How do you improve CRO (conversion rate optimization) when you aren’t flooded with traffic? This is a constant problem for small businesses and niche products that don’t command thousands of hits a day or even monthly.
Experts always talk about how important testing is, but if you don’t have a big enough sample, your tests will take too long and won’t give you accurate data.
So how are you supposed to improve CRO?
There are some basics that apply even if you don’t have enough traffic or the resources to run A/B tests. Try focusing on these key principles of conversion rate optimization:
Loading Speed
We have all developed the attention span of gnats! Here are some of the many statistics that prove humans’ diminishing lack of attention.
- 57% of visitors will abandon a page that takes 3 seconds or more to load.
- 47% of people expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less.
- Even a mere 1 second delay can result in 11% fewer page views, a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction, and 7% loss in conversions.
The younger your target audience is, the less time you have (thanks to TikTok).
Try some of these tools to analyze and improve your site speed
- Pingdom tests the load time of that page, analyzes it, and finds bottlenecks.
- Google PageSpeed Insights analyzes the content of a web page, then generates suggestions to make that page faster.
- YSlow tests web page performance against 23 rules they’ve identified as important.
- WebPageTest uses real browsers at consumer connection speeds and provides optimization recommendations.
- Lower load time by reducing image file sizes, using caching, and using a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Only One CTA Per Page
When developing a website or landing page, we tend to get lazy and cram too much into one page. But once you get your target to the webpage that is relevant, you need to focus on only one goal and one offer on that page.
Too often, we use the QVC strategy of “but wait, there’s more,” thinking our targets are already sold and are as excited to buy our product as we are.
Focus on what you want them to do on this page. For example, if this is middle-of-the funnel information, you may only want them to download an asset that gives them more detailed information and, in turn, gives you their email address.
Trying to present too much information is overwhelming and confusing.
Keep Page Layout Simple
This itself is simple: If an element on a page doesn’t get a visitor closer to action, get rid of it.
For example, if your page’s goal is to get visitors to subscribe to your email list or actually buy something, then that’s all you should focus on.
Every element on that page needs to support that one goal and pass the ruthless test: does this get my visitor closer to action?
The most notorious place for clutter is the homepage. Given the diversity of audience your homepage gets, the desire to give them plenty of “what if” options is natural.
Instead, focus your target’s attention on limited choices that get them to the answer to their next question about your brand.
Clarity
This spins off of the above need to answer your target’s questions. You only need to build pages around the visitor’s reason for being on your site.
Unfortunately, there are so many companies, both Ecommerce and B2B, that have enormous sites that take you down “rabbit holes” that you can never find your way back out. This was considered a “sticky site” a few years ago and considered a positive measurement that executives would love in the charts you could present and gain more budget allocation.
Today, we need to focus our target’s attention on what we want them to do or see next in alignment with their needs. And, we need to do it quickly *see Loading Speed above.
Keep the language simple, lead with benefits, and make pricing and CTAs clear.
Targeting Ideal Customers
To find your ideal customer, you must first get to know them. After all, the purpose of sales and marketing is to target a specific group of people, not all people.
Knowing your target audience’s aspirations, lifestyles, attitudes, and opinions is a must. This entails conducting audience research before posting anything online.
The simplest way to get to know your audience is to visit their favorite websites, hang out on their favorite social platforms, pay attention to the keywords they use, and pay even more attention to the words they use in forums, comments, and reviews. It’s referred to as “review mining.”
You can get word-for-word scripts from the people you’re trying to reach by digging into customer reviews on sites like Amazon, Yelp, Angie’s List, TrustRadius, and your own customer feedback.
Attention
You have an extremely limited amount of time to capture your target audience’s attention. Use your deadlines, messaging, and images to communicate what your product will help your target audience achieve.
Solutions to their problems are what your ideal customer is looking for. Make sure to position your solution effectively.
Desire
Desire is part of the attention-getting process. To optimize conversions, you need to address the two types of common human desires that apply to purchase decisions:
- Individual Desires: “What’s in it for me?”
This is more direct for B2C products than B2B. A person looking for a company solution has both personal desires (I need to present options for Tuesday’s meeting) and company desires (our current software solution will automatically renew next month and it’s not working well).
- Social Desires: “What are the people I like doing?”
This is why consumer brands advertise with actors and models that look like people you like. For companies, social proof is a common tool used on websites to demonstrate that these big brands are using our solution, so you should too.
Fear
Empathizing with your target to understand their fears also works to optimize conversions. While that may sound mean, you see it in advertisements for products all the time.
“Don’t miss out on this opportunity!”
You can use the PAS formula (problem, agitation, solution) to play on buyer fears and position your products. Using availability and time-based countdowns, you can add scarcity and urgency to your pages.
Trust
Building trust is a process you can develop by using client logos, awards, accreditations, and press coverage in your communications. But nothing helps more than current reviews and testimonials.
When to Delegate
All of these tasks will help if you have a team of capable, objective people on your team. Unfortunately, most companies only hire people who are enthusiastic supporters of their brand. This makes perfect sense for HR, but when you need a devil’s advocate, you may need to look beyond your team.
This is when CRO consulting is beneficial. Having an objective outsider with a full understanding of improving CRO can alert you to areas that you and your team are blind to. Reach out for a free consultation call to determine if a CRO audit or consultation is right for you.