Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) is the process of increasing the percentage of users who complete a desired action, known as a conversion. This desired action could include a range of different things, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or making a call – these are dependent on the business’s goals.
CRO is an ongoing process of implementing and testing website changes (A/B testing), to improve user experience and gradually boost conversion rates. These changes are usually data-driven and designed to remove obstacles, improve messaging, and guide users toward a desired action (conversion). This digital marketing strategy can include optimising on-site elements such as site navigation and user experience, to drive users to convert.
How Do You Calculate Conversion Rate?
To calculate the conversion rate, divide the number of conversions by the total number of visitors, then multiply the result by 100.
Conversion Rate Formula: Conversion Rate calculated by (Conversions / Total Visitors) × 100. You can also use a conversion rate calculator to check your site’s performance.
Why is Conversion Rate Important?
Conversion rate is important because it allows you to measure the impact of your marketing efforts and gives you an idea of what works and what doesn’t. You can have thousands of visitors, but if no one takes action, then it means your traffic isn’t driving results.
Why is CRO Important?
Conversion Rate Optimisation is important because it helps you to get more out of the traffic that you already have. Instead of just focusing on bringing people to your site, CRO looks at why visitors aren’t converting and what you can do to fix it. By making specific, measurable and targeted improvements, you can increase sales, leads, or signups without needing to spend more on paid search ads.
CRO helps you to guide visitors more effectively through their user journey, removing obstacles or barriers that stop them from taking a desired action. This gives you valuable insights into user behaviour that you can use to optimise your website.
What is SEO vs CRO?
SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of driving traffic to your website, and Conversion Rate Optimisation focuses on making that traffic perform a desired action (a conversion). SEO and CRO often work together, but with slightly different targets, aims and activities. Here’s how they compare:
| Aspect | SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) | CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation) |
|---|---|---|
| Main goal | Increase organic traffic to your site. | Increase the percentage of visitors who convert. |
| What it improves | How well your site shows up on Google and other search engines. | How user-friendly your site is and how well it convinces users to take action. |
| Key activities | Using keywords, content marketing, and optimising site speed. | Testing layouts, changing buttons/text and improving user experience. |
| Success looks like | More website visits and higher positioning in search results pages. | More sales, calls or signups. |
| Summary | SEO brings people to your site. | CRO turns them into customers. |
How Do You Optimise Conversion Rate?
To optimise conversion rate, you should ensure your landing pages are designed to convert users, collect/analyse data from your site, explore how users interact with different elements of your website, and run intricate testing to establish what works.
Here are some more specific tips and tools that can help you get started:
Create High-Converting Landing Pages
A key part of CRO is making sure your landing pages are built to convert. Whether your goal is to generate leads, drive purchases, or encourage signups, your landing page needs to guide users toward a clear action, without any distractions or barriers.
Here are the essential parts of a high-converting landing page:
- Clear Value Proposition
Ensure there is a clear and concise heading (H1) that tells users exactly what your business offers, and why it matters.
- Strong Visual Focus
There should be a strong visual focus on the page, for example, a picture of a product or a headshot to create a personal connection. Visual elements help users to understand and trust what you’re offering, faster than just text.
- Highlighted Features and Benefits
Users should be able to discern, almost instantly, the features of your product/service, and why this directly benefits them.
- A Clear, Focused CTA
The page should guide the user seamlessly to the main, desired CTA (Call-to-Action). Keep your CTA clear, visible and in line with where the user is on their journey.
- Proof of Success
Testimonials are an excellent way to demonstrate that your product or service delivers real value. When potential customers see that other customers have had a positive experience, it builds trust and makes them more likely to convert.
You can also pull through Google reviews, use case studies of client success stories, and use certification/accreditation badges to demonstrate authority and experience. This will significantly improve trust signals like E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness), which can improve visibility within the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) and increase conversion rate.
Using Heatmaps and Analytics for Conversion Rate Optimisation
When performing CRO, it is incredibly important to be able to find out how users interact with your site. This helps you to identify where visitors are clicking, scrolling, getting stuck and dropping off your site, making it easier to make targeted changes that will actually make a difference to conversion rate.
Heatmap tools, such as Hotjar, show the behaviour of users on a particular page, highlighting areas that get the most/least attention, and give you an insight into what needs changing.
Heatmaps allow you to spot:
- Dead zones where users aren’t engaging.
- Overlooked CTAs that might need repositioning.
- Distractions which are pulling focus from key areas/actions.
- Scroll depth, showing how far users get through a page before dropping off.
- High click zones where users are frequently clicking.
Tools such as Google Analytics also provide valuable data, which shows how users are interacting with your website. You can find data on which pages your users visit, how long they stay, where they drop off and which actions they take. Google Analytics is highly customisable, allowing you to track specific events that matter the most to your business. You can set up tracking for actions like button clicks, form submissions and video views, giving you detailed insight into how users are interacting with your site.
By combining heatmap data with analytics data, you can make more informed decisions about the targeted changes you make – eventually leading to a better user experience and a higher conversion rate.
Consider A/B Testing
A/B testing allows you to compare two versions of a website (or app), to see which performs better. You should test just one change at a time, so that, when you make a change that improves conversion rate, you’re able to pinpoint exactly what you’ve done.
Optimizely is a great tool for running A/B Tests, as it makes it easy to test changes on your website without needing to code. It also provides built-in analytics to help you find out what is working and what isn’t.
Final Thoughts
With the increase of SGE (Search Generative Experience) tools like AI Overview, Chat GPT, and Gemini AI, digital marketing is becoming more and more competitive, so businesses now need to do more within their strategy, to ensure they stay visible.
As search engines progress, and users expect faster, more seamless experiences, simply attracting traffic is no longer enough. That’s why Conversion Rate Optimisation is so important. By learning how people actually use your website, and by making small, targeted improvements, you can turn more of your visitors into customers, giving you an advantage over your competitors.
For more information about how we can help you with Conversion Rate Optimisation for your site, contact our friendly team of experts today!
