Optimizing conversion rates is important for your bottom line. Marketing is all about getting prospects to become paying customers.
How can you make sure that your digital marketing strategy is working as it should, especially in a constantly changing landscape? Answer: a conversion rate optimization audit!
Thegood.com says:
Conversion audits force you to look beyond the jar to see the customer's buying experience as it is. Not what you have been trying to make over the past few months or years.
An audit allows you to take a close look at your conversion optimization and make improvements. You can improve the conversion rate of prospects to clients by asking both qualitative and quantitative questions.
What is conversion rate optimization and what are its benefits? Neil Patel has created this informative video for you.
Quick Takeaways
-
The Conversion Rate is the most important metric for evaluating your overall return of investment (ROI).
-
Auditing and identifying your strengths and weaknesses will help you create a better website
-
A call to action (CTA), is a great way to end your content. It can significantly increase your conversion rate
How do you determine when it is time for a CRO audit to be performed? It's a good idea to set deadlines based upon overall conversion progress. You might wait until you have reached 500 conversions on a website or received a certain amount of impressions before you audit.
Each business has different goals, so you need to decide what success looks for you before scheduling your conversion rates optimization audit.
Source: Marketing charts
Conversion rates: The basics
While views are wonderful, what happens once the first click is made? Are they just browsing your site? Is the reader sharing your website? Is it possible for them to actually purchase your product or schedule your services?
The conversion rate is a measure of how many prospects become customers. This metric will be the defining metric of your content marketing efforts. Content marketing should always be about converting prospects.
Many times, the places you produce and publish media can provide you with excellent analytics tools that will help you determine which ads or content are converting the most.
First, get the hard stuff out of your way
Click around on your website. It doesn't matter if you have an actual purpose, other than to make sure that everything works as it should. You can make a huge difference in the user experience on your website by finding small bugs and sending them to your IT department.
Hotjar.com has a great list of bugs and general formatting issues to be on the lookout for.
-
An attention-grabbing headline
-
A clear value proposition
-
High quality images
-
Use of white space
-
Social proof via testimonials, case studies and user-generated social media content
-
Contact us via live chat, email or by completing the contact form
-
Consistent, clear CTA
What do you know when you click on a link or page of someone and it's broken or blank? This amateur look! CRO audits can help you find those errors and maximize your conversion rates.
Take a closer look at the pages that convert most.
This is not a simple statement. You want to focus on the articles and pages with the highest conversions. But you must also take care of pages viewers will see the least.
Although it may seem insignificant, things like your contact page and landing page can make a huge difference in the user experience online. These pages are often referred to as top and bottom of the funnel.
Source: Visual Paradigm Online
Ask your visitors to tell you what they think
It's hard to not want to be asked about their thoughts and feelings. Communication with your audience is a key step to identifying their concerns and interests relevant to your product/service.
What online communities has your company invested in – and more importantly where is your online voice? You don't control the market narrative, and certainly don't have easy access to their thoughts or ideas.
You are also improving your online presence and allowing your written content to be displayed on the screens of your prospects.
Listening to your clients' concerns and comments is the best way to listen! Surveys! Surveys are a great way to reach people who use your site the most by sending out emails blasts and using your social media channels.
You can sweeten the deal by offering a discount or a freebie after you have completed your order. Both parties can walk away happy, since they both get the data to enrich their experience and money back for their next purchase.
Love efficiency? This can be doubled up for a prospect or client audit. It is a great way to give your sales and marketing departments more data.
It's also a great place to do qualitative research. You should take the time to review the comments that you receive from surveys. While some may not be very good, it is still a great gift to be able to see what prospects and clients are thinking. Even if you have a small sample, it is important to stay on the pulse your audience.
Check your mobile optimization
Although this seems obvious, when was the last occasion you visited your website from your phone? When publishing content, mobile viewability is essential. More than 50% all content can be viewed via a smartphone.
Your website should be optimized for this feature. This will only make you look bad. It is acceptable to hire consultants or contractors for this task. This includes optimizing your website for mobile and making sure that your site runs smoothly on a smartphone.
This doesn't mean that you should abandon your online site in favor of mobile. Both should have a balanced approach and each should contain the same content.
A/B Testing
A/B testing can be a great way to identify what changes you should make to your website in order to convert more visitors to customers.
A/B testing involves comparing two versions of a webpage to see which one is better. Version A may have green CTAs while version B may have red.
Then, you'll send half of your visitors to version A and half to version B.
You should soon be able identify which version of the page is more successful in conversions.
Source: Pitstop Media Inc
The winner is the one that performs the best. You can make the winner permanent or test another variant to see if it performs better.
Formstack made three changes to their main menu: "Why Use Us" was replaced by "How It Works", and they saw a 47.7% rise in clicks.
Take into account your ranking in organic search
It's not easy to get views on your website's content. Payed advertising can be a great way to boost your impressions and increase traffic to your website. It doesn't hurt to lose a lot of your marketing budget.
Consider which content is having difficulty converting when conducting your CRO audit. Conversion rate optimization can be achieved by optimizing content, since organic search is critical to convert prospects into customers.
Search organically is for prospects that you haven’t yet made contact with. It's important to appear on the first page of search results for terms that are related to your product/service. What can you do for SEO optimization?
These important rules should be followed when you write and blog.
Keep your word count between 1000 – 1800 words
Google prefers articles that fall within this range. You don't want to have too many articles. This could make your hard work less effective in ranking.
Find your keywords
SEO/SEM can be very successful if you know which words are most relevant to the topic you're discussing. Referring to the tech example, words such as tech, wearable and watch would be most likely to contribute to a higher ranking than similar articles.
Have a compelling meta description
You know that the hook is everything. A good description will make your blurb stand out to prospects. They won't click on your article if it is boring or irrelevant.
Internal Links
Internal links are hyperlinks within your blog content linking to other pages in your domain. Every blog post should contain at least one internal link.
Call to Action
CTAs let readers know what the next step is to interact with your brand. They can also increase conversion rates by 121%. CTAs are essential for generating shares and engagement among your readers.
Content optimization IS conversion rate optimization! While you should not overhaul all your content, it is important to take this into consideration while you are doing an in-depth dive to ensure future changes.
Get your next CRO audit scheduled NOW
Talk to your team about the next benchmarks you should set for your next audit. Sometimes we forget to optimize and review different areas of our website. Conversion rate optimization is an important aspect of your overall efforts.
Consider asking yourself questions such as What kind of numbers should we expect after the current audit or Should we be hiring more than we were? Remember what data you tried to improve the first time.
This will allow you to stay on the right track for your next big audit.
Take a bow
Yes, it takes time and care to perform a conversion rate optimization audit. It is time-consuming, but it is necessary for your brand's bottom line.
You can gain a better understanding of your user experience by asking questions and thinking critically. Keep your eyes open and listen to the opinions of others about your website.
Now you have an idea of what you are looking for, it is time to start your conversion rate optimization audit.
You want to implement some of the strategies shown on MIG's website but need advice or help? Marketing Insider Group is staffed with 35+ experts who are ready to create content for your business. Get a consultation or check out our blog content every week!
Marketing Insider Group published the post The Do It-Yourself Conversion Rate Optimization Audit (CRO), originally on Marketing Insider Group.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some direct-marketing examples?
Direct Marketing Examples include postcards, brochures, flyers, e-mails, etc.
Direct marketing helps you reach people at home or on the go. It's the best way of communicating with customers who have already selected your product/service over another.
You should know which message will appeal to your target market the most.
Finding out what your customers want is key to delivering it.
Direct marketing can be used for many reasons. Direct marketing can be used to promote your business in many ways. You can send out catalogs to potential customers and advertise in local papers.
Another option is to create a unique mailing list of your existing customers. If you have good contacts, it is easy to add new subscribers.
Last but not least, ask existing customers if promotional materials are something they'd be interested in receiving. Some companies offer discounts to those who sign up for special offers.
What are the 5 Marketing Concepts?
The following five marketing concepts can be used:
- Branding is a way to project a positive image of yourself. It's what people associate with you when they hear your name. You must create a consistent brand identity across all media.
- Positioning – Your positioning is how you position yourself within your market. What is the best way to describe yourself?
- Message – This is your message's content. What is your point What's the point?
- Marketing mix – This is a combination of channels, pricing and promotions that enables you to reach your target audience.
- Measurement – How do you measure success?
Social Media Marketing offers a great opportunity to promote your business online. It's an excellent tool for spreading brand awareness and generating leads and sales. Here are five ways to use social media marketing to boost your business.
- A Facebook Fan Page allows you to interact with customers via Facebook. Upload photos, videos, as well as other files.
- Twitter – Promote your business on Twitter – Twitter is another great platform to connect with people and share information. Use hashtags to increase visibility.
- Post Videos on YouTube. Many people enjoy watching these videos. If they like what is shown, they may click to visit you website.
- Host Live Event – Hosting live events will allow you to meet face to face with potential clients. They can ask you questions about your products or services.
- Respond to Customer Reviews. Positive reviews can build trust with clients and encourage repeat sales. React quickly to negative comments.
Statistics
- From 2020 to 2022, eMarketer predicts that digital marketing will grow by 36% and take up 54% of marketing budgets! (marketinginsidergroup.com)
- Companies that use personalization are seeing revenue increases ranging from 6-10%. (blog.hubspot.com)
- According to statistics, 60% of online shoppers worldwide actively search for coupons before purchasing from a virtual shop. (influencermarketinghub.com)
- This allows us to deliver CPCs that are 80% less than average and CTRs 4-5 times higher than average. (marketinginsidergroup.com)
- Today, 81% of brands around the world have affiliate programs. (influencermarketinghub.com)
External Links
moz.com
- SEO Learning Center, Moz
- [Case study] How we ranked #1 in a high-volume keyword in under 3 months – Moz
blog.hubspot.com
influencermarketinghub.com
hubspot.com
How To
How can I find out if my brand efforts are successful?
Asking customers directly is the best method to measure your success. Ask them to rate your brand. What are they most impressed with about your company? What do they hate? What can they do better?
You can also do surveys on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. Simply ask your followers to rate you brand by posting a question. Then, you can analyze the results and decide which aspects of brand success are most important.
Check out customer reviews. People love to voice their opinions when they're happy or disappointed with a business. These comments will help you understand the opinions of people about your brand.
Here are some tips for improving your brand:
- Be consistent. You shouldn't update your marketing materials each time you introduce a new product. Keep the message consistent across all channels.
- Use multiple channels. Promoting your brand should be done via email, social media and websites.
- Give your customers what they want. If you promise free shipping, keep it. You could lose customers who expect easy delivery.
- Your brand is not just a logo. Your brand is the foundation of everything you do. Take the time to build a complete image.
- Get feedback from your customers. You'll be more successful if you listen to your customers sooner.
- Test different messages. One message may work better than the other. Maybe you have two messages very similar but one gets more replies. Either way, it's good to keep an eye on your stats to see which message is performing best.
- Find ways to improve your brand. Do you have any ideas for improvement? Maybe you could add more videos to your website. Perhaps your blog could feature more customer testimonials.
- You need to create a plan. Once you've decided on your goals and objectives, you'll need to develop a strategy for achieving those goals. This involves establishing a time frame for each goal. This includes setting milestones to track your progress.
- Measuring your results is important. You can stop measuring when you reach your goal. Instead, set up a system to monitor your performance over time. By doing this, you will always be able to see if you are moving towards your ultimate goal.
- Repeat! Continue to build upon the foundation you've created for your brand. If you have difficulty keeping up your current marketing efforts, you might consider hiring someone else.
- Remain positive. Negative feedback is something you should never ignore, but you shouldn't dwell too much on it. Focus instead on how you can use this information to improve your brand.
- Technology is your friend. The technology has given us many tools we couldn't have imagined. Use them to your advantage. A mobile app could be created for your brand, for instance.
- Try thinking outside the box. It's okay to try something new. You should think about what you are doing before you do.
- Have fun. Marketing shouldn't be stressful. It is sometimes called “funmarketing”. It's important to enjoy your work.
- When to give up. When you feel like you've done all you can, it's okay to call it quits. You shouldn't give in too quickly. Sometimes, it is necessary to stay with something until you reach your desired results.
- Be consistent. Consistency is key to success. Make sure you have a plan in place for your brand.
- Be patient. Building a successful brand takes patience. It won't happen overnight.
- Keep learning. Marketing is constantly changing. Stay informed by attending webinars or reading blogs.
- Never stop learning. Even after you reach your goal, there are still things you can learn.
- Enjoy the journey. Marketing is a lot of fun. So, don't let it become a chore.
————————————————————————————————————————————–
By: Michael Brenner
Title: The Do-It-Yourself Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Audit
Sourced From: marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/the-do-it-yourself-conversion-rate-optimization-cro-audit/
Published Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2022 10:00:35 +0000