7 Conversion Rate Optimization Mistakes to Avoid

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is much like the scientific method. Successful CRO methodology includes testing a hypothesis with a number of isolated variables. The goal of CRO efforts should be to learn more about the variables at hand, and get the subjects to take more of a specified action such as making a purchase, completing a form, or requesting to speak to a sales team member.

The origins of conversion rate optimization are linked to the dotcom bubble and competition that resulted from the rapid growth (and subsequent failure) of many internet businesses. It was during this time that online marketers and entrepreneurs began to recognize the importance of making a website more usable and also recognized their ability to control and isolate variables, which was much easier in the online world than in traditional brick-and-mortar establishments.

CRO has become more sophisticated and widespread today, with the 2016 Conversion Rate Optimization Report from Econsultantcy and RedEye citing CRO as “crucial” to overall digital marketing strategies for 55 percent of the companies surveyed. It’s no doubt that CRO is valuable when done right. Here are seven CRO mistakes to avoid if you truly want to maximize your business’ potential:

1. You don’t use a methodology.

If you remember way back to middle school science, you might recognize the five essential steps of the scientific method, which we use in CRO efforts as well: observations, hypothesis, experiment, analysis, and conclusion. Every CRO effort should follow a similar structure, and take into account statistical significance using a calculator like this one from VWO. Just updating some copy on a page or changing the color of a button is not CRO if it doesn’t include a clear hypothesis and proper analytics. As reported in the 2016 Conversion Rate Optimization Report, 84 percent of companies saw CRO success following a structured approach versus the 64 percent that saw a lift without a structured approach. Use a methodology, period.

2. You continue to invest money in acquisition efforts vs. CRO.

Many times, a client company that has a respectable amount of a traffic to its site wants to continue investing money in paid media or social media promotion when the real value would be in investing in CRO. At SmartBug, we report monthly on the visitor-to-lead ratio, which is a far better indicator than website traffic or leads, as it correlates to your website’s performance or its ability to motivate and inspire visitors to take some sort of action. Spending resources improving conversion can yield a true ROI for your business.

3. Tests are based on assumptions vs. data.

I’ve been guilty of this one myself. If a website graphic seems too busy or the text color doesn’t make clicking intuitive, I might make a snap decision to change something on a website without really digging into important data such as heat maps and time on page. Perhaps it’s not the obstacles that I’ve identified personally that are slowing conversion, but maybe instead visitors aren’t even getting to that section on a page, or another section is pulling their attention away from the desired action on the page. Only test based on qualitative, quantitative, and observational data, never on gut feeling or a hunch.

4. You think CRO is just A/B testing.

CRO has unfortunately become synonymous with A/B testing in some circles of marketers. This limiting thought will only impede your potential results. CRO is a very broad marketing strategy that includes A/B testing tactics, along with usability testing, customer journey mapping, copy optimization, personalization/segmentation tools, event-triggered emails, and more. Don’t limit the possibilities of your website by focusing on A/B testing alone.

5. You don’t track micro-conversions or granular data.

Gather as much data as possible. If you want to track the macro-conversion of new customer acquisition, start small. Let’s take a demo landing page for instance. Your observation might be that the landing page form conversion rate is below industry benchmarks and is therefore negatively affecting your customer pipeline. The overall goal of your CRO efforts might be to improve the conversion rate on the demo landing page form. And, your hypothesis could be that if you shorten the form by two fields, you can improve the conversion rate by 10 percent.

If you update the form and don’t get these results during your experiment, it might feel like “back to the drawing board.” However, if you measure the more granular data of this website experience, you might have very rich insights during your analysis phase of the scientific method. Consider measuring specifics on the site, including which channel the lead came from, time on page, scroll (if applicable), heat maps (to isolate page activity), any field completion (even if the person abandoned the form ultimately), bounce rate versus navigating back to the site, percentage of new visitors versus returning visitors who completed the form, what personas or job titles are completing the form (and from which industries), what times of day resulted in the most form completions, and so on. Dig deep to understand the micro-conversions on the path to purchase and associated granular data or you could miss the real bottleneck on your webpage. You can’t perform CRO well without fully understanding the customer journey and attribution dynamics, so dig in.

6. You only optimize what isn’t performing well.

This is a very common mistake, as marketers and salespeople want to elevate what is not performing. While this is important, it’s much easier to take something from good to great when it already has some momentum. Don’t be afraid to use CRO tactics on high-performing pages and learn just how much you can push the envelope.

7. You try to optimize on a bad website.

Sometimes clients believe that CRO and inbound marketing will fix their customer acquisition problem. While that is a possibility, conducting CRO on a poorly designed or non-intuitive site will never generate the results a business wants. Likewise, marketing is only as good as the sales team and without a skilled, experienced sales department, CRO and marketing efforts can be a waste of resources. Ensure you have the foundation in place, including a website with good usability, navigation, and design, as well as a skilled sales team, to ensure ROI for your CRO efforts.

Make CRO work for you by preventing these common mistakes. Make sure to first invest in CRO, then follow a process, track every metric possible, test beyond the A/B norm, optimize what is already performing well, and ensure you’ve got a solid foundation to build upon.