what is CRO

This post was originally published in March 2014 and completely updated in August 2020. SEO, SMO, CMO, UXO, CRO… What does it all even mean? It’s another one of those alphabet soups that digital marketers love, but make the rest of us want to pull out our hair. However, if you look closely, you might notice something. Each of these acronyms has something in common. It’s one word: optimization… Something else that digital marketers love. Whether it’s the user experience, the search engine rankings, or the conversion rate of a website, savvy digital marketers will attempt to optimize anything and everything. We’re going to focus on that last one right now: conversion rates. According to research by Wordstream, the average conversion rate for a website hovers around 3%. But the top 10% of any given industry will demonstrate conversion rates of 11.45%. How do you aspire to that jaw-dropping percentage? You use one of the most powerful yet underrated tools in digital marketing: conversion rate optimization. Let’s explore! [bctt tweet=”What is CRO, or conversion rate optimization? It’s the process of tweaking your website & content to generate better conversions from existing traffic. In other words, convince them to ACT! More on the Write Blog ➡” username=”ExpWriters”] What Is CRO in Marketing? CRO stands for conversion rate optimization. According to HubSpot, it’s the process of adjusting your website and content to generate greater conversions from the traffic already landing on it. Most forms of marketing focus on improving site traffic, generating better quality leads, or positioning your brand in front of your target audience. These are all important activities, but they’re only half of the marketing puzzle. We’ve all clicked through to sites doing an amazing job marketing themselves with edgy social media posts, only to find ourselves not sold enough to commit once we’re on the landing page. This happens because the brand focused on external marketing and hasn’t optimized the user experience for conversion. Just because you’ve attracted an audience doesn’t mean they’re showing up with cash in hand, ready to buy. In fact, only a small percentage of people who land on your site will go through with a transaction, whether it’s completing a transaction or signing up for a newsletter: Lots of people will view your site. A handful of them will even put things into their cart, but only a sliver will go through with the sale. Source: Crazy Egg. CRO is all about bumping up that 3.3% to a higher number by taking immediate, metric-oriented steps on your site. It’s a simple, powerful, and overlooked strategy for generating greater revenue. No fiddling with keywords or social media settings required. What It Really Means to Convert Let’s talk about conversion real quick. In the simplest terms, a conversion happens when we turn one thing into another. In marketing, conversion specifically refers to people who engage in a specific desired activity that furthers your business goals. For example: Curious readers into avid subscribers Digital window shoppers into paying customers Early-stage buyers into account holders The mechanism by which you attract and convert your target audience into customers is called the sales funnel. Conversion is often considered the final step in the funnel, but you can have several smaller conversions along the way as a user moves from being a curious onlooker to a paying customer. However, not every action a user takes represents a conversion. Conversion is not: People clicking through from the search engine or social media to your site People clicking around on your website Although they’re both desirable actions, neither of these behaviors indicate that a user is moving closer to subscribing or purchasing from you. CRO vs. SEO SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s the process of analyzing and optimizing your digital presence to improve your position in Google so your target readers can find you. Typically, SEO focuses on things like keywords, metadata, and content structure to boost site traffic and get noticed by potential customers. SEO gets mixed up with CRO a lot, but the two do have quite a bit in common. In fact, it’s a good idea to focus on both as they work well together. In both cases, you’ll focus on: Well-written, expert content that both elevates your standing in Google and improves conversion rates. Optimized headlines, meta descriptions, and technical SEO to entice potential customers and improve the user experience. Page layout. Well-designed pages are helpful from more than just a human perspective. They also help Google index your page and provide the most useful featured snippets. Why CRO Matters If You Want to Succeed Obviously, presenting a compelling user experience is important because it leads to more revenue for your brand. However, there are a few other reasons you should spend more time with CRO if you aren’t already: 1. Content Marketing Has Become the Dominant Form of Advertising Online If you’re relying on paid outbound marketing like PPC or sponsored posts, you’re at risk of falling behind. These days, pretty much all digital marketing takes the form of content marketing. That’s an approach to marketing that emphasizes the creation of helpful, engaging content that provides your target audience with the answers they’re already searching for in Google. It’s not enough to simply have a great product and assume your customers think you’re the obvious choice. Your customers have a lot of choices, and they want you to demonstrate your authority on the matter. Question: Do you know HOW to demonstrate your authority using incredible content marketing? It’s time to learn. Check out my Content Strategy & Marketing Course to get the serious skills you need to make it happen. 2. CRO Forces You to Study and Adapt to Your Customers The impressions you make on customers – often the first ones – heavily determine your conversion rates. That might seem like an obvious statement, but you’d be surprised as to how frequently this gets overlooked online. How many times have you ever clicked onto a … Read more