What You Should Know about Conversion Optimization

In Jana Fung’s recent webinar, she talked about the scientific method behind conversion optimization. Conversion optimization is similar to the act of performing a desired action. It could be different for everybody. For some, it could be a desired action for more pages because of ownership of a blog where the author wants more pages for more ads. It could also be desired action for someone who needs calls to action, which means a filled out form or a dialed phone number. It could also be for some form of e-commerce.

As for optimization, is it that you just want to make something better? Or do you want to make it the best. The first step for optimization is always to look at your numbers and recognize what needs improvement. Then set a plan on how exactly to do that. We’ve already discussed how to conduct a successful landing page test, and you should also always keep that in mind when you’re planning to optimize your page.

You need to optimize your site so that as many visitors as possible are buying your product, signing up for your email newsletter or meeting the other marketing objectives you have set.” -GrowthDevil.com

Tools for Optimization

If you need help in optimizing your conversion rates, you can always ask for an expert’s opinion. Here are some of the world’s best conversion rate specialist:

1. UK – Ben Hunt, Conversion Rate Optimization
2. Canada – WiderFunnel
3. USA – Creative Thirst, Conversion Scientist, ConversionXL, ConversionVoodoo, BlueAcom

Now, what can we learn from them? What will we see in their test? What we’ll actually see is an improvement in their clients’ conversion rate. Conversion rate is the ratio of visitors that take the desired action to the total number of visitors. If you have a thousand visitors in your site and your desired action is for them to sign up for your newsletter and only a hundred signed up, then your conversion rate is 10%.

Know your Conversion Rate

Before you start conversion optimization, you should first know your initial rate. You can start analyzing your site by installing an analytics tool and any conversion rate app shown in the list above. This will enable you to calculate your conversion rate. You will be able to track how many unique visitors make purchases on your site, how many unique visitors subscribe on your newsletter, or how many pages your unique visitors visit.[Tweet “Make sure that anything that affects your conversion is being monitored and cataloged”]The data gathered here will be your baseline for optimization. You can start optimizing your pages as soon as you have gathered enough information.

The Big Picture

There are different theories on how to improve conversion rates. There are also different methodologies. We will look into some of the actual landing page tests gathered from industry leading marketers and see what we can learn from their experiments. Then we’ll try to unify everything that we’ll learn from them.

We may talk about the different methods for improving your landing pages, but we often forget that the most important part of all this is our customers. You should know what drives your business. You should know what your clients want from the experience. Talk to your users and get an idea what they want. Talking is actually more  than just listening. Let them talk, listen to what they want, and ask why they want it. You can then put them in front of a computer and let them evaluate your site. You can learn so much from this. Keep in mind that there will be harsh evaluations, but just take it in stride, just listen, and always make notes. If you want to learn more about the scientific method behind conversion optimization, your can view the entire MixRank webinar here.