Conversion rate optimization (CRO) refers to the process of increasing the rate of conversions from a website or an app. This is an essential tool used by digital marketers to achieve their desired goal effectively (e.g., sales, new user signup, and social shares).
CRO improves website performance. This leads to the main objective: increasing the percentage of leads that perform specific actions. Brand goals differ, influencing the type of conversion (micro or macro conversion) they utilize.
For instance, a startup might focus on micro-conversions like building an email list via an opt-in form. At the same time, established companies might be more intent on increasing product sales.
CRO for local search helps marketers target prospective customers within a defined geographical location. Understanding how CRO works could be the difference between just attracting web visitors and converting them into leads, prospects, and customers.
An Overview of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Conversion rate optimization centers around two key concepts:
- Conversion involves a target user completing a brand goal.
- Conversion rate refers to the percentage of users that complete the desired action.
A high conversion rate meets an established conversion goal faster. Depending on the business or its industry, the conversion goal differs.
For instance, the average conversion rate for fashion eCommerce sites ranges between 1.5-2.1 percent. In comparison, B2B services and finance are 5.9 and 5.8 percent, respectively.
The conversion rate varies for different industries, serving as a standard benchmark when implementing CRO. But some business owners may raise it to fast-track their CRO progress to meet their target.
Regardless, a “good” conversion rate determines whether a company makes healthy business profit or would struggle to break even. Here are two types of conversion rates:
- Site-based conversion rate. This focuses on conversion occurring on a specific web page or the overall site.
- Session-based conversion rate. This considers the number of completed tasks per web session.
Conversion Rate Formula
Understanding the conversion rate formula is essential in calculating a website’s conversions. A conversion rate is the percentage of the number of conversions divided by the total visitors.
In K-12 Math, Conversion rate=number of conversions/total visitors X 100.
Here’s a short example of how it works:
A small business has 3,000 web visitors in one day, and only 50 of them take specific actions. The conversion rate would be 50/3000 = 1.666 (i.e. approximately 1.67 percent)
How to Buildd a CRO Strategy
Developing a CRO strategy provides an actionable plan for improving website conversions. Follows these five steps to buildd a CRO strategy:
- Perform a CRO website analytics
- Analyze competitor’s website UX
- Acquire user insight
- Prioritize CRO ideas
- Refine CRO ideas
Perform a CRO website analytics
The first step to a CRO website analytics is research. It provides insight into crucial web pages requiring optimization. Google Analytics is a go-to tool for website research, helping businesses track valuable data.
With it, marketers can collect data about their audience demographic, bounce, and conversion rate. On-site analysis is another effective method for buildd-ing a CRO strategy. It focuses on web page usability, appearance, and clarity.
Analyze Competitor’s Website UX
It’s significant to understand how competitors engage people on their web pages. This helps marketers identify a website’s strength/weakness in relation to a competitor’s.
Utilize elements in the CRO web analytics in examining competitors’ websites. This helps brands identify areas for improvement.
Acquire User Insight
A vital function of CRO for local search is designing memorable user experiences. Brands need insight to determine if their website UX improves user satisfaction.
User testing allows a target audience to test a web app before launching it. This provides feedback on the effectiveness and efficiency of the website.
Prioritize CRO Ideas
Rank CRO ideas to determine those crucial to the brand’s success. For instance, eCommerce platforms would focus squarely on optimizing product landing pages.
Businesses can prioritize CRO ideas based on impact confidence and effort (i.e. ICE model). Impact spotlights the effect of CRO ideas on conversion rate.
Confidence shows how comfortable a brand is with CRO ideas. And effort involves tasks and time required to make CRO ideas fruitful.
Refine CRO Ideas
As companies grow, they need fresh CRO ideas to meet conversion goals. To do this effectively, marketers need to brainstorm and collaborate with personnel like sales and ad managers.
Benefits of CRO in SEO: Where to Apply It for Impressive Results
Conversion rate optimization can help businesses achieve their SEO goals. CRO functions at the “bottom of funnel'' (BOFU) marketing.
While SEO fills the “top of funnel” (TOFU) up with leads. Most marketers utilize them together to boost sales and understand more about their target audience.
Here are five more benefits of CRO for local search:
-
Insightful decisions
CRO provides relevant data which improves the quality of business decisions and helps improve the conversion processes. For example, A/B testing checks the best version of two web pages or apps that would deliver the optimal conversion result. -
Capture marketing qualified leads
CRO for local search attracts marketing qualified leads (MQLs). MQLs are leads most likely to take the desired action (as opposed to general leads). Brands can do this with strategic keywords in CTAs (more on this later) -
Higher ROI
CRO for local search optimizes marketing effort and resources. For instance, a local restaurant can harness CRO to convert its web visitors to customers.
It can do this with available leads. Also, it increases conversion when SEO drives in more traffic. Plus, CRO doesn’t end in SEO. Apply it with other tools like paid advertising (like retargeting ads) to boost ROI. -
Cost-effective
SEO and CRO are cost-effective marketing tools. CTAs alone have an average conversion rate of 4.23 percent and require no marketing cost for implementation.
This simple technique applied with leadflows can significantly increase conversion. For example, marketers can insert CTAs in blog posts to offer free services to readers or direct them to more informational content. -
Elevates scalability
A startup audience may not increase as the brand grows. CRO for local search would still help companies optimize their available audience. Plus, businesses with effective CRO strategies would increase conversion as they generate new leads.
Website Areas to Apply a CRO Strategy
These are four sections of a website where conversion rate optimization provides incredible benefits:
-
Landing page
Landing pages have an average conversion rate of 9.7 percent across all industries. This is a valuable web area to build leads and convert customers. For instance, a landing page can highlight a product’s function via a short, engaging product preview. -
Pricing page
CRO can help brands optimize their pricing page. This influences prospects and steers the price conversation in the company’s favor.
Let’s consider Flexiple (our sister site). The platform lists some tech talents’ service pricing right on the homepage.
Employers don’t need to access the pricing page to know what it costs to hire tech skills. But Flexiple still has a separate contact form to help recruiters get started with the right talent. -
Blog
A brand that delivers insightful and engaging content can buildd a reputation as an industry thought leader. A blog is a valuable opportunity for this. It empowers CRO for local search, buildd-ing leads, and converting prospects. -
Homepage
A homepage is often a website’s first touch-point with its target users, and first impression matters here. Implement CRO with crystal clear and simple information about the brand’s offerings.
Also, add a conversion channel. For instance, pop-up forms can help companies collect information about their audience.
8 Effective Strategies for Implementing CRO for Local Search
Here’s a list of some actionable conversion strategies for applying CRO for local search
Test and Optimize Your Local Landing Page
A local landing page is an incredible avenue to initiate local conversion actions. For instance, small businesses can apply this to attract leads and gain new customers within a region.
CRO techniques like A/B testing and local landing page optimization effectively achieve this. A/B testing examines two digital variants (e.g. two different landing pages) to identify the one that can deliver the optimal results.
Other examples of variants often include web copy, apps, etc. Marketers can integrate NAP (name, address, and phone number) with appealing designs into local landing pages.
This lets prospects and active customers spot and contacts a business via digital maps.
Integrate Keywords that Convert
Understanding search intent can help marketers identify the keywords to attract qualified leads. For instance, businesses can implement informational keywords in blog posts to educate their target audience.
These types of keywords often have a prefix like “what,” “why,” and “how.”
Additionally, blogs can integrate navigational keywords to direct web users to a specific page.
Try this: search “Buildd.co marketing.” This takes you directly to our blog page containing content on digital marketing.
Furthermore, companies focused on increasing sales should explore transactional keywords. Examples are “purchase,” “for sale,” “buy,” “discount,” and “deals.” Web users applying these words in their search query intend to buy a product/service instantly.
Improve Web Page CTAs
A call-to-action (CTA) encourages users to perform a specific and simple task. And content marketers have an unwritten agreement about it: “include text-based CTAs at the bottom of blog posts.”
Doing this alone may not yield desired results. On average, web users tend to read only 20 percent of a web page content.
This indicates brands might not capture their attention with CTAs in only one position. This doesn’t require replacing an entire article content with just CTAs.
Instead, you can insert standalone text-based CTAs within the content. Also, you can style them as Headers (H3 or H4) on a product or landing page.
This calls for attention and improves conversion. Aside from action-packed texts, CTA buttons can come in banners and interactive designs.
Optimize Brand Localization
CRO for local search focuses on attracting customers within a specific region. And brand localization is another approach to achieving this effectively. It helps businesses fit their products to a new market/locality.
For instance, a restaurant can list food menus in a language native to the place it serves. Plus, brands can hire local experts to help them connect to develop an authentic customer relationship.
Furthermore, update online maps if you have a new physical store within a specific locality. This helps customers find business online when they search for it and want to make a purchase.
Input Leadflows and Chat Options
Leadflows direct a target audience to take defined actions. They are often available as pop-up forms or drop-down banners.
For instance, HubSpot Lead Flows can help small businesses register new users. Understanding how to design leadflows is essential for optimizing your conversion strategy.
Structure them to align with a desired webpage, and improve user experience. Also, input-bold callouts in leadflows to prompt users to act.
Chat options are also valuable in customer acquisition. Live chat alone has a conversion rate of 12 percent, while chatbots have a 35-40 percent response rate.
Utilize Social Proof
Social proofs are testimonials or customer reviews of a brand’s product or service. Brands can leverage this user-generated content to build brand trust in prospects.
Data shows that 88 percent of buyers trust user reviews. This makes social proof valuable in CRO for local search and can significantly increase sales.
Social media, emails, and branding are effective for gathering social proof. For instance, marketers can send follow-up emails for reviews or promote social media contests with branded hashtags.
Consistently Align Brand Content with Customer Persona
Buyer persona refers to a detailed description of a brand’s ideal customer. This helps companies focus on the right market with their target audience, enhancing CRO for local search.
Statistics show that 92 percent of businesses attract high-quality leads with an accurate buyer persona. To develop a buyer persona, determine your brand’s high-value users.
Next, collect details like age, budget, demographics, and location. This will help you tailor brand content to your user’s preferences. Repeat the steps for all the products/services your brand offers.
Utilize Retargeting to Re-engage Leads
It's safe to say people visit friends they haven't seen in a while. Retargeting is similar to this: reconnecting a brand to previous leads and driving them to take action.
For instance, marketers can reach out to prospects that didn’t complete an order on a product landing page. This is essential as most website visitors don’t perform desired actions.
Retargeting also tracks leads and positions ads on other web pages that redirect them to yours. This significantly boosts CRO when focused on the highest-converting web pages.
Your brand should apply a standard inbound rule: design compelling ad copies with engaging visuals. The result of retargeting? Website visitors are 70 percent likely to convert when retargeted.
CRO in Action: Real-world Examples to Get Started
Examining some CRO applications can help brands understand how the process works. Let’s explore X of our CRO for local search techniques:
-
Buildd Landing Page CTA
We integrated CTA buttons in every section of our SEO course landing page. We designed this to help our audience (startup buildd-ers) signup easily. This has impacted the conversion rate, with over 11,600 subscribers at the time of writing. -
Learner’s Dashboard CTA
Buildd learner’s dashboard contains several CTA designed to help students access more digital marketing lessons. For instance, a CTA on top of the course page offers free daily SEO tips via our mobile applications.
Also, every tile on this page is clickable. And a small pop-up form prompting users to signup appears when clicked. -
Social Media Shares Articles
We improved our link buildd-ing, adding a query parameter to the URL leading to our lesson content. This opens a pop-up with an article in the background, sharing it on social media instead of the usual article URL.
It gave our audience a sneak peek into what they would gain by subscribing to our free courses. We had impressive results: there were 100-150 newsletter signups compared to 50-60 before the improvement.
CRO FAQs
We delved deep into conversion rate optimization. However, some frequently asked questions about it that need answers. This includes:
What is the significance of CRO?
CRO is a valuable tool for identifying and mitigating conversion roadblocks. It helps businesses maximize lead and prospect conversions from available web traffic.
Furthermore, it optimizes sales channels like landing pages, increasing prospect-customer conversion rate.
What are the conversion optimization tools?
CRO tools are powerful software that makes the processes involved in conversion rate efficient and automatic.
This includes lead capture, analytics, and mouse tracking. Some popular CRO tools are Google Analytics and Survey Monkey.
Is conversion rate a significant KPI?
Yes, conversion rate is an important key performance index. It helps you measure conversion goals. This often includes lead-prospect and prospect-customer conversion.
Entrepreneurship
