big question for most companies/entrepreneurs would be, “How do I make the most amount of profit by spending the least possible amount of money in advertising and web development ? This is the one question most marketers/marketing agencies have been trying to answer for years.
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
–Tom Wanamaker, marketing pioneer and father of modern advertising
What Conversion Optimization Does For Me
Conversion Optimization, Marketing Optimization, Data-Driven Marketing, Growth Marketing, Customer Value Optimization, it’s all the same thing. What is does for you however, is the cherry on top. The most simple answer to the question of “ what can conversion optimization do for you ?” is it will help you market better. The End.
Helping you to market better is its most essential function and, when done right the rewards are boundless. However, conversion optimization isn’t entirely for your benefit as its direct benefactors are the users/visitors you are trying to convert to customers.
Think about it, all your marketing efforts are focused on trying to convince users/visitors to complete an action that is beneficial to your business. So conversion marketing does only one thing for you but, so much more for your users/visitors. When done right, it effectively communicates what the users want to see and makes it easy for users to do what they want to do.
Marketing better means communicating better, better usability, better visibility, better functionality, it means giving a human face to your business. Once you understand this, your thought process when trying to solve marketing problems will change. Conversion Optimization is not about you, its about them, your users/visitors.
Let’s Define Some Terms That Makes Your Marketing Better Than Before
Effective Communication: It’s improving your copy-writing. I don’t mean telling users/visitors what you want them to do, no one likes being told what to do. Your copy-writing must serve the users so they need to see what they want to see.
Better Usability: Can people figure out how to use your website/app without thinking about it ? Is it user friendly ? Real people who use your website/app don’t like being stressed. Make it easy for them.
Better Visibility: How relevant is the content you display ? Improving the quality of content you display is a priority.
Better Functionality: Can your website/app do what you say it can do ? How well can it do it ? If you can confidently give positive answers to those questions, then you should congratulate yourself because you will have the best form of advertising possible without paying a dime for it.
The Human Face: Giving a human face to your business is the best thing you can do for your business as people are interested in interacting with real people and if there is a personality to your business, it will become easier for people to recognize and identify with your business.
In conclusion, Conversion Optimization when backed by data is good, but performs best when it is people-driven. Conversion Optimization doesn’t serve you, it serves your users. This was fun! I hope you learned something today.