Conversion Rate Optimisation is becoming increasingly important to online marketeers. But why? And where do you start?
Presentation given at the Content Marketing Association's Digital Breakfast conference on 14 May 2014.
13. @gemmamacnaught
Key Takeaway
AwesomeAwful
Scale of optimisation
Pretty Good
Target Market: Low
cost solution to combat
jaundice in developing
countries
Ensure your content and the platform it sits on is
straightforward. Don’t leave your users guessing!
14. @gemmamacnaught
AwesomeAwful
Scale of optimisation
Pretty Good
Communicate persuasively to your audience or your
content may fall at the last hurdle and be lost in translation
Key Takeaway
Usability: Known,
trusted, quality
Target Market: Car
owners with specific
needs
Rolls Royce Silver Mist Toyota MR2
16. @gemmamacnaught
Research your target audience
Make sure it’s user friendly
Communicate clearly and persuasively
Fix it, change it, rework it – most importantly test it!
Tick all the boxes
18. @gemmamacnaught
Essentials:
Set up your Goals
Map out your funnel
Check devices
New vs returning visitor rates
Demographics
Top traffic sources
Top landing pages
Top exit pages
Your goal conversion rate
Analytics Data
Goal Completions
Unique Visitors
Your Conversion Rate100X
19. @gemmamacnaught
Essentials:
Follow the path you would expect users
to take before asking them to test your
site
Set the scene
Keep your questions and tasks open to
allow for natural user behaviour (i.e.
‘what elements do you find persuasive’
rather than ‘what do you think of the
headline’)
Use simple language
Target the test to your customer base
Ask users to compare you to a
competitor
User Testing
20. @gemmamacnaught
Essentials:
Where are your users clicking?
What is visible when they land on the
page?
How far are they scrolling?
What elements are attracting their
attention?
Is the next step obvious?
Is there anything they are confused by
or that they would like to change?
Page Analysis
21. @gemmamacnaught
Essentials:
Surveying your existing customers
builds a stronger understanding of
where you need to improve
Your customer services or sales staff
can give valuable insights on common
customer queries and problems
Guerrilla user testing is very beneficial
when you are researching mobile users
Offer an incentive to users who
participate in your research
Off-Site Methods
23. @gemmamacnaught
Essentials:
Prioritise your testing
Even the smallest change can generate
a result
Check the estimated test duration
On low traffic pages – direct a higher
percentage of users to the new version
for a faster result
Segment by device
Segment by target user
Testing
24. @gemmamacnaught
Testing
59%
Not Testing
41%
1 out of 5 businesses
surveyed last year said that CRO was in their top 3 list of priorities
The main reasons given for businesses who
are not currently optimising or who have only
achieved small ‘wins’ are:
Lack of resources
Lack of expertise
No concrete strategy for testing
25. @gemmamacnaught
Your Goals
The benefits
Your Marketing
Spending
Your Market
Share
Your Customer
Base
Have an increased
completion rate
Becomes more
valuable
grab customers away
from your
competitors
Grows as you…
32. @gemmamacnaught
In Summary
Optimisation is not new – but it is increasingly important
Make content understandable, easily accessed and
user friendly
Do your research and let it guide you
Test everything!
Can you really afford not to?
+ Published in 1923 by CLAUDE C HOPKINS
+ Compiled not through guesswork and speculations but from countless testing
+ Imagery, layout, content, research,
+ Wouldn’t change for $10,000
+ What works for one would not work for all
Most readily available and useful insights on user behaviour
You need a baseline to measure against
Track everything and anything to understand impact (especially change)
Belgian Yellow Pages
* If your goal is pageviews/browsing oriented
Pop-ups are hated
You can make them more likeable / persuasive
Get users to actually read them
Debate between long and short form – test it and find out which style suits your user’s needs
* Simplifying this page to ensure the next step is prominent
Add directions / actions within your content
* Users are also unlikely to read bulky chunks of text
Colour psychology is not always what it may seem
* Red is usually associated with warning signs but here it worked wonders!