Conversion Rate Optimisation is a process that increases the probability that a visitor (to your website) will take the action you want them to.
This action is determined by the nature of your business – ie: if you are a service-based business, the call to action may be for a customer to sign up for your upcoming webinar or download a resource. A product-based business, on the other hand, may want to decrease the number of abandoned carts or increase the average order value.
While specific metrics to implement and measure optimisation differ, the underlying process that marketers use to enhance conversion rates may not be wildly different from each other.
Let’s take a close look at how to achieve optimisation of conversation rates across a service business, the process involved, the terms you want to be familiar with and other information you should know.
Customer Conversion Journey: Mapping Touch Points
A conversion journey can be calculated as the number of touch points a potential customer hits, from browsing the web to completing the task (call-to-action) that you’d like them to.
As a service-based business, if your goal is to increase the number of downloads of an eBook you’ve created to for potential clients, then the map below may be an example of the journey a customer undertakes.
While the photo above looks at a part of the entire journey, let's look at the conversion rate optimisation process in more detail below:
The Importance of Awareness in a Conversion Journey
A potential client, let's call her Sarah, searches online for "how to file GST for a small business in Melbourne." She comes across a blog post from a local accountant's website that provides valuable insights on GST filings. At this point, Sarah isn't looking to hire an accountant but is only looking for some information.
To ensure that Sarah finds exactly what she is searching for, the digital strategy for the accounting firm should leverage SEO or search engine optimisation to ensure it ranks well for specific keywords. The conversion rate optimisation that the accounting firm can undertake at this stage might be to include a clear call-to-action to download a GST white paper that lists all the information a business owner might need to successfully file their GST.
Consideration of Offer / Information in a Conversion Journey
After reading the blog, Sarah decides to explore the accounting firm's website. She navigates to the "Services" page and learns more about their services. Sarah is now considering whether she should hire the accountant to file her GST instead.
From the perspective of the accounting agency, the 'services page' is another touchpoint in the conversion journey that they should optimise for. Besides listing all the services they provide, they should showcase case studies of clients they've helped in the past - preferably with similar issues like the one Sarah is facing. Adding testimonials from happy customers is also a robust way of inculcating trust in the customer's mind.
Encouraging Decision Making in a Conversion Journey
Let's say Sarah is nearly convinced of how well the accounting agency is performing and she decides to take the next step by signing up for a free consultation offered by the agency. This is the critical conversion point where she becomes a lead.
As she enters her information, the accounting firm should ensure that the form requests minimal info from her. This is to reduce any friction from the submission process.
Once they send her an acknowledgement, they can add more information about what to expect during the consultation and links to more content that might help Sarah stay interested in their services until the call is completed.
Post-Conversion Engagement in a Conversion Journey
After the consultation, Sarah has decided to hire the agency for their services. The agency now focuses on onboarding Sarah as a client and providing excellent service to ensure long-term satisfaction. To achieve this, the agency guides Sarah through a smooth onboarding process and they checks in regularly with her to ensure she is satisfied and to upsell additional services.
The acccounting firm at this stage of the conversion journey should focus on developing a seamless onboarding process that makes Sarah feel valued and reassured in her decision. They should also use email marketing and CRM tools to maintain communication, offer additional resources and upsell complementary services.
At Vox360, we help small business owners troubleshoot problems related to increasing impressions, views and conversions through content marketing. For content marketing strategy and insights that convert, contact Vox360 today.
Opportunities to Optimise your Conversion Rate
At every stage of the customer buyer journey, the customer has two choices: either to continue on to the next stage or take their business elsewhere.
As a business owner who uses digital marketing to support your business, this is good news. You can make tweaks at every stage of the buyer journey to ensure that your customer does exactly what you want them to do - act on your call-to-action.
So, where can you implement techniques to help achieve conversion rate optimisation?Across various elements of your webpage / landing page. Some of these are listed below:
Headlines:
Also known as the header, H1, or the big bold writing at the very top of the page. This statement is meant to highlight the problem, offer a solution and highlight why it's the best offer amongst all others in the market. A great headline hooks the audience in and walks them through the rest of the copy.
Running A/B Tests on headlines can look like this:
Headline A:
Tired of Cable Bills Over $200 a Month?
Headline B:
Don't Spend $200 on Monthly Cable Bills!
Headline A:
The #1 Rated Antivirus Software
Headline B:
Why Millions Choose Kaspersky to Protect their PC
Call-to-Action Message:
A call to action button or message can appear in numerous areas on a website. It's set up to encourage a customer to take action and despite how many times it may appear across a website or promotional material, it should encourage action. Here are some examples of running A/B testing on CTA messages:
Action Oriented CTA Message:
Apply Now
Redeem this Coupon
Direct Benefit CTA Message:
Save Now
Upgrade and Save
Forms:
Forms are an easy way to capture details from customers. Filling and submitting a form for the customer should be an easy and pain-free process. All efforts must be made to ensure that the form captures maximum information from the customer with minimum effort from them.
Some elements that can be added to forms include:
Dropdown Menu
Open Text Fields
You could run A/B tests on various other elements of a landing page or a website but try not to run too many at the same time.
The idea is to find a layout that works for your audience and then fine tune it to enhance the conversion rate optimisation.
How to Run an A/B Test to Optimise Conversion Rates
Running an A/B test is the process of using two variants of a media asset to see which one converts better. Simply put, you design two versions of an ad, or a landing page, get your customers to interact with them and see which one resonates the most.
To do this effectively, here are a few steps you should follow:
Determine the Outcome:
To run an effective A/B test, you should know which metric you want to achieve conversion rate optimisation for. As an e-commerce business, you may want to increase click through rates to a lower performing product or as a service business, you may want to increase the number of people who fill a 'contact us' form. Once you have clarity on the metric you want to measure and enhance conversions for, the next steps become easier to implement.
Create the Premise:
This is the process where you stipulate how a variation in one element in your ad or landing page can help you achieve the outcome you've listed in step #1.
Continuing from the example of a service business above, you could create the premise that changing the background colour of the 'Contact Us' button from black to red will increase the number of submissions.
Set up Variants:
Once you've determined what the variants will look like, it's time to set these up. In an ad, this could mean you have to redo the creatives or the copy. On a landing page, this could mean you have to create two versions of a headline. Whatever media asset you are working with, this is when you have to determine the control version and the variant.
Run the Test:
This is the exciting part of the process! You get to test the two versions here - run the ads, go live with 2 versions of the landing page or CTA buttons and wait for the results to come in. Depending on how long you run the campaign for, this may take a few weeks or a few months to show results.
Analyse Results & Implement the Best Version:
Once you've come to the end of the testing period, you should start analysing the results to see how your conversion rate optimisation exercise has fared. If you aren't seeing results that warrant a change, you may have to troubleshoot the process. However, if you've noticed an increase in conversions, you may have found a variant that gets you the results you're after. In this case, you can implement the winning version of the media asset.
Keep Testing:
There is no limit to how many A/B tests you can run and how often you can run them. The version that performs better can in time become your 'control' version - one that you compare all future versions to, and use that as a standard for changes going forward.
Common Challenges in Optimising Conversion Rates
Not all businesses are resource heavy and equipped to effectively implement strategies that might help in enhacing their conversion rates. The following are some of the challenges businesses face while implementing A/B testing and other strategies:
Limited Resources:
A business may not have the resources to effectively plan a conversion rate optimising strategy and execute it. Many e-commerce businesses are run by solopreneurs who may or may not have the expertise to troubleshoot low conversions in-house or hire an expert to do that for them.
Testing the Wrong Element:
Running A/B tests for elements that have no direct impact on conversion can be one of the reasons why the optimisation strategy fails. A service based firm may spend a lot of resources trying to sell an e-book on its website, which maybe a low ticket item. Where in reality, they should be running tests to increase sales of the 1:1 consulting service.
Implementing the Wrong Strategy:
A service based business may be compelled into running A/B tests because they've hired experts that tell them its right to do so. However, in reality, they may have too small an audience to gain any tangible insights by running this strategy.
Poor User Experience (UX)
A website that is difficult to navigate, slow to load, or not mobile-friendly can deter potential customers, leading to lower conversion rates. Focus on improving site speed, simplifying navigation, and ensuring the site is fully responsive on all devices.
Understanding Customer Behavior
Businesses often struggle to fully understand their customers' behavior, preferences, and pain points. Without this understanding, optimizing conversion rates becomes a guessing game. Use tools like Google Analytics, heat maps, and customer feedback to gather data and gain insights into how users interact with the site.
Quick Takeaways to Optimise Conversion Rate for Businesses
For any business to successfully optimise its conversion rate, a thorough understanding of the conversion journey is critical. This allows the business to strategically place content and CTAs at critical points to guide the customer toward conversion.
In addition to this, the journey should be tailored to the specific needs and pain points of the potential client, providing relevant content and offers at each stage.
And lastly, regularly analysing and optimising each step of the conversion journey can significantly improve conversion rates, leading to more leads and clients for the service-based business.
If you are looking for a customised solution to your conversion woes, contact Vox360 today to see how we can help you.
Comments