CRO: Conversion Rate Optimization
It’s one of the latest buzz phrases, promoted as an area of specialty, dedication, designed to promote an agency or individual as on the cutting edge of marketing needs.
It was about five years ago that I first heard this title. My first reaction was crap, did I miss yet another acronym in this rapidly changing and expanding industry and how long will it take me to get up to speed. It’s a natural reaction, technology and client demands are constantly changing the available resources and approaches. Then I looked into it.
from Moz:
“Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action — be that filling out a form, becoming customers, or otherwise. The CRO process involves understanding how users move through your site, what actions they take, and what’s stopping them from completing your goals.”
You have GOT to be kidding me. How did we get to this point?
CRO is not a specialty, it’s a base part of the job. If you’re just NOW focusing on CRO, what the he!! were you doing before?
Well yes, but …..
Sadly, we’ve seen what was being done before, just throwing money at initiatives, content development, SEO programs, campaigns, and focusing on the data that it churns out, not looking at how effective it actually is.
I’m reminded of a discussion with a leading digital agency who’s team tried to convince me against my suggestion to revise specific keywords and strategies when I cam on to oversee the department. The discussion included their research that this was a popular searched keyword in the industry, and as we can see by the clicks, of interest to the audience. I let them continue as I took in the level of their focus.
I don’t want to pay for clicks that won’t convert.
A bad lead costs as much as a good one, often more.
Oh, but you don’t know they won’t because your internal systems do not allow tie in to sales data yet, so we should not modify the strategy until this is in place, they told me. That project was still in the fantasy stage, and was a year away.
It won’t convert, ever, I said. They maintained I didn’t know what I was talking about. I assured them I did, because we do not sell the product they are promoting. They were merely marketing to numbers, numbers that didn’t align with our business or our objectives. CRO more than getting more clicks. I want better ones.
I don’t want to pay for clicks that won’t convert.
Plain and simple. That’s CRO.
Data influences decisions and analysis of data allows us to make the decisions that tie to our goals more efficiently and effectively. It has since the beginning of advertising and marketing, and will continue to.
If decades into digital marketing you’re just now considering the importance of Click Rate Optimization, and not incorporating it into everything you do, what else are you missing?