What is Conversion Optimization (CRO)? ... and why should you care?
Learn how optimizing your website, app, LPs and marketing channels will achieve maximum performance + profit.
What is CRO?
OFFICIAL DEFINITION:
Conversion Optimization, sometimes referred to as CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)*, is a digital marketing specialty in which we make strategic optimizations to your digital platforms + marketing channels and validate the effectiveness of updates via data-driven testing. It’s the art of turning visitors into customers and continuously refining your online presence.
The result? Measurable performance increases = more sales, more leads, more engagement, more money!
What is a conversion?
A conversion is when a user takes action and does what you want. All your digital assets have a purpose – there’s a reason you created them be it for sales, leads or followers. When they accomplish their mission with success, you’ve got a conversion.
You likely have multiple conversion goals for your marketing. Usually the top #1 goal is sales or sign ups (something that makes you money!). Secondary goals that create lead nurturing might be users signing up for your email newsletter or following you on social media. Those are valuable user actions that could eventually lead to achievement of conversion goal #1: making you money!
EXAMPLES OF CONVERSIONS:
- Purchase (sales)
- Sign up
- Contact or request information (lead)
- Engagement (time on site)
- Follow
TIME FOR MATH 🤓
What's your conversion rate?
Your website conversion rate is the percentage of site visitors that achieve your desired conversion action. Calculate it by dividing the number of conversions by the number of visitors.
Example: Imagine you have a website that sells sparkle socks and your top conversion goal is increasing sock sales. You have 50,000 site visitors each month and sell 1,000 socks. Let’s do the math:
- Conversion rate = (Number of conversions / Number of visitors) * 100
- Example in action = (1,000 / 50,000) * 100
- Sparkle sock site sales conversion rate = 2%
What's your revenue?
Revenue is the total money you earn. Calculate it by multiplying your visitors by your conversion rate by your lifetime customer spend.
Example: Nice work, you sold 1,000 socks to 50,000 visitors. Your lifetime customer spend is $10. Let’s do the math:
- Revenue = Visitors * Conversion Rate * Lifetime Customer Spend
- Example in action = 50,000 * 2% * 10
- Sparkle sock site revenue = $10,000 earned
What's your profit?
Profit is the amount of money you make after all expenses have been paid. Calculate it by subtracting costs from revenue.
Example: You make $10,000 in sparkle sock sales, but it costs $4,000 to keep your business up and running every month.
- Profit = Revenue - Costs
- Example in action = 10,000 - 4,000
- Sparkle sock site profit = $6,000
THE POWER OF CRO 💥
What if your Conversion Rate Increases?
Here’s why conversion optimization is pure magic: if you double your conversion rate you’ll double your revenue and your profit skyrockets. With zero additional ad spend!
Example: let’s pretend we make some strategic site optimizations and are able to increase the sparkle sock site conversion rate from 2% to 4% (totally doable, BTW). Here’s how the numbers change:
DOUBLE YOUR CONVERSION RATE = DOUBLE YOUR REVENUE
- Revenue = Visitors * Conversion Rate * Lifetime Customer Spend
- Example in action = 50,000 * 4% * 10
- Sparkle sock site revenue = $20,000 earned (that's double!)
Did you see that? When the conversion rate went from 2% to 4% the site revenue went from $10k to $20k. With ZERO extra dollars spent on ads.
DOUBLE YOUR CONVERSION RATE = PROFITS GROW EXPONENTIALLY
Profits are even more sensitive to a conversion rate increase than revenue. That’s because only your variable costs like shipping or fulfillment increase – your fixed costs stay the same. So let’s say your revenue doubles, increasing by 100% but your costs just go up 20%. Using the sparkle sock site example, here’s how that would look:
- Profit = Revenue - Costs
- Example in action = 20,000 - 4,800
- Sparkle sock site profit = $15,200 in profits (a 153% increase!)
When revenue doubles but costs increase minimally, profits increase exponentially!! In this example profits went up 153% from $6,000 to $15,200 – wow! Of course these are example numbers, but you get the point. The bigger the numbers we are playing with the more impactful this profit growth will be.
CRO HELPS YOU GROW
What will you do with all that extra money?
Now that your revenue and profits are higher, it pays big to re-invest a portion of those profits in additional advertising.
When you have a great conversion rate, every advertising dollar provides a higher return on investment (ROI). Additional traffic converts more customers and every one of those conversions earns you more and more money.
You know what more customers + more money means? You are growing, baby! And it makes you unstoppable: When you have a higher profit per visitor than your competition, you’ll pull ahead and dominate the market. The bigger you get, the more serious your advantage becomes and the harder it is for competitors to catch up. There is a reason that super companies like Amazon, Google, or AirBnb have entire departments dedicated to conversion optimization.
- More ads = more traffic = more conversions = more $$$ = GROWTH
Conversion optimization can be the super tactic that explodes your business and allows you to expand. NOW you get why I call it marketing magic 😉
LET'S GET YOU RESULTS
Ready to experience the power of CRO?
Since even a small conversion rate increase makes a big financial impact, your investment in conversion optimization will easily pay for itself. It’s proven to be one of the best uses of your marketing dollars.
Working with a seasoned professional guarantees your CRO success, so let me help! Check out my RESULTS page so you know what to expect when you work with me. Or reach out now to claim your personal consultation + quote:
Want to work with me? Let's talk👇🏻
*A note about words:
I use the term Conversion Optimization but you may have also heard this marketing niche called Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) or Customer Journey Optimization (CJO) or Conversion Volume Optimization (CVO) or Customer Value Optimization (CVO)… or the list goes on! All of those terms are valid.
Personally, I chose to keep my labeling generic and use the terms that are most commonly recognized. What REALLY matters is that you optimize the correct metric for your company. When you’re my client I work with you to discover exactly what optimization tactic will be most impactful for you and tailor my approach to meet your unique needs and goals.
About Amber
Making + optimizing websites, digital platforms and marketing channels for 15 years! Currently offering conversion optimization and digital marketing consulting services to private clients and agencies.
My clients enjoy BIG conversion boosts:
- $370k additional revenue per year for a professional education company
- 68% increase in client user base for an education technology company
- 35% more purchases after a landing page optimization
- 222% increase in sales calls booked after email optimization for a technology tool product
- 119% conversion rate increase for app landing page clickthroughs
- 39% increase in leads or an education company
