Econsultancy recently wrapped up their sixth Conversion Rate Optimization Report in association with RedEye. The firm surveyed more than 1,100 digital marketers and ecommerce professionals to find out the most successful methods for amping up conversion rates, the secret to crafting perfect tests to cater techniques to specific markets, and the best practices all businesses should employ to boost sales. Here, some of the study’s standout statistics.
Clients Want Higher Conversion Rates
The need for conversion rate optimization planning is not lost on most clients, as 89 percent of businesses described CRO as “crucial” or “important” to their marketing efforts. However, very few of those surveyed felt satisfied with their conversion rates, with 22 percent stating that they are “Quite Satisfied” with their rates and none reporting that they are “Very Satisfied.” Dr Karl Banks, Chairman and Co-Founder of Conversion Rate Experts, credits this not to sub-par performances by marketers, but rather to envelope-pushing clients. “In our experience, some of our most successful clients are highly sophisticated but ravenously hungry for more,” Banks said.
There’s No One Perfect CRO Method
It turns out that the best conversion rate optimization method is actually a mix of multiple processes. Econsultancy found that those businesses with growing conversion rates were on average using 35 percent more methods than those companies that reported stagnant or negative growth.
So, what’s the magic mix of methods? The firm gathered that customer journey analysis, copy optimization and segmentation led to conversion rate growth for 95 percent of companies, compared to an average of 72 percent. Frequent multivariate testing is also a must-have, with the most successful businesses reporting completion of 6.45 A/B and multivariate tests a month. Bi-weekly testing won’t cut it anymore, as companies with negative conversion rates performed an average of 2.42 tests per month.
But Some Stand Out As Most Effective
Econsultancy asked marketers “What has been the single most effective thing you / your clients have done to improve conversion rates?” and a couple methods stood out. A/B testing definitely took the lead, however, visuals also played a significant role for many companies. Website/landing page redesign, which may include leveraging the best fonts for CRO or arranging various clickable elements to best suit users’ needs, also ranked as a major factor. Customer journey also made a noticeable impact.
If you’re looking to prioritize one technique, multivariate testing has proven to be one of the most valuable methods, despite being utilized by only 30 percent of those marketers surveyed.
Most Testing Ideas Come From Analytics
With testing accounting for such a large portion of the perfect CRO method mix, developing efficient and useful ways to gather new information is crucial to boosting conversion rates. Econsultancy’s respondents strongly favored analytics (67 percent) as inspiration for creating new tests, as well as employee suggestions (58 percent), user research (57 percent) and articles, whitepapers and industry blogs (55 percent).
