Conversion Rate Optimization Consulting: How to Get More for Less
Increase ROI on PPC ads, websites, and other digital marketing tactics with conversion rate optimization consulting services from The Brand Auditors.
March 14, 2023
Introduction
What if there was a way to increase the number of new customers you get and reduce the cost of acquiring each one?
That is exactly what conversion optimization (CRO) does.
In the marketing world, the process to get higher conversions can apply to almost any part of your growth strategy.
For example, conversion rate optimization most often refers to increasing a website’s usability. But marketers can also optimize pay-per-click ads to increase click-through rates. Optimization can even improve print or televisions ads.
The digital marketing landscape becomes more competitive as each day passes. As a result, the cost of acquiring each new customer continues to increase. It will only become more difficult—and expensive—for businesses to get new customers.
Conversion efficiency has become a critical process in marketing, advertising, and sales. CRO is the most effective way to offset the rise of marketing costs.
But the CRO process is complex. So, many companies choose conversion rate optimization consulting.
A conversion consultant is an experienced professional who can help you understand and implement customer acquisition strategies that align with your business goals.
In this article, you will learn about conversion rate optimization and how hiring a consultant can help you grow faster while reducing the marketing budget.
What Is Conversion Optimization?
Conversion Optimization (CRO) (sometimes called conversion rate optimization or CRO), is the process of increasing the percentage of potential customers—such as website visitors, ad targets, and search engine users—who take a desired action. Clicking on a website’s call to action, digital ad, or a SERP (search engine result page) are examples of digital conversions. In traditional marketing, a conversion could be the number of phone calls a business receives from a local ad campaign.
The CRO process involves analyzing each step of the customer journey and digital experience. The goal is to find any adjustments or improvements that might increase the chances that a prospective customer will take an action. To execute the CRO process, marketers and consultants rely on data analysis, user feedback, and test alternative marketing campaigns.
What Is Website Optimization?
Improve website performance with this easy-to-understand introduction to website optimization. Learn key tips, ideas, and tactics that will get results.
What Is a Conversion Optimization Consultant?
Conversion rate optimization consultants are experienced professionals who understand conversion funnel best practices and customer behavior. They study user behavior, customer pain points, and trends to figure out what motivates people to buy a product or service. Consultants also use multivariate testing and marketing tools to recommend different actions that will increase conversion-specific metrics, such as page views, website form submissions, or ad clicks.
Essentially, expert CRO consultants help companies identify how to improve marketing funnel so they can get more leads and sales.
The customer experience plays a critical role in getting higher engagement. Optimization experts can help companies build out their customer journey, from awareness to advocacy.
CRO consultants look at a host of other factors that may boost performance. Broken web pages, slow loading times, and inefficient navigation menus are examples. They uncover other problems that may be related to the sales funnel, SEO copywriting standards, landing pages, or ineffective content marketing.
Benefits of CRO Optimization
The three primary benefits brands value most are:
Higher overall user engagement
More customers
Lower customer acquisition cost
A CRO specialist can help companies generate higher engagement on websites, social media, and other digital channels. They can do this by analyzing available data from Google Analytics, Facebook insights, and marketing tools (i.e., SEO tracking software).
Once the consultant has completed their CRO audit, they will make suggestions to improve conversions, such as:
Website design modifications
Content recommendations
Changes to meta titles and descriptions
A/B testing for digital ads
Technical SEO
Over time, these changes to a company’s marketing assets will increase customer acquisition, usually at a lower cost.
In the next section, you will find out how a conversion rate consultant can increase return on investment by reducing how much it costs to acquire each new customer.
How to Measure the Results of Conversion Rate Optimization
Without tracking, there is no way to know if a CRO strategy is working. But you can’t determine ROI if you only track visitors to your website. CRO consultants work with companies to develop relevant KPIs (key performance indicators) that will help them track short-and long-term results.
The key to measuring success is to examine the cause-and-effect relationship between a CRO tactic and the result. For this reason, we recommend changing one element at a time, and then observing the results over a set period (i.e., 30 or 90 days).
So, for example, let’s assume a CRO consultant recommended changing the color of a website’s call-to-action button (yes, the color can make a difference). We would then suggest waiting at least 30 days to assess the impact of the change.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is another critical factor businesses should use to determine how well a CRO strategy is working. You can calculate CAC using the total dollars spent on acquiring customers and the total number of customers gained within a specified period.
Here is the CAC calculation formula:
Customer Acquisition Cost Formula
Customer Acquisition Cost Total Cost of Sales / Number of Customers Acquired
With this formula, you can quickly gauge how efficient your brand is at turning a prospective buyer into a paying customer.
Improving the average conversion rate makes it possible to reduce the cost of customer acquisition.
Think of it this way: let’s assume your company spends $1,500 to acquire one customer (CAC), and your monthly marketing budget is $10,000, then your company should get six or seven new customers each month. If the annual revenue per customer is $3,500, then your company makes $252,000 per year on those new customers.
6 new customers per month x 12 months = 72 new customer per year x $3,500 generated per customer = $252,000
Of course, total customer acquisition cost is $108,000 (72 customer acquired at $1,500 each), for a net profit (before COGS) of $144,000.
But if you can reduce CAC to $1,200, the same budget of $10,000 should yield eight or nine new customers. That is an average of two more new customers each month with the same investment.
However, the positives don’t end with lower CAC. If the annual revenue per customer is $3,500, then your company has turned an additional profit of approximately $84,000 per year:
2 additional new customers per month x 12 months = 24 new customers per year x $3,500 = $84,000
This means your brand can increase ROI by 58 percent.
Additional calculations allow you to break down CAC for each marketing channel for comparison (i.e., search engine optimization versus social media ads, or paid ads versus organic search). From there, you can decide which channels yield the highest ROI and allocate resources toward those that perform best.
Ultimately, this information helps brand executive make smarter decisions regarding marketing, sales, and campaign budgeting.
What Causes Low Conversions Rates?
There are several reasons visitors might fail to convert. In most cases, we find the reason is related to one or both of the following:
- Poor design
- Weak content
Poor website performance, ads, and social media profiles—even pitch deck presentations—hurt conversions. Keep in mind that users are inundated with websites, ads, and other marketing messages. They are unwilling to wait more than a few seconds for a website to load. Nor will they try to figure out where to click to get the information they want. Calls-to-action and other links must be obvious.
We see website design problems often. Many brand audit clients ask us to audit their websites. In doing so, we discover the company has developed the site around their preferences, not those of the target audience. Many websites are difficult to navigate. Others don’t address the customer’s needs.
In other cases, digital ads don’t have attention-grabbing titles. Others link to slow loading websites. These issues result in a loss of opportunities.
Weak content, such as product pages with insufficient information or descriptions that don’t interest visitors, also has a negative impact on conversion rates.
Businesses must focus on developing a positive user experience (UX) throughout the entire buyer’s journey. This includes more than creating visually appealing websites, but encompasses accessibility and navigation. The complete experience must be seamless if you want to increase conversions and lead generation.
Irrelevant or low-quality content is any information published by a brand does not meet specific standards and objectives. This type of content is often confusing, contains inadequate explanations, poorly written, or even duplicated or plagiarized. Further, it can include content that has nothing to do with the brand’s value or offer.
All companies should develop a content marketing plan that includes videos, blog posts, social media content, and other material that can be used to connect with the target audience. The content should be interesting and authoritative in order to rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs). This type of content will also help the company establish expertise.
While developing quality content for blog posts, websites, and other marketing materials can be a technical process, the focus should be on communicating with human beings. So, avoid keyword stuffing or other tactics designed to rank in search engines. An effective keyword strategy is essential, but not at the expense of clear communication that compels potential customers to take action.
Failing to create effective content can also hinder your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Search engines prioritize websites with relevant information for their users, so sites with sparse or useless information rank lower in search results. Similarly, jargon-filled content written by unqualified authors won’t capture the attention of the intended readership—both humans and search engines alike.
To ensure that the content creation process is productive, a brand should adhere to standards of quality. This may require an investment in content marketing tools such as SEMRush, Ahrefs, and SurferSEO.
A conversion optimization consultant can help businesses improve their content to make it more engaging for the target audience. As a result, they will see additional increases in conversions.
Conversion Optimization Consulting
Consulting services for emerging or established companies that want to increase ROI on their digital marketing plan.
Misaligned Messaging
When a company struggles to convey its mission, values, and offerings in an effective and compelling way, the messaging fails to hit its mark.
Many companies fall into the trap of focusing on features instead of benefits. Sometimes, even if a marketing message sounds like a benefit, it may really be a feature.
I will use an example:
“Supplement ABC has been scientifically proven to be more effective than other brands like it. In fact, 72% of users said they noticed a significant difference in muscle mass within 30 days.”
The above statement emphasizes the feature of the supplement product over its benefits. This usually happens when a brand feels its product is far superior to those of competitors. While the science may be important to some buyers, they are much more likely to convert when the message prioritizes the benefits of using the product, as we see here:
“Nearly 3 out of 4 of users said Supplement ABC enhanced muscle mass and improved their sleep habits in just 30 days!”
This statement does not mention any specific features (i.e., “scientifically proven”). Instead, it focuses solely on the value customers will receive by using the product.
A consultant will spend time with your marketing team learning about the value of your products and service to make sure customer benefits are being communicated clearly and in a way that encourages them to convert.
The Brand Is Not in Touch with Customer Needs
The consequences of not meeting customer needs is a serious problem.
Customers who feel that their needs aren’t being met by a business may leave negative reviews online, which harms a brand’s reputation. Unhappy customers will take their business elsewhere. Companies that are out of touch with their customers suffer long-term consequences, struggle to keep existing customers, and cannot attract new ones.
Some businesses have this problem because they have become complacent or lazy. But in our experience, the issue comes when the company makes assumptions about its customer base.
A strategy that worked five years ago, or even last year, may not work today. Customers’ needs constantly evolve. New competitors enter your market category every day, and long-time competitors innovate. Businesses must be diligent if they want to remain ahead of the curve and keep customers engaged.
A consultant can help brands understand more about their current and potential customers. But they can also assist them by sharing information related to market trends. These trends often reveal a great deal about consumer behavior. We can translate these behavioral components into optimization steps that businesses can take to increase conversions.
Technical Issues
If there is an unexpected dip in a web page’s conversions, it could likely be because of a technical issue. For instance, if the analytic data reveals a high click-through-rate on a blog post, but if it falls off on the respective landing page, technical issues are likely to blame.
Some common technical problems we see that impede conversions include page loading speed, and pages not loading due to broken links or forms with errors. Pages that take longer than three seconds to load will lose visitors. Similarly, if an error page greets visitors instead of the page they want, they will leave immediately. Form errors can frustrate users, causing them to search elsewhere.
Additionally, there could be other problems, such as compatibility with different platforms and devices or JavaScript errors. This can create annoying problems that prevent users from using your website. Monitoring the performance of all website components is important and fixing issues should be an immediate priority.
A CRO consultant can run a website audit to root out any technical problems your site might have. They can also work with you and your development team to resolve them if needed.
How CRO Experts Optimize Conversions
Improving conversions requires more than just resolving existing roadblocks. Organizations must implement tactics using proven methodology. One example is the development of the buyer’s journey. It involves mapping out how a consumer finds and interacts with your brand, from the point of initial engagement (awareness) to the actual buying decision (conversion). Clearly identifying obstacles along the path to purchase will help you optimize your brand’s customer journey.
An optimization consultant can provide the framework companies need to carry out this process.
A CRO audit looks at every aspect of the conversion process. This includes website and landing pages, web forms, PPC campaigns, mobile applications and the user experience. Split testing (i.e., A/B testing) techniques are used to optimize campaigns and verify findings.
A consultant can also include a conversion strategy that improves brand messaging and adjustments to price structure. All these factors play a vital role in driving more conversions.
Conclusion
Many companies struggle to meet their growth goals because they need to convert more potential buyers into paying customers.
Companies that have invested in conversion rate optimization consulting services have seen substantial improvements. By implementing strategic changes based on detailed analytics and data-driven insights, brands can optimize their campaigns and grow—while reducing customer acquisition costs.
If you would like more information or want to talk about optimizing your company’s marketing strategy, email me personally at [email protected].
Until next time,
Chris
Are you ready to find out how a brand audit can transform your business?
Our brand audit process is a comprehensive analysis designed to help companies increase ROI and reduce marketing expenses.
- Increase ROI on lead generation and sales conversions.
- Reduce marketing expenses.
- Strengthen brand positioning to become more competitive.
We guarantee satisfaction or get your money back! Schedule a discovery call with a brand auditor to find out more.
Latest Insights
Website Development Consulting
Transform your website with our web development consulting services. Our experienced consultants guide you through every step of the process.
