To sell a product or service online, you must understand who your customers are, their needs, their intent and the journey that transforms them from browsers to buyers. Once you know that, you can then fine-tune your digital marketing campaigns and increase your return on investment (ROI) through a process called conversion rate optimisation (CRO).
In this blog, we’re going to help you understand the importance of conversion rate optimisation at every stage of the marketing funnel to boost the profitability of your business.
What is CRO?
To quote the digital marketing know-it-alls at MOZ, conversion rate optimisation is:
“The systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take the desired action.”
The desired action you want your website visitors to take is called a conversion. The type of action that constitutes a conversion will differ depending on your business’s goals. For example, it could be buying a product, filling out an enquiry form, creating an account, booking an appointment or adding themselves to your mailing list.
There are many different steps you can take to increase the percentage of visitors to your website who convert at every stage of the customer journey. That includes:
Mapping the Customer Journey Through the Marketing Funnel
You may not know it, but if you sell goods or services of any kind then you have a marketing funnel in place – even if it’s extremely leaky!
A marketing funnel is simply a way of breaking down the customer journey all the way from the ‘awareness’ stage (when a browser first learns of your business) to the ‘retention’ stage (when an existing customer keeps coming back for more).
Every stage of the marketing funnel can be improved through the process of conversion rate optimisation to keep the pipeline flowing. A typical marketing funnel has five stages: awareness, interest, consideration, conversion and retention.
Awareness
The awareness stage is at the top of the marketing funnel. This is the stage at which prospective customers first become aware of your products, services or brand, usually as a result of your marketing efforts across multiple platforms and channels.
At this stage a visitor may not even know they have a need or a problem, so you must let them know why you exist and what you can offer. You should focus on educating the visitor about your products and getting your brand story across to help you engage and connect.
Example: offline marketing initiatives such as billboards or television advertisements, or boosted social media posts.
Interest
The awareness stage is at the top of the marketing funnel. This is the stage at which prospective customers first become aware of your products, services or brand, usually as a result of your marketing efforts across multiple platforms and channels.
Inevitably, not every visitor will be interested in your products and services, regardless of how slick your user experience is or marketing messages are. However, those visitors that are still hanging around will have more intent to make a purchase, so it’s your job to explain the benefits of your offerings clearly and help them understand how you can solve their problems.
Example: PPC campaigns with targeted messaging.
Consideration
At the consideration stage, your visitor will be thinking about completing the desired action but may still require some assurance or be looking at alternative products and services offered by competitors.
You can provide assurance and ease objections by creating testimonials, customer reviews, case studies and offering free trials and demos. You should also make it very clear what will happen after the visitor takes the desired action so they know exactly what to expect.
Example: a carefully thought-out landing page with all the relevant sales support at hand so that the user doesn’t have to click away.
Conversion
This is the most important part of the marketing funnel. Up until now, you’ve been putting in the groundwork to get the visitor to this point. Now it’s time to encourage them to make a commitment and convert.
Depending on your goal, your marketing messages should be focused on giving the customer the information they need to successfully complete an action and explaining what they can expect after the sale.
Content such as case studies from previous or current customers can be effective at this stage, particularly when they are relevant to the lead. That’s why it’s beneficial to create case studies that reflect a range of customer profiles.
Example: a shopping cart, booking form, enquiry form, phone number, or other call to action.
Retention
Your job isn’t over simply because a purchase has been made. It costs five times as muchto attract a new customer than to keep an existing one, so really, your work has only just begun.
At this stage of the marketing funnel, you should provide resources and information that helps customers use your products and services successfully. You should also keep in touch by providing details of offers and updates that have been tailored specifically to them.
Example: a weekly or monthly email newsletter to keep customers informed of the latest deals or interesting content.
Tips for Building a Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy
There are numerous ways to build a successful full-funnel marketing strategy that will help you reach your audience and keep them engaged. Here are a few top tips and techniques from our in-house CRO experts:
Always make changes based on statistical data
As a site owner, you might have an opinion or a ‘gut feeling’ about what is and isn’t working on your site. However, you should avoid the temptation to make any changes without testing it thoroughly first.
Create landing pages for different customer types
Concise, clean landing pages are a great way to give your visitors relevant information about your products and services. However, one size does not fit all. You should create pages that speak specifically to every customer type.
Have a clearly defined call-to-action
One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is confusing a customer who is ready to convert with an overly complicated call-to-action. You should be short and clear with your call-to-action so customers understand exactly what to do next.
Learn From our In-House CRO Experts
At Passion Digital, we provide CRO training in London to help you extract more value from your website traffic. We also offer a range of CRO services to enhance the profitability of your business. Please get in touch to find out more.