Introduction

Conversion Rate Optimization has been one of the key factors driving the growth of digital companies all over the world.

By analyzing conversion rates, business leaders get to optimize results and increase their power in no time.

But how will Conversion Rate Optimization change in the future?

And what are the key Conversion Rate Optimization trends marketers should bear in mind for 2019?

By reading this expanded article, leaders will get to understand more about the power of CRO and about the new trends that promise to change the game in the years to come

What is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is actually the continuous process of effectively getting more site users to perform an action on a website.

The action can be a click, filling a submission form, becoming a client, etc.

CRO is all about having the tools needed to analyze data thoroughly, understanding the processes that drive customers to perform certain actions while on a web page.

Marketers who want to explore CRO must be able to know how users approach a website, what they click first, what’s the chain of action, and what’s actually forming a barrier between their desire to convert and the lack of a concrete conversion.

A conversion is quite a general term but it means that a goal on a website has been completed.

The goal can be to sell a product to users, for instance.

If 1,000 users get to see a web page, but only 100 of them actually convert, then we’re looking at a 10% Conversion Rate - the conversion rate is the number of times a given user has completed a goal divided by the traffic of that specific website.

Conversion Rate Optimization has one obvious goal: to improve conversion rates by leveraging the power of actual data, intense analysis, and strategically precise action.

How Companies Use Conversion Rate Optimization

There are many businesses which are already diving into this remarkably important digital trend.

They use the power of specific data sets to acquire information regarding users and how they interact with a web page.

Then, companies come up with a highly-detailed CRO plan which usually includes:

• Information that’s based on data
• A plan for testing new strategies
• Optimizations and improvements over a period of time

By forming a hypothesis, business leaders get to ask certain questions regarding their websites, how visitors access their pages, and how they ultimately follow the conversion journey.

Then, by creating pragmatic and strategic changes on the website, CRO experts get to see conversion rates soar, empower businesses, and grow companies.

Here are some incontrovertible facts about Conversion Rate Optimization:

• 74% of CRO endeavors effectively increase sales
• User-generated content increases conversion rates by 161%
• Companies are spending an average of $2,000 on CRO tools
• Out of the $92 spent in acquiring clients, $1 is spent in actually converting them
• The businesses that have improved their conversion rates perform 50% more testing than the competition

CRO is a hot new trend that nobody can go without, and that’s why it is crucial to get to know about the next big ideas and notions regarding the realm of Conversion Rate Optimization.

Conversion Rate Optimization Trends

1. Page Customization

This is the era of tailor-made, custom-made, and a sense of deep personalization has become entrenched in different areas.

Conversion Rate Optimization is no different.

Once marketers run tests and have the data needed to understand where most of the traffic conversions are coming from, they can up the ante.

In fact, CRO masters can optimize a web page taking customization into account to drive even more growth.

It is important to understand the complexity at hand.

Not every user who clicks a certain ad will want to visit a website.

That means CRO experts should be able to take varying degrees of action and different customer mentalities into account when devising a customized CRO strategy.

The copy, the CTA, and the design will all be affected by the process of customization.

What kind of strategies will CRO professionals be looking for in the future?

An increase in customization might mean marketers will create diverse types of copy for the same page.

One of the versions may be much more aggressive and straightforward, making sure customers know that a conversion is being asked for in the loudest terms.

Another may be a lighter hue, inspiring customers to act without being so strong-willed and forceful.

Playing with varying degrees of copy in the CTA - for example - will prove to be a major trend that CRO experts will have to focus on in the future.

2. App A/B Tests

Apps have become ubiquitous in the 21st century.

That means that in-app A/B testing is the name of the game when it comes to Conversion Rate Optimization trends.

Since apps are all over the place and a favorite of millions of users, it is only natural that CRO professionals are investing in A/B testing to drive better performances and generate more app-oriented revenue.

The stats and facts of mobile apps are one of the reasons why CRO pros are investing in A/B testing so strongly.

Here are 4 stats that will allow marketers to understand the power of in-app A/B testing:

• It is the most popular method for improved conversion optimization
• 42% of mobile sales gotten by the top 500 merchants have actually come from mobile apps
• Mobile users spend 89% of their time using applications
• 52% of all the time spent utilizing digital media is spent using apps

What should marketers do to keep their apps fresh and increase conversion rates?

They should follow these guidelines:

• Change CTA buttons on a regular basis to get data and optimize
• Change the color schemes to drive more impact
• Create custom-made backgrounds to test different versions

The key is to get valuable insights to understand what clients want and what they like, and to constantly improve the performance by making changes after monitoring in-app analytics.

Marketers that want to supercharge the power of their apps and boost Conversion Rate Optimization can use mobile testing tools to produce hundreds of different tests, get data, and improve their CRO power.

3. The Cross-Platform Experience

What is the process of cross-platform testing?

It’s all about testing the suitability of the design, content and any other important elements on multiple platforms.

Different platforms yield different results and diverse conversion rates.

This means multi-platform testing is of the essence.

In order to ensure people enjoy remaining on a given website, it is crucial that marketers get to optimize pages across many different platforms.

All pages must be terrifically compelling, making sure companies can utilize tried-and-tested UI/UX that leverages conversions.

If marketers want to explore the cross-platform ideal of testing, they should understand what their users want, learn about the audience, and get to know more about behavioral patterns.

They should also be able to keep testing on a regular basis and perform cross-platform testing taking UI/UX guidelines into account so that they know how to improve the core functionalities for diverse types of platforms.

4. Mobile Optimization

Mobile versions of a website are not a trend: they are formidably important in the world we’re living in.

The version for mobile is yet another opportunity to convert users, get new customers, and promote business growth.

In the future, users will demand a perfect mobile user experience and that’s why mobile optimization is one of the most important trends in Conversion Rate Optimization.

This means that mobile versions of web pages should contain optimized images, avoid poisonous duplicate content, and be tested on a wealth of mobile devices and browsers to make sure they’re perfectly mobile-friendly.

No matter the device used to get to learn more about a specific company through a website, it is crucial that visitors have a great experience since that ensures they will become more likely to convert.

CRO enthusiasts should be able to deliver a fast load time since a slow loading page is proven to be one of the main reasons why users decide to bounce away.

In fact, on the authority of recent stats, 50% of users want sites to load within 2 seconds or less.

Moreover, most users bounce away from a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

That’s why page load speed matters and why it should be a top concern when optimizing mobile pages.

Another aspect mobile optimization experts should take into consideration?

To be able to provide appealing content that compels users to visit the website.

Mobile pages should contain aesthetically-brilliant letters that are easy to discern and mobile-friendly pictures which do not negatively affect the speed of the page.

Experts also refer to the following as a huge negative aspect of certain pages: the all-encompassing image carousels.

They actually throw users off, which means marketers should instead opt for a single image which contains an offer or CTA.

It is crucial not to generate confusion on mobile, and bet on a single offer that is straightforward and easy to grasp.

Visual appeal and simplicity will prove to be the boon of mobile optimization and become great CRO strategies in the future.

5. Custom-Made CTA

The Call-to-Action is the icing on the cake of marketing strategies.

It pulls users in, lures them into the final goal, and actually achieves the much-needed conversion.

It’s all about creating something appealing that allows users to click, provide certain details, and complete the sale.

This means that designing a CTA has become quite an art form.

If marketers want to succeed in the world of Conversion Rate Optimization, here’s what they should do regarding CTAs:

• The CTA should always be above the fold
• The CTA should be sticky so that users always know where to find it
• CTAs should be tested. Campaign managers should opt for testing different sizes, colors, shapes, etc.
• It should be visually enticing so as to immediately capture the audience’s attention

By following CTA best practices and investing in CTA optimization and A/B testing, campaign managers will become able to understand what is the very best CTA they need to use and utilize CRO to actually increase conversions like never before.

6. Marketing Automation

This is the latest fad in marketing.

Marketing automation is proven to yield amazing results since it actually converts more than normal email marketing.

In fact, there are many Fortune 500 companies that have tried marketing automation with great results, which means this is a trend that will be continuously used in the years to come.

However, marketing automation has also proven to be quite challenging for businesses.

In fact, 76% of business leaders have actually listed lead generation as a huge marketing automation challenge.

Since 85% of B2B marketers believe they’re failing to use marketing automation to the max, it is important to understand how to leverage this method.

Here’s a list of things marketers should be doing to take marketing automation to the next level:

• Select an automation tool that’s proven its success
• Start small, investing in micro-campaigns that get to target the right prospective clients
• Create an email marketing automation campaign that focuses on educational content so that the campaign gets to give some knowledge and value to users and therefore increase the chances for success
• Clearly define a set of goals prior to the creation of the email automation campaign
• Set a budget that allows the company to get data that can be later optimized to further improve email automation endeavors

By following these steps and testing on a regular basis, marketers will be able to see substantial returns from this Conversion Optimization Rate technique, using marketing automation to achieve results in no time.

Conclusion

From the data-proven power of marketing automation to the quintessential importance of mobile optimization, from A/B testing to experimenting with a variety of colorful CTA buttons, there are many choices and trends marketers can follow to supercharge their Conversion Rate Optimization strategies.

By understanding how customers think, move, and use web and mobile pages, campaign managers will get access to incredible power and yield CRO strategies to get results and increase the performance of their businesses to boot.