Have you ever clicked on a link to a website, had a quick look and then left only to never return? Why did you do that? Why didn’t you want to stay? CRO aims to answer these questions and find a solution. It stands for conversion rate optimization, or how many people visit your site and are converted to support your cause. If your website aims to sell products, then you want those visiting to buy, if your website aims to provide reading material, then you want those visiting to read that reading material. Basically, CRO can be an integral part in making sure that your business creates customers and not just window shoppers.
Not many people know about CRO. Even in the marketing industry, CRO can seem like a bit of a phantom at times. However, there have been many cases where CRO has seriously helped to increase the number of customers who have stuck around.
CRO is about making sure that your website is optimised in a range of different ways. It is not always simply just adding a button or changing a piece of text – although it can be. Sometimes CRO means you have to perform a huge overhaul to your design and layout. Sometimes these overhauls are the difference between customers turning away and coming back time and time again.
Here are some examples of businesses who have used CRO to exponentially increase their business. Sunshine.co.uk managed to increase revenue by £14 million per year.
Sunshine.co.uk
Let’s take an example from the popular UK based holiday site Sunshine.co.uk. By sending out a survey and conducting research with regards to their customers, they were able to increase their annual revenue by £14 million per year. Changes to their homepage, layout and the clarity of what individual prices included, meant that customers felt they were to trust Sunshine and so they stuck around and returned. The full case study is available here.
Walmart.ca
Walmart is a huge, international superstore. They stock most of what the average person would need; so surely their website has been optimised to the highest degree it possible could. Well, previously this wasn’t the case for Walmart Canada. By redesigning their website, Walmart CA manage to increase their conversion rate by 20%, meaning higher revenue and more loyalty from their customers. You can get the full picture here.
Devicemagic.com
It’s not always about redesigning your whole website. Sometimes it can be as simple as changing what type of media you use. For Device Magic, images were the way to go. It was found that users didn’t want to watch an overly technical video, which they felt wasn’t of a high quality. By swapping out their video for five images with a slider, Device Magic managed to increase homepage to sign-up page conversion by 35%. If you want more then look here.
Performable.com
Another Simple example happened when Performable realised users were more complacent when faced with a green button, than when faced with a red one. This is because red connoted ideas of excitement and passion, whilst green was seen as more in line with nature and gratification. This simple change in colour led to a 21% increase in conversion. For all the facts see here.
CRO can really benefit businesses who are finding that their website manages to attract customers, but then can’t make them stay. From simple to more complex fixes, making sure to employ conversion rate optimisation can lead to greater goal achievements.
