Understanding Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
The GET Sh*t Done Guide
The term Conversion Rate Optimization, also known as CRO, often sounds mysterious to many. Especially to those who may not be in the world of digital. But here at Multiplica, we believe that it is of great importance. So much so that we decided to write a guide. To understand Conversion Rate Optimization, we must first understand a conversion.
What is a Conversion?
Simply put, a conversion refers to a visitor completing a specific goal on a website. For example:
- Purchasing something – Booking a hotel, a pair of shoes online
- Signing up for a newsletter – Receive up to date news or information
- Adding something to a shopping cart – I’ll come back later. I need to think about this purchase a little more
- Filling in a form to request more information – I’d like to learn more about your school courses.
- Downloading an app
- Downloading a form or document to get some more information about something I am researching
These conversions occur when the user takes action – the goal or the purpose of the website.
So what exactly is a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
Wouldn’t it be great if we put up a website and everyone who visited bought something or we had success with our website goal? Absolutely! Well Conversion rate optimization helps us do that.
CRO refers to increasing the percentage of Conversions on a website, mobile device or app. Turning visitors into leads and leads into customers.
The idea behind conversion rate optimization is you are able to understand how users move through your website, what actions they take, and what is stopping them from completing the goals that your site has.
How do you calculate Conversion to measure success?
Conversion is calculated to help us understand, of the people visiting our website, how many of them actually convert?
Total Users That Converted / Total Users That Visited Our Website x 100
EXAMPLE:
I had 5,000 users buy beer on my site this month (caught your attention didn’t I)
But I had 10,000 visitors to my site this month
x 100 (to get a percentage)
5,000 / 10,000 x 100 = 50% Conversion Rate of Beer!
Why is Conversion Rate Optimization important?
At this point we likely understand the basics of CRO. We understand that when we have found an opportunity on our website we should ensure it’s both data driven and user centric. At this point we form a Hypothesis and we should test it. The same way as when a doctor aims to find out what his patient’s heart rate, their blood pressure or perhaps how tired their body feels under certain levels of physical strain or activity. Our take on stress testing with Multiplica is about ensuring your team, the tool you are using, your organization as a whole can pass a stress test! Knowing your limits will help you figure out how to plan.
By introducing conversion rate optimization into your business, you can quickly improve conversion rates on your website. You have facts that show you what to test, where and how.
Read the full guide to Understanding CRO
Make sure to check out our second guide, picking the right Conversion Rate Optimization tools by clicking here.
- On 19th November 2020
