Conversion Rate Optimization: Mastering the Essentials

In Mobile Optimization by Jonathan Silverstein

Conversion rate optimization, or CRO, is a critical metric in improving the performance of your website or landing page. Your “conversion rate” measures the share of traffic to your site that takes the final crucial step and converts – whether your conversion goal is an actual purchase, signing up for a membership, calling a phone number, or simply downloading a white paper.

The Miraculous Muscle of Conversion Rate Optimization

CRO’s simple but potent magic for e-commerce is how it increases the share of your website traffic that become paying customers – all without increasing spend on advertising or your sales force.

Typically even a slight increase in conversion rate jacks up revenues significantly. As the folks over at Conversion Rate Experts explain, your revenue =

Number of Site Visitors x Conversion Rate x Customer Average Lifetime Spend


“If you can double your conversion rate, you halve your customer acquisition cost. If each customer has a lifetime value of $1,000, and doubling your conversion rate leads to an additional 200 customers per year, the return on investment of your CRO tool is a whopping $200,000 return.”Stewart Rogers, Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat

When you optimize your conversion rate, you gain new customers without increasing costs. You turn prospects into buyers without elevating your spend on customer acquisition, including advertising, sales outreach and other elements of your sales funnel. Therefore you shrink your customer acquisition cost ratio (CAC).

No wonder that searches on the topic of conversion rate optimization have seen a massive jump in Google since 2014!

What’s a Reasonable Conversion Rate?

Conversion rates deeply depend upon your industry, conversion goal, and whether your landing page is converting off Facebook ads, search results or display ads. Completing an order on an eRetail website is typically at the low end of conversions, while getting visitors to sign up for a mailing list, or enter a contest, usually runs higher. In other words, it’s easier to get someone to sign up for something than to spend money on something. Media Shower offers a rundown of these variations.

But here’s a fundamental verity: most websites convert only a minuscule share of their visitors. Smart Insights reports that conversion rates for desktops in Q1 2017 were a mere 3.73% in the United States, while mobile phones converted at an even smaller 1.14%. Curiously, over the course of 2016 into 2017, conversion rates in both the US and globally actually declined.

CRO – A Science Based on A/B Testing

Website experts and consultants, such as the team of mobile optimization professionals at Mobile1st, have developed a well-tested set of improvements they can implement on websites to ensure conversion rate optimization. CRO may be an art but it’s also a science. Testing – typically A/B testing – is absolutely critical.

We’ve harped on the importance of split or A/B testing elsewhere. Simply put: A/B testing involves splitting the stream of visitors to your website and measuring which stream converts higher – those arriving at a web page with the hypothesized improvements or those arriving at the original (the control). Split testing gives you the numbers to know for sure what’s working and by how much.

For example, in our work as mobile consultants for PuraVida, Mobile1st employed A/B testing to validate our hypothesis on the impact of lifestyle images on conversions. Once implemented, our site adjustments delivered an 11% increase in Pura Vida’s e-commerce store revenue while reducing checkout abandonment rate by 25%.

pura vida conversion rate optimization

Where to Start in Your Conversion Rate Optimization

It’s best to start with the low-hanging fruit – aspects of your website that industry experts have identified as rich, viable targets for optimizing your conversion rate. Fast, demonstrable wins from your CRO efforts can help you earn buy-in from your organization and build momentum for your team. And consider these leading tools to assist in your conversion rate optimization. Still at a loss? Ask the experts at Mobile1st.

In addition, absolutely critical for your revenues is mobile CRO. Way back in 2014, mobile zoomed past desktops as the most-preferred information-seeking tool, and mobile has never glanced back. In 2018, Smart Insights reports, users across the globe are attached at the hip to their phones – In Indonesia, 91% of the time spent online is on mobile compared to desktop. In comparison, Italy brings up the rear in user averages on mobile, with Italians spending a mere 64% of their online hours on mobile web and apps.

Yes, mobile is where your audience is and that’s where your business needs to be. But sadly, conversions on phones and tablets still lag significantly behind the rate on desktops. When tackling CRO, it’s necessary to recognize that mobile UX and conversions have their own distinct rules and rationales, which need to be carefully analyzed as you strive to maximize your revenue.

A Guaranteed ROI for CRO?

the roi promise of conversion rate optimization

Conversion rate optimization is a powerful, proven strategy for elevating the revenue for e-commerce sites, both on mobile and desktop. At Mobile1st, we have a track record of success at mobile conversion rate optimization. We feel confident in producing results for all firms with whom we consult. In fact we guarantee results – We promise to deliver a minimum 10% increase of conversion rates on your mobile pages and ensure a minimum of 10x ROI, all while requiring fewer than 10 hours per month from your team as we work together. Conversion rate optimization has proven to be a critical effective strategy in elevating e-commerce firms’ revenue. Make sure your firm is keeping up and striving to improve your conversion.

Mobile1st is a leader in marketing technology and site optimization solutions. More than prioritizing and executing industry leading CRO practices, we do what makes the money; optimizing our Client’s digital commerce product toward consistent financial growth and ROI. All achieved through excellence in Lean UX, Analytics, Research, Experimentation and Development.
Contact Mobile1st Experts Now!