Conversion optimization – Conversion Rate Optimization

Posted on | August 29, 2010 | 1 Comment

Are you looking for the best way to increase revenue? Wondering what may have been overlooked by that cracker-jack design agency who built your website? Disappointed by your numbers? Thought there was more money in that niche than you’re seeing?

Relax. Chances are, everything is just fine. Though you may be leaving money on the table that is within your grasp, the good news is a few simple changes can reset the course for you and gather in that missing revenue.

If you haven’t already heard of it, conversion optimization is the process of improving your website’s conversion paths to improve the capture of revenue. Often through a series of simple, small changes, websites see increased revenues. Too many times we focus on building the website, or integrating the latest shopping cart platform and overlook work items that when completed will help funnel users to conversion points faster and more directly.

And while conversion rate optimization (CRO) often includes actual work to your website, if just as often requires a new approach to showcasing content and selecting what content to showcase. Trust is a prerequisite for driving conversions, so you need to be looking for every opportunity to engender trust with your users. The combination of trust and straight-forward conversion pathways is a recipe for success.

While some feel conversion rate optimization work is common sense, it’s only common sense if you think to do the work yourself. Many successful companies turn to conversion optimization work, not because times are tough, but because they want to dot the “i”‘s and cross the “t”‘s. During the work, many are shocked to see such a difference in their conversions.

A few months ago, while writing my second book (Turn Clicks into Customers), I met Ben Jesson from www.conversion-rate-experts.com. After a few conversations, I knew he was the real deal and the work they did was solid. Ben came through for me big-time with excellent case studies around conversion optimization from their clients. Now, just a couple days ago, Ben reached out to let me know about their latest conversion optimization case study. Man, do I wish this had been available for my book!

Their latest work centers around the low cost holiday provider Sunshine.co.uk. Not surprisingly, their work together brought big improvements in the bottom line. How much of an improvement? They’re on track to have a year-on-year increase in revenue at the tune of more than $21 million USD! Check out the graph…

So you have to ask yourself: How well does your website convert? Could you benefit from conversion optimization work? I personally think every website could benefit from this type of work, as it yields amazing insights into how users interact with your website and points to seemingly obvious, yet overlooked, areas for improvements. If you are investing in search optimization to get more traffic, you need to be investing in conversion optimization to make sure you maximize your opportunities.

Conversion optimization is what will unlock the untapped potential in your current website, so before you redesign anything, invest in some conversion rate optimization work to see where work needs to be done. Then get cracking to claim that missed potential revenue.

Comments