Bryan CarantoIt’s easy to build an eCommerce website.
But a website that actually converts and generates huge sales? That’s a totally different beast.
If you’ve ever wondered why you aren’t hitting your sales goals even if you’re getting tons of traffic, then you’re probably missing the elements that make up a conversion-based website.
The problem is, most people think getting new customers is all about increasing traffic through paid ads.
Ready for the truth? Driving traffic to a site that doesn’t convert makes that traffic useless.
That’s why every successful eCommerce store optimizes their website’s conversion rate first.
Lucky for you, we got that covered. Because in this post, we’ll talk about why Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is important and how to improve it.
Plus, we’ll tell you where you can find the most comprehensive eCommerce CRO checklist on the planet!
But first things first…
What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
If you want to turn your traffic into leads and generate more sales, your website has to be fully optimized.
Each page should have a specific goal. Your content, copy, and CTAs as well as your navigation must help you reach it.
The thing is your visitors’ goals might be different from yours. To get them to take the action you want, you have to appeal to their interests.
This means, understanding their behavior and tweaking your website based on the factors that will get your visitors to convert. The process of doing that is called Conversion Rate Optimization.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your site based on real data from your visitors. This includes doing things like data and competitive analysis, A/B testing, and user research.
Ultimately, CRO helps you increase your conversions and make your website more profitable.
Why do you need CRO?
You can have the best assets, execute the best strategies, and target the right audience, but your traffic is worthless if your site isn’t optimized for conversion.
I’m not talking about super cool award-winning sites. Far from it.
Most people think design matters a LOT when it comes to having a revenue-generating website.
The truth is, we’ve seen sites with mediocre designs (that look like they were made in the ‘90s) bring just as many, if not more, conversions.
CRO is important because it can turn an average or losing campaign into a profitable one.
How to Improve your CRO
There are tons of ways to improve your CRO. However, we’re not going to dive down to the technical aspects of CRO.
Instead, we’ll talk about the basics, the foundations you need to have a website that actually converts.
1. Speak directly to your avatar
Not knowing who your avatar is (also known as your ideal client) can break your business. If you don’t know who you’re selling your stuff to, how can you expect to make sales?
That’s why it’s important to first start with creating your avatar. Fortunately, you can learn that from this Customer Avatar Workshop.
Once you’ve got your avatar down, what’s next?
If you want to improve your website’s conversion, then your copy should speak directly to your avatar.
That doesn’t mean merely showing the products you think they need.
It means getting inside your customers’ minds and understanding their pain points. Then, adjust your copy to reflect the “conversations in their heads.”
Your headlines, sub-headlines, offers, and CTAs should be centered around addressing your avatars wants and needs.
Doing this will help your visitors gain clarity about your offer and positively influences your visitors’ buying decision.
2. Map out your customer value journey
People won’t buy from someone they don’t even know. You need to gain their trust first.
To do that, you have to build a relationship with them. So, how do you start?
By mapping out your customer value journey.
It’s the path your visitors go through before they become buyers and brand advocates. It’s every interaction your visitors have –– from the moment they hear about your brand till they buy your products.
In other words, mapping out your customer value journey will help you turn your customers from “Who the heck are you?” to “I told my friends about your product and they bought it!”
Once that the map is laid out, you’ll easily know what to put on your site, how your site navigation should be, what offers you have, and their corresponding CTAs.
3. Control your funnel
Most people think of funnels as a “squeeze page” –– a page designed to hit only one goal: Capture your visitor’s contact information.
That’s why a lot of people think they don’t have any funnels.
The truth is, if you have a business, you have a funnel. It’s not optional.
A funnel is just the steps that somebody takes with your business. If you’re not in control of your funnel, then you’re losing a lot of money on the table.
Think of your funnel like a jigsaw puzzle.
Each piece of the puzzle is your “customer touchpoint.” And your goal is to make sure each puzzle piece (customer touchpoint) fits the next and completes the puzzle (your business goals).
Therefore, optimizing and controlling your funnel is critical if you want to grow your business. Otherwise, you’re only leaving things to chance.
For example, one of the biggest misconceptions is that your funnel ends when you make the sale. In this CRO masterclass with Alisha Conlin-Hurd, Co-founder of Persuasion Experience, she said:
“What we see with a lot of companies we work with is that they don’t have canned responses for the sales team. They’re just letting the sales team write whatever they want depending on how they feel on the day. So they’re not controlling and optimizing that touch point.”
There are loads of other things you can optimize.
Think about your “Thank You” page. Does it show opportunities to upsell?
What about your lead magnets? Do they help drive people back to your site?
Control your funnels and make sure that every customer touchpoint is linked back to your main business goals.
4. Optimize your branding
The problem with using traditional funnels is, while they do work, they don’t cover the whole customer experience.
They only address how to move a customer further down your bottomline. But how people decide what to buy lies in the ‘messy middle’ of the purchase journey.
You can control what’s on your website––the copy, navigation, and CTAs…
But if someone were to search for your brand or product name and found a bad review on a forum like Reddit, then you’re probably doomed.
All those CRO tweaks will have done nothing to convert that visitor.
There are things your funnel just can’t control.
The good news is there’s a way to prevent things like that from happening.
Brand reputation management, the process of monitoring and influencing the way your brand is perceived online, can help catch those bad reviews.
Even better, you can gather insights directly from your audience by listening to conversations about your brand or product through social media.
Then, use that information to improve your marketing message or create authority content that not only educates but also builds a community around your niche.
Branding is more important than it’s ever been.
Thinking about CRO not just from a technical perspective but from a brand positioning approach will definitely help increase your conversions.
The more you optimize your brand, the more people become aware of your products, and the more customers you convert.
Need a complete CRO checklist?
You now know some of the foundational strategies on how to improve your website’s conversions.
It’s crucial that you optimize your website first, especially if you’re running paid traffic.
In fact, you shouldn’t spend a single cent on paid advertising unless you are confident about the ability of your site to convert.
Fortunately, you don’t need to spend hundreds of hours on the internet looking for a list of things you need to do to optimize your site…
If you’re an eCommerce business who wants a complete CRO checklist, check out Jaka Šmid’s E-commerce Conversion Checklist.
It includes 300 checkpoints that cover every page of your site––home, category, product, cart, check out, thank you, and landing.
Go through the checklist and you’ll never miss any key elements when designing, developing, or optimizing your e-commerce store.
In fact, the checklist is such a value bomb that we bought it ourselves and we’re sharing it with all our clients!
Full disclosure: We’re not affiliates. But if you want to get it, Jaka himself gave us a discount code that you can use.
Just click the button below to grab your checklist! Get a 25% OFF using this code: 25OFFSOLUTIONS8
