The rapid rise in enterprise tools, technology and competition – alongside heightened customer expectations – is putting increasing pressure on B2B marketers. So, the importance of conversion rate optimisation is becoming essential for marketers.
As a result, B2B marketing teams need to be multi-faceted and dynamic in their approach to reaching new audiences and forging lasting connections.
Nowadays, most marketing teams are responsible for driving traffic towards websites, which then converts into leads for the sales team to close.
To aid this procedure and maximise the number of visitors converting into leads, marketers will look at ways of optimising websites. This is called conversion rate optimisation (CRO).
The conversion rate of your site can be calculated by dividing the number of conversions it has generated by the number of people who visited.
What is Conversion Rate Optimisation?
Simply put, CRO is the method of using analytics and user feedback to improve the performance of a website. It can be used to enhance any metric on your site that’s important to your business, such as time visitors spend on a page, though generally it aims to encourage users to take an action when visiting your site.
Through modifying and designing specific elements of a webpage, a business can boost the chances that site visitors will convert into a customer or a lead before they leave.
Most websites are already built with conversion in mind. As such, conversions can take place in several locations on a website: from the homepage to the blog or the product pages. The point here is that any landing page can be optimised to increase the total conversions.
For instance, CRO may involve making your call-to-action (CTA) more obvious. Or, it might involve simplifying your conversion funnel by removing fiddly or time-consuming steps to defend against the potentially limited patience of users.
Why is CRO important?
With online traffic being largely inconsistent, it’s wise to take measures to improve the likelihood of conversions. A good CRO campaign not only helps you to save time, money and effort (as you’re no doubt paying for traffic to your site in one way or another) – it also lets you explore new growth strategies.
It helps you to understand the overall usability of your site while gaining insights into your customers’ behaviour or preferences.
Fundamentally, CRO involves figuring out what your users are looking for when they arrive on your site – and giving that to them. In doing so, your business will undoubtedly enjoy an improved return on investment (ROI).
It’s far more cost-effective to convert the visitors you already have than it is to attract brand new visitors.
Getting started with Conversion Rate Optimisation
An important first step when implementing a CRO strategy is in defining your goals. Do you want to improve the conversion rate of your overall site, or are you focused on boosting a specific product page? Set these goals now and then look at your current conversion rate. This will help you to monitor whether your conversion rate improves moving forwards.
The next step lies in figuring out why your pages aren’t converting as well as they should or could be. Google Analytics is your best friend here, as it can tell you precisely where conversions are strong or weak.
Fortunately, there are also a wide range of tools available to help you get started with CRO. I’ve also put together a list of easy-to-implement tips and tricks for you here:
- Include lead flows on your blog
Lead flows are high-converting pop-ups that are designed specifically to attract attention and offer value to the user. These can take several forms (such as a pop-up box or drop-down banner) and they are often found to be more effective than a standard CTA at the bottom of your blog. - Use text-based CTAs
Any marketer worth their salt knows that it’s smart to include a CTA on blog posts. Unfortunately, these are often placed at the end of a page and then missed or ignored by visitors.
For this reason, it’s a good move to use text-based CTAs instead. These are more likely to get noticed and they can sit naturally within the body of a blog – meaning users will be prompted to engage at several points whilst on the page. - Optimise high-performing blog posts
Do you have any blogs on your site that have performed particularly well? If you have a blog with high conversion rates, you can enjoy further traffic by optimising the content within the blog for search engines. Alternatively, you can update the content in the blog to make sure it is relevant and more likely to get picked up by search engine crawlers. - Make it easy for visitors to become leads
A simple but effective tip for CRO is to make it easy for users to take action. Leverage compelling, instructional copy and clear, eye-catching CTAs to guide users in the right direction towards conversion. Make the sales process as frictionless as possible for visitors by incorporating user-friendly forms and eliminating time-consuming steps wherever possible.
Bring your website to life with effective CRO
Marketers are always trying to ensure that they give readers exactly what they need – when they need it. This is particularly important in today’s noisy digital climate, which is why measures like CRO are so valuable.
Conversion rate optimisation allows you to optimise the functionality of your site, while also helping you better understand your visitor behaviour. Begin implementing these tips today to start enjoying improved SEO, heightened user experience, increased customer lifetime value and improved ROI tomorrow.
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