Do you know what's unfortunate?

Only a fifth of businesses are happy with their conversion rate.

A fifth!

That's why even the smartest businesses are turning to integrating conversion rate optimization (CRO) into their digital marketing strategy.

However, optimizing the conversion rate can sometimes be misleading.

“Convert” doesn't mean just making a sale. Having a good conversion rate can represent all sorts of measurable things. Unless you clearly define what you want as a “conversion,” you won't be able to reach your goal.

Here's the goal: if you want to have a better conversion rate, you need to learn how to better articulate your customer experience to allow people to take the desired action.

In order to succeed as a digital marketer, you need to be able to optimize your marketing as you grow, making small changes that improve returns by 1% to 10% or more.

In this article, we are going to help you make it happen. We are going to talk about the optimization methodology, a procedure that you can repeat to improve the results on your website. We'll also talk about the jargon you need to know as an optimizer, the statistical data you need to take, and the roles within your organization in order to identify who's responsible.

The method for successfully optimizing the conversion rate

Let's start with some basics...

The main objective of optimization is to improve conversion rates according to Traffic you already have and generally with the assets at your disposal.

We're not going to deal with the topic of “how to gain website traffic,” but rather how to optimize your current traffic.

It is also important to know that optimization is a dedicated operation that you can replicate. It is not a one-time activity. You will work according to the procedure, then repeat the operation again. Because you can always improve your results, no matter how much you improve them, you can continue to go further.

That's why we describe the CRO process as a cycle:

You are going to start by setting your goals. You will identify the significant data, then analyze it in order to come up with a hypothesis. You'll design the variants, implement the technology, and test your hypotheses. Next, you will analyze the results so that you can come up with new sketches and ideas for new tests.

Afterwards, the operation just starts all over again. With optimization and testing, this cycle is repeated on an ongoing basis. At least if you do it right.

Now let's discuss what you're going to do at each stage of the cycle.

1-Identify your goals

A clearly defined objective marks the start of the operation. You need to remember that you can't optimize anything without clear goals. You need to be able to understand what you want to achieve.

Let's say you're going to try to optimize your home page. Let's take the Digital Marketer home page as an example.

However, remember that optimizing home pages is far from easy because several tasks must be done and everyone wants to put forward their own goals. The sales team goes out of their way to find new leads. On the other hand, the acquisition team is looking at the best strategy to convert traffic into email.

You understand the principle. Everyone is working to get a small space on the home page.

So here is the objective to be achieved: a home page allows you to indicate to visitors “you are here”. This interface allows them to give their opinion on the relevance of your business, and if so, they can specify where they are and where they should go.

A definition of one or more of the following three types of objectives is essential to optimize this operation:

• A short-term goal, such as a click or the execution of a form on a page.
• A campaign objective, such as leads generated or purchases.
• A long-term objective, such as the impact of your long-term cost, your net income, the average cost of your orders or the quality of your “leads”.

2-Collect your data

Once you have identified your objective, you need to set a baseline for your statistics. For each metric, include your current data, potential data (the numbers you're targeting), and user data.

Once you've set your goal, you need to provide a baseline for your stats. For each, include your current numbers, the numbers you want (the ones you want) and the data of your users.

Group this data together before making any assumptions.

For optimizers, this is rule number 1: leave aside all assumptions. You and your colleagues all have ideas about what works and what doesn't work, user expectations, and more. However, these ideas remain assumptions.

You should never make decisions based on assumptions. Review your concepts and let your users give you feedback on what's not working.

So where do you collect your data from?

• For your site statistics, go to Google Analytics.
• For statistics on user behavior, you can use a tool like TruConversion.
• For information about customers and their email, use the information offered by your email service like MailChimp.
• For payment information, take a look at your payment platform such as Stripe, Paypal, etc.

3-Analyzing dataThe secret to the success of CRO is the use of adequate data (which you have just collected) in order to launch relevant optimization campaigns.Analyze your data and ask yourself questions like these:

• What is my conversion rate? (And is that satisfying?) Use analytics or CRM data to get answers.
• What is weakening my conversion rate? Use user behavior data to understand user behavior.
• How or why does this have a negative impact on my conversion rate? In order to answer this question, you'll take the next step in the CRO process and develop a hypothesis.

4-Develop a hypothesisThis is the starting point for optimization.Without any assumptions, it is impossible for you to optimize because you have no idea what you need to improve. At this stage in the process, you know all the points that can put your conversion rates at a disadvantage. Now, you need to make assumptions about the method by which you are going to use to solve the problem you identified. How are you going to establish a hypothesis? It's a simple procedure, you just need to include these 3 elements:

• The innovation or approach you plan to test.
• Who do you plan to target with this innovation?
• Your expectations in terms of results.

The format should look like this:
We imagine what to do [1] For [2] Is going to do that [3] occurs.Your hypothesis should relate to your intention. You have to be very methodical about the results you want. You should also make sure that it is a measurable result that you can improve your results in particular ways.5-Find design variants.Your new hypothesis will be used in parallel with your data in order to obtain the variations you are going to test.

Remember that tests require time, both to create them and to execute them.

Since the number of tests to run on a site is unlimited, but in the event that your site is only generating low traffic, you should limit the number of tests you are going to run. Running a test and getting the results takes longer if your site is small.

In this case, if you have a low traffic site, be sure to run no more than 30 tests per year.

This means that you need to choose the best tests to run. You will have to improve your identification capacity in order to justify the page you intend to optimize.

If you have done a simple review and everything is working as it should, it will take between 9 and 11 days to go live. However, when an obstacle arises, you should be prepared for technical problems and other problems that can extend the duration of the operation by a few days.

Now let's move on to how this could play out in real life cases.

6-Change the Copy button

This test is easy. It only requires a few minor changes, which means it can be set up quickly. However, this is not very revealing, let alone evolutionary. What you can learn from this test will not have a significant effect on the other tests.

7-Create a new Tripwire control page

Since this is a major change, installation and startup take a lot longer. However, this procedure tells you more and your results can be used on other pages, so it's scalable.

Insider's tip : For a complex test like this, you'll need to build a mockup and then mount it in a landing page builder. Once your variant has been tested and validated, you will need to upgrade it for all equivalent offerings so that your test results can be used on all associated pages. In this case, it takes about a month to complete it.

8-Implement test technology

As soon as your variant is created, you need to add all the technology needed to make the changes you are testing.

You can't do this without the right technology. You need a few tools like the Visual Website Optpimizer, Google Analytics, and Truconversion.

9-Run your testIt is also important to determine when is the right time to do or not to do a test. To do this, you need to qualify your test. First, ask yourself: can you perform the test? Each test should be performed until it reaches statistical relevance. Otherwise, your test results will not be reliable. The time it takes to get statistical relevance depends on how many variants you're testing and how many conversions you're dealing with on a daily basis.What is “statistical relevance”? It is the act of mathematically proving the reliability of your results. If you stop your test early, your test won't generate enough information to test the reliability of your hypothesis. If you spent more time on your test, this case shouldn't have happened, the numbers would have shown them. It's more difficult to get statistical relevance if you don't have a lot of traffic. Without traffic, you won't have enough data. Once you've set up your test, if you notice signs of an anomaly or failure, you can stop the test. For example, if you get results from day one, there's an anomaly. Pause the test and identify the problem. If on the 12th day, the numbers are still below 80%, the test does not work. You need a realistic approach to find the right measure. As a CRO, your aim is to limit risks while testing innovative ideas. In this case, if a test has a malfunction and the traffic source is organic, you can still start it. If it's a paid traffic source, the longer the test is, the more money you're going to lose. So you should think about ending it sooner. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself to know if you should take a test:

• Is it a functional problem with a clear solution? If it's just a functional issue, you're giving up on the test.
• Does this page have a direct impact on the long-term goal or on the campaign? If yes, perform the test.
• Are there other test options that can have a bigger impact? If yes, turn to this option.
• Can these instructions be applied to other parts of the site? If not, move forward carefully. You will have more value thanks to a test whose results have a real effect on several pages of your site than on a test that only gives you one thing.
• Can I start the test (or the option that works) over a reasonable period of time? With no resources to start the test or add options that work, you're better off giving up to avoid wasting time.

10-Analyze the data

At the end of the test, you need to move on to analyzing the results. This allows you to answer “why” and feed into your next test.

During this stage of the process, you will complete 5 important tasks:

• Sharing increases or losses
• Define the “why”
• Writing a report
• Store your data
• Sharing results with stakeholders

In the report, you'll need to insert the test title, timeline, statistics, options, and analyze the long numbers. Then move on to what you have learned about the test and the decisions to be made as a result. During your analysis, you should ask yourself:

• Did you have a profit, a loss or a zero result?
• If the results are the opposite of your hypothesis, why?
• Do I need to take the test again? Are there any possibility of unusual facts about the test that may make the results questionable.
• How can you use data in other experiences?

Now, use these results to determine your new goals and get back to the process. As noted above, testing and optimizing is supposed to be a routine procedure for your marketing plan. Each test should lead you to another, and every small change will bring you significant growth.Optimization and Test JargonYou need to know these terms in order to be able to talk about conversion rate optimization in a meaningful way.Conversion
The visitor action that you plan to improve with the campaign (for example, registering for a webinar, adding a product to the cart, etc.) You should know that you need to determine your conversion actions. Define clearly what you are testing, your target, and the most important statistic in evaluating your results.Control
The test page that is not part of the test. In conversion tests, the control is the page that is converting better at the moment. Each new variation is tested compared to the control. So in an A/B test, A is in control. The version of your test, or variation (see above) is therefore B.Variation
The target page you tested on. For example, the variants page should be more advanced compared to the control page.Insider's tip: Give your variants a name in the test to make it easier to identify each key element. Here is what it should look like:

• Control — complete form
• Variant 1 — shortened form
• Variant 2 — email only
• Variant 3 — form + analysis

Quantitative data
This is data that can be quantified numerically. “Computational objects”, such as:

• Unique visits
• Enrollment
• Purchases
• Order amount

Qualitative data
This is descriptive data. “People's opinions” are difficult to study, but most of the time lead to a circumstance that allows you to obtain quantitative data. This includes:

• Activity mapping
• Session recording
• Analysis forms

To assess
The life of optimizers is inseparable from numbers. So what are the most important numbers when doing a test?Conversion rate
The rate is calculated by dividing the number of conversions (with no exceptions) by the total number of visitors to your test page.Percentage increase
The rate of change between two variants (this is not the difference between two numbers). To calculate the percentage increase, here is the formula to use: In this case, if the difference is 1%, the rate of increase is 10%.Trust rate
On a technical level, it concerns: “The percentage of instances in which a set of tests established in an identical manner will capture the concrete (accurate) average of the system tested within a range of values mentioned around the precise value measure of each test.” To simplify, you are trying to prevent false positives. Because of this, the confidence percentage shows how confident you can be that your test is accurate. For example, let's say your confidence percentage is 95%. This proves that you should carry out your campaign 100 times, the 95 tests you have carried out result in decisive variants.It is a common mistake to want to interpret this operation as a “chance” when you get the same results. As if the 95% confidence percentage would mean that you have a 95% chance of having the same results with another test. Here, there is no room for luck. We calculate the accuracy. You may notice small differences with each test. The confidence percentage means you can see the difference, but not the degree of difference.Conversion interval“Conversion rate” is an inadequate term. This term gives you the impression that your tests are giving you an exact number that you can call a “conversion rate.” In concrete terms, be prepared to get conversions in an interval that is not at all precise. For an interval of 30.86% to 36.38%, you will have an average of 33.59%. Be aware that the two tests overlap slightly. Your objective is to break the encroachment in order to obtain a decisive variant.Roles: who is a CRO on your team? Here are the 3 roles to whom the mission of optimization and testing is generally entrusted.

Acquisition
The person in charge of acquiring new leads and customers should find the best way to optimize in order to get more conversions.
Despite the fact that this role is not directly involved in optimization, they need to be able to define whether the expected results are lower than expected or if problems have broken into the page.

Commercialization
A marketing professional should be able to unravel the strategy behind optimizing the conversion rate at each stage of the process.

He must know the sources of optimization (at least) in order to be able to determine the origin of possible problems, whether related to optimization, acquisition or qualification.

IT/Web Developer or Designer
Most of the time, the optimization of the conversion rate includes technical elements requiring the assistance of the members of the technical team, responsible for creating web pages.

You need to make sure that these people are aware of your tests. On some occasions, the designer won't share your views on the solutions you wanted to provide, and this allows them to understand what they're creating and why.

Likewise, if you use optimization tools that allow you to make the changes yourself, notify everyone involved in your test. Otherwise, they will notice the changes on the website and ask themselves why the “validated” language or design was changed.

The objective to be achieved

If you don't want to be among the marketers who are disappointed with their conversion rates, you need to find an alternative method of approaching digital marketing.

You don't have to just improvise and wait for results.

The only solution to improve your conversion rates is to start testing and optimizing.

It is not a one-size-fits-all activity. It must be integrated into your company culture if you really want to develop your business.