Although driving traffic to your business’ website is challenging and essential, it isn’t enough to sustain your brand. Conversions act as the fuel that keeps websites alive. Therefore, turning your leads into conversions should be the real focus of marketing.
On company websites, every conversion represents future revenue or direct revenue, and this means the higher your conversion rate is, the more money your business will make. With that being said, marketers have to use CRO or Conversion Rate Optimization to spin website traffic into conversions by luring them to complete the desired action.
There are several ways in which conversion optimization tools can boost conversion rates. Sometimes, it is as simple as changing the format of the CTA or refashioning the colors of the website, or improving email design. In other cases, more needs to be done to drive conversions.
In today’s article, we have provided a detailed guide on Conversion Rate Optimization and how to implement it for eCommerce businesses. Read on!
What is Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
First things first, let us first understand what Conversion Rate Optimization means. Conversion Rate Optimization, commonly known as CRO, refers to optimizing a website or the landing page experience, and this is done based on data such as website visitor behavior.
CRO is important because it helps in increasing the probability or chances of the visitor making desired actions on the website. In the eCommerce industry, these desired actions usually mean completing a purchase.
In today’s competitive industry, online traffic can be highly inconsistent. If a business cannot get website visitors to enter the conversion funnel, it can be challenging to make them come back and perform the desired action. Thus, it translates to a lost opportunity for the business.
ECommerce businesses have to improve their chances of turning leads into conversions by running effective Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) campaigns. These CRO tools can not only help the business invest its resources efficiently but can also explore nuanced growth strategies. Conversion Rate Optimization can help business owners understand their website’s usability through customer behavior insights.
What are CRO Tools?
Studies have shown that the right CRO tools can boost a website’s conversion rates up to 300 percent. But, what are these tools? CRO tools are Conversion Rate Optimization techniques used by marketers to drive traffic and transform them into conversions virtually.
CRO tools provide important insights into customer behavior, such as why website visitors aren’t converting into leads or customers or how to recognize possible changes that can be made to the company’s website to boost conversions. The average ROI of using CRO tools is more than 223 percent.
Once the right CRO tools are identified and implemented, it can also help marketers test changes that can be made to the company’s website to increase the probability of conversions and guarantee the highest conversion rate.
There is no shortage of Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) tools for a business. We have compiled a list of the 10 best CRO tools for eCommerce businesses to make your work easier. But, first, let’s look at the different types of CRO tools.
What are Its Types?
Conversion Rate Optimization tools can be broadly classified into three types:
1. Behavior analytics
Behavior analytics CRO tools are the most common CRO tools, and they provide accurate insights into website visitor behavior. A significant part of the conversion rate optimization process includes understanding why your visitors behave a certain way or what they want and how you can provide them with what they are seeking.
Behavior analytics CRO tools collect qualitative data about how your traffic uses your website and why they aren’t converting into customers. If you want to understand why your shopping cart abandonment rate is high or if visitors can find what they are looking for, behavior analytics CRO tools can provide necessary answers.
Ultimately, this will help you improve your customer experience and ensure the highest possible conversions.
2. Web analytics
Web analytics CRO tools help you understand what’s happening with your company’s website. They provide customer behavior insights by gathering quantitative and numerical data about your website, its landing page, and visitors.
Conversion Rate Optimization can be challenging and only possible if you understand what is happening on your site. This is how you can look for improvements and implement them. Thus, web analytics CRO tools provide information on metrics like the sessions, session duration, bounce rate, etc.
If you want answers to questions like “Why are my visitors exiting the conversion funnel?” or “Why are my visitors bouncing from the landing page?” web analytics tools can help. If your visitors are arriving at your landing page but still not converting into leads, web analytics CRO tools can identify the problem and improve user experience on the website.
3. CRO testing
Conversion Rate Optimization testing tools help marketers compare and measure changes on the company’s website. This is one of the most important parts of the conversion rate optimization process, and it enables you to keep track of the problem areas and required improvements.
Once you have successfully identified the areas that need improvement, CRO testing tools can provide insight on how to compare and measure these changes and see which versions are converting better.
Suppose you find that your site’s poor conversion rates are on account of an unimpressive landing page and a vague call-to-action (CTA), which makes potential customers confused. In that case, you can test out different versions of the landing page and update CTAs to see which works best in driving conversions.
The purpose of CRO testing tools is not to change the genetic makeup of the website but to introduce improvements in the customer journey and user experience. This will make sure that your visitors go through the conversion funnel.
The 10 Best Conversion Optimization Tools
Here are 10 best tools that businesses can use in 2023:
1. Google Analytics
Google is lauded as the king of search engines. Therefore, it isn’t surprising that Google Analytics is one of the best and most popular conversion optimization tools.
With a focus on web analytics, Google Analytics can provide marketers with interesting insights such as which keywords potential customers are searching, which devices the visitors use, their demographics, how long before they bounce from the site, etc.
The starting price to use Google Analytics is free, but you can also choose to upgrade to Google Analytics 360 if your site crosses 10 million hits per month or if you need access to advanced CRO features.
What makes Google Analytics special is that it helps you track traffic patterns, goal conversion rates, and traffic sources in real-time.
2. HubSpot
Hubspot’s marketing automation platform is incredible for eCommerce businesses. Its starting price is free, and the package includes various features that can be used to understand user data and implement conversion rate optimization.
With the help of the exit intent forms tool, you can also customize pop-up forms and integrate them with the HubSpot CRM. The best part? You don’t need to know coding to do any of that.
HubSpot’s tools allow marketers to understand the behavior of contacts who already exist in your database and new prospective contacts. The easy dashboard interface also makes it easy to analyze which marketing efforts are converting and need further optimization.
3. Owler
Owler is a great CRO tool, especially if you are looking for something for competitor analysis. With Owler, it is easy to track the companies you consider as competition and analyze their growth strategies to identify where you are lacking.
You can also keep a tab on current industry trends and gain an enhanced perspective on where your business’s marketing efforts are going wrong. In the long term, this will help you increase your conversion rate.
4. Unbounce
With Unbounce, you can go beyond analytics, and you can develop and test pop-up forms, landing pages, sticky bars, and more without coding or developers. If you still haven’t figured out what a healthy conversion rate looks like for your company, Unbounce’s grader-style tool can help you understand that by showing how your website compares to others in the industry.
Marketers also have access to a comprehensive report that includes recommendations on improving conversion rates.
5. FullStory
FullStory is a CRO web analytics tool that lets marketers measure digital interactions that a user takes across various channels. Therefore, with the help of features like heatmaps, bug tracking, and session recordings, teams can identify barriers within the company’s website and improve user experience across your website and mobile app.
6. Verfacto
Verfacto is one of the best and most comprehensive all-in-one CRO tools. It helps marketers pinpoint visitor behavior on your company’s website through various dynamic features such as a real-time customer profiler. You can track your users accurately to see their on-site behavior, browsing interests, channels they use. It also allows you to identify existing customers even before they log in.
Verfacto can be integrated into your marketing automation tools to make more personalized triggers. For example, to set up pop-up banners that depend on a stage of the customer journey: for newcomers, it can be a newsletter subscription, for those considering a purchase — a discount offer.
7. Sniply
Sniply’s most incredible feature is the custom URL shortener that adds a CTA button on the bottom of any page you want to share on your social media channels. This button redirects your visitors back to your company website. This helps reduce lost visitors and increase the conversion rate from social media marketing efforts. Additional features include A/B Testing Tools and performance tracking.
8. Hotjar
Hotjar lets you master the basic CRO features like CTAs, pop-ups, landing pages, content, and more and enables you to explore advanced conversion rate optimization. Heatmaps, screen recording, traffic sources, etc., are available to marketers, which they can use to track how well your website is being viewed and how your visitors navigate your website.
Once you have gained enough insight into visitor behavior, you can implement simple changes to boost your conversion rates. Hotjar also offers analytics, and therefore you can identify what is working and what isn’t on your site.
9. Optimizely
Optimizely has all the keys you need for conversion rate optimization. These include testing, discovering, and deploying growth strategies to increase conversion rates. Optimizely’s platform is AI-powered and helps you conduct tests across all devices and channels, including IoT apps, TV apps, mobile apps, etc.
With Optimizely, marketers also have access to A/B and multivariate testing.
10. Adobe Commerce (former Magento)
Last but not least, Magento Commerce is one of the most efficient analysis and business intelligence CRO tools specially designed for eCommerce companies. It has an easy-to-use, cloud-based platform that promotes growth through smart data and effective decision-making growth strategies.
You can analyze vital reports like average customer lifetime value, customer retention rate, highest selling products, the performance of social media ads, customer service, and so on. Overall, it gives you a clear picture of how your business’ website is performing so that you can make informed decisions.
The platform covers all aspects of B2B eCommerce, including digital transformation and global expansion.
3 Tips to Increase Conversions
There are several ways in which conversion rate optimization can be leveraged for eCommerce businesses. Here are three of the most effective CRO strategies:
Display products from various angles
Having a good display of products is crucial for an eCommerce store. Since the market is saturated with similar kinds of business, an effective CRO strategy involved displaying products from various angles. This lets the shoppers visualize the products to imagine themselves buying them and using them. Apart from using multiple angles, attention should also be paid to aesthetics.
Show clear product details
One should never assume that their customers know how to use the product or its full scope. Therefore, it is imperative to provide articulate product details, and this not only enhances the customers’ shopping experience but also leads to greater conversions. Make sure you specify product details as much as you can and include FAQ sections.
Use customer reviews and testimonials
Customers like to hear from other customers before purchasing a product. Studies have proved that more than 95 percent of shoppers go through the customer reviews before making a purchase, and almost 72 percent of shoppers don’t take any action unless customer reviews are present. An effective CRO strategy is to provide customer reviews. This gives your visitors a better understanding of how the product works and if it will work for them. This can persuade many prospects to go through with their purchase.
PS: if you liked this article, check out the blog post we wrote about the best marketing automation trends for this year! We’re sure you’ll love it!
FAQs
How do you implement CRO?
Conversion rate optimization can be implemented in several ways, including optimizing high-performance blog posts, adding lead flows to blogs, integrating text-based CTAs within blog posts, running tests on landing pages, etc.
How Does CRO Work?
CRO refers to improving the conversions from a business’ website or mobile app. Conversion rate optimization works by generating ideas suited to your company’s growth strategies that can be improved to drive greater conversions. This is usually done with the help of validating hypotheses through A/B testing and multivariate testing.
What’s a Good Conversion Rate for My ECommerce?
For eCommerce businesses, a good conversion rate usually ranges between 2 percent and 5 percent. In this scenario, even a 0.5 percent jump in the conversion rate can hugely impact the business’ growth.
Understanding how each visitor behaves on your site is crucial to increasing the conversion rate. Therefore, eCommerce businesses need to use CRO tools to comprehend visitor behavior and implement targeted strategies to boost conversions.
The eCommerce industry is a highly competitive one, and the percentage of its conversions determines a business’s success. It is high time businesses start taking their CRO analytics seriously and implement necessary changes.
