First – Lets take a look at conversion

A conversion can take many forms. In order to measure your CRO, first we need to decide which KPI you are going to Optimize. If this data is not available then we would use a Tag Manger Application to target these site elements, pages and Users. Below are just a few examples of what can be considered a Conversion.

• Completing an online purchase
• Subscribing to receive content
• Registering personal information
• Downloading a content piece
• Spending a certain amount of time on your site
• Upgrading to a higher level of service
• Sometimes – all you need for a conversion is a Click on a Button as this information can be considered INTENT. Those Users, even though they didn’t complete the process can now be targeted using “re-marketing” techniques

Second – Map your customer journey

Every customer interaction serves as a moment of truth, an opportunity to reinforce your relationship and strengthen customer loyalty. Key to making the most of these moments is gaining deep customer insights that enable you to build a seamless customer experience (CX) across channels.

Understanding that customer journey in depth helps you identify and take action (Optimize) on customer pain points and repeat what’s working. By doing this, you will improve the overall experience that your customers have, which will have better outcomes for your business.

In order to determine which touch-points can be improved on to drive conversions for both Landing Pages and Funnel Penetration. We would create Customer Profiles, Site Segments to determine which are most likely to convert and why. We would look at :

• Demographics (age, gender, income bracket)
• User Behavior (Site segments visited, products added to cart, Forms started but did not pass validation and were not completed, etc.)
• GEO (Location, Designated Market Areas, Local)
• User Type (First Time Visitor or Returning Visitor, Logged In or Not Logged In, Never purchased or Previous Purchaser)

AI and Machine Learning can help you divide your customers into different segments based on this data, and then even create sub-segments within segments, for an even more granular customer view. Then you can rank these segments based on likelihood to convert, to ensure you only target the most valuable customers with timely and relevant marketing material that they will find compelling.

Third – Get as much Data as Possible

Using a Tag Manager you start to target this User Journey with added engagement and User intent. This data is used to find the hidden optimization gems not easily found through basic Analytics.

These new Data points are also what will be used to track optimization efforts. These new data points can point to incremental change not only with the conversion but all metrics like:

• Did the User scroll to the Button you want them to click (if below the fold)
• Did they begin the process of Converting (click “buy now”, “newsletter signup”, or other events you want them to perform?
• Track if the visitor started to complete the purchase or Newsletter form but failed to submit the form (What Validation errors did they receive with filling in the form, are there certain parts of the form they are less comfortable completing?

Lastly – Remove “I THINK” from the Optimization process

Once you have your data and have completed your analysis of where the Pain Points are, which Visitor Segments, Pages, funnels, etc. are having the most issues – then we begin optimizing for these pain points.

It took the data to decide what needs to be optimized. In the same way, it will be the data that tells you if your optimization efforts are working.

But how do you decide what changes to make? This is where “I think” is taken out of the equation and “the data shows” becomes the reason what changes are made.

• A/B Test every change you make.
• Let the Data show you which change worked and which did not, or which worked the best (maybe all experiences beat the Current experience).
• Let the data show you which User Segments had the best outcomes and which still need optimization.
• Create another A/B test allowing only those User Segments who did not convert and optimize the Page (personalization), Funnel (one long form or three smaller forms, etc.