Conversion rate optimization for increased sales of your webshop

Turning your visitors into customers with conversion rate optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is of great importance to today’s online entrepreneur. After all, you want your website or web shop to be easily found by your target audience. Especially considering that the competition is huge and growing every day.

If you want to rank high in Google’s organic search results, it’s time to get started with conversion rate optimization. Through carefully formulated strategies, you will succeed not only in attracting more relevant website visitors, but also in turning a larger percentage of them into customers.

What is conversion optimization?

Simply explained, conversion optimization is adjusting and improving your website in such a way that visitors turn into customers faster and more often. In other words, you optimize the probability that individual visitors to your website will convert, or proceed to a particular action. In most cases, this involves a purchase, but conversion can also involve a lead.

A newsletter subscription, for example. Or downloading a document (in exchange for an e-mail address). So conversions can also be called goals.

Want to read more about conversion rate optimization for web shops?

• Conversion rate guide of 2024
• Conversion
• What does a CRO specialist do?
• The influence of SEO on UX
• The psychology of search intent
• Increasing the conversion rate of a website

Different types of conversions

So conversions can be anything. Most companies desire different types of conversions and thus need to adjust their conversion optimization strategy accordingly. Examples of conversions are:

• Adding products to a shopping cart and checking them out
• Downloading a white paper
• Clicking through to a particular page on your website
• A newsletter subscription

In the field of conversion optimization, we can distinguish micro conversions and macro conversions. Micro conversions are typically leads, or actions that have a small value to your website success and do not directly lead to additional sales. Macro conversions refer to the actions that do get you something directly. Therefore, these have a greater value.

When is it time to focus on conversion rate optimization?

Is your website found well in search engines like Google and do your social media channels seem to be successful as well? Having enough traffic drawn to your website is not enough to speak of online success. After all, with just traffic, you achieve nothing.

When visitors barely convert or convert for a low average order value while there is plenty of traffic, it’s time to get involved with conversion rate optimization, or CRO. This means first and foremost maximizing traffic to your Web site and secondly making improvements to your Web site to achieve end conversion.

Why conversion optimization is crucial

If you are a business owner with your own website or web shop, then you cannot ignore the importance of conversion optimization. This optimization serves several purposes, including:

• Achieve the highest return possible with your online marketing efforts
• Improve the usability of your website
• Getting visitors to convert, turning them into paying customers

When you perform conversion rate optimization the right way, you improve the effectiveness of your online marketing on a structural basis. In this way, you manage to make more sales while not necessarily needing more visitors to do so. Plus, you don’t have to spend as much money on advertising.

Tips for conversion optimization

Investing in conversion rate optimization is important, but also interesting. After all, it gives you enlightening insights into your website visitors. The analysis that underlies the optimization strategy gives you information about why visitors convert or don’t convert, among other things. You can use this information for your offline marketing as well.

Conversion optimization and SEO are inseparable. By SEO, we mean both the content of your page, its usability and your authority within the industry, based on the number of relevant backlinks. Below we explain some tips for conversion optimization.

Tip 1: Increase the usability of your website

When it comes to conversion optimization, the usability of your website is crucial. After all, today’s visitors know high standards. Is your website not loading fast enough or are certain buttons not working? Is your site not suitable for mobile use? A potential customer will not think twice to leave your page and check out the competitor’s.

If you remove these technical obstacles, website visitors will convert more easily and quickly. By the way, search engine Google also rewards you with a higher ranking when your website is fast.

Tip 2: Make sure you collect reviews.

Today, more and more people are taking advantage of the convenience of shopping online. One small drawback does attach: you don’t have a product in your hands. Therefore, most visitors consult reviews to compensate for the lack of sensory information.

Moreover, we value the opinions of others, even when it comes to things like making a purchase. Therefore, a meaningful facet within conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is showing reviews. Satisfaction from others also gives potential buyers that extra bit of confidence to convert.

Tip 3: Define your target audience and let the visitor define it

If you want to get started with conversion rate optimization, it is important to know exactly who you are doing this for. You lay the foundation by getting to know your target audience. What are their needs and interests? The opinion of your (potential) customers is leading.

How do you let your visitors decide next? For example, by testing with two versions of your website. We also call this A/B testing. The version people prefer will give you the highest conversion rate.

The components of a conversion optimization strategy

The right conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategy knows how to target and serve your audience in just the right way. That way you can get maximum return on your marketing budget. Not by just generating more traffic, but by getting those visitors to take action. The conversion optimization strategy includes several components, including:

• Optimizing the technical performance of your website
• A careful analysis of your current website and visitors, based on which a strategy can be developed that attracts qualified traffic
• Unique USPs (unique selling points) that show why you have an edge over your competitors
• Personalizing the customer journey: developing the ideal customer journey for your target audience
• Developing relevant offerings that meet visitors’ expectations and needs

Here’s what a conversion optimization agency can do for you

For most business owners, picking up conversion rate optimization is too complicated or time-consuming. A conversion optimization agency can assist you in this. This begins first with an analysis of your current website so that obstacles can be uncovered. This will give you insight into the points that negatively affect the customer journey. An agency investigates:

• The exact behavior of your website visitors
• Any technical obstacles present on your website
• Any usability obstacles (stumbling blocks in usability)
• Possible intuitive obstacles. These are moments within the customer journey when a visitor is not stimulated enough to take action. These intuitive obstacles then cause him or her to drop out

Conversion rate optimization is of interest to all businesses, regardless of industry and size. A conversion optimization agency analyzes what bottlenecks exist and how they can be improved. The professionals develop an optimization strategy, which requires a lot of knowledge and experience. By outsourcing this to an agency, you can count on a conversion rate optimization strategy that will pay off and you’ll have time for other things.