conversion rate optimisation, what even is it anyway?
Conversion rate optimisation (CRO) is nothing new but it’s often misunderstood. When used right, CRO can drive meaningful change that supports your business goals. But what exactly is CRO, how should it be used and how can you integrate it with your online strategy?
In this article we explore what CRO means to us, how we can use it to support your brand and show you why CRO is worth investing in…
what is conversion rate optimisation?
To put it simply, CRO is a methodology used to optimise web development.
Using quantitative and qualitative research methods and experimentation, CRO validates impactful changes to your site that will encourage users to perform a certain action. Unlike other areas of paid media, CRO cannot promise to deliver a direct return or increase your revenue. Instead, CRO helps you to implement changes to your site that put the user at the forefront of what you do. In turn, this creates a more positive experience online for the user, increasing the likelihood of them leaving your site or landing page satisfied.
why is cro so important?
Making the most of your audience has never been so important. We live in a time where the user has the upper hand and a multitude of options when it comes to spending their money. It’s vital to put your time and resource behind your website and campaigns to get the best results. CRO can support your business endeavours in several ways:
helping you to build a business case
data-driven decision making
continuous improvement to your ads and website
reduce the risk of wasted budget
drives a competitive advantage
creates the space for a culture of innovation
adds compounding value to your website
CRO can undoubtedly help your brand excel online but understanding where to start or how to implement an effective strategy is often where we see businesses fall. That’s where we come in. As a specialist paid media agency, we have a wealth of experience helping brands to see CRO differently, taking a view of the CRO process as a whole rather than only focusing on the end results.
So, how do we tackle CRO? We’re so glad you asked…
equation and conversion rate optimisation
cro is about the whole process
It’s common for people to focus on experimentation when starting a conversion rate optimisation programme. While this stage is very important in the CRO process, failing to understand the value in the entire process is where a lot of people go wrong. CRO can be broken down into five stages:
research
ideation
collaboration
experimentation
analysis
While the final steps are where results are often seen, it’s the first three steps that drive CRO’s success. Through thorough research, considered ideation and a whole heap of collaboration, your CRO will be on track to deliver the results you want. If you’re not spending 40-60% of your time understanding your users and their behaviours, you’re likely missing out on the key pieces of the puzzle that will make your CRO thrive.
how we breakdown our cro services
At equation, we don’t see CRO as a singular product. To make the most of conversion rate optimisation, we have split how we provide this service into three distinct categories. Based on client need, we can offer different levels of support whether that be for your paid media campaigns, your website or just providing you with the insight to kickstart your CRO journey.
cro lite
As a paid media agency, we know what it takes to support your paid efforts. With a focus on ensuring your campaigns hit the sweet spot, our CRO lite package looks at optimisation and experimentation of your landing pages.
So, what exactly does this entail?
decisions backed by data: using quantitative and qualitative research, we use data analytics and UX research to provide a breadth of information on relevant pages and user journeys.
it’s in the design: armed with our research, we create UX designs or mock-ups to showcase our ideas before anything reaches development.
tried, tested and optimised: landing pages are developed and tested using our testing tools. Through this process, pages are optimised based on this feedback in a live environment.
cro, the full shebang
Your website is your online storefront. Without the right tools in place and testing to back up your designs, how do you know your website is delivering what you want from it? Our CRO package uses ongoing quantitative and quantitative research alongside data-driven experimentation to help you create a user-centric site. But what exactly does this service entail?
it’s all in the data: As with our CRO lite offering, our work is always underpinned by data. From data analysis and UX research providing us with quantitative and qualitative research across key areas, to experimentation design and development, everything we do is tried and tested. Using testing tools, goal tracking and statistical models to determine a result, we make sure you can feel confident in your decisions.
collaboration is key: We don’t work in silo. Understanding your website and business goals is name of the game and we like to work together to drive meaningful change to your site. We run quarterly workshops to ensure that idea generation doesn’t stand still and that goals are consistently refined. Alongside this we bring a cross-functional team to the table which means all areas of your project are considered.
we don’t sit still: Throughout the process, we run experimentation and analysis to drive our next steps. Keeping our eye on the ball, we create monthly reports so you can see exactly what work has been done and what results were achieved.
cro audit
If you’re thinking about dipping your toe into the CRO pool but unsure of where to begin, we offer a one-off CRO audit. With a focus on conversions, our audits showcase what our CRO services can do for you and kickstart your experimentation programme.
supercharge your cro with equation
Conversion rate optimisation is one of the best tools available to brands to help propel your online offering. Offering almost unparalleled access to what your users actually do, versus what they say they would do, CRO provides incredible insight into user behaviour. From this information, you can drive real change to your website or campaigns that will deliver meaningful results for your brand.
Getting started with CRO can feel daunting if you’ve never used it before...and that’s where we can help.