Intro to CRO & Conversion Optimisation Best Practices Review

This is the first in a series of twelve blog posts about conversion optimisation, as I review the minidegree of the same name by CXL Institute.

This instalment 1 of 12 is all about an Introduction to CRO and “Best Practices”. Follow for more instalments here or on my Saturnshot Blog.

Look out! 👀 for these:

🔑🥡 = Key takeaways

The intro lesson started with A Cautionary Tale.

A big e-commerce site did a whole redesign

They redesigned the site to what looked like would be an amazing success — clean, simplified/streamlined, well-organised, etc. But it lost $3million in just a few weeks of launching. Why? Because they acted on biases, instead of data. Confirmation bias; only listening to things you agree with; and, novelty bias; things that are cool 😎!

Without data you’re shooting in the dark

Often you’re going to see losses. Then the “helicopter executives” come flying in to the rescue, adding their opinions and more biases to the broth! More losses ensue. As a result you stop taking risks, start using stock photos, corporate speak language, and start looking to successful competitors to steal ideas.

There’s no such thing as Best Practices! Stealing from other sites NEVER works!

You cannot see your competitors dashboards, data, or know what their audience exactly is. No two audiences will be the same. So what works for one site, will fail for another.

CRO is a science

Using CRO correctly can help avoid the tragic tale of Finish Line.

What do Marketing and Science have in common?

…They are both creative.

Get started by managing a list of ideas (to research)

Use Excel to create a spreadsheet of ideas and turn the ideas into hypotheses — which makes you specific about what you are talking about and aids in unlocking further ideas, since there is usually hypotheses under the hypothesis.

Then rank the ideas using the ICE framework:

Impact

Confidence or Proof

Effort to test

Use your intuition on the first pass — the first ranking is more subject than scientific — so write assumptions that support your ranking decisions i.e. what a 1 on impact scale is versus a 5. Once you start doing research the Confidence scale will increase.

Sources of data range from ‘Googling it’ to user testing

Once you have your list of hypotheses ranked in order, you need to collect data on them. To summarise:

· Google it (others may have tested it before you)

· Utilise existing research (Studies, surveys, personas, etc.)

· User testing

o First Click Test (ask what they’d click on to complete a specific task — CTA test)

o Preference Test (ask which they prefer between different options)

o Question Test (present designs and ask questions about it)

o Five-Second Test (creative shown for only five seconds and disappears, then ask questions about it)

· User Intelligence Tools (increasing sample size)

o Scroll reports

o Heat maps

o Eyetracking

o Screen recording

o Feedback

· A/B testing

A/B testing eliminates bias by letting your visitors decide

It’s a fun horse race you shouldn’t look at, but can’t help yourself! Just don’t let your observations or bias interfere with the race and let it run until the end!

🔑🥡 Most tests are failures and oftentimes ugly wins!

It can be disheartening when you get buzzed about exciting and cool content that fails or is beat by ugly content.

A/B tests live by the rules!

· Sample size is calculated to be statistically significant

· Data is collected over time

· Data is collected on recent traffic

· It is quantitative

· Prospect and customers are being tested

· It is double blind

The benefits of CRO…

“We’re all wired as behaviour scientists”

Presenting visual tools is great and everyone gets it even if they don’t use the tools.

Culture change

By using data and removing the guesswork, there’ll be fewer losses, ergo less visits from the helicopter execs!

No IT bottlenecks

Most CRO (inc. A/B testing) is done outside of the website and server. It’s not beholden to IT teams to set things up.

But most exciting…

CRO creates a creative safety net and allows you to change hearts ♥️ and minds 🧠

$$ Growth $$

Ø More leads

Ø More sales

Ø Lower CAC

There’s no such thing as Best Practices! But they are good Starting Points!

🔑🥡 There is no stencil that works universally! Every audience is different!

Forms and form optimisation should be one of your main goals.

Forms are very close, If not tied, to final conversions:

· Sign up forms

· Checkout forms

· Payment forms

· Lead gen forms

Set expectations (i.e. Estimate completion time, progress indication) and include desirable what-come-nexts (i.e. “You’re one step away from that knockout dress!”).

🔑🥡 Avoid: “Greedy Marketer Syndrome”!

Fight the urge to include:

· Too many form entries

· Compulsory registration

🔑🥡 Hint: Offer account creation AFTER checkout with 1–2 clicks!

“If forms were humans, we’d often punch them!”

Too many online stores get forms and form pages wrong so this is a great opportunity for you to beat your competition and unlock great growth!

🔑🥡 Vital: FORM ANALYTICS!!

You can only improve what you can measure!

🔑🥡 Vital: Every error message your website/forms can display, an event with the same error message should be recorded in GA!

Make call-to-action (CTA) buttons different colour to rest of site.

🔑🥡 Avoid: CTA buttons labelled “Submit”… Very few people want to submit! (Interestingly “Click Here” converts really well)

Always use GOOD-BETTER-BEST Pricing strategies!

Anchor your main seller with a product far more expensive and include a product very close to it but noticeably subordinate. This creates a phenomenon that is scientifically proven to sell more of the middle offer than if you only sold 1 or 2 choices.

Anchoring extends far beyond into pricing and into the physical world.

To experience it for yourself, do this test at home: Pour water into three bowls. Fill one bowl with cold water, the second with hot water, and the third with lukewarm water. Now stick one hand in the cold water and the other hand in the (not too) hot water. Keep them submerged for 30 seconds or so. Now, put both of your hands into the lukewarm bowl. One hand will feel the water is warm, the other one that it’s cold. That’s anchoring: Your first experience shapes following ones.

It’s about the contrast. The same principle applies to price. Nothing is cheap or expensive by itself, but when compared to something else.

Optimizely pricing does many things well (clear pricing, month-to-month and annual options, easy comparison etc.) including offering a currency option. But gets the naming wrong.

🔑🥡 Avoid: Bronze, Silver, Gold are meaningless!

Arbitrary pricing plan names don’t tap in to buyer psychology, use personas instead. Label them something intuitive to who each person is at each level of purchase (i.e. Founder/Startup, Executive/Business, etc.)

E-commerce stores should utilise smart search boxes

Make sure boxes have following features:

· Autocomplete with list of suggestions

· Product images for all listed suggestions

· Suggestions for misspelled products

Studies show conversions are high from within the suggestion lists above fully completing the search query and clicking “Search”!

🔑🥡 Vital: Persistent Carts!

Shoppers should be able to drop things in carts and return days, weeks, months later to find their items in the basket to continue shopping where they left off! You’re leaving easy money on the table by resetting carts to empty!

Remember: This was just 1 of 12 in my series on CRO. Make sure to check out the others coming each week!