Navigating Optimization: CRO and A/B Testing

Introduction to CRO

It's all about the conversions! There are many different types of performance goals that drive digital marketers. These objectives can often be described using macro or micro-conversion terminology. Conversion goals may be straightforward; an e-commerce business may strive to increase its total number of orders.

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors or site users that complete desired activities. It's common that goals can be centered around increasing these conversion rates. Achieving these goals, however, may not always be so clear-cut.

While it may seem intuitive to associate increased conversion rates with an increase in site or business traffic, we may actually find that striving to increase traffic alone isn't the most effective method. More often than not, working to increase reach is vital to your business growth, but we also must understand the importance of finding proper patrons. This is to say that along with the efforts of reaching a broader audience, we must also optimize our user experience so that we can enhance lead generation. Increasing the percentage of visitors that take part in desired site actions is called conversion rate optimization or (CRO).

Understanding Optimization

While infinite audience potential would be ideal, we understand that it is in fact unrealistic. We sometimes focus so heavily on increasing traffic, when we should be focused on increasing our conversion rates.

By optimizing our user experience, we can capitalize on our existing traffic which can help us:

• Increase revenue
• Scale more effectively
• Lower acquisition costs and increase overall ROI
• Increase existing traffic conversion rate

Getting Started

How do we optimize our user experience? This process will likely involve adjusting multiple aspects of our digital platforms. Since our goal is to enhance site content and flow to increase conversions, we should consider key elements of our user experience. Some of the best places to implement CRO strategies are:

• Homepage- First impressions are key! Create a friendly UI with emphasis on key features
• Pricing Pages- Create clear, accessible product/ service information to ensure a smooth consumption process
• Landing Pages- Landing pages have one of the highest average conversion rates for websites. Ensure that design and function are optimal

Now that we have a general idea about where to begin, we can talk about a great implementation strategy also known as A/B testing.

A/B Testing

So you've revamped your digital platform. How can we be sure that the changes made are actually beneficial? I suppose you could simply continue operating while making use of the updated platform. By why do that when there's a much better strategy called A/B testing.

A/B Testing allows you to run an experiment by making use of a control group (your original website) and a variation to compare performance. The process associated with A/B testing is as follows:

1. Collect Data- Analytics can provide insight into the best optimization locations
2. Identify Goals- Create clear and concise objectives so that you can easily understand your progress
3. Build Hypothesis- Form predictions on how optimization changes will improve current user experience and lead to goal achievement
4. Alter Website Format- Use A/B software to edit, highlight and improve layouts
5. Begin Experiment- Go live with the test
6. Analyze- View the compiled data and look for significant performance differences.
7. Implement or Form new Predictions- If the new variation successfully increases desired performance, end the test and begin implementation. If this is not the case, create new predictions, and new altercations and re-run the tests.

How it Works

While the test is active, one version of your page is shown to 50% of traffic, while the other version is shown to the other half. Data is collected and analyzed so that you can directly compare performance and understand if your optimization efforts were effective.

Why A/B Testing?

This experimental method provides many benefits over the traditional implementation.

• Compare changes to benchmarks to understand exact effects on performance
• Ability to continually improve the experience and work toward goals
• Allows use of 302 (temporary) redirects so that URL changes don't have to be permanent

CRO vs. A/B Testing

While these processes may be different, CRO and A/B testing share the common goal of improving performance. In fact, A/B testing can be a valuable tool to implement in efforts to increase conversion rate. A/B testing should be thought of as a method to help achieve CRO, and it should be noted that it's used frequently by players in a plethora of industries.

ComScore A/B tested logos and testimonials to increase social proof on a product landing page and increased leads generated by 69%.

Zalora’s increased its checkout rate by 12.3% by optimizing its product pages

Your Marketing Goals are Within Reach!

• Moz is a great company that can help with SEO (search engine optimization)
• Optimizely is another powerful A/B Testing tool
• Hubspot Outstanding business development tool that can help grow traffic, and provide insights into vital processes.