Conversion Rate Optimization for Beginners

Conversion rate optimization issue is one of the most debatable among marketers. So many posts have been written, so many expert opinions have been given, that a newbie marketer may leap to a false conclusion that it’s easy-breeze to mock these 'effective' steps and skyrocket their own conversion rate. The nasty trick of this whole story is that there’s no one single way that can turn your website into a money-making machine. Each advice, hack, or tip should be thoroughly analyzed and tested. Maybe something is missing? Or your business speaks different words?

So in this blog post, we’re going to cover the basics of conversion rate optimization step-by-step.

What is conversion?

Conversion is a flagship term for digital marketing that stands for goal completion. The goals vary from the niche, and they can be:

• purchase
• sign-up
• subscription to a newsletter
• shares on social networks (typical for info sites)
• upgrade
• review

This list can be a meter longer – conversions depend on the niche where you promote. However, every business has its macro- and micro conversions. More on those below.

Macro- and micro-conversion

Macro-conversion is the primary goal the company is heading to. For instance, a purchase on the website, subscription to a service, or request for certain information.

Micro-conversion is a smaller action that acts as a stopover before a bigger action, a primary goal. Micro-conversion can be sign-up, a product in a shopping cart, subscription to the newsletter, or the number of unique visitors, etc.

What is conversion rate optimization?

In digital marketing, you can take several paths to increase sales: drive more traffic, or work harder on the improvements of the website / app / software in order existing traffic brings more conversions. The latter one is what conversion rate optimization is about. The conversion rate optimization means analyzing and understanding how customers interact with your site. CRO and SEO are compatible if you know how to use them.

CRO can’t be based on gut feelings, snooping around competitors, or someone’s guesswork – it will take your money and time, resulting in a zilch in the end. To put it straightforwardly, it’s wrong to assume that just because it worked for someone else means it’ll work for you. Conversion rate is a personal thing. Effective CRO campaign takes place only when you:

• consistently work towards increasing the number of leads without increasing traffic
• support your steps by analytics

Let me elaborate a bit more on this. When it comes to quantitative data analysis, you’re driven by numbers in Google Analytics, track your results according to revenue, traffic, and other hard numbers.

Meantime, qualitative data analysis lurks behind this method and requires behavioral research to answer the ‘why’ questions. This method requires other approaches: surveys, interviews, usability tests, user satisfaction scaling, etc.

How is conversion rate calculated?

Conversion rate (CR) is the ratio of the number of website visitors who have performed the necessary action (completion of a goal) to the total number of visitors.

Marketer needs to understand which conversion rate is optimal and which is not. It's the metric that most website owners strive for. Calculating your conversion rate is easy. To do so:

1. Choose the period you focus on: day, week, month, quarter.
2. Divide the number of completed conversions by the total number of site visitors.
3. Multiply by 100%.

Here’s a simple formula:

A/X * 100%

Where:

• A is the number of website visitors who have completed the necessary action for a certain period of time (let’s say a week).
• X is the total number of site visitors for this period.

Benefits of conversion rate optimization

A well-outlined conversion rate optimization strategy benefits every aspect of your website promotion, from marketing costs to the sales process.

Here are the most compelling benefits CRO provides:

• Lower cost per acquisition (CPA). Conversion optimization lowers the CPA as you won’t need to invest in numerous tactics and channels like paid ads to gain more conversions;
• Better understanding of your target customers. CRO includes running thorough research to study your audience, letting you take the necessary action;
• Higher competitive advantage. CRO drives more results to your website pages than your competitors’ unoptimized content;
• Increased sales and revenue. Web conversion optimization gets more users to convert — so it ultimately generates more sales and increases your revenue;
• Lower effort activity. CRO leverages your existing content to convert more users, so you don’t need to start from scratch.

9 conversion rate optimization tips that work

Now that you know what is conversion rate optimization, let’s look at some solid ways to increase the number of website users you can convert into actual customers.

Tailor your site's messaging to your target audience

Understanding your target audience is the first step to successful conversion rate optimization. Thanks to the insights you get from it, you can tailor your messaging to your customers’ most critical needs and pain points.

For instance, you find out your audience is mainly between the ages of 35 and 44, works full time, and lives in a household with more than three people. Thus, further messaging and positioning should focus on working parents' expectations and requests.

Surveys also provide valuable information about your existing customers. This option gives you immediate feedback on your website. To try it out, add a small survey when a customer is leaving your website. Alternatively, include it in an email with purchase confirmation.

Use the results of such surveys to understand why a customer left without converting. Consider it to identify ways to improve your CRO strategies for the future.

Align your content with user expectations

Align your content with the audience's needs to drive more conversions to your web pages. Consider how users landed on the page that you need to optimize. For instance, if users click on an ad, they expect to see a landing page with similar content.

For webpages initially created to gain organic traffic through keywords, focus on search intent or the motivation behind a search query. Intent represents what the user wants to achieve. Search engines aim to deliver the most relevant and helpful information to users. Thus, creating intent-centered content leads to higher rankings, organic traffic growth, and a conversion boost.

Conduct tests

With A/B or split testing on your web pages, you quickly detect the most critical factors contributing to your conversion optimisation strategies. Also, you can find what doesn't work at all.

A/B testing lets users compare two web page versions that differ by a single element, such as a headline or a CTA.

Here's what else you can A/B test:

• Images
• Body copy
• Form placement

Diversify CTAs

Adding CTAs in multiple forms and locations to your pages increases your chances of reaching higher conversion rates.

For instance, blog posts usually have a CTA in the conclusion. However, you might miss an opportunity to convert users who are interested in your brand yet haven’t finished reading the article. In the same way, CTA banners may also be ineffective because people scroll past them, given their visual similarity with ads.

However, integrating a combination of CTA buttons, in-text CTAs, banners, etc., gives users more chances to pay attention to your offer and eventually convert.

Remove distractions where possible

Add one prominent CTA to your page with as few surrounding distractions as possible to maximize optimal conversion chances.

For example, adding other links, like a navigation bar, may distract users from reacting to a CTA. Removing the navigation will reduce distractions and keep the user's focus solely on the desired action.

Improve page load speed

Improving your website's load speed enhances user experience, keeps users on the page longer, and enables higher conversion levels.

Here's what you can do to improve the page load speed:

• Compress images to reduce their sizes.
• Add fewer elements on the page, including images.
• Enable caching to let browsers locally store static resources.
• Implement lazy loading (images load only when reaching users' view).

Apply what you've seen in high-converting content

Detect the pages that drive the most conversions to define the most effective tactics, CTAs, keywords, etc. Thus, you can implement them on other pages, too. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) will help you with that.

Here’s how to run your website through GA4:

1. Launch the service and click “Reports” in the left sidebar.
2. Select “Engagement” under the Life Cycle tab.
3. Click "Pages and screens."
4. You’ll see a table showing the number of conversions your pages have driven. Click "All events" at the top of the “Conversions” column to filter the data by a specific type.

This way, you'll learn that particular pages were effective for driving a specific conversion type, like booking a demo or pre-ordering an item. Then, visit that page, identify the main conversion drivers, and use those elements on other pages. Here are several examples of such components:

• Catchy visuals
• A clear and readable copy
• Prominent CTA placement
• Actionable advice
• No navigation bar
• Conversational, jargon-free language

Prioritize above-the-fold content

Prioritizing above-the-fold content means focusing on web page elements users instantly see without scrolling down. Placing a CTA there captures users’ attention and encourages them to take your desired action faster.

Here’s how to optimize above-the-fold content on your website:

• Use compelling and concise messaging that clearly states your value proposition or the page's primary purpose.
• Make the main CTA instantly visible.
• Use catchy, high-quality visuals.
• Enable plenty of white space to ensure your page doesn’t look cluttered.

Reconsider your headlines and subheadings

Effective headlines highlight the critical information and CTA. In return, they optimize conversion rate and make your website content more scannable.

To make your headings as strong as possible, use action words like "drive," "enhance," and "increase." Also, add relevant keywords and highlight the most significant benefits of your products or services.

Run an SEO audit with Netpeak Spider

Netpeak Spider is your go-to app to ensure your website is well-groomed and working well. With this site crawler, you can monitor your website's key metrics in real time, download crawling results conveniently, and integrate data from other SEO tools for in-depth data research.

On top of that, Netpeak Spider is super easy to work with. Here's how to start crawling your website in a few simple steps:

1. Paste the URLs you need to check from a clipboard into the search bar.
2. Select the metrics you want to analyze.
3. Click "Start" to launch the crawling process.

And there’s more! Let’s look at some of Netpeak Spider's key features:

Data filters and segmentation

Netpeak Spider segments and breaks down the research data into categories. Thus, you can select the parameters you need to analyze simultaneously. An interactive dashboard provides access to customizable filters. With its help, change the data overview mode for more convenient usage.

Internal PageRank calculator

The PageRank calculator is a handy feature that monitors each page's internal linking, link weight distribution on any page, and the link equity your pages use or don't get.

Integrations with Google Analytics and Search Console

Retrieve stats from Google Analytics and Google Search Console to enrich the research results. Also, receive essential insights on traffic, page goals, conversion, and other key eCommerce parameters.

Check URLs for SEO parameters with Netpeak Checker

To ensure your website's SEO parameters positively impact your conversion rate optimisation strategy, Netpeak Checker comes in handy. This powerful tool offers multiple features and integrations with various SEO-related services. Here's what else you can do with Netpeak Checker:

Integration with 25 other services to analyze 450+ parameters

Netpeak Checker enables integrations with 25+ SEO services, including Moz, SimilarWeb, Ahrefs, Serpstat, and Google Analytics.

50+ on-page parameters

Netpeak Checker delivers research results within an interactive dashboard. Monitor redirects, titles, response time, status codes, mobile-friendliness, and more. Simply select the required parameters and click "Start."

Website traffic estimation

Netpeak Checker reflects the traffic volumes on a target page, potential link-building donors’ share ratios, and traffic by location. It also detects prevailing types of traffic on a target page (search, organic, direct, mail, social, etc.).

Batch Core Web Vitals checkup

Retrieve data from Google PageSpeed Insights and analyze your website's page load speed, responsiveness, and visual stability.

Integration with Google Drive & Sheets

Connect your Google Drive account to Netpeak Checker. Quickly export any report to Google Sheets and share it with your colleagues or partners anytime.

Summing up

For the sake of brevity, I’ll recap the hallmarks of CRO campaign in one image:

Business does not stand still. To survive, you need to grow bigger, and constantly think about improvements. The conversion rate indicates the work of the campaign as a whole: the success of advertising, the value of the product for the consumer, the effectiveness of innovations. After calculating the conversion rate, you can see the shortfalls in the work of your business and take further steps to improve lagging indicators.